About Saying Thank You and Apologizing

(Minghui.org) We often hear people say things like “Thank you” or “Sorry” to express gratitude or to apologize. But in China, how many people say these words from their hearts and out of pure kindness? Most people use them for ulterior motives, such as wanting to ask a favor or to avoid trouble. It is all for themselves, not truly for others.

Hypocrites think that they are superior and intelligent and don’t offend anyone. But they actually compete for self-interest more than anyone else. “Nice guys” are the product of a degenerated society that used to be normal and had universal values. In fact, those “nice guys” watch closely to see who treats them badly, who is good to them, with whom they can make friends, and who is just a person of interest. They won't sacrifice selflessly for anyone.

It's common for most people to behave that way. As Dafa practitioners we are also influenced by the human world. I used to be like that. I didn’t show it because I was afraid that others would say I was bad-mannered, ill-bred, or uncultured. I didn’t show it for fear of hurting my false self, which doesn't want others to see how I strive to maintain a perfect appearance. I never thought that anything was wrong or incorrect: I was always right, what I had was the best, no one could compare with me, and others didn't understand me. These were all manifestations of not cultivating solidly. That illusion will come tumbling down in the end, and you will blame others for everything that goes wrong.

Such thinking and behavior is the result of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) steadily eroding traditional culture and values from everyone's mind, but people don't realize it. Perhaps they can give up their lives to defend “self” or the “forever great, glorious, and correct,” but the essence of traditional culture and the true self have been usurped, mutated, and ruined by the indoctrination of the Party and are no longer recognizable.

In a society where the truth is concealed, truth and traditional culture have become something that is close by, but one doesn't dare to ask for it or seek it and is unable to find to. The ancients often described credibility using the phrase “touching the conscience,” and they made a vow by raising their hands over their heads to show sincerity. That era is long gone. Nowadays, anyone who swore in that fashion would be laughed at for being ridiculously old-fashioned.

The Party illusion of “fake, big, and empty” has become a new trend. Whoever does not conform to that false and hypocritical trend becomes the target of an attack. Even good people must pretend to be fake, because only hypocrisy is trendy, and no one wants to disturb the social order of those who fall in line with the corruption. In the end, fallacy becomes truth, and white becomes black. Good old-fashioned values have been replaced by degenerated rules that are devoid of conscience.

I enlightened to something today while I was hand-copying the scripture “Buddha-Nature and Demon-Nature” from Essentials For Further Advancement. I often blamed people in my mind for small things. Since childhood, I have believed that things would pass, would be over, and I would digest them slowly. I would be happy the next day as usual, as I didn't want to have something uncomfortable stuck in my mind.

After becoming a Falun Dafa cultivator, it would be wrong to treat events like this. Instead of digging out an attachment that upset me, I just did not let it bother me or didn’t make a fuss because I was attached to saving face. So the attachment and its related human thoughts continued to grow. Saving face and hatred are the same, and they lead to self-destruction.

I've always been very focused while studying the Fa. I thought my comprehension wasn't bad, and I could understand some of the Fa principles. Of course, we will never be able to understand all of the Fa, because the Fa is so immense, great, and compassionate.

I love to study the Fa, to hand copy and memorize it. But I still feel that there is a layer separating my true self from the Fa and that there are always layers upon layers tainted by the CCP indoctrination. Even the base of my cultivation contains things like “I” have a good foundation, “I” am kind and wise, “I” can learn Dafa, and “I” am terrific.

Those egos are all fake and false “me’s.” If you are still like this after 10 or 20 years of cultivation, who are you becoming and who is cultivating? It's so ridiculous. It wasn't until today, when I wrote this article, that my heart began to brighten and feel comfortable, as if I was waking up from a dream. Instead of saying my true self has been imprisoned in the cage of the material world, it is better to say that it is confined by the pampered, false “I.”

Pursuit is an attachment that cultivators must relinquish. It's already wrong to ask for all the good things in the world. If I want to have what others have or don't have, isn't that an attachment? Anything that ordinary people have cannot be brought to heaven.

What is consummation? If it only means enjoying the blessings of the heavenly kingdom, isn't it the same as the vested interests of ordinary people—one gives in order to get back, and if not, why give? That's just the way of ordinary people and must be the nature of life in the old universe.