(Clearwisdom.net) I have recently seen the emergence of a certain amount of emotions when dealing with practitioners. It is not a normal relationship among cultivators, but as common as it is, we do not expend enough effort to correct it. It is with us all the time, but we do not even realize it. We do not clearly understand it, even though it has greatly interfered with the Fa-rectification and brought a huge loss to the Fa. At present, this interference has become especially strong.
The most obvious phenomenon is the constant desire for agreeable relationships among practitioners. Unfortunately, practitioners do not treat each other with sincerity, though their relationships appear superficially harmonious. Even when noticing an individual's or a group's problem, one would rather be quiet than point it out, for fear of offending others. Favoring those with similar views and those who are easy to get along with translates into caring for each other like people in everyday life. Furthermore, having such long-term, incorrect relationships makes some practitioners feel pretty good. They think that this is the way it should be. They find it difficult to listen to and accept differing opinions. They forget that they are cultivators and cannot see through the problems brought about by this kind of mindset.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital:"
"There are many religious groups today who say: 'Oh, look at how good things are with us here. Everyone is very caring and loving towards one another.' What are they loving, though? (Audience laughs) They love attachments, love happiness in the mortal world, and love maintaining that human pleasantness among people. Is that cultivation? It's not! Absolutely not. That's only a shield used to protect human attachments."
A properly functioning relationship among practitioners should be beyond everyday people's relationships. We should be responsible, treat each other sincerely, coordinate well, and harmonize every aspect in validating Dafa and rescuing sentient beings, which is the real goal of our being here. We are cultivating ourselves. Our human side will surface when we're not diligent, but we cannot remain in this state for long. We should be alarmed by this abnormal state and correct it. Keeping silent when noticing fellow practitioners' problems and maintaining superficial harmony is being irresponsible. Some practitioners keep silent or do not speak their true feelings in discussions, always saying "good" or "OK" and seldom sharing their opinions. This will inevitably affect the outcome. Many practitioners have their own opinions, but to avoid hurting others' feelings and damaging the apparent harmony, they have gradually gotten into the habit of talking about others behind their backs. This has created a separation in other dimensions that has worsened the conflicts and complicated the problems. Many unsolved, hidden problems will hinder the Fa-rectification progress.
When we dug deeper into this, we found it to be a carry-over from the culture that the Communist Party instilled in us. People have long been living in this society that has no freedom of speech, and during the political movements throughout history, people's words were often captured by others and then used against them. As a result, people think twice before making a comment in public, say things in a roundabout way, or keep silent. This is also what the Party is doing. The evil Party specter has created the Party culture to interfere with the Fa-rectification. Dafa practitioners should follow what Teacher has said, by breaking away the poisonous elements of the Party culture and forming a normal relationship among practitioners.
Relationships based on human sentiment are rooted in selfishness. In these relationships, people are attached to their human things and to protecting them. In addition, they fail to treat fellow practitioners' things as their own things and keep themselves out of the one body made up of other practitioners. They have forgotten that they are also members of the one body, that others things are their things, and that practitioners should look at everything with the standard of the Fa. Feeling too embarrassed to point out fellow practitioners' problems, it seems on the surface that one fears that the other practitioner won't accept it and therefore it will hurt the practitioner, but in fact he is the one afraid of being hurt.
This phenomenon has existed for a long time and been neglected. We haven't realize its danger and haven't considered it to be a big problem, but it can cause great harm. Based on the persecution cases that have happened throughout the country, be it material production sites being damaged or practitioners being illegally arrested, before it took place, other practitioners had seen some problems with the practitioners involved. Some time and opportunities were given to us to have it rectified, and if practitioners had been responsible to each other, been free from human sentiment, looked inside when problems arose, spoken up and shared their opinions openly, kindly pointed out the practitioners' problems, and helped correct them, then a lot of losses could have been prevented. Dafa practitioners are one body, and whichever practitioner has a problem it is also our problem and can result in a chain reaction. Why couldn't we correct our shortcomings based on the Fa and solve our problems smoothly? Why did we always learn our lessons and find our shortcomings afterwards? Isn't this human sentiment, the fundamental attachment of "self" and "me," that is keeping us from talking frankly and treating each other sincerely? Is this a small problem?
Of course, some practitioners have more or less pointed out other practitioners' problems before, or have talked to the coordinators about their suggestions, but weren't able to solve the root causes. It certainly has something to do with the enlightenment quality of the practitioners involved, but it also has elements of cultivation. When our fellow practitioners don't accept our suggestions, we should not stop there and become quiet. Isn't this an opportunity for cultivation? We should examine our mindset: Are we complaining or blaming others? Are we being responsible for other practitioners and being compassionate? Are we truly treating other practitioners' matters as our own and trying our best? If we have indeed done that, according to the Fa, he will surely accept it and will be moved by our compassion. If we can treat the process of helping fellow practitioners as a process of improving ourselves, we can quickly find our own problems, purify ourselves, eliminate all the human notions including human sentiments and face-saving that keep us from helping practitioners, and handle it and share our understandings with kind thoughts and compassion. The resulting outcome will definitely be different.
Recently, I interacted with a fellow practitioner who is very influential among local practitioners. During our exchange, I saw her lack of the sense of one body, which was sealing herself up unknowingly. For instance, when other practitioners invited her to participate in Dafa projects, she would find excuses not to go. When experience sharing meetings were held, she would not attend at all. I had pointed it out to her several times, and she would admit it but never change. What was the problem? I looked within and found that I was judging her with my notions, helping her to look within but forgetting to look within myself. In addition, fearing to hurt her feelings, I beat around the bush when I talked to her. Of course this wouldn't have much effect. I wondered why I had changed from talking frankly to saying nice things, and couldn't point out the root of the problem. Under such circumstances, I didn't say what I really meant. Why was it so difficult to say what I wanted to say? The reason is human sentiment. That is, the need to protect the human things, the human friendship, and fearing embarrassment and an unharmonious atmosphere. It is not difficult to remove them, but failing to realize its harm to our cultivation as one body is harmful. When I removed that sentiment and understood the Fa principles, I shared my understandings with her again. Things started to change. When I said what I wanted to say, the obstacles disappeared, and she could not shield herself anymore. She said she felt really good, and found that something that had been bothering her for a long time had disappeared. In fact, it was not that I had the ability to help another practitioner, it was the Fa that solved her problems. What we can do, though, is to remove our human attachments during the process and assimilate to the Fa. When we treat our fellow practitioners with true thoughts and compassion, our words will be based on the Fa, and Dafa's power will manifest itself.
My fellow practitioners, let us let go of the human sentiments among each other, walk our paths righteously, maintain our way of doing things, help and care for each other, treasure each other, form a one body that is unbreakable, and advance diligently.