PureInsight | January 14, 2013
[PureInsight.org]
One Project
Sometimes I considered myself doing well in cultivation. But some recent experiences made me rethink this.
I have participated in a truth-clarification project for quite a while. In the beginning, I had many ideas and shared them with the coordinator. Although no one said no, there was little support, either. Thinking to conform to the one-body team, I did not insist on my thoughts or act on my own. However, gradually I found myself less interested in this project and the time I spent on it was also reduced.
Later, I realized such an attitude was inappropriate and started to look at things in a positive way. When actively supporting the coordinator and other members of the team, I began to appreciate their selfless efforts over the years. Meanwhile, I also realized that the most important factor in doing this project well is not for the coordinator or others to implement my ideas; rather, it is whether we can actively support other practitioners and help them to succeed.
Occasionally I noticed the shortcomings of other practitioners. In fact, these problems could be temporary or superficial phenomena. As long as a practitioner has a thought to assist Master with Fa-rectification or to save sentient beings, we need to fully support him or her. Since Master has confidence in other practitioners, we have no excuse to not support them with righteous thoughts.
Supporting Other Practitioners
There is a practitioner who used to cultivate diligently. Later, because of the persecution and some other reasons, he left mainland China and began to live overseas. However, as he was busy with making a living, he gradually slacked off in cultivation. Later, he probably did things a practitioner should not have done and his situation became worse and worse. In the past several months, I tried to get in touch with him many times, but neither phone calls nor emails could reach him. In my mind, I thought he might be hopeless.
Then, one day I received an email reply from him. It was a short reply, but I was moved when reading it, thinking there was still hope for this practitioner to come back on track.
I remember that several years ago when one of my family members was detained in China and I did not know the details, I was worried about him and did not know what to do. Then, when studying the Fa, I was thinking he and other detained practitioners were studying the Fa with me. Similarly I was thinking as if we were doing the exercises together and sending forth righteous thoughts together. Later, this practitioner was released. Then he began to cultivate again and joined the efforts to validate the Fa as well as truth-clarification.
In traditional Chinese culture, there were a series of 24 stories on filial respect. One of them was about Zeng Can, a renowned student of Confucius. Born in a poor family, Zeng often had to leave home and gather firewood to make a living when he was young. One day, a visitor came to his home without advance notice. His mother did not know what to do since it was customary for the head of the household to greet guests in ancient China, and she began to bite her finger. Zeng suddenly felt pain in his heart and knew his mother was calling him. He immediately returned home with firewood and asked his mother what had happened. His mother said, “We have an unexpected visitor and I hoped you could come back and take care of it.” Zeng thus greeted the guest and treated him well.
This story is part of the divine culture in China. When realizing the Fa is precious and understanding this Fa-rectification period is unprecedented, we should fully support fellow practitioners from the bottom of our heart, and it will work—just like the story mentioned above. We are not doing this for ourselves, but instead for the sentient beings behind those practitioners. When handling things as we are supposed to as practitioners, we will witness power of the Fa.
Understanding Our Mission
Living in everyday society, I often have many human notions, thinking this person is selfish and that person is snobbish. Because of that, I wasted many opportunities that could have been used to save sentient beings.
Many things happened to people around me in recent years. The husband of my college classmate died of cancer. Although the department I am working in at work is not big, one coworker died of cancer, another coworker’s husband died of cancer, one person resigned due to cancer, while one or two people are waiting for reexamination due to potential tumors—these are problems with the physical body, and there are more issues with their minds. Some of my coworkers or neighbors have spouses having affairs, some have retarded children, some live with broken families, one’s house was taken back by the bank because they could not continue paying the mortgage, and so on.
In “Righteous Thoughts,” Master said: “Dafa disciples are now sentient beings’ only, sole hope for salvation.” In the past, I did not quite understand how meaningful this sentence was. Due to their karma and human notions, as well as moral degeneration in society, many people do not understand Dafa and Dafa disciples. Especially the Chinese people who do not know the truth, they may have resistance or hostility toward Dafa. When having human notions, I tended to look down upon others and was unwilling to interact with them further. But, had I been the only hope to save them, one day after another, I have lost many opportunities and caused huge losses.
Throughout human history, there were many wars—led by Han Xin, Yue Fei, and others—in which small troops defeated larger numbered enemies. In the glorious Tang or other dynasties, virtuous and capable people also established splendid cultures in various areas of the society. Similarly, as we validate the Fa and save sentient beings these days—regardless of clarifying the truth or sending forth righteous thoughts, we have to fulfill our responsibilities and mission. Otherwise, given opportunities with accompanying expectations, we would lead sentient beings in certain regions to no future if we cannot accomplish those assignments due to our slackness or attachments. This would result in a huge amount of regret and major losses.
When reading Zhuan Falun recently, I was often touched deep in my heart. Being insignificant beings in the cosmos, we were fortunate to be able to practice cultivation and be saved; furthermore, we were given important responsibilities. For every step along the way, it requires us to be enlightened by the Fa and keep looking inward. We should not judge fellow practitioners or everyday people with human notions. The most important thing for us to do is calmly examine whether we have followed the Fa, and whether we have acted according to Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Even when there is a little bit hope, as long as it is consistent with the Fa, we need to support others, and create opportunities for them with righteous thoughts.
When we are able to truly let go of our sense of self and understand we are the only hope for sentient beings in that region, we will know what to do. We will also witness the compassion and profoundness of the Fa.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/113659
