Truly Taking the Fa as Teacher

Looking at problems with a broad mind

When we are doing Dafa work or Hongfa, different opinions among practitioners about how things should be done often arise. If, at those times, everyone insists that only his or her own opinion and thinking is correct, a common understanding and agreement will not be reached. Even if on the surface there may appear to be no direct conflict between the practitioners, in reality the problem has enlarged and no solution has been found. However, when we share our thoughts calmly, we will find that practitioners have different ways of thinking and different understandings. Because of the different perspectives and angles the direction they come up with may be different. Moreover, the reason for why they think their idea will work out is not the reason we imagined it to be. During our disagreements we often aren't able to gain our composure, which causes our inability to listen to each other with a broad mind and to evaluate the problem from a different angle with reason. If we could do this we would be able to reach a final solution and handle everything well together. Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston," "So as a Dafa disciple, you should try your best to restrain those everyday people's attachments, try your best to prevent them from having an effect, try your best to walk a righteous path, and try your best, in all environments and with everything that happens, to conduct yourself in an open and dignified manner, to be tolerant and broad-minded, to be able to understand others, and to be able to consider all perspectives. Then, I think you might be able to do a lot of things well. Acting this way is not compromising! Everybody can share their views and you can evaluate them in a kind manner."

I have found many practitioners' opinions to be very good, with all of them aiming to achieve the same goal. Why should we insist that our own opinions are correct, since our own may not be the best? We should be able to think from different perspectives while listening to other practitioner's opinions. At the same time, we should also try to express our own opinions clearly. Do not be afraid of having opinions that are different from other practitioners'. It will not be a problem if we restrain ourselves with a generous and open mind. If you don't explain yourself well, others will not be able to understand what you think and misunderstanding and contradiction will occur. Sometimes I thought others should know why I feel the way I do, in fact, maybe they don't. Practitioners should hold themselves to the Fa standard they have enlightened to, but that does not mean we should hold others to our own standard. It would be better to consider others more. I think having a base of daily Fa-study and cultivation is very important. Although we all know that we should take the Fa as teacher, sometimes we are unable to do well. Once in a dream I picked up some weapons to eliminate a high-level being from the old forces, but I had no idea what I was up against. I found that it was better for me not to fight with it with my weapons, because when the weapons I used hit his body his energy just increased. I didn't know what to do at the moment. Suddenly, I became aware that I was too self-confident in my own methods. I threw away all the weapons I had and said Master's "eliminate the evil" verse. The being of the old forces was eliminated without the use of any weapons. No matter what the circumstances are, what practitioners should think about is the Fa instead of themselves.

My Experience of doing Hongfa over the Internet

Through doing Hongfa over the Internet, I have found that whether or not the person on the other side believes what you are saying or not we are still clarifying the truth if we do it in a compassionate and considerate way. If while we are clarifying the truth we have no hint of self-interest and only think of the other person then it will have an effect on the other person. Even if the person doesn't agree with what you are saying he will think that Falun Gong practitioners are different than what he imagined. One time while doing Hongfa over the Internet I had a unique experience. While chatting with someone I got into a heated argument over something and tried to convince the other person that what I was saying was correct. Although, in my heart I wanted to spread the Fa, I nonetheless fell into a very human state of mind and tried to use a very human way to clarify the truth to this individual. Would a Buddha argue with someone to try and convince someone something? Naturally I didn't do well and was unsuccessful at changing that person's mind. I remember having a dream after that happened. In the dream, a fight broke out between a demon and me. To a high level God, a tiny finger would be more than enough to crush a demon. The fact that I was fighting with it meant that my level was nearly the same as the demon's. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun: "Actually, this is the time to remove his attachment to competitiveness…" I now understand that during that time I was using a very ordinary person's state of mind and I was using that mindset to safeguard the Fa. I then unconsciously brought negative effects to Dafa. So whatever we do for Dafa, a practitioners' main consciousness should be strong and one should never allow an everyday person's attachment and mindset to become involved. Otherwise we won't be able to validate the Fa and we could instead cause Dafa unnecessary loses. One would then be unworthy of Dafa and Master, and one would not be acting responsibly to oneself.

Test of Human Sentimentality

Since the start of my cultivation, I have had numerous tribulations regarding human sentimentality. Under the influence of my prior understandings of cultivation, I was under the belief that practitioners should not start a romantic relationship. Regarding this issue, I was unable to evaluate myself according to the Fa. Every time I found myself in this kind of situation, I usually forced myself to hold back my feelings. On rare occasions while doing this, I was able to really free myself from this human attachment and had a feeling of ease. Most of the time it was a forced action, and finally it would become too painful to tolerate. My main consciousness would become absent-minded and fall to an everyday person's xinxing level, the only difference being I didn't have any human sentimentality toward human society left and because of that I had virtually no compassion for anyone either. I felt my mind was just like a painting covered with messy shapes in black. I felt very sad but did not know how to express myself. Nothing was able to make me happy and I could easily ignore others even when they were in pain. Fortunately, because of Master's arrangement during one Hongfa activity I was gradually able to come out of this state. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun, "If you can give up the attachment, you are able to abandon everything; when you are asked to give up material benefits, you will certainly be able to do it." Some practitioners are able to give up attachments directly and from their root; I find that they are really good. What I tend to do is just let things happen and during the process of doing that I give it up. There is a difference between a practitioner conforming to everyday situations and an everyday person's quest for love. The difference is the starting point. Although I still am free to pursue a romantic relationship, I am still cultivating and during the whole process I apply the Fa to help myself to upgrade my xinxing. I am not a helpless individual who is entangled in a love net. As soon as that starting point starts to slip away, then it is not a practitioner conforming to everyday people's situations but a full everyday person. Some fellow practitioners may say, "During this period of time you are talking about love." However, when we think about it carefully, if we can maintain that starting point – cultivate by conforming to everyday situations – will anything really affect our cultivation? If so, how about a practitioner's job? From another point of view, if we remove this attachment because of "this period of time," will it truly be removed? Of course we should also be aware that time is very precious and ask ourselves to study the Fa diligently, but not to go to extremes. So I believe that we should consider more perspectives and think about others with all our heart. We should not use our own standards or concepts to evaluate others. There is only one Fa from Master. Practitioners will accept it as long as we share our view based on our understanding of the Fa.

Look inside

Last but not least, I feel that sometimes as soon as practitioners come across problems, they think it is the old force's interference and will begin sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference. However, they forget the old force's interference is not without reason. If it interferes without reason, it probably would have been eliminated before the interference could occur. Please remember that Master is watching everything. The external interference, be it an arrangement of the old forces or not, will have no effect as long as our hearts are righteous and we use every opportunity to upgrade our xinxing. If we evaluate everything according to the Fa, then there will be no problems. Conversely, if it is an arrangement by Teacher and you are unable to apply the Fa to evaluate the situation and to look inside oneself, then won't there be interference against Dafa? I believe I can do better in future.

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/8/22/18211.html