Developing Patience and Cooperation

(Minghui.org) I met Sha in October 2017 shortly after she became my neighbor. I learned that she also practiced Falun Dafa just like me.

Since she was looking for fellow practitioners to study the Fa as a group, we ended up reading Dafa books together regularly. We also went out as a team to expose the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Dafa. “It is Master Li (founder of Falun Dafa) who arranged us to be together,” she said to me, “We cannot abandon one another no matter what.”

When Sha read Falun Dafa books, she was very slow – reading word by word. For myself, I was able to finish reading one lecture of Zhuan Falun in a little over one hour. As we read together, however, it would take us more than two hours to finish one lecture. I had no choice but to wait and wait…

She was also slow in walking. Very often when we were together on the street, I had to wait for her from time to time or even turn back to find her. I became very frustrated and upset from her slowness. One day, all my negative thoughts about her simultaneously popped up. I became very impatient and even looked down upon her. I complained in my heart about how she had slowed things down. Out of frustration, I contemplated no longer studying with her since it was too time consuming. So after we met as usual that day, I told her that I had to run some errands and parted ways with her.

I then went to an underground shopping center. In an embroidery store, I saw a finished cross stitch artwork with two characters, “Let Go.” I was stunned. Wasn’t this a hint from Master Li for me to let go of my attachments? I wondered, “Maybe my thought of abandoning Sha isn’t right?”

As soon as I stepped out of the store, I ran into Sha. I knew that Master was watching us all the time. At that moment, I decided to continue group Fa study and truth-clarification with her no matter what.

Master wrote:

“I believe that the world will be a better place if we can each work on ourselves and look at our character, or thoughts, to identify the source of any problems we experience, and then make a point of doing better next time and try to always be thoughtful towards others.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

After all, as a practitioner, I should look within to improve myself while being considerate of others. My impatience has also manifested in other aspects of my life. When doing household chores, I often tried to finish everything as soon as possible so as to get it over with. My husband often complained about this, but I ignored him. I gobbled down food at mealtime. I did not know why I was always in a rush even though I had no urgent matters to tend to. I later realized it was all because of my impatience. I also knew this was not good, but I was unable to change it. It could be that Sha was helping me to expose this shortcoming so I could eliminate it.

I was thankful in my heart to Master and fellow practitioners. From that point on, I no longer cared about how Sha behaved, but rather, I paid attention to what Master said. I also slowed down my reading speed so that she could hear clearly. When we went out to tell people about Falun Dafa and clarify the CCP’s defamatory propaganda, very often we could walk at the same pace. As she was talking with others, I sent forth righteous thoughts quietly, or joined her in the conversation. Interestingly, I found that she wasn’t slow at all at critical moments. In fact, when catching up with people on the street and helping them learn the facts of Dafa, she was very agile, like a young person.

Looking back at this experience, I felt fortunate that I was able to continue working with Sha. Otherwise, how could I eliminate my impatience? I have read about good cooperation over and over again in Master’s lectures. My understanding is that cooperation requires us to let go of our attachments and human notions. But regardless of the situation, we should follow Master’s words and cooperate well. This is because working well with each other is Master’s expectation, and it is an opportunity for us to improve.

Cultivation is very serious and I am truly grateful to Master Li for everything.