(Minghui.org) This morning a thought of discontentment towards a coordinator appeared in my mind. When I thought about it, the discontent seemed reasonable. I became more and more angry, and my body became more and more uncomfortable. My thinking plunged into confusion.
The physical discomfort alarmed me. Suddenly, I awakened that these thoughts were not my own. When I changed the thoughts, the feelings of discomfort immediately went away.
After enlightening to the situation, I didn't want to think about the fellow practitioners' shortcomings at all. I knew that what I should think about is whether I have similar or other shortcomings. While thinking this, I felt happy and bright from my heart.
I decided to write down today's experience to share with everyone. From this experience, I enlightened that practicing cultivation means cultivating oneself. I found that when I focus on other people's shortcomings, I forget to cultivate myself; then I myself can't be rectified. Beyond this, my attachments will be strengthened and magnified by the evil. What manifests on the surface are troubles and suffering, which is very likely the true reflection on our body of sentient beings' desperate desire to be saved. Instead, when I genuinely search within myself for the shortcomings, I am really cultivating myself, which complies with Master's requirement to "search within" from the Fa. It may look commonplace on the surface, but in other dimensions there may be a great change, like turning heaven and earth upside down. The sentient beings' happiness for being saved will also reflect on the surface, and one can then experience the magnificence of genuine cultivation practice.
In overall cooperation, everyone has different attachments. If we focus on others' shortcomings, it is easy to have conflicts. If everyone doesn't cultivate himself, then it's difficult to resolve those conflicts. Over time, with conflicts constantly intensifying, it may turn into accumulated resentments. Then fellow practitioners may find it difficult to cooperate with each other at all.
Typically in a conflict, both sides fail to look within; instead each accuses the other side of not cultivating. I found that the biggest obstacle which blocked me from cultivating myself was my thinking about why the other person doesn't cultivate himself. I realized that I regarded changing others as the precondition for changing myself and that this state of not cultivating myself seriously deviates from the Fa.
One thing that impressed me the most occurred six years ago. Two practitioner decided that I was complaining too much about a coordinator, and they came to share their understandings with me. To defend against my attachments being touched, I felt a bit antipathetic. In response to my satirizing and ridiculing, they listened with great patience to my endless complaining about the coordinator. Up to today, I still feel ashamed about my complaining at that time. Later on, I experienced myself several times that it really requires great endurance to listen to another person who is immersed in a strong ego. With the attachments I had, I couldn't think about others first, and at that time I really didn't realize I had attachments.
Finally what a practitioner said awakened me. He said that even if the coordinator made a thousand mistakes, they are not excuses for you not to search within. I couldn't find any excuse to argue after that. Then I discovered that for a long time I hadn't searched within or cultivated myself on the problem of how to treat the coordinator. Although I often talked about cultivating myself, in fact, it meant that I hoped the other person would cultivate himself. The fellow practitioner pointed to the essence of my problem.
Since I had this personal experience, I have been very willing to listen to the advice of fellow practitioners. This is because I learned that I might have attachments that I haven't realized. If some practitioners can point them out, it is my blessing, and it is Master who arranges someone to help me.
For many years when I focused on other people's shortcomings, it was difficult for me to cultivate myself. It seemed that those shortcomings were so obvious and tangible that it was difficult for me not to take them to heart. Later on I gradually realized that I should think over the problems from two aspects. On the one hand, when I see other people's shortcomings, it is reminding me that I must have the same problems. The more serious my problems are, the more prominently the shortcomings are revealed. On the other hand, when I see other people's shortcomings or feel harmed, I am stirred and angry. This is exactly the time that I should abandon my attachments of resentment, jealousy, and looking down on other practitioners.
When we see practitioners not striving forward vigorously or see their shortcomings and attachments, we often "have an abhorrence of evil." But the most important point is that we forget to cultivate ourselves amidst this situation. Instead, I wanted to stay out of it, be strict with others, and cultivate others.
When the old forces see Dafa disciple's shortcomings, they are unable to endure it and must interfere. We must not fall into the ways of the old forces. When we don't attain the purpose of cultivating others, we sometimes fall into evil thoughts about fellow practitioners, which is, "No matter what I say, you won't listen. Maybe I'll let the evil straighten you out; then you can realize it." Such thoughts are very harmful. If we often think such things, aren't we providing the evil with excuses to persecute fellow practitioners?
Master hopes that we cultivate ourselves with enormous compassion. My understanding is that enormous compassion is a characteristic of the divine beings of the new cosmos. It has no limit and is kind to everyone. Whether or not a fellow practitioner does well, and whether or not he or she is kind to me, I should clearly distinguish the fellow practitioner's true self from his attachments, not regard his attachments as him, cherish and respect him, and genuinely realize that even if the fellow practitioner doesn't do well, he is also our great respected Master's disciple, and no other being is worthy of supervising him. This compassion should be the same for everyone. If we show compassion for one person, but have no compassion towards another, then this is not compassion but sentimentality.
Only when another person manifests his shortcomings, can it be seen whether we can endure that person. I think it is only from the perspective of Fa-rectification and cultivation that we can cultivate this enormous compassion. We need to put ourselves in the fellow practitioner's position and think about his difficulties; we need to correctly understand that everyone has different attachments because of different living environments. In our overall cooperation, everyone's virtues are complementary to other people's shortcomings. We mustn't compete against each other. What we should do is to harmonize others' shortcomings with our virtues.
When we can cultivate ourselves amidst everything, then our complaints and anxieties about fellow practitioners will disappear. Of course, we can't go to extremes and ignore fellow practitioners. The instance mentioned above suggests that it is necessary for fellow practitioners to help each other out of kindness. This can promote our improving faster and reduce losses. The effect will be good only when we are in a state of compassion and act out of kindness. We must pay attention to our tone, and it will be better if we share experiences with fellow practitioners in private. Isn't it a process of cultivating ourselves when we help fellow practitioners?
Besides, if two practitioners are in conflict with each other, a third practitioner who is exposed to it should also cultivate himself. He should check to see if his heart is stirred. In this process he should never jump into things or be swayed by either side. When we find that the practitioners in the conflict are not clear, we should silently strengthen them with righteous thoughts, and clean up the evil factors behind them. If we ourselves are swayed by either side of the conflict and become indignant, then we are in fact increasing their tribulations and deepening the existing gap between them.
We may calmly listen to a practitioner until he stops talking. When we keep our hearts complying with the Fa, Master will give us wisdom. For example, only one sentence from the fellow practitioner mentioned above, ("Even if the coordinator made a thousand mistakes, they are not excuses for you not to search within,") awakened me from confusion.
When I was writing this article, I suddenly remembered a statement in an article many years before, which was, "Regardless of whether or not the other person is behaving like a practitioner, at this time what is important is that I must behave like a practitioner."
Moving one's focus from cultivating others to cultivating ourselves is not just a moment of transforming our human notions; it is a practitioner's genuinely upgrading of xinxing. That is the difference between human beings and divine beings. It requires constantly studying the Fa well and genuine cultivation as the foundation. There are no shortcuts.
In overall cooperation, when we are in a conflict, are irritated, feel hurt, or see others' shortcomings, if we can remember the Fa, see our own shortcomings, and genuinely cultivate ourselves, we are sure to cooperate well.
In overall cooperation, if everyone cannot only cultivate oneself, but also help each other, then how powerful would this one body be? There would be no loopholes to be taken advantage of by the evil. What persecution could occur within such powerful righteous thoughts?
Please kindly point out anything improper.
Category: Improving Oneself