PureInsight | April 5, 2004
[PureInsight.org] As we devote ourselves to Dafa work every day, we sometimes neglect our fellow practitioners, who may have sacred predestined relationships with us. Have we ever wondered why some fellow practitioners have suddenly stopped showing up [for group Fa study and other group activities?] Maybe we have, but we might have quickly drawn a conclusion: "Cultivation practice is like great waves sifting the sand: What remains is gold." (From "For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?" in Essentials for Further Advancement ) Or we might think, "Those who have stopped stepping forward to safeguard Dafa are not diligent in their cultivation." We immediately stopped thinking about those fellow practitioners after we decided that they "have stopped stepping forward."
If we take a good look at these thoughts, they show that we are being extremely unkind and cold to those fellow practitioners. I remember that, for a period of time after July 20, 1999, those Dafa practitioners who stepped forward for Falun Dafa often harshly criticized and reproached fellow practitioners who hadn't stepped forward because they thought it was unbelievable that those practitioners would stay at home while our Teacher was being viciously attacked by the Chinese government's slanderous lies. If we treat fellow practitioners with the same attitude after years of cultivation in the Fa-rectification period, we would be repeating a big mistake.
In fact, our understanding of "stepping forward" has continuously improved. When the persecution against Falun Dafa first started, we emphasized the formality of stepping forward because we thought physically stepping out of our homes and validating Dafa might be the only thing we could do. Now, we need to clarify the truth in various ways, and some require participating practitioners to do low-visibility work at home. According to my knowledge, this is one of the reasons why some fellow practitioners rarely have time to meet with other practitioners. One and half years ago, I would call a friend and fellow practitioner every time after I returned home from participating in a public activity to help end the persecution. I would ask her each time why she didn't go, and she didn't say anything to defend herself. I added, "What were you doing? (when we held the public activity)" She replied, "I haven't been doing anything." Then I started giving her an serious lecture on the solemn responsibility of a Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification period. She just listened quietly on the other end of the line. Later when I saw video and audio programs showing factual information about Falun Dafa and the persecution that she had produced, I realized what she had been doing. I can't describe my feeling when I watched the programs, because I was so ashamed of my shallowness, my show-off mentality and my selfishness.
We are so used to evaluating things with our notions that oftentimes we neglect to treat them with the righteous thoughts and compassion that Falun Dafa requires of us. Indeed, some practitioners haven't stepped forward because they see that some other practitioners haven't stepped forward either. When they see attachments and omissions reflected in the speeches and actions of those practitioners who have stepped forward, they lose confidence in themselves, thinking, "If even they can't do well, how can I?" They are the targets of persecution from the demons of other dimensions. Why can't we call them up and talk to them like friends? When we truly care about them, our divine side should be at work. Wouldn't that be another way to follow Teacher's arrangements?
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/5/6/15892.html
