Learning from a Cicada Casting

Qing Feng

PureInsight | May 2, 2007

[PureInsight.org] It was
summer. One morning right after a rain, I took a walk with a friend in
the forest.  My friend picked up a cicada casting and looked at it
carefully while walking.  He asked, "What's this?" "That is a
cicada casting," said I.  



My friend said, "When a cicada crawls out onto the dirt, it has a
casting, cannot fly, and can only crawl. The casting limits its
ability. Only when it gets rid of the casting that tightly wraps around
it, can it fly, and obtain its freedom and display its true self." My
friend continued, "We human beings are the same. From a new born to old
age, what wraps tightly around us is more than one layer of casting. A
notion is a layer of casting. Our acquired notions have restricted our
abilities and our true nature. If we cannot get rid of our human
notions, then we are dominated by them. We will not know for whom we
live or die."



Now, I understand that if human beings cannot change or get rid of
those acquired notions, we, just like a cicada, can never come out the
casting. The notions that latch on you do not belong to you. They can,
however, dominate, restrict, or confuse you, and you become more and
more irrational. You unknowingly do bad things and, at the same time,
you think that you are right, sensible, and smart.  Perhaps, in
order to save people, the benevolent enlightened being says, "Return to
your true nature!" Perhaps, the real human being is the one who can get
rid of all acquired human notions.



From that, I thought about Falun Gong practitioners.  When they
clarify the truth and quitting the Party to many people, people use
their acquired notions to look at matters and to judge practitioners'
actions and deeds.



Many people say, "The CCP has labeled that. Don't practice it any more!"



"Your arms are smaller than your thighs, and smart guys don't fight an obvious losing battle."



"The CCP provides me with food and drink and I won't fight against it."



"You are being political and you are anti-China."



If the people who uttered those remarks could think about it
rationally, they would ask, "Is this the real me who said that? Or are
my acquired notions directing me?" Isn't that the casting that attaches
to your body talking?  If you can tell your real self and the
acquired notions apart, I believe, during the tidal wave of quitting
the party, that you will make a correct decision, and have a bright
future.



Translated from: http://zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/4/26/43524.html

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