(Minghui.org) When Teacher informs us of the importance of Falun Dafa practitioners cooperating with each other and working together as one body, I believe a parable can be drawn from the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West, published in the 16th century.
The story describes how Tang Monk and his three disciples overcame many hardships on their pilgrimage from China to India to obtain the Sutras, the Buddhist sacred texts.
Tang Monk led the way, but it seems that he was an incompetent leader, causing his disciple Monkey King much grievance. However, the hardships provided Monkey King with a good cultivation environment, and eventually helped him to accomplish the mission, earning him the title of Buddha Victorious in Strife.
Was Tang Monk really incompetent? In my understanding, his focus on obtaining the Buddhist scriptures helped lead the disciples in the right direction.
If Monkey King believed Tang Monk was incompetent, and went out and organized some other people to find the scriptures, would Heaven agree and acknowledge this action? Would he have been able to obtain the Buddhist scriptures? It is quite conceivable that he would not have been awarded the title of Buddha Victorious in Strife, and would still be an ordinary being in this world.
Teacher taught us, in response to a practitioner's question about unity:
“Disciple asks: A student believed that a certain coordinator's planning was poor and that it would not work out that well for us, so he tried to do things independently, and acted on his own understanding of how to validate the Fa. I think that the way he does things is good for validating the Fa, so I have decided to assist him in his efforts.
Teacher: Yes, things like this have happened, where the coordinator didn't think of certain things or the coordinator really didn't do well in certain respects. And some students have seen [what was lacking] and took the initiative to remedy it themselves--these things have happened a lot, too. But when the group wanted to do something, some students would disagree, wanting to do their own things, and then pull some people away to work with them. I want to tell all of you that you should work together with others regardless of whether the coordinator has done an adequate job on something, and together you should get it done better. You can't pull out and go off to do your own thing. Whoever does that is wrong. And as your master, I don't approve of that.” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”)
