(Minghui.org) Master has told us recently, as he has said before, that the Fa-rectification is ending. But Master has postponed the end to give us more time because a lot of lives have still not been saved and many practitioners have not reached the standard that the Fa requires.
I want to share some of my personal understandings, and also express my wish that fellow practitioners can do what Master wants during this period of time, that is, “The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be.” We should cultivate well and make diligent progress.
1. The Difference between Cultivation and Work
Most practitioners understand that our most urgent task is to save people. But in the hurry to save more people, some practitioners consider the work of Dafa projects to be the same as cultivation.
Master said in “Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005,”“...work is not cultivation, but your cultivation will be reflected in your work.”
Aside from having a job in society, many practitioners also participate in work to validate the Fa and to save people. This work also is not cultivation.
A media company, for example The Epoch Times, has a lot of positions. Many practitioners work in these positions, but the job itself doesn't equal cultivation practice.
However, every practitioner working in these projects can raise their xinxing level while doing the work and can conform to the Fa while dealing with the conflicts and frictions that come up during the process.
I heard some practitioners say things like, “We are all practitioners. We should look at matters based on the Fa and we must look inward. You cannot force everyone to do what was ordered.” This is a typical excuse that occurs because these practitioners have mixed cultivation and work together.
No matter whether you are working in a company or in a practitioners' media project, if a task is assigned to you, you must follow orders from those above and carry out your task properly. You can't tell your manager to look inward as an excuse to not complete your task.
Even in a Dafa-related project, some practitioners will attempt to lead other practitioners. A correct attitude for a practitioner is to look at oneself with the standard of a Dafa practitioner and improve oneself during the course of carrying out the work.
When every practitioner in a project carries out their assigned tasks without resistance and by setting a very high standard for themselves, the project will go more smoothly and will succeed.
2. Passion and Expertise Are Not the Same
Some practitioners have the passion to work in a certain project but put little or no effort into improving their professional skills. They thought they could succeed by working very hard for a short period of time. But the reality is often quite different.
For example, if you want to design a web page, you need to know the code, and some knowledge of page design. Simply being equipped with passion is not enough to design a good and effective web page.
If you want to write a good news piece, you must have a good mastery of the language, knowledge of the topic and be interested in the related developments. This work even involves ethics and a reporter's moral standard.
Every profession has its own standards and regulations. If a practitioner has the passion to work in a profession, he or she should devote some time to learning and studying that profession. A practitioner will be given the necessary wisdom and capacity by Master and the Fa.
The wisdom is given by Master, so it also comes with a higher standard that requires you to be a true cultivator. You must truly improve yourself and not just pay lip service to cultivation and the standard of the Fa.
3. A Disguised Attachment
I noticed that some practitioners like to compare how well one carries out a task with fellow practitioners.
For example, a practitioner helped a certain number of people quit the Chinese Communist Party using a certain method of clarifying the truth. Other practitioners began to compare the results of different methods and even became competitive over how many people they helped quit the Party.
On the surface these practitioners appear to be “diligent,” hoping to have a good impact in clarifying the truth. But if you observe their mentality of competition, you can see some disguised attachments.
When you compete, someone will win and someone will lose. A project requires all the participants to cooperate. But some practitioners will intentionally not support others if they feel that they will achieve less than others.
Do you think it is honorable to tell divine beings that you undermined other practitioners' work to allow yourself to save more lives?
I have seen the attachments of competition, vanity, reputation and jealousy in this behavior. Please don't let “I am validating the Fa and saving lives” become your excuse to cover up your attachments.
From the very beginning, Master has wanted us to let go of selfishness. In return, practitioners will be given the most glorious and magnificent honor.
It has been 24 years since Falun Dafa was introduced to the public. It is not a long a period of time, but it has certainly not been a short journey. But no matter how long and how far we have traveled on our cultivation paths, please do not forget the real destination.
Let's remember Master's words:
“That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.” (Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference)
Category: Improving Oneself
