Dealing with Fellow Cultivators

[PureInsight.org] At times I used to observe others with blinders on, limited by personal notions. When I found shortcomings in fellow cultivators, I was always unable to tolerate them and let them go. Later, I forced myself to look at the merits of others, persuading myself that their merits counterpoised their shortcomings, and then I felt I did not care so much about their shortcomings.

However, this approach did not always work. When I examined the reason, I found that the approach itself was flawed because it was based upon the viewpoint of everyday people. I was using an everyday person's mind to forcibly counterpoise the shortcomings I imagined with the merits I detected. If I felt that I was unable to balance the two, my heart still felt uneasy. Afterwards, I decided to try an approach that a fellow practitioner told me while sharing experiences. I tried to develop no human thoughts and keep my heart unmoved under any circumstances. Whatever merits or shortcomings, I did not consider them with an everyday person's mind. I tried not to have the attitudes and notions of an everyday person at all. Thus, my heart will not be disturbed by everyday people's notions. After I forced myself to do this, I felt that this method worked very well. I felt that my heart was beyond everyday people's notions of right and wrong and had become very pure. I treated my fellow cultivators with pure friendliness and compassion with no other thoughts at all. At this moment, I was not afraid of offending anyone and had no worries about pointing out others' shortcomings. On the contrary, the effect was very good.

Recently, I find that respect for fellow cultivators always emerges unintentionally from the bottom of my heart. I find that every fellow cultivator whom I share experiences with has merits that I do not have. They have accomplished certain things while validating the Fa that I have not. I can not help admiring them. Their shortcomings become as small as a sesame seed in my heart. Instead, I feel that the cultivators I face are all gods; of course, they are the gods of the future. What is happening now is the process of these great gods growing up. Just like children, when they were young, they would stumble when they walked. But they will grow up in the end. They will walk very steadily. Therefore, oftentimes I feel ashamed that I can't compare with them. I seem to be able to see the rays of light emitted from their cultivated part, which makes me see the shortcomings in myself. I am honored to be able to cultivate along with those great enlightened beings of the future. When in the future we turn around and look back, what an inexpressible magnificence it will be. Thinking of the past, I used to treat fellow cultivators- these future gods- with personal notions. At that moment, how was I positioning myself?

Translated from part 2 of http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/9/8/23357.html