PureInsight | October 14, 2002
It has been five years since I started my cultivation. These five years have been the happiest years of my life. Five years' cultivation has been full of ups and downs but I went through them without noticing it. Looking back, I feel quite touched and want to thank Master for his compassion and help.
Now the Fa rectification has come to the last stage. For Dafa disciples and countless sentient beings, this is a very important time as it concerns how many beings will be saved. Thus for practitioners, how to do it better is crucial.
In recent articles, Master mentioned many times about conflicts between practitioners. "Every realm has its own state of being. If you remain stagnant, you definitely won't be able to keep up with the Fa-rectification". ("Boston Lecture")
Regarding this common phenomenon among practitioners, I would like to share my experience and understanding with you.
Expectation is an attachment.
A common phenomenon is when one is enlightened to what he/she should do, very often he/she expects other practitioners to do it as well. Expectation itself is an attachment. When this expectation is satisfied, complacency may grow without one's being aware of it. When this expectation cannot be met, a complaint may start to come up. You may even start to think other practitioners are not keeping up with the pace of Fa-rectification. Maybe what you want to do is genuinely a very good thing for Dafa, but the expectation itself is an attachment. Expectation is an emotion. Since you have used emotion, you would have the mentality of "should", "should not", feeling unsatisfied. Only when your heart is truly in Wuwei (non-motion), is what you are doing noble. If we can all do this, there won't be arguments or conflicts.
In my cultivation, I once had a lot of expectations of other practitioners. I remember in March 2000, after I came back from Geneva, I was sending Dafa material to all government organizations all over the UK. Before sending Dafa information, we needed to collect information, such as names and addresses. It was time-consuming work. I asked some practitioners to do it together. After some time, the progress was not as much or as quick as I had expected. I began to worry and even complain in my mind. I thought 'Isn't it very clear that this is very important? Why can't we get it done efficiently?' Then I had a dream. I was going to go across a river with my push-bike. I walked towards the river and there was a big wide bridge. Just before I got there, the bridge suddenly twisted, and I could not walk on it anymore. I stood by the river and looked around. On the right there was a big bridge on the horizon. On the left, a small narrow road led to a small wooden bridge. I decided to take the small bridge as it was nearer. Walking along the path, the road was really narrow along the cliffs, up and down. Eventually I reached the bridge and crossed the river.
I came to be enlightened by this dream that nothing is easy when doing things for Dafa. Whatever we do, we have to go through some difficulties. We need to do it with our hearts. As Master said, there is no sweetness if there is no bitterness. You would not feel the happiness after the victory if you have not tried hard. I asked myself why I should expect other people to do what I want then to do. Expectation itself is an attachment. Though on the surface it is for Dafa, actually what is hidden behind it is myself. I was using my standard to make requirements for other people, and expecting other people to do what I wanted to do. When they had not met my standard or requirements, I would feel unsatisfied. Having realised this, I tried my best not to have any expectation of anybody ever since. Of course, this is a process. Occasionally I still have the idea that practitioners should do what I want.
Learning to understand others is the foundation of harmony.
Master has told us many times to learn to understand others. To understand other people, one has to give up oneself and needs to put oneself in other people's position to think about it and to have a try. If we can do this in whatever we do, many unnecessary conflicts will not happen. One would not have the mind to complain or blame. When one learns to understand others, one will understand other people's behaviour. Even if he/she is wrong, you would feel sorry for him/her. Once you have learned to understand others and respect other people's wishes, harmony can be produced. To reach this harmonious state, you yourself need to maintain a calm, balanced and non-active mind. I learned a lot about this from my contacts with Amnesty.
At the beginning of 2001 when I first took over the work with Amnesty International, their headquarters were quite cold to us. I did not know what to do and where to start. At last, we decided to do it from bottom to top. Many practitioners in the UK were involved with this. Many practitioners went to their local Amnesty International groups to tell the truth. With practitioners' great efforts, this year Amnesty in UK has passed the motion of supporting Falun Gong. At the same time, through my contact with them, I gradually understood their position, their principles and rules, their kindness and efforts they have made, and their pressures and manpower limitations. I learned to understand them and respect their principles. By doing it this way, the relationship with them was softened.
As I said earlier, expectation itself is an attachment. Even though it is for Dafa, you can only get something when you are not attached to it. Only when we try to understand other people and respect them, can harmony be produced. Whatever we do is a process of cultivation in which we need to improve ourselves genuinely and let go of our attachments. Then what we do is meaningful. Complaining is a negative type of matter. When there is a lot of this type of matter, it will form a negative energy field and in such a negative field, it will be difficult for practitioners to communicate and understand each other, difficult to reach harmony, as this negative material becomes a block between practitioners. If we could learn to be more tolerant of other practitioners, try to understand and listen to what other practitioners say, it will produce a positive energy field. In such a positive environment, it would be easier for practitioners to communicate, to understand and to assimilate each other. It will reduce or avoid many unnecessary conflicts. Even if there is any conflict, it would be easier to solve it.
When a conflict happens, it is actually a sign of selfishness, a sign of not being able to "give up oneself". In cultivation, your realm is very important. We need to have the realm of giving up everything, including giving up oneself. If we can give up ourselves, there won't be any conflict. We are all coming from different universes and different planets, so different understandings of Fa are unavoidable. Trying truly to accept this difference, accept every practitioner taking a different path in their cultivation, many conflicts will be solved in no time. We are all kings and queens of our own universe, what we need is compassion to look after our world and sentient beings there.
(Copenhagen, September 22nd 2002)
