(Minghui.org) Among the many stories and legends that circulate in human society, quite a few are closely related to cultivation. Some of the most notable ones are Journey to the West in the Eastern world and The Lord of the Rings in the West.
I always had one question about Journey to the West when I was young. Since the Monkey King had so many supernatural abilities and could visit Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara or even Buddha Amitabha when needed, if Buddha really wanted to introduce the Buddha Fa to China, why didn't he give the scriptures to the Monkey King rather than Tang Monk?
I later realized why it was arranged that way. This world cannot be casually altered, and many things occurring in other dimensions have to manifest through this dimension. For example, in Christianity, God did not directly save people, instead he sent his son Jesus, who worked as a carpenter and later spread his teachings.
This kind of teamwork effort was vividly depicted in The Lord of the Rings. After the realm of Gondor was taken over by the vicious forces, Aragorn, rightful heir to the throne, worked with others to regain power and destroy the One Ring that could potentially harm the entire world.
Many parts of the story reminded me of the Dafa projects we have been working on. Due to prehistoric vows and arrangements, a particular project could be assigned to a specific practitioner, just like how Frodo assumed responsibility for destroying the dangerous One Ring. No matter how capable we are, we have to work with the coordinator and help him or her to complete the mission—because the task cannot be accomplished without that specific individual.
There was an old Chinese saying, “To catch brigands, one must first catch their leader.” This was taken advantage of by the old forces to interfere with us practitioners. They forced many distracting and harmful elements on the coordinators, making them behave relatively poorly—sometimes not even as well as average practitioners. We need to be aware of this and be considerate of them.
Teacher said,
“When Jesus was crucified, human beings could not see that he was atoning for human beings' sins, and that an enormous amount of sin and karma from a great number of people was pressing down on him--both the number and the amount were huge, and it was extremely dense. That was what caused him such enormous suffering. At that time, were he not tortured he still wouldn't have been able to stand steadily. His burden was so great that even to breathe was a challenge.” ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")
For these reasons, each of us, including project coordinators, needs to cultivate solidly. In addition, we team members have to cooperate well with the coordinators. This way, we will be able to seamlessly form one body to finish the task.
Working together on a project is similar to completing a relay race as a team. Not only does each member need to perform well individually, we have to work well with each other so that we can pass the baton without dropping it.
Compared to the Monkey King, Tang Monk was more steadfast during the journey. While the Monkey King sometimes quit out of frustration, Tang Monk never hesitated and always followed his belief and path. This is a very precious lesson.
Similarly, certain parts of the projects can be done only by coordinators or front-line practitioners. When supporting them, we must do our best and fill in the gaps. When there are no barriers between us, we will be able to work together to overcome difficulty and fulfill our mission.
