PureInsight | May 30, 2005
[PureInsight.org] Recently a situation has been developing among practitioners in my area and it has gotten worse and worse. It is that practitioners act less and less sincerely towards each other. Because practitioners have had quite a number of conflicts while doing Dafa work, many practitioners feel uncomfortable and uneasy around each other. Some practitioners feel that other practitioners don't behave the way that practitioners should and think that others refuse to change even when they are clearly in the wrong. One might go to another practitioner to pour one's grievances, or find a practitioner who dares to speak to uphold justice. Then the rumor spreads among practitioners, and the practitioner who "upholds justice" ends up having no choice but to gather all the concerned parties together, go over the event and figure out how much each party is to blame. It doesn't work out well. Practitioners still find it difficult to be sincere and open toward each othe, and they still feel uncomfortable around each other.
In experience sharing, many veteran practitioners say that they miss the atmosphere they once had during the personal cultivation period when everyone would talk freely about their cultivation experiences, and wish the whole body could return to the status of the pure land. In that case, let's think about what we talked about back then. At that time, practitioners rarely did things together in everyday people's form, and, on the whole, every practitioner was a member of the ordinary society. Therefore almost all the xinxing tests came from everyday people around us. When we got together, we always talked about things such as, "I have encountered such and such test today," or "an everyday person has given me a such and such hard time, and I was or wasn't able to maintain good xinxing." That field was indeed a pure cultivation practice field, and it could indeed touch any person who walked into it, and everyone who participated in it could be purified by it and could improve.
Why could we form a good cultivation environment back then? It is because everyone was indeed cultivating oneself by looking inward. It was mostly everyday people who were responsible for our xinxing tests; therefore, we couldn't possibly judge the other party with the standard of Dafa and couldn't find excuses for ourselves. We all knew that nothing was coincidental, and. as soon as tribulations came or our hearts were moved, we should look inward and examine ourselves with the standard of Dafa, no matter the right or wrong of that matter itself. If we read Zhuan Falun with a calm mind, we knew that when xinxing tests came, we shouldn't think about whether we were treated fairly or not. There are many examples in Zhuan Falun: the old lady being dragged by a car for more than ten meters; the practitioner being yelled at by his spouse upon getting home; the practitioner being bad-mouthed at the workplace; the practitioner whose coworker told untrue things about him to their boss; the assistant primordial spirit being bullied while wandering; the practitioner encountering four big tribulations in a single day; and Han Xin being humiliated on the street … These examples all show practitioners how to cultivate and maintain good xinxing even when they are treated unfairly and their hearts are moved.
In turn, let's take a look at ourselves when the xinxing tests come from our fellow practitioners. Oftentimes when our hearts are moved and we feel hurt, easily we tend to judge the other party with the standard of the Fa and judge right or wrong with the [criterion of] whether the "result" of the Dafa work was good or not. And as a result we start to fall into the trap of arguing about who is right and who is wrong. In that case, the pure land of cultivation practice is gone, and the bad phenomena in everyday people's groups start to take effect. Many practitioners ask, "Where is our pure land? How come this is so similar to the everyday people's environment, and even worse?" Some practitioners say, "I don't dare to share my true experiences in taking tests in cultivation practice again, because, in the past, after I did it I found it had became a subject of gossip among practitioners and the story had been re-told so many times that it was no longer true." If we take a look back at practitioners' experience sharing in 1995 or 1996, we can see that everybody could sincerely talk about their bad mentalities exposed during cultivation practice, no matter how bad the mentalities were. Why? Because at that time everyone was very clear that those bad things were not their true selves, realizing getting rid of it so all could improve and rise above themselves. And those who listened to the sharing would not treat the bad things as the practitioner who talked about them, instead the listeners would be inspired and encouraged by the process of that practitioner's recognizing his true self.
Moreover, some practitioners have reservations in looking inward, and they always blame the other party after looking inside of themselves. For instance, we often hear the following, "From this incident I have realized such and such problem in my cultivation practice, and I'm willing to improve. But what you have said just now showed that you have such and such bad mentalities. You weren't compassionate enough. Don't think you have no responsibility…"
Now let's think about it everyone, if the other party were not a practitioner, would we have found so many excuses to cover up and protect ourselves? Teacher told us to "not fight back when you're beaten or sworn at." Are we able to do it among practitioners?
There are other practitioners dodging conflicts that one must face. For instance, trying to never offend anybody; taking a long way around problems and conflicts; being unresponsive to conflicts; and forgetting the Fa principle that anything we see or hear is for our cultivation, thus having nothing to talk about in experience sharing, and therefore making no improvement. Some others fall into the trap of trying to uphold justice, trying to figure out who is in the right or wrong, and being overly attached to the gain or loss and success or failure of the matter itself. They lose their peace of mind and even fail to see the sacredness of Dafa as well as the bright future and the magnificent progress of Fa-rectification.
We are Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples and the Dafa work we do is related to our cultivation. The uniqueness of Fa-rectification has determined that we have to work together in everyday people's form to save sentient beings. There will be conflicts and trials among us that are similar to those of everyday people. In such situations, whether we look inward unconditionally, half look inward and half look outward at the other party, or completely judge the other party with what we perceive to be the standard of the Fa, is basically an issue of whether or not we want to cultivate ourselves using these opportunities, and it is the essential problem of cultivation practice. As a matter of fact, as long as the entirety of us are able to look inward unconditionally when conflicts arise or when our hearts are moved, when the entirety of us is in the state of Godhood, what loophole can evil take advantage of? And what Fa-rectification project cannot be done? "Doing work" is merely a process and formality. The realm that cultivators can reach through doing work is the essence and key that Dafa allows us to succeed in doing it.
Finally I'd like to share a paragraph near the end of Zhuan Falun with everyone: "We have also said that if every one of us cultivates his inner self, examines his own xinxing to look for the causes of wrongdoing so as to do better next time, and considers others first when taking any action, human society would become better and ethical standards would again rise. The spiritual civilization would also become better, and so would public security. Perhaps there would not be any police. No one would need to be governed, as everyone would discipline him or herself and search their inner self. Wouldn't you say this would be great? You know that laws are becoming more comprehensive and impeccable. Yet why are there people who still do bad deeds? Why don't they comply with the laws? It is because you cannot govern their hearts. When they are not seen, they will still do bad deeds. If everyone cultivates the inner self, it will be totally different. There will be no need for you to ensure justice."
This concludes my personal cultivation experience sharing. The problems I mentioned above of looking inward while looking outward, as well as liking to ensure justice, are often in me, and they are something bad that I should get rid of. Please point out anything inappropriate.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/4/21/32029.html
