Looking Inward and Ascending as a Whole from the Fa

(Minghui.org) A practitioner from our Fa-study group, who is the son of an elderly practitioner A, was illegally sentenced and imprisoned. Due to persecution in prison, his blood pressure reached 240. The prison sent him to the hospital for a checkup. He called his mother (practitioner A) and said she should send money to pay for the expense. Practitioner A discussed this with other practitioners. Practitioner B said: "You know that sending money there is not right, however, if you just cannot let it go, then it is not wrong if you want to do it at your current level."

I was worried after hearing this and said to practitioner A: "It is wrong to do so! Master said: 'No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates.' (“Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful” in Essentials for Further Advancement II) When you send him money, aren't you acknowledging that the evil persecution is right? Your son was very healthy before being imprisoned. Now he has been persecuted like this. The prison should pay for his medical expenses. Furthermore, our cultivation path is the guidance we leave for future generations. We should walk our paths well......"

Practitioner B said: “When this thing happened it didn't matter who was right or wrong. What's important is how everyone is thinking and improving as a whole body after sharing our understandings on the Fa. You have an attachment to pursuing perfection when doing things.” I was not happy hearing this. I did not share my understanding further. I thought what I said was right and I left with resentment.

I discussed this matter with another Fa-study group. Practitioner C said that in order to be responsible for fellow practitioners, we should share our understandings on the Fa with practitioner B and improve together. Seeing sincerity in practitioner C's eyes, I recognized my unrighteous thoughts. On the surface I was being considerate of fellow practitioners, but in essence I was protecting myself. I was afraid of being blamed by fellow practitioners, and I have an attachment to validating myself. Practitioner C said that if we are involved in the rescue team, we should do it well. This is what Master wants. Hearing this, I saw where I fell short. Although I have been involved in rescuing fellow practitioners, my heart has not been truly involved in it. I did not treat practitioners' things as my own things and did it superficially. I decided to eliminate these  attachments.

Practitioner C and I went to practitioner A's home that night. Because my thoughts had changed, the fellow practitioners were very happy to see us. The unpleasant things that happened before were gone, like nothing had happened. Practitioner C and practitioner A shared their understandings calmly, and practitioner A kept nodding in agreement. The compassionate field also affected me. I remembered what Master said: “And when you are thinking things over, whether you use human notions or the righteous thoughts of a cultivator is going to determine the different results you get.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference”) Practitioner A said she was driven by human emotion and was not being responsible for the Fa. She said she would never send money to the evil, and she would firmly believe in Master and Dafa.

After seeing how practitioner C was being responsible to others, I decided to go to practitioner B's home and share understandings on the Fa and improve together. I remembered that I grew up hearing praise from others. All the ups and downs after I got married made me always feel afraid of being looked down on by others. I tried to do everything well in order not to leave any room for others to pick on my flaws. I have an attachment of seeking perfection. I felt relaxed after finding my attachment. After arriving at practitioner B's home, I frankly shared my change of thoughts with her. She said: “You were not wrong. I was wrong. I shared my understanding not from the Fa, but from human emotion.” She also talked about the feelings she encountered in cultivation during the process of elevating her xinxing and how she found all kinds of attachments.

Through this incident, I realized that everything happens in order to expose one's attachments. It is normal to have different opinions and attachments. The most important thing is whether our first thought is looking inward at ourselves from the Fa. It is important to let go of the attachment to changing others and instead understand fellow practitioners from their perspectives. Only by sharing our understandings on the Fa and ascending as a whole body can we walk a righteous path in rescuing fellow practitioners. This is what Master and gods expect from us.

Finally, I want to use Master's Fa to encourage fellow practitioners and myself so that we can be more diligent in our cultivation.

“Study Fa, obtain Fa,
Compare in studying, compare in cultivating,
Examine each and every deed,
Accomplishing is cultivating.”
(“Solid Cultivation” in Hong Yin)