(Minghui.org) In my understanding the attachment of lust is a huge barrier for practitioners to overcome, and is hard to get rid of. If practitioners don't cultivate themselves solidly and can't relinquish all their attachments, even if they can superficially control their behavior, problems can still recur. Many practitioners have this problem. I'd like to share my understanding on the cause of this problem, and hope it can be insightful for practitioners.

There is a common view among cultivators that one should not have strong desires for the opposite gender. Some are willing to work with the opposite gender and want to talk with them about their family problems. Some male practitioners like to discuss the topic of love with young unmarried female practitioners, and claim that they can discuss anything since they don't have any attachments to lust. But why would you want to discuss this topic with the opposite gender? Doesn’t this behavior itself reflect a strong attachment to lust? Some practitioners do feel they need to discuss and share issues relating to lust with other practitioners, but they should share it with practitioners of the same gender.

Traditional moral values not only regulate people's behavior, but can ensure that our bonds with the divine are not broken. If practitioners don't comply with the proper moral standards set for humans, the old forces may use this loophole to persecute us.

I once tried to help some practitioners get rid of the attachment to lust, but none of my efforts were successful. I once talked with a much younger practitioner of the opposite gender a few times, and they said that they had missed me a lot when they saw me the next time. That was a few years ago and I hadn't completely let go of my attachment to lust at that time.

Practitioners who are single will face pressures of lust in various ways. It is a process of strengthening the will to cultivate and eliminate the attachment. I personally went through a very hard time in this regard. My friends would always ask me if a Falun Gong practitioner can get married or not. Then they would ask me why I was not married. I did my job well, so the management of the company did not interfere with me much. However, they thought that if I got married, my partner would be able to control me, so they once tried very hard to get me married.

I am not saying that practitioners should not get married, as everyone has their own choice. But I finally realized that I could not break through the interference if I did not eliminate my attachment to lust. After that, I spent one hour before I went to bed to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the dark substances of lust. I looked inward while I did this and purified my thoughts.

I found that the attachment of lust is linked to other attachments, such as comfort, laziness, competitiveness and food. As long as a practitioner starts to indulge in the temptations of the ordinary world, the attachment of lust can emerge.

After about a month of sending forth strong righteous thoughts to eliminate this attachment, I had a test in a dream. In my dream, I saw a man and a woman standing very close to each other in the woods. Curiosity made me want to look back at this scene. With this thought, a dark field of lust attacked me from all directions. I realized that my thoughts were wrong and asked help from Master. A strong energy then flew through my body and drove the lust completely out of me. My body was filled with such high energy matter and I felt like I was floating.

I was then able to let go of the attachment to lust. Even if tempting scenes occurred around me, I would not even look at them. My mind was very calm and clear, as the bad thoughts disappeared. Subsequently, all such tribulations were gone.

Some practitioners do not have the desire to eliminate the attachment to lust. But lust cannot be brought to the heavens and will only drag one to hell. Then our cultivation will end up in vain.

The Fa-rectification is coming to the end. Master has put it very clearly that what we want is our own choice. Actually it is not so hard to get rid of attachments. In my understanding, the difficulty imposed on us is due to debts and karma from our previous lives.

As modern technology is quite developed, practitioners who get to know each other online should be very careful when dealing with the opposite gender. Don't chat online too much because you'll both eventually want to meet each other face to face. We get together because of the Fa and we cooperate with each other to validate the Fa. The attachment to lust sometimes hides other attachments. No practitioner wants to make mistakes, but the very first unrighteous thought can then lead to our making more mistakes.

Practitioners should focus on validating the Fa and looking inward, as well as doing the three things well. We should avoid talking about personal issues. Should there not be any important issues to discuss, I believe it's best not to meet casually. We can walk well our paths only when we can eliminate the attachment to lust.

The above is my personal understanding, please point out anything inappropriate.