PureInsight | June 21, 2004
[PureInsight.org]
I. Remaining Attachments
A fellow practitioner recently told me, "I know I have some remaining attachments but I don't really think I need to eliminate them because I need these attachments in order to cultivate in everyday people's society." After our conversation, I asked many other practitioners only to find that they also shared the same mentality.
Then I spent a lot of time thinking about this issue. Finally I decided it's a loophole in our cultivation practice. If we harbor this idea, we will keep compromising our cultivation standard, not realizing we have lost our diligence in cultivation practice. After a while, we will be sure to bump into major obstacles and create substantial damage to Dafa that cannot be repaired.
There should be no end to eliminating our attachments during cultivation practice. In each remaining day before the end of the Fa-rectification, there is always something in ourselves that we need to rectify and some beings that we need to clarify the truth to.
Sometimes I can feel that I'm not in a good cultivation state, but I find it difficult to rectify my state. Or sometimes when I am overwhelmed with conflicts and problems at work and at home, I feel they have gotten the better of me. When any of these situations occur, I tell myself that Falun Dafa is more important than anything else in the world and that everything else comes second. Once I'm clear on what's most important to me, then suddenly nothing bothers me any more and I can quickly restore my tranquility.
II. Falun Dafa Volunteer Assistants' Responsibility
When I studied "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students," I thought, "I don't have to look after my fellow practitioners from now on. I may look the other way when I see problems in fellow practitioners." I asked Falun Dafa assistants in my area to find that they also shared this same mentality.
After I studied "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students" repeatedly, I realized that I was rather selfish. I was just trying to find an excuse to disguise my selfishness and laziness. I wasn't really trying to be responsible to my fellow practitioners.
It may be wrong to force fellow practitioners to agree with my view or to obstruct them from creating their own cultivation paths, but it is equally wrong to just silently watch fellow practitioners or a Dafa project in need of help and not to extend my help. It's definitely not the way a righteous enlightened being would respond in the same situation.
I should look at fellow practitioners from a broader perspective. I should put myself in their shoes before I point out their mistakes, or I should silently correct their mistakes for them without criticizing them.
I feel we shouldn't set any limit when it comes to treating fellow practitioners with compassion. We shouldn't treat them with compassion just to show who is right or wrong [or to show the disparity in our cultivation]. We should cultivate our compassion for the sake of Dafa and the sentient beings. We should cultivate our compassion together with our fellow practitioners in the Fa.
III. Cultivation State
Sometimes when I'm in a bad cultivation state, I feel defeated and lose the motivation to pull myself from that state.
I now realize that I can start from zero. I can go on the streets to distribute truth-clarification flyers. I can make phone calls to China to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa. Even if only one person takes the flyer or even if only one person answers my calls, my life becomes meaningful.
Then if I continue in this manner, I will improve and ultimately liberate myself from the bad cultivation state.
IV. Cooperation
I once wanted to participate more in a truth-clarification project. Although I was self-motivated, I was thwarted because the project coordinator didn't support my idea and we didn't communicate much to resolve our differences. Later, the project was gradually abandoned because everyone became extremely busy.
As time went on, I saw the loss due to the termination of the project, but the coordinator still didn't realize the consequences of his negligence. In my heart I blamed everything on the coordinator. The more I thought about it, the more correct I felt I was. Although I wasn't delighted to see the coordinator's failure, I didn't do anything to help keep the project going. I just silently watched the project fall apart. When another practitioner wanted to start the project again, nobody responded. I still felt indifferent, although I knew that if no one responded, this practitioner would lose his enthusiasm, too.
When I studied the Fa one day, I suddenly awakened. I didn't step forward to criticize the previous coordinator's faults or cry over spilled milk. I quietly lent my support and started to do the things I should do to keep the project going.
V. Criticizing Fellow Practitioners in "Group Discussions"
I've heard other practitioners criticizing a practitioner behind his/her back. At first it was just one or two people, but soon this practitioner became the target of everyone's criticism in "group discussions."
I didn't speak during these discussions because I was unfamiliar with the details about the criticized practitioner. I didn't say anything to help resolve the group's public attack either because I knew that, when these fellow practitioners don't study the Fa well, they are not receptive to hearing anything contrary to their (biased) perceptions.
Meanwhile, in my heart I wondered why I would tacitly agree to their actions of criticizing a fellow practitioner in the group discussions. Was I afraid of possibly losing face if they should attack me and think I was on that singled out practitioner's side? Or was it because I have the same attachments as the practitioner that they openly gossiped about and condemned in the group discussions?
Actually, I should ask myself why I happened to hear about or see fellow practitioners' weaknesses? What types of attachments caused these weakness? Do I have similar attachments?
From another perspective, even if a fellow practitioner has the worst shortcomings, as long as he still wants to cultivate in Dafa and validate the Fa, he is one of the greatest beings in the cosmos' colossal firmament.
As a fellow practitioner, we should lend our support and send righteous thoughts unconditionally. If we don't want to help fellow practitioners in either way, we should at least try not to do or say anything about it, or at least not to think about these practitioners negatively. Dafa will give them the best opportunities. Our negative perspectives and negative thoughts might increase the tribulations for these practitioners.
As I look at this issue again, I can feel the immense difficulties Teacher faces in saving sentient beings.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/5/31/27404.html
