(Minghui.org) I had a dream one night which was as if I was experiencing events in person and I remembered every detail even after three months.
In the dream, I went to a big square where I saw different depictions of myself and each was carrying a suitcase.
After all versions of me gathered at the square, each headed in a different direction, as if we were going on a trip or going somewhere to accomplish a task. I could see that the beings did not want to leave each other and cared for each others' welfare.
One became an everyday person and spent his days dealing with fuel, rice, oil, salt, etc. When he came across many hardships and difficulties, I felt sad with him and also felt that his life was so hard.
Another turned into a homeless cat and moved from place to place with its elder brother. Unfortunately, this cat only lived for 15 days. When it was dying, it begged its cat brother to continue living and to live well. When I saw it dying, I felt sad about how fragile life is.
The remainder of the lives took on different roles. Although I did not have time to observe their lives in detail, I could feel that none of them had an easy life, nor were they happy. It seemed that they were all looking forward to when they could start their true mission.
Suddenly I realized that I was seeing my past lives. Everyone departed from the same place and took on different roles. They had endured hardships so that I could obtain the Fa today.
I thought that Teacher had used this dream to awaken me, because I was a bit slack in my cultivation. I felt that there was too much hardship and interference in my life and I had developed many attachments.
Teacher said,
“That is, you may feel that, just like anything else in your normal life, you just happened to attend this class, but in all likelihood you went through hardships in order to obtain this Fa over the course of several, or even a dozen, or dozens of previous lives (applause). It’s just that you haven’t realized it. Some people had lost their lives so that they could obtain this Fa. As you go about cultivating, I earnestly and kindly teach the virtue of goodness to you and provide guidance, for I know who you were in history and I know you have sacrificed a lot to obtain it today. I would be letting you down if I didn’t teach you this way.” (“First Fa Teaching Given in the United States” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference I)
I realized that the so-called hardships I was currently experiencing counted for nothing when compared to all I had suffered through prior lives.
How could I let those trivial issues stop me from cultivating diligently? I've already obtained the Fa, if I don't succeed in cultivation, how could I live up to myself. Wouldn't all tribulations that I experienced in my past lives have been in vain?
Looking at it from a different angle about what I was going through, whether they were conflicts, tribulations, or all kinds of temptations in the human world, weren't they just like a dream? Why would I care so much about them? Why would I let those things pull me back and not improve my heart and mind by following Falun Dafa's teachings?
People said that a human in this world has fallen into a maze. If I became very attached to things in the human world, would it not be the same as being trapped in a dream? When could I possibly return to my true home?
Teacher said:
“Everything is tempting people. This society is just tempting people! The purpose of tempting people is not just to prevent you from obtaining the Fa, but also to destroy human society.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
I realized that various temptations and interference in this world attracted our hearts, be it dazzling material things, forms of entertainment, information on the Internet, mobile phone video games, difficulties in one's life or work, and sentimentality. They might all be traps that the old forces set up to entice us into loving this world.
Such distractions dictate our joy, anger, and sadness, and people become used to them. They prevent cultivators from being diligent and ordinary people from learning the truth.
After experiencing so much hardship life after life, we became a Dafa practitioner. We should not be misled by the illusions of human society.