Looking Inward During Conflicts to Improve Xinxing

(Minghui.org) There is nothing accidental during our cultivation process, as everything is directly related to our own cultivation. There has recently been some turmoil in my project.

The turmoil came very violently, and fellow practitioners were talking about who was wrong, who shouldn’t have done something, and so on. I knew in my heart that the turmoil was arranged by Master to improve everyone involved. There was no right or wrong; there must be a problem on both sides, so the conflict arose. Without attachments, there wouldn’t be a tribulation. If all of us could cultivate in the Fa, the conflict would be resolved immediately, but all I heard was fellow practitioners talking about who was wrong, who should not have done that, and so on, and so many practitioners were involved.

I didn’t know what I could do at that time, so I sent forth righteous thoughts. The moment I sat down and was about to send forth righteous thoughts, I felt a kind of hostility strike. It felt like our dimensional field was about to be torn apart; I felt that kind of fury. My heart clenched at the time, and a kind of fear struck me. I couldn’t calm down for a long time. What was going on? It was a feeling that I had never had before.

In our dimension, it was a kind of indignation. One person thinks that way, many people think that way, and the kind of matter formed by these thoughts in another dimension was extremely terrifying. I remember an article on Minghui.org that mentioned a fellow practitioner being angry about something, and another practitioner saw via his celestial eye that the practitioner’s dimensional field was dark all over, and the beings in his world were crying hard and banging their heads against walls and trees. The article said that our thoughts determine the fate of many lives.

In cultivation practice, when we are provided with an opportunity to improve our xinxing, how can we be indignant? Does this indignation consist of complaining that Master shouldn’t have made it so difficult for us? How many attachments are wrapped up in this indignation? Jealousy, the competitive mentality, selfishness, and emotions. There is nothing accidental in our cultivation.

Master has explained the Fa very clearly, so how can our hearts still be moved so easily?! When we are indignant, aren’t we already dropping in levels? When we encounter conflicts, can we take a step back and look at everything that happened through the lens of cultivation, instead of being trapped in ordinary people’s notions of right and wrong?

Eliminating the Pursuit of Fame, the Body Becomes Transparent

I would like to share a story from my cultivation with everyone. This story has always accompanied me in my cultivation and has amazed many fellow practitioners who were going through trials and tests. I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. At that time, we had just obtained the Fa, and everyone was very diligent. It was really a cultivation group. I went to a fellow practitioner’s house in late 1998 to study the Fa. After studying, the practitioner took out a stack of photos, one of which was a group of more than a dozen people. There was a male practitioner in the front row.

The practitioner held the photo, pointed to the male practitioner, and said, “This practitioner was the coordinator of a practice site in a certain city. He once participated in a provincial-level meeting of coordinators. At the meeting, the coordinator of the province pointed at him and said, ‘Some people said you’ve done such and such bad things ...’”

“This male practitioner felt very uncomfortable at that time, because he never did such things! What’s going on? Then, the provincial coordinator announced that he would be removed as coordinator of that practice site. After the meeting was adjourned, this practitioner was very frustrated, wondering what was going on... He walked all the way to his house, and he didn’t want to go into his house. He wandered around outside, wandering and thinking, what was going on? He wondered and thought, and suddenly he understood: ‘Oh, this was targeting my desire for fame.’ He understood at once, and he felt relieved.”

We saw this photo at the end of 1998, and in it through his clothes and his body, we could see the back of the chair behind him, and through his legs, we could see the crossbar under the chair. His body was transparent. Can we remind ourselves that we are cultivators when we encounter a conflict? Can we realize that it was arranged by Master for us to improve and remove attachments?

Enduring Humiliation, Regardless of Right or Wrong at the Surface Level

Another story involved a skilled martial artist named Xiao Ming, who was popular and also well liked by his boss. A man of the same age named Xiaobo was very jealous of him. One day Xiaobo said that he had lost some cash and told his boss. The boss then called everyone over and asked, “Who took Xiaobo’s money? If you don’t return it, I will search your belongings.” No one said anythinga, so the boss started searching, and finally found the lost money in Xiao Ming’s bag.

The boss was very angry. He forced Xiao Ming to stand outside and made a large sign next to him saying that he was a thief. People walked by and scolded Xiao Ming. Xiao Ming didn’t speak or explain, and just stood there for a week. A week later, Xiao Ming’s master came and told him that he had passed the test of practicing forbearance. Xiao Ming’s master then took him away.

Practitioners came with Master to the human world, and we are family. Only by cooperating well can we better save sentient beings. We are all cultivating, and we definitely have shortcomings in cultivation, so we must be tolerant. We should look at the strengths of fellow practitioners and cherish the destiny between us. Only by correcting ourselves in the Fa can the partitions between practitioners be eliminated.

When we encounter unfair treatment, or when people around us are treated unfairly, we can communicate with fellow practitioners in a calm tone, and with kindness and logic. As practitioners, our hearts should not be moved. If we show indignation at these times, aren’t we dropping in levels? No matter who the other party is, they are cultivators, so how can they not make mistakes? If they didn’t do something well, we should make up for what they didn’t do well, and that’s what Master wants.

No matter what problems we encounter, there is only one solution, to look inward unconditionally! When we have problems, we always argue about who is right and who is wrong. If we use ordinary people’s logic to face problems in cultivation, we are not looking inward, and the problem will get bigger.

Master said:

“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.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume X)

We must get rid of unkindness and selfishness, because the notion of trying to change others but not ourselves comes from the old universe. We have to meet the standards that the new universe requires of us in order to go home with Master.

If we do well, and if we conform to the Fa, everything around us will change. I once had a conflict with a fellow practitioner. On the surface, it was entirely her fault. I felt that she was not even as good as an ordinary person, and I began to dislike her. I knew that this was wrong, but I couldn’t get rid of that mental state. I talked to another practitioner. I said that when I thought about her, I got bad feelings in my heart. The practitioner said, “It’s because you don’t have enough compassion.” However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get rid of that feeling, so I strengthened my Fa study. For a long time, that feeling was still there. One day, I read a fellow practitioner’s article titled “Compassion” and it touched me greatly.

That afternoon, I read another article titled “Cherish.” The article said that we should cherish everything and everyone we encounter, and regard the people we run into who we think are annoying, and the people who cause trouble for us, as the people who accompany us. Our mood will change, and everything we encounter will be so beautiful. The moment I read this article, the hatred in my heart was immediately removed. When I thought of that fellow practitioner again, my heart was warm. I was thinking that on the surface this practitioner was not doing well, but I don’t know about her good side and maybe she is actually much better than me. I told other practitioners about my thoughts. The practitioners were also very happy and looked inward. Now we don’t have any negativity in our hearts.

Changing Notions and Cultivating Amid Conflicts

I now realize why I did not want to cultivate myself when I had conflicts with fellow practitioners. I simply could not view conflicts from the righteous Fa principles. If we look at conflicts with Fa principles, we should think, “If the other party treats me like this, it must be that I have done something wrong that causes him or her to be like this. Although it is wrong for the other party to speak ill of others, it does create an opportunity for me to improve my heart. Moreover, without this conflict, how could my deeply hidden attachments be exposed?”

I also found that when I had conflicts with fellow practitioners in the past, the basis for me looking inward was wrong, as I always thought that I was not wrong, and that it was the other person’s fault. Master taught us:

“He’s right, And I’m wrong.” (“Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong,” Hong Yin III)

If you don’t have a clear understanding of this Fa principle, you will always have resentment and negative thoughts in your heart. The practitioners who create troubles for us are acting as ladders for us, and they are the ones who have helped us. So shouldn’t we appreciate it?

Master said:

“Perhaps in the future you may be slapped in the face a couple of times, and you will lose face in front of someone whom you least want to see it. It is to see how you will deal with this issue and whether you can endure it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

I thought, if I get slapped in the face, and lose face in front of someone whom I least want to see it, can I not be affected? Just like what happened over the past two days, the practitioners had their own opinions and argued endlessly. Was it Master’s arrangement that this incident occurred, and is this a big exam? What kind of human notions have been exposed? What attachments do we have? No matter who did what, everyone was involved, so there must be some things we need to get rid of. Cultivation is about looking inward unconditionally and constantly eliminating attachments.

We must cultivate ourselves, resolve conflicts with kindness, and thank those who have helped us improve our xinxing, as they are the ones who have made us successful. So we should be grateful. We should understand the Fa rationally in order to change our notions, and not get caught up in conflicts between people. We have to cultivate persistently before we can go home with Master. Let’s all work together!

These are my recent impressions from cultivation. I just hope that everyone will improve together. If I said something not in line with the Fa, please correct me with compassion.