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Eliminating Jealousy -- A Competitor Became a Friend

June 19, 2020 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Liaoning Province, China

(Minghui.org) Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa) requires us to be a good person by following the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, no matter where we are. When we are wronged and treated unfairly, Master Li told us not to fight. Rather, he advised us to look inward and to be kind and tolerant.

Another woman, who is 10 years younger than I, was hired at the same time as I to be a caretaker of a warehouse. She was referred to the company by another employee. I was hired through some external arrangement, even though I did work in another department of this factory two years ago. Because she used to work in a similar position, she was familiar with many tools and parts in the warehouse. Thus, she was more knowledgeable than I. She is smart, diligent, and easy-going. In comparison, I am quieter. I prefer to be silent when there is nothing to talk about.

This new employee tried to crowd me out from the beginning. When someone came to pick up the tools, she always got it first. If I accepted the request, she would complain that I was too slow. Sometimes she would grab the tool out of my hand and hand it over to the requester while criticizing me in front of others. An elderly woman was assigned to help us get familiar with the business. The other new employee complained to the elderly woman that I was not capable and did everything wrong. She liked to show off when the director passed through. Thus, the director’s attitude to us became different – smiling at her and cold faced at me.

We used a computer for bookkeeping. This woman I worked with was computer illiterate, so I taught her. She was neither humble nor appreciative. In short, she didn’t like that I could do better than she did. Because I practiced Dafa and follow Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I tolerated her and did not argue.

Later, the elderly woman told me that only one person would be retained for this work. Because my coworker was referred internally, I thought that she would be the one that was retained.

Master said:

“Thus, our practitioners should be like this even less so, as a practitioner should follow the course of nature. If something is yours, you will not lose it. If something is not yours, you will not have it even if you fight for it.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)

I followed Master's instruction and let it be. However, I didn’t put it down in my heart because that woman kept treating me badly. I could not help but complain to former coworkers when we met. When discussing with fellow practitioners, I told them that I didn’t care, but in fact, I had been complaining to others.

One day, I put my clean glass lunch box into a plastic bag after lunch. I didn’t notice that the bottom of the plastic bag was broken. The glass lunch box fell onto the concrete floor and shattered. I was very upset because this lunch box was quite expensive. My coworker heard the noise and came over. To cover my embarrassment I said, “I guess that means it's time to get a stainless steel one!” This incident did not get my attention.

A few days later I tried to make scrambled eggs. When I broke the egg into the bowl, the yolk ended up on the tabletop. I checked and saw that the bottom of the bowl was cracked. That did get my attention. Was this a hint from Master?

Since both accidents were related to making a living, I realized that I must have missed a hint from Master about work.

I dug deep and found that in fact I only tolerated my colleague on the surface, and did not really look inward. The reason why she behaved like she did was actually caused by my attachments. The first was jealousy. I remember when I was in school, I secretly studied and was almost always the last one to sleep every night. I competed with another classmate in the same dorm and didn't want her to get better scores than I did.

Also, when I helped my coworker to use the computer, I didn’t truly teach her well, because of resentment and hatred. In addition, I had a show-off attachment. Didn’t I try my best when the director stopped by? I also wanted the director to know about our problems. My coworker’s performance was a mirror image of how I acted. I also had other attachments, such as competitiveness, self-interest, vanity, self-validation, and looking down on others. I decided to get rid of them one by one.

I recited Master’s poem every day:

“Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in springRighteous thoughts can save the people in this world”(“The Fa rectifies the Cosmos, Hong Yin Volume II, Translation Version A)

I tried to get along with my coworker and treated her kindly. If there was anything she did not understand regarding bookkeeping, I taught her patiently. If there was anything that I did not understand, I asked her about it with an open mind. I told her that we should complement each other in our work. We were both new and should help each other.

I believed that if they were going to keep one person then it should be her, because she was younger. Even though she was not familiar with the bookkeeping, she would improve with practice.

Our relationship became more and more harmonious. We cooperated. When others saw just one of us, they would ask “Where is your friend?” This coworker shared matters of family and factory. She liked to chat with me and consult me. I clarified the truth about Falun Gong to her, and she accepted it. We became friends rather than competitors.

Master said,

“Of course it does not really mean that we are truly foolish. We only care little about the vital personal interests while we are very keen and smart in other aspects. In doing scientific research project and fulfilling the tasks assigned by the leaders, we are quite clear about what to do and how to do it, and have done it very well. But just when it comes to that little bit of our personal interests and the person-to-person conflicts, we take them lightly. Who would say you are foolish? No one would say you are foolish. I can assure you of that.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

At work, I did what I said. Everything became smoother. I completed any task assigned to me. I also found my show-off mentality, jealousy, and vanity and tried to let them go.

The director then said that we both did such a good job that the factory decided to keep both of us. I was assigned to work in another warehouse.

Thanks to Master’s compassion and patience, I changed from being jealous, a show-off, and selfish to being tolerant, kind, and considerate.