[Russian Minghui] Letting Go of Attachments, Including Feeling “Superior”

(Minghui.org)

Greetings, respected Master!Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I have been cultivating for 24 years and consider myself a very lucky person. Dafa and Master have always supported me, given me the strength to overcome life’s losses and deal with what happens in a righteous way. Dafa is an inexhaustible source of inspiration from which I constantly draw strength and wisdom.

Much of what is written in Zhuan Falun, from purifying the body, opening the celestial eye to developing superpowers, has happened to me during my years of cultivation. Master is always there. He always helps and guides me.

I try to participate in major projects to spread the Fa, clarify the truth and save sentient beings, but Minghui was my first project. I was lucky to start working for Minghui from the moment of its formation. I really wanted to work for the site, and when the editor-in-chief offered me the task of translating, I gladly agreed.

For the first six months, I was constantly afraid that I would no longer receive articles for translation, since I understood that the quality of my translations was not that good. I checked my translations many times. When the article was published, I compared it with my own text and looked for errors, so I would learn not to make the same mistakes again.

Gradually my xinxing improved and the quality of my translations improved accordingly. Over time, I began to translate faster and could translate four to five articles per week.

Recently, a project coordinator asked me to start translating more important and longer articles on a certain date. The thought immediately stirred up: “Oh, I am already working on translations daily, participating in several other projects, and recently agreed to do important work in a new project. How can I take on even more responsibility?” But as soon as this thought emerged, I knew it wasn’t really mine. Obviously, Master saw that I could do something more serious for our Minghui website and gave me this opportunity. Was it possible to say to no to Teacher?

I think that when we find ourselves in a similar situation, it is important to clearly remember that we are given the opportunity to increase our level in cultivation. It is especially important to work on eliminating certain attachments that can interfere with performing new duties well, and we need to strictly ensure that we do not let selfish thoughts arise based on degraded human ideas, laziness and the addiction to comfort.

While doing work for our site, I try to watch each of my thoughts. Worldly thoughts of ordinary people, any kind of emotional struggle, resentment or judgement. It can be very harmful to those who later read this article, as such thoughts leave sticky and dirty energy. I also try very hard not to show emotion or cry when I feel compassion toward a fellow practitioner who was brutally persecuted, or someone who, after much suffering, has finally found his attachment, or when the article describes how Master compassionately saves sentient beings. I strictly say to myself: “What kind of disciple of the Great Law are you if you shed tears?” I have seen several times with my celestial eye how evil beings rub their hands with joy when we cry.

Searching for Attachments

I began to think about why from the very beginning of my work in the Minghui project I was so worried that I would not be able to translate with the required quality and would be asked to withdraw. Why, even now, after 16 years, when I start receiving more complex articles for translation, I again worry that I won’t succeed? Why, thinking about it, would I worry again?

At first glance, you might think this is good, because I take participation in the project so seriously and worry about the quality of my work. At the same time, I know that once there are feelings there is an attachment, and it’s time to find it and eliminate it. Not so long ago I eventually found my problem and began to seriously work on it.

I started thinking: “Okay, let’s say I will make mistakes and the proofreader points it out to me, maybe even shames me and tells the main coordinator. So that’s it! It’s very simple: I don’t want to listen to unflattering words addressed to me or criticism! I clearly saw the manifestation of pride and thoughts that I was better than others. Even the thought that I was ashamed and did not want the proofreader to spend a long time correcting my translation was not righteous. This again was a manifestation of my unrevealed pride! If I did not have that attachment, then I would not have fear!

In fact, it is pride and fear of losing face that had been cleverly hidden behind my desire for high-quality translations!

I know that I am very lucky to be involved in the work for the Minghui website, because when I translate, I pass all the cultivation stories through my heart, compare others’ behavior with my own, and always see where I need to improve.

I recently translated the experience of two women who were taken by the police while they were distributing Dafa materials. The guards began interrogating them, trying to find out their names and addresses. One of them was silent, the second one immediately told them everything about herself and the other practitioner. She was allowed to go home, and the one she betrayed was going to be transferred to a detention center. What the practitioner said in parting to the fellow practitioner who had betrayed her forever remained in my heart as an example to follow: “Don’t worry about what happened, keep cultivating and do the three things. It’s my fault that we were arrested because I wasn’t careful. I'm sorry that my behavior led you to commit betrayal.”

I understood how far I was from that practitioner who, even in such a serious situation, did not blame others, but only looked inward.

If my resentment or pride is affected, I can remain silent, but my heart does not always remain calm. I am constantly looking within myself. Sometimes it seems that there is no fault on my part, but I know that the situation is always created on purpose so that I can find something in myself and eliminate it. There has never been a time when, using the magical tool given by Master of searching within myself, I could not identify my attachment. Of course, it happens that I go through the test the way I should: calmly, without showing any feelings and even with a smile. After that, a quiet joy will settle in my soul.

I try to always remember Master’s words:

“When you meet with a conflict, it doesn’t matter whether you are in the right. You should be asking yourself, “What on my part isn’t right in this situation? Might it really be that there is something wrong on my part?” You should all be thinking this way, with your first thought being to scrutinize yourself to try to find the problem. Whoever is not like this is not in fact a true cultivator of Dafa. It is a magical tool in our cultivation. This is a distinguishing feature of our Dafa disciples’ cultivation. Whatever it is that you encounter, the first thought should be to scrutinize yourself, and it’s called “looking within."” (“What is a Dafa Disciple,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)

When I had just started working for the Minghui website, one day while sitting in meditation, I clearly saw with my celestial eye a space with a lot of people. They were all dressed in loose robes. Some of them had crowns on their heads and they sat on the floor in a semicircle. The room was in twilight. I knew I was there, but I couldn’t see myself. With every cell of my body, I felt that these people were waiting for something from me. I then saw my hand, which held a large mug of crystal clear water. I handed this mug to the one who was sitting closest to me. He took it with great care, took a sip, and carefully handed it to the person next to him. By the care with which they handed this mug to each other, I realized what these people were waiting with such eagerness. It seemed to me that this clear crystal water symbolized our articles on the Minghui website. Perhaps the crystal-clear articles of the Minghui website are needed not only by the living beings in our world, but also by those who hopefully await salvation in other dimensions.

Master said,

“Dafa disciples are Gods who have descended to the human world with the responsibility to assist Master in saving sentient beings, shouldering the responsibility of saving sentient beings in the lower realms.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIV)

All that I have shared is only my enlightenment at my level.

Thank you, Master!Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2022 Multilingual Minghui Teams Experience Sharing Conference)