PureInsight | May 19, 2018
[PureInsihgt.org] Master has addressed in the Fa many times that Dafa disciples must cooperate. However, in an actual cultivation environment, it is not easy to cooperate unconditionally without any complaints and to assist other people even when they harm, misunderstand, or pressure you.
There is a saying among ordinary people that if you cannot put up a fight, then you should avoid it. In many situations when practitioners have built up longstanding grievances or were not valued or criticized in a team project, many practitioners prefer not to endure it and instead hide or avoid the situation. They refuse to be defeated, but they also refuse to actively cooperate, maintaining a cold attitude. Currently many practitioners are constrained by this negative mentality, and their cultivation has stagnated at this level for a long time. They feel distressed, yet they find it difficult to break through. They hold it in and are unable to remain calm. They intentionally or unintentionally try to find an excuse. Actually, being able to understand the Fa and cooperate has become an urgently needed breakthrough for the whole body.
Practitioners who do not want to cooperate have a common knot: At some stage, they have been treated very unfairly. In addition to the offending person not changing, the practitioner who has been treated unfairly still must cooperate. Some practitioners in this situation think that if they helped them successfully, then the offending person would receive all the credit and have greater mighty virtue while they would receive nothing. How exactly have they understood the Fa principle? Some people are unable to understand.
Here I would like to discuss my own understanding regarding this type of situation. Whether something succeeds is a separate matter from whether an individual cultivated. If one cultivates better, then something is more likely to succeed. However, there is also the common situation where someone succeeds, but did not cultivate. There was a region that had many well-progressing Dafa projects that received recognized praise. Of course, the coordinator was also very important. Does that mean the coordinator cultivated well? Later, the coordinator was afflicted with varying levels of hardships and severe sickness karma. Several cultivation shortcomings were revealed. That was when everyone realized that the region’s success was a result of true cooperation among the Dafa disciples in that region. Even though there were problems, everyone was able to let go and cooperate. The result was that those who followed the coordinator cultivated and improved; unfortunately, the coordinator may have been caught up with the immediate successes and treated them as validator of his own cultivation. As a result, he neglected to eliminate many attachments and failed to cultivate during the process. Instead, he created some negative factors that helped others to cultivate. As days became months, the hardships piled up and came crashing down, at which point he did not know how to proceed because he was not mentally prepared. That past glory seems fleeting.
I would like to use this example to clarify my understanding of what true cooperation is. Cooperation is not simply assisting the other person in accomplishing tasks. For everyone involved, the opportunity is actually a test to see if one can cultivate oneself and is unrelated to others. Regardless of the treatment received, a practitioner should be able to let go of grudges and truly cooperate with the other person without any complaints. Regardless of whether the task succeeds, the Gods will see that this person is truly cultivating and improving. The result is that nothing can stop this person’s cultivation path. On the other hand, the mentality of not wanting to cooperate only harms oneself. Gods see this as not cultivating and stagnating on this level. Even as the coordinators, despite something succeeding and seeming to add glory, if they did not emphasize their own cultivation while everyone else cultivated, then when the time comes they will have to face the consequences of not cultivating. In the Gods’ view, whether something succeeds has its inner reasons.
Only you know whether you cultivated and want to cooperate. Wanting to cooperate only if the other person treats you well and not cooperating otherwise is cultivating with human notions and reflects stagnating at a certain level. Protecting oneself is only protecting the human surface, haven’t we endured countless hardships in order to cultivate in the Fa-rectification? Can we return to Heaven by stagnating at a certain level? Isn’t that giving up halfway? For a true cultivator, when someone mistreats you, you should treat yourself as a junior monk. No matter how much you are shortchanged or treated unfairly, that will not interfere with your willingness to cooperate. That is rapid progress in improvement and realm. At the same time, you will view many human things lightly, and you will have a breakthrough in your understanding of true cultivation.
Cultivation is serious and fair. Whoever cultivates and enlightens will obtain. Those practitioners who were “forced” by various conflicts into a passive state of not wanting to cooperate and maintaining a cold attitude should treat it as a test and believe that they can pass that test. Eliminate everything to start afresh and truly cooperate with others and become part of the body. Perhaps the environment is still difficult, and perhaps the other person has not changed, but one thing will be validated by the entire universe: you are changing, you are cultivating, you are letting go, you are improving, and you are living up to Master’s salvation, your sentient beings, and your vow.
Chinese version: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/242651
