(Minghui.org) I had an opportunity to visit a town for a couple of weeks, where I met practitioner C. I bought a printer-copier machine, and went to help C a few times to set up a family truth-clarification material production site, and showed her how to use the machine. I also helped print some Dafa books and some truth-clarification materials which I passed out.
A couple of days prior to leaving her place, she suddenly said to me, “I asked you yesterday to leave me some materials and you didn't, so I had nothing to distribute when going out today. I thought that you were very noble, but you have turned out to be very selfish. You used my place to print materials for your own distribution. I don't want this machine, you can take it away.”
I didn't get angry instantly, thinking that maybe she misunderstood me. I said, “I bought the machine for you to make copies of truth-clarification materials for this area. Since I live so far away, where else could the machine go? I thought that I had spent these many days to teach you how to operate it, so that you could make copies later on whenever you needed them. I am sorry that you're unhappy for whatever I did, please forgive me.” She still didn't look too happy, (I sent forth righteous thoughts in my mind, to eliminate evil elements in other dimensions), but finally she said, “In my house, there are a lot of come-and-go practitioners, so it's rather inconvenient to print materials here.” I immediately understood that she didn't want to talk about her concern and fear. Instead she showed dissatisfaction and made excuses based on what I had done, making me feel upset.
Fortunately, another practitioner came and recognized that Dafa resources are not supposed to be wasted. She took the machine home. After she left, I looked inward: What had caused the friction between C and me?
Teacher said in “Lecture at the First Conference in North America,” (March 1998)
“Remember these words of mine: No matter what trouble you encounter, no matter what makes you feel unpleasant inside, and no matter whether on the surface you’re right or wrong, if you are to truly regard yourself as a cultivator you should always examine yourself for causes. Ask yourself whether you have a wrong, hard-to-detect motive that’s related to the problem. If you, as a cultivator, only part with things superficially while deep down inside you still stick to something or cling to your own vital interests that you don’t allow to be undermined, I’d say to you that your cultivation is fake! If your own thinking doesn’t change, you cannot advance even one step and are deceiving yourself. Only when you truly improve from within can you make real progress. So be sure to remember this: Whenever you come across anything such as troubles, unpleasant things, or friction with others, you need to examine yourself and search within. You will find the cause of that insurmountable problem.”
I suddenly realized that the way practitioner C handled her problem was similar to what I had done before when I was in cooperation with practitioner D. When I didn't really want to do a certain thing, I would first find something wrong with D, then say what I wanted in a disguised way so as to achieve my purpose. Nowadays [Chinese] business people use this method in business negotiations. This is not what Dafa practitioners should do. I found that this was the real hidden human attachment in myself. This was Teacher's compassion to help me find my problem and to get rid of it in cultivation.
Category: Improving Oneself
