PureInsight | April 22, 2013
[PureInsight.org] In order for me to get rid of my stubborn human heart, Master has tempered me on many occasions. These have all been opportunities to be cherished and worthy of gratitude!
1. After putting down self, I had a true, calm mind
In the past, I have observed abrupt, fierce conflicts between Dafa coordinators. Once I heard a practitioner shout with a loud voice, “Nobody is allowed to bypass me in doing things from now on!” Then many issues erupted like a volcano. However, one coordinator later told me, “They (the coordinators) sat together several days later. This time someone apologized sincerely, someone looked within, and then they had dinner and were chatting and laughing. It was like the sun coming out after a big storm. This however, cast a shadow in my heart, which originated from memories of seeing practitioners bitterly fighting against each other like that. Because I felt I had to mind my speech, I could not share with other practitioners, as a result, I felt quite distressed in my heart.
Once, while I was in the process of enduring suffering, compassionate Master pointed out some of my human attachments. One day when I opened Zhuan Falun, a row of characters caught my eyes: “Or while they’re chanting scripture, they might be thinking, ‘So-and-so was so mean to me.’ They also intrigue against each other and have clashes. You can’t deny that this happens in today’s Age of the Law’s End. It’s not that we’re criticizing Buddhism here, but the temples in the Age of the Law’s End really aren’t tranquil. As they think about those things they send out such bad thoughts—how could that Enlightened Being come?” The words “aren’t tranquil” especially struck me, and “How could that Enlightened Being come?” was like a heavy hammer jolting me awake! My whole body shook. In no time at all, every cell in my body came to life and I felt the merciful call of Master from inside me; at the same time I suddenly enlightened: I saw clearly that the old forces had installed in me a pair of very secluded, outward-looking eyes which focused on other Dafa disciple’s every negative manifestation. The old force fundamentally did not believe or like Dafa disciples and because of my fundamental attachments to ego and focusing on other beings’ selfishness and egotism, I was fettered and perplexed by these deceitful, old perceptions and therefore unable to negate thoroughly everything of the old forces. It was these turbid, rotten attachments that were causing me to be “not tranquil” and wearing down my will of being a diligent cultivator.
I sent forth righteous thoughts and the rigid substance of egotism dissolved in an instant. My heart felt as if it were emptied, and only Master’s mercy could be felt. I then felt that my heart was reconnected with fellow practitioners’ hearts; at this moment I felt as if I heard their joyful and kind voices talking and laughing, and the sound of nature reverberated in my spacious cosmos, making me feel tranquil and warm.
2. Put down egotism and put into practice “complement and perfect silently”
A coordinator who was in charge of a project to save sentient beings was eager to save people. Once after Fa study in a big group, I was about to leave after finishing something when I heard this fellow practitioner say, “Put aside all matters when sending righteous thoughts—it’s enough to send righteous thoughts only for this project, as it encompasses everything. This project is more meaningful than the three withdrawals!” I stopped in amazement. What this practitioner had said was to some extent improper, so what should I do?
I could not help but think of Master’s Fa: “When another God proposes an idea, they aren’t eager to reject it, and they aren’t eager to express their own ideas and they don’t believe that their own ideas are good. Instead, they look at what the end result of the other God’s proposed approach will be” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.”). Master also said in the lecture: “That’s why they look at the results, and if the result of a God’s idea can achieve the goal, if it can truly achieve it, then all of them will go along with it. That’s how Gods think. Also, if there’s something lacking in it they’ll unconditionally and quietly supplement it to make things more complete and perfect. That’s how they handle things.”
My heart felt sure and steady, but I could not step in and break this fellow practitioner’s words; after all he was a coordinator. If two voices emerged at this time, the goals of saving people and cooperation as one body might be affected. Was not this Master’s requirement that disciples should “unconditionally and quietly supplement it”?
After we had finished Fa study, I asked softly, “How should we send righteous thoughts?” The other practitioners were dumbfounded, then all said immediately “Right! We might have forgotten had you not asked—our righteous thoughts cannot be changed. Isn’t it good to just add this project as well?” I said, “The more we do, the more mature we will be.” Everyone went home happily. Later that same night, I told the coordinator frankly that our sending righteous thoughts should not be interfered with, and that we should stay on the right path and avoid deviation. The coordinator did not agree. Consequently, although we did not reach consensus, we still were very happy. A few days later however, the coordinator said in group Fa study that he was wrong. Was he not correcting himself and getting back on the path that he should follow?
Just like with affairs having to do with rescuing fellow practitioners, promoting Shen Yun, distributing materials, and cooperating in different projects, etc, if I always thought about the need of the entirety and my shared responsibility within my abilities, then I would be able to do more to cooperate, complete, and perfect what needed to be done. Once, the same coordinator said, “Why do you always follow other practitioners and not go your own way?” I said, “If I can help by cooperating, completing, and perfecting with what fellow practitioners are working on or doing, and as long as it can help Master rectify the Fa, that is the path I will take.”
3. Wholeheartedly cultivate oneself, validate the Fa without attachments or pursuit
We needed to edit a truth clarifying pamphlet as well as compose and organize the relevant pictures to go in it. So when a coordinator handed this project over to me, I sensed the encouragement of Master and the trust of fellow practitioners, and I realized that I must do it well. I planned to draw illustrations to enrich the whole content; sometimes I was too busy to eat. However, upon starting the project, the concept I thought of was good, but I had not drawn anything for a number of years, so it was quite hard to display. I needed some time to practice. At that time I felt that Master arranged for a professional fellow practitioner to help me. He said, “You just draw as I tell you, and you definitely will not have any problems.” He stood beside me and gave me some directions. The pictures were finished without a hitch. After drawing them, I showed them to other practitioners and they remarked, “They are like photos!” My confidence was boosted greatly. I then asked the practitioner who had helped me excitedly, “Can we cooperate together to draw the next one, and then draw the cover?” He refused and said, “The resources of Dafa can be shared and there are many good pictures for us to use. Isn’t it faster and more efficient for us to use an existing picture than spending a lot of time to draw one from scratch?” I was silent and felt a little heavy in my heart after hearing that.
The next day, while I was at this practitioner’s home, he told me kindly, “I know you are keen to do well with validating the Fa.” He patiently and kindly told me a few words about his situation, including what he was seizing the day to do, as well as everyday things at home and at work that just needed to be done. Only then did I suddenly understand that this fellow practitioner had done his best with the three things aside from his normal, everyday duties and responsibilities. It was not until then did I discover that I had long been harboring a will to validate the Fa using my professional skills but had been unable to, and now I wanted to compensate for my regret subconsciously. The reason why I had placed demands on him was just to satisfy my desire. At the same time, I enlightened to another layer of meaning having to do with looking within: as Dafa disciples, we should look within and search within ourselves one hundred percent. No matter how good that thing might seem to me, even though it was very beneficial for validating the Fa and saving people, I cannot do it if it becomes that I make demands on other people, and neither can it be an excuse for my forgetting to cultivate myself. I understand that Master wants each Dafa disciple to become an Enlightened Being with virtuous enlightenment and righteous Fa by looking within and not demanding outwardly of other people using one’s own notions, even though in this circumstance, it was for validating the Fa.
My heart became clearer from this experience. I must treasure the last moment of Fa rectification and truly help Master to rectify the Fa.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/114512
