Do Not Treat “Special” Projects and Well-known Practitioners with Special Consideration

(Minghui.org) Master said,

“Also, after seeing the demeanor of the students who travel with me, some people will imitate them without realizing whether they are good or bad. In fact, it does not matter who the person is—there is only one Fa. Only by observing this Dafa can one meet the genuine standard. The people who work by my side have not received any special treatment and are the same as everyone else; they are just staff members of the Research Society. Do not develop those attachments. Oftentimes, upon forming these attachments, you may play the role of unintentionally undermining Dafa.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)

In his lectures, Master has repeatedly warned his practitioners that no one is special, and that we are all people who are cultivating. Different identities, social statuses, occupations, and nationalities are just divisions among ordinary people. Cultivation is the same for everyone. The same is true for the projects that Dafa practitioners manage in order to save people. There are differences in the forms of the projects, but the purpose of the projects are the same, which is to assist Master in saving people.

There are some practitioners who use human reasoning to measure and understand these projects, and treat the practitioners who participate in them with human notions and emotions. For example, they think that the Shen Yun performers are very special; they treat artists, TV anchors, actors, celebrities and other public figures with the human mindset of ordinary people who chase stars and worship idols.

Admiring and idolizing a practitioner can easily arouse and strengthen the practitioner’s attachments to showing off, fame, and self-affirmation. In China, the admiration of one practitioner can even cause a person who has no talent and is looked down upon by ordinary people to become so self-inflated that he or she thinks he or she is better than anyone else. Once he or she develops “mind leads one astray” or wrong enlightenment, he or she will drag other practitioners down with him or her. In this way, many sentient beings and universes will be destroyed, and much interference and tribulation will be brought to Master’s Fa-rectification. There are too many such lessons, and the losses are heavy.

Shen Yun’s artists have extraordinary talents and have achieved remarkable results. Wherever they go, they are welcomed, loved, admired, praised, commended, and respected by audiences. This is a great test for their character. It is already difficult for them to remain humble and maintain righteous thoughts under such circumstances. If other practitioners also idolize them, will the idolization encourage their human notions and make their xinxing test more difficult?

To reach world-class levels, Shen Yun artists have to endure hard training, physical pain, pressure, difficulties, frustrations, and criticism from teachers day after day. On the other side is a comfortable human life, all kinds of enjoyment from ordinary society, praise— that is, all kinds of opportunities to satisfy desire fame, wealth, and emotion. It is already difficult for them to maintain righteous thoughts. If other practitioners flatter them, wouldn’t it make it more difficult for them to persist, and possibly push them to the other side? Moreover, there are new practitioners and young students among them whose willpower and other attributes have not been tempered and matured.

When making programs and filming videos, one needs to get effective feedback and be able to accept criticism. Only by learning lessons and accumulating experience can one truly improve one’s professional level and produce higher quality work. If one only stays within a small circle of fans, one will become constricted and find it difficult to improve.

When media, film, and television projects achieve success and receive praise and awards, it is itself a test for the practitioners who participate in those projects. If other practitioners become star-chasers and idolize them, it will also encourage their desire for fame and fortune, desire for receiving credit, and other human notions, affecting their progress and improvement.

Therefore, when it comes to “special” projects and practitioners, we must not be too fanatical. Instead, we must stay rational, and maintain the pure mindset of a cultivator. This is how we can be responsible to ourselves, to our fellow practitioners, and to the projects that save people.

Master mentioned some situations in the Shen Yun project in his lectures. Some practitioners were reluctant to send their children to the Fei Tian Academy at first. Later, when the children grew up and had problems, the parents could no longer control them, so they sent them to the academy. However, by then, the children’s legs were already stiff, and training to be a dancer was more difficult. 

My previous understanding of Master’s teachings was limited to the point that only by listening to Master can one walk their path smoothly. Otherwise, doing things according to one’s own ideas will bring extra trouble and distress to oneself. I also felt that practitioners’ initial behavior was not appropriate and was irresponsible toward the Shen Yun project. 

A few years ago, I read in a sharing article that some practitioners in China lied so that their children could go to the Fei Tian Academy. At that time, I thought it was just a bad habit of lying brought about by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) indoctrination. Recently, there have been ordeals to our practice in the US. Through sharing articles, I learned that practitioners outside China also have impure motives in sending their children to Fei Tian. To be honest, this shocked us in China. Is Fei Tian a place for practitioners to solve their personal problems? Should practitioners ask Master to do these things for them?

There is nothing wrong with practitioners wanting their children to participate in Shen Yun. But if practitioners say on the surface that they are helping Master save people, but in their hearts they treat the Shen Yun project as a place to satisfy their personal attachments and achieve their life goals, even forcing their children to achieve the parents’ goals... can such participation truly play a supportive role? Is there a hidden desire to take advantage of Dafa projects, or even Master and Dafa? This is a very serious issue for the practitioners themselves!

Facing this ordeal to our spiritual practice, facing the CCP’s direct targeting of Master and Dafa, and facing the exposure of all kinds of human thoughts among practitioners, we Dafa practitioners really need to ask ourselves what kind of mentality we have toward our identity as Dafa practitioners, toward our fellow practitioners, toward the projects to save people, and toward Master and Dafa who saves us! We should examine ourselves and determine if we are worthy of the title of Dafa practitioner and Master’s grace.