(Minghui.org) Recently, a relative of mine promoted an electronic device that contains 800 audio files, including Master's audio lectures. It was exactly what was criticized in the Minghui Editorial Board's Notice published on November 7, 2014.
This relative has cultivated for a long time and has been very diligent. His trust in Master and Dafa is also solid and sincere. I never doubted his sincerity, but I guess he didn't read the Minghui Editorial Board's notice. He thought that this device would help clarify the truth, but he didn't know that promoting it actually disrupted the Fa. It's sad that a genuine practitioner would do such a thing.
How do we avoid these kinds of mistakes that are due to our limited understanding and undiscovered human notions? I believe that the best way is to read the articles on Minghui.
The Minghui Editorial Board's articles give us a heads up, and the experience sharing articles from practitioners all over the world offer us experiences, lessons, and understandings from different angles in cultivation. Reading these articles helps us to see our own human notions and attachments more clearly and thereby helps us to avoid making the kinds of mistakes.
This relative of mine is a high-ranking engineer. He has access to the internet, but he’s never visited the Minghui website. He usually takes Dafa materials from local practitioners, which is where he gets his information.
I know that many practitioners rely on the local production sites but do not read Minghui. I used to be like that. The major reason I didn't read Minghui was fear. I was afraid of being arrested if I was caught visiting Minghui and was afraid that my family would complain about my visiting it. I thought it was enough to take materials from local practitioners.
As a result of these notions, I thought that I cultivated well. But I was arrested and jailed for several years. Finally, I made up my mind to break through that barrier and got onto Minghui.
Here is my understanding: In our daily lives, the number of practitioners we can interact with is very limited. Even at Fa study, there are only about a dozen practitioners, and we tend to talk to only certain ones. Aside from those whose understandings are different from ours, the number of the practitioners with whom we share our thoughts is even smaller. Moreover, these small groups of practitioners think similarly, so we usually don't have diverse understandings.
I am not saying that one cannot cultivate in this kind of environment, but compared to the enormous world that Minghui offers us, it’s more like cultivating in a temple. It may not be an accurate metaphor, but from a certain perspective, the Minghui website does present us with a bigger world. It’s not good enough if we rely only on the material production sites to get Master's new articles and other materials.
To be honest, I didn't pay enough attention to the experience sharing articles on Minghui. The main reason I visited the site was to get Master's new articles and read the Editorial Board's notices.
Eventually, I realized that the reason I didn't like reading the sharing articles on Minghui was due to jealousy. I looked down on other practitioners. Once I became aware of these bad human notions, I tried to get rid of them, and I read more and more articles on Minghui, which really helped me.
When I read the experience sharing articles, I try to look inward to see if I have problems like the ones mentioned in the article. I often see similar problems in myself, some of which are very serious. It it wasn't for these articles, I don't know how long it would have taken me to see those shortcomings.
Sometimes, the sharing among local practitioners helps us to see our problems, but the conversation is not as organized, comprehensive, and powerful as published articles. Then, too, when talking face-to-face, sometimes one's own feelings about the people involved in the conversation will interfere with the sharing.
As to obtaining materials, we need to know that the practitioners running the production sites also have human notions, and they will make mistakes. So we need to know the source of the materials. It is irresponsible if we accept whatever is given to us without measuring it against the Fa. The electronic devices mentioned above were made at those sites; this is just one example.
The problems pointed out in the Minghui Editorial Board's notices are all serious problems that disrupt the Fa. Every cultivator must take these notices seriously. My understanding is that if practitioners turn a blind eye to these notices, they may have serious problems. They should calmly look inward and improve before it's too late.
The Editorial Board's notices help us to see problems and cultivate ourselves, so we should not resist them with our human notions. Instead, we should seize these opportunities to cultivate ourselves.
The practitioners involved in making and circulating the electronic devices, including myself, should look inward and see whether we take the Minghui notices seriously. It's my understanding that we should correct ourselves and make up for the mistakes we have made.
The internet firewall in China is superficial and external and can easily be overcome. But our own attachments, which interfere with us and keep us from reading Minghui, are real impediments. It is terrible when a cultivator cannot see the barriers he or she has constructed and even accepts them as normal.
In a way, the evil takes advantage of our own shortcomings, and the evil's interference is a result of our own notions. The evil's external interference gives some of us “excuses,” so then we restrict ourselves even more. The evil takes this approach to destroy us.
It is easy to say that we need to break through the interference and read articles on Minghui. But for many practitioners, this is a painful process of seeing, overcoming, and getting rid of many attachments. Although it may be painful to break through this notion, once we are able to read Minghui, our cultivation will greatly benefit. It is also something that a genuine practitioner should do.
My understanding is limited. Please correct me if you see anything wrong.
Category: Improving Oneself
