PureInsight | January 17, 2002
During cultivation, Dafa practitioners discard many of the attachments of everyday people, but unwittingly may acquire others. The competitive mentality is one of them.
The competitive mentality is often difficult to detect and could mistakenly be perceived as a manifestation of one's advancement in cultivation. For instance, certain sentiments arise while observing others performing important work, if one is unable to do likewise or is not given the opportunity to do so. Why am I unable to speak English? Why am I not gifted in speaking with others? Why am I unable to convey facts of Dafa to Westerners, speak with the news media or meet members of parliament? Why are all these things arranged for others to do? Furthermore, the practice environment is not as ideal as in other cities. They have so many practitioners and so much information is freely available. In addition, they have an endless stream of activities, and everyone is advancing so rapidly. Why do I live in such a remote locality? Isn’t it very unfair?
Everyone aims for advancement and rapid elevation. Our thoughts and feelings regarding these aims can reveal the competitive mentality. Everyday people are fond of competing. They compare their children's abilities to gain admission into well-known universities. They discuss those who have landed good jobs and so forth. Gods arrange human lives. The path of a practitioner is in the hands of Teacher who mentioned that for every practitioner a path towards consummation has been arranged. How can some practitioners be not as good as others just because of different abilities and environments? Those Chinese ladies in Washington D.C. are old and do not know English. However, they persisted going to the Chinese Embassy everyday for two years, rain or shine. Their mighty virtue moved disciples to tears and moved gods in heaven!
It’s not that I have to do the same thing that others do. Every disciple comes from a different origin and has a different path. Cultivation lies in one’s heart, not in one’s abilities or environment! As long as we have the heart for diligent advancement, any one of us in any environment will have the opportunity to elevate and reach Consummation. Let’s not miss this rare opportunity.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/1/8/13232.html
