PureInsight | October 31, 2005
[PureInsight.org] Yesterday a out-of-town practitioner brought back a notebook computer that we had lent out. I remembered how reluctant another practitioner and I were when we decided to lend it out two years ago. It was working very well. It had a beautiful silver outer shell. The sound of her electric fan was so gentle that one could hardly hear it. We had used it to learn how to use a computer, how to get on the Internet, how to download files, how to print files, and etc. She quietly provided many services for us in our efforts to validate the Fa. How well we had worked together! We named her Xiaohua. We talked to her quite often. When it had problems, we sent forth righteous thoughts to clear the problem. We had a great relationship with her.
Later, when we learned that practitioners in another location were in need of a computer, after consulting with each other, we decided to let go of our attachment to sentimentality and selfishness and give away what we considered to be the most stable computer – Xiaohua. She has traveled to many places since then. I am sure she has provided great services in those places.
After parting with her for more than two years, Xiaohua was returned to us with countless bruises. Her outer shell was torn in two places. After we opened it up, we found dust covering her keyboard and screen. I cleaned her up and turned on the power with a bit of sadness. Fortunately, she still performed well and had good operating speed. I tried my best not to resent other practitioners for not taking good care of Xiaohua and focused on how to "treat" her "injuries."
Later, I learned that practitioners who had used her were complaining that she was too old. In addition, I have observed some fellow practitioners having similar attitudes in dealing with equipment that they use. I believe this kind of attitude bring obstacles in our efforts to validate the Fa. In order to lessen potential losses and troubles, I decided to write this article, hoping to remind fellow practitioners to cherish those beings that not only had come for the Fa-rectification but also have predestined relationship with us. I believe such a attitude will help us do well in validating the Fa.
We are fortunately to be Dafa disciples during the Fa Rectification Period. When we develop our compassion in Dafa cultivation, it is beneficial to all beings. We should cherish all sentient beings and have consideration for them when we do anything.
All the equipment we use, including computers, printers, etc. are living beings. They are being reincarnated in this life as machines. We are cultivators and our views are different from everyday people. We shouldn't consider them merely as products of modern science, lifeless machines produced by factories.
Many practitioners have written articles about the equipment they use. These articles describe many miraculous and inconceivable things that have happened to the equipment used by practitioners. There are many examples and I will not repeat them here.
Actually all the different pieces of equipment we use in our Dafa work are not ordinary beings. Don't they have the good fortune to be able to help us validate the Fa during the Fa-Rectification Period? Could they just be ordinary lives? They are the Fa instruments or even future sentient beings in Dafa practitioners' worlds. They have accumulated mighty virtues in their own rights! They are extraordinary. Why don't we cherish them with compassion?
Some fellow practitioners frequently made such comments: It's not easy to use this machine. That machine is no good. They even judged a piece of equipment by its appearance. They expressed strong dislikes in front of their equipment.
Let's talk about the issue from several aspects:
Fellow practitioners, where is our compassion? Why don't we look within ourselves? We should cultivate our speeches.
Nothing that happens to a cultivator is accidental. Isn't it predestined when something comes into our possession? When we are picky, aren't we attaching conditions to our cultivation and our Dafa work? Should a cultivator do that? A cultivator's every thought contains energy. A thought can create good or bad consequences. To a life that works with us, it will be good if we think it is good and it might be bad if we think otherwise, not to mention when we are actually saying it out aloud. Especially when we say something bad in front of our equipment, we are in fact putting pressure on it. We are mistreating it and harming it.
Once a fellow practitioner complained about her laptop's power supply being too big. She said it was not delicate and pretty enough and she didn't want it. The adapter went out of order right away. When she couldn't find the replacement locally, she took it to the service department for repair. They couldn't open it up and had to use a saw to cut it open. Later, the practitioner recognized what had happened and felt bad about it. One thought or a few words can cause the loss. Not only has she wasted money, she has also wasted precious time. Besides, wouldn't you feel pain if someone sawed off a part of you? Would you feel comfortable?
Furthermore, when a piece of equipment doesn't work properly, why don't we think about what is causing the problem? Why didn't other people have problems when they used it and I run into problems when it comes to me? Can it be accidental? Why don't we ask ourselves, "Have I studied the Fa enough? Am I melting into the Fa? Is my mentality good? Do I treat the equipment as a life and care for it with compassion? Am I validating the Fa with the mind of a cultivator?"
A copying machine used by an elderly practitioner broke down quite often and he'd ask another practitioner to repair it. The practitioner found a couple of minor problems, repaired it, and gave it back to him. After the practitioner who repaired the machine left, the problem reappeared. The same incident occurred several times. Finally the machine stopped working altogether. The practitioner who repaired the machine was baffled. So he asked the elderly practitioner whether there was any problem with his xinxing. The elderly practitioner wouldn't say anything and thus nobody knew what was going on.
Later, a practitioner who had been with the elderly practitioner for a long time talked about the elderly practitioner's situation and then we knew the reason. The elderly practitioner had an impatient temperament. He couldn't study the Fa with a quiet mind and had a strong desire to do Dafa projects instead. When the copying machine showed small problems, he would hit the machine. Sometime he even scolded the machine with obscene language used by an everyday person. We felt sorry upon hearing this. How could the machine not have problems? The elderly practitioner not only didn't send forth righteous thoughts for the machine when it had problems, he didn't even take care of the machine like an everyday person would. Not to mention how the machine would feel, even the evils would watch intensely and would find a loophole to cause trouble. Later everyone persuaded the elderly practitioner to stop truth-clarifying work temporarily and just concentrate on studying the Fa for a while. Being cultivators, we have great responsibilities while we validate the Fa. We would not receive good results if we don't have the righteous state of minds. We would not only endanger ourselves, but also bring loss to the group.
Since we are cultivators, while we use our equipment, there may exist opportunities for us to raise our levels. Many strange cases of equipment breakdown may be caused by our mindsets. When it happens, shall we complain about equipment or to look within to search for the reason? We might realize that we need to study the Fa better, look within ourselves with the Fa, relinquish our attachments, and sent for righteous thoughts. Of course, we should not go to another extreme and never send out equipment for repair. Also, those fellow practitioners who use equipment should learn how to do simple maintenance and repair work and master the technical skills with an open mind. But it will be good for us and won't do us any harm if we always look within ourselves and send forth righteous thoughts when we run into problems.
I had personally experienced an incident with "a computer breakdown." I hope this episode will enlighten fellow practitioners to deal problems with righteous minds:
It happened two years ago when a fellow practitioner A brought several laptop computers to us. He wanted to give the equipment to us as well as practitioners in our neighboring county. He taught us how to install programs and how to maintain the computers. Practitioner A is not only highly educated, but he also had 5-6 years of actual computer experience. He could truly be called a computer expert. Under his patient instructions, we quickly gained a lot of computer knowledge and were able to actually operate those computers.
Since all the computers were purchased second-hand, their quality couldn't be guaranteed. A few days later, one of the laptops broke down. It showed an error message and we couldn't get into the system. After going on the Internet to search for answers and conducting many tests, practitioner A said it was a hardware problem. Since he didn't have the proper tools, he took the computer to a local repair shop. After the people at the repair shop looked it over, they told us that they couldn't repair it and suggested that we take it to the city to have some hardware replaced. Having no other alternative, practitioner A was planning to do that. Since we knew very little about computers, we didn't think about it much. We just let practitioner A solve the problem for us. We didn't think it had anything to do with us.
But then an unforeseen event happened. Other practitioners suspected Practitioner A of being a special agent sent by the evil to spy on us and cause damage. Another practitioner and I had dealt with practitioner A much longer, and we didn't think practitioner A was an agent. But many practitioners still had the suspicion. A false appearance was also created. Our explanations didn't have much effect in persuading others. Due to the false appearance, we ourselves became less sure. In order to avoid bigger problems from developing, we thus decided to ask A to leave earlier (it was later proven that A wasn't an agent).
We couldn't do anything with the laptop computer under such a situation. Our notions were telling us, "Are you as skilled as practitioner A? If we don't take it to the city, it couldn't possibly be repaired." We thus conceded it was the case. Facing with the real situation of a "hardware problem," we had totally forgotten about sending forth righteous thoughts.
One day as I stared at the laptop, I felt sorry it wasn't working. Practitioners at other locations needed more computers. I tried several times in vain to start it up. Besides, I didn't know where I could take it to the city to get it repaired. What was I to do? Later, a thought came to me: I should send forth righteous thoughts toward it. We had sent forth righteous thoughts dealing with other things, why didn't we try to do the same with the laptop? I told myself, "Let's try it. But try not to have any attachment to whether the computer problem gets solved or not." After studying the Fa, I sent forth righteous thoughts. My mind was peaceful and my energy became strong. I then turned on the computer. A miracle happened. All the error messages disappeared and I was able to start up the computer successfully.
I couldn't describe my feeling at that moment. On one hand, I was expecting it because my righteous thoughts were strong. On the other hand, I was also very surprised. I felt many of my previous notions disintegrating instantly. I then remembered what other practitioners had said under similar situations – they deeply felt Teacher's compassion and the great power of the Fa. I totally agreed with that. Only those with similar experiences could understand how much our levels had elevated at that moment. No words could describe it.
I tried to turn on and off the computer several times and found it was completely normal. Later, I took it to the neighboring county and taught other practitioners how to use it. Fellow practitioners named it Xiaoai. Xiaoai has performed excellently and helped practitioners validate the Fa.
I now realized that the breakdown might be caused by our dependence on other practitioners. In addition, because he had such excellent technical skills, maybe practitioner A went to one extreme and didn't think of sending forth righteous thoughts toward the machine when he first encountered problems with it. It could be another reason the evil was able to take advantage of our loophole.
Based on my own experience, I feel we should remember we are cultivators when we use our equipment. In addition, we should send forth righteous thoughts toward our equipment more frequently. It shows our compassion and cherishment towards those lives.
Let all beings that had come for the Fa-rectification play their roles and make their greatest contribution!
Translated from: http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/9/21/110861.html
