(Minghui.org) Master Li said:
“No matter how a person cultivates, he can’t conceal the attachments that haven’t been eliminated. No matter how he cultivates, I use all kinds of methods to expose his most stubborn attachments—even when he thinks he’s doing the most sacred work. Even when you’re doing Dafa work I will still have them manifest. It’s no good if the work itself doesn’t help him to improve; the improvement of his xinxing is the number one priority, his elevation is what’s most important.” (Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants)
I enlightened to the understanding that no matter how many truth-clarification calls I make, my number one priority is to improve my xinxing. I would like to report my experiences on the RTC platform during this past year and reflect on my own attachments. I know there isn’t much time left and I would like to strive to be more diligent and upgrade my level in cultivation.
I know that I need to be compassionate while clarifying the truth, but deep down inside I’ve always regarded people who worked in law enforcement in China to be very evil and bad. I regarded them as people whose evil deeds needed to be corrected; however, I didn’t put myself in their shoes. On the surface it felt like I was doing the right thing by clarifying the truth to them, but, in fact, I was not being compassionate at all.
While sharing experiences with another practitioner, I found the root cause of my attachments: I held grudges against people whom I clarified the truth to and I spoke arrogantly. Now I’ve learned not to talk back if people say something negative; instead, I should hear them out and help them overcome their barriers to Dafa in a calm and peaceful manner.
I once called a police chief to ask about the condition of a detained practitioner. The chief asked, “How did you know about this? Are you a relative? How did you know about his case since he is still in China?” I told him that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner outside of China and that this practitioner’s case was highlighted internationally. He went on, “Since you know about him, you should persuade him to stop his hunger strike. He also hit our officers.” I told him calmly, “Falun Dafa practitioners abide by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We do not hit or swear at people. If he used violence, he would not have chosen to be on a hunger strike.”
The chief changed the topic and asked what organization I belonged to and who was in charge. I replied, “We voluntarily make phone calls and hope that you will understand the truth.” He then asked why I was inquiring about this particular case as it had been ongoing for a while. I told him that many practitioners outside of China had been paying attention to this case.
He kept asking how I knew about it, so I told him how he could break through the Chinese internet blockade, which he carefully noted down. He told me to come visit him in China and have a chat. I told him that Taiwanese practitioners have gone to China in the past and were illegally detained. If I, too, went to China, I’d run into the same thing. Surprisingly, he agreed with me. I also told him about some international regulations and also how the United States has sanctioned Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members.
This phone call lasted about 16 minutes. First, I accepted what he said instead of thinking about how to counter him. I am grateful for the wisdom that Master has bestowed upon me. I was able to talk to him sincerely while clarifying the truth to him. He was also very friendly and chatty.
From what Master said, I know that the Three Realms was created for the Fa-rectification and that we came from beyond the Three Realms.
Master said,
“Before descending to the world, we promised each otherWhoever obtained the Fa first should find the other”(“Fulfilling The Vow,” Hong Yin III)
My understanding is that I once made a vow to awaken people who work in law enforcement by clarifying the truth to them.
One time at a large group experience sharing, I caught wind of another practitioner being criticized for the way they made truth-clarification phone calls.
I felt very uncomfortable and thought that the practitioner’s criticism was directed at me. I felt very depressed and was unable to look inward. My first thought was to start reasoning with him; I was blinded by all sorts of attachments. This made me very agitated and I was unable to concentrate on studying the Fa and clarifying the truth.
When I continued to make excuses for myself, I thought of the Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles. Master said:
“I want the environment to be one in which everyone can accept criticism and at the same time look inside themselves. If everyone cultivates himself, everyone looks within, and everyone cultivates himself well, won’t the conflicts be few?” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
I stopped looking for excuses.
I started to look inward and realized that I was using human notions to solve things and was not viewing things from a cultivator’s perspective. When my human side takes the lead, I feel that I am being wronged, but if my cultivated side takes the lead, I know this is a tribulation for me to overcome. Upon realizing this, I resumed making phone calls to raise awareness of the persecution and they went better than usual.
In these few days, I’ve realized that these criticisms were provided to help me cultivate better; they were opportunities for me to improve myself.
Master said,
“But normally when a problem arises, if it does not irritate a person psychologically, it does not count or is useless and cannot make him or her improve.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
“Others can’t say a critical word about him, he can’t take any criticism, and even if he does something wrong he won’t hear a word of it. How could that work, though? How is that being a cultivator? Even if you are doing Dafa things or things to save people, you still must be a cultivator in the process. You can’t go about them as ordinary people.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
“The very act of using human thinking to stress who’s right and who’s wrong is in itself wrong. That’s because you are then using the logic of ordinary people to evaluate yourself, and using that logic to make demands on others. As gods see it, for a cultivator to be right or wrong in the human world is not important in the least, whereas eliminating the attachments that come from human thinking is important, and it is precisely your managing to eliminate those attachments rooted in your human thinking as you cultivate that counts as important.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
Master seamlessly arranged this tribulation for me to improve.
I found several attachments during this process, such as refusing to take criticism, being argumentative, thinking I’m superior, and wanting to be recognized. When I think about these attachments, I am very remorseful. Master has always been looking out for us, but we aren’t able to timely recognize our own shortcomings. I will remember this lesson and not let it happen again.