How Might Dafa Practitioners Learn to Treat Each Other with More Respect?

1. Abandon Underlying Notions.

Many differences of opinions still prevail among practitioners. These are due to not-yet abandoned notions. That is the reason why many practitioners still assume that their ideas, their projects, and their comprehensions, among other things, are indispensable to Fa-rectification efforts and must therefore be put into effect, no matter what. Anything that stands in the way of their progress along the way is considered "interference" [from the old forces].

Master has said,

"For a long time now some students just haven't gotten rid of their fundamental attachments! And as things have piled up, at the end they aren't able to overcome them and their tribulations get big. When problems occur, instead of searching for problems in their xinxing, fundamentally improving themselves, or truly letting go of the matter and coming through in an open and dignified manner by another route, they focus on the thing at hand... Don't think that 'now that I'm a Dafa disciple I should have nothing bad happen to me. If anything happens then it's not right.' ... It's about to end. You should think for yourselves now. Time waits for no one!" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference").

2. Recognizing the Methods of the Old Forces

How can we truly step out of our humanness? That, of course, is not so simple. We are still living in this world, among ordinary people, surrounded by the quest for riches and fame. We are still within the sphere of the Three Realms, still crawling among molecules, or in soil, as the Gods would say. We are submerged in emotions on a daily basis. As soon as our proper, upright thoughts weaken, these emotions can penetrate our body's surface layer, which has not yet been fully cultivated.

We are guided, again and again, to totally and completely deny the arrangements made by the old forces. Only recently, on June 22, 2003, did Master give us new instructions,

"So to thoroughly eliminate all the evil elements, from now on when Dafa disciples send righteous thoughts they should completely clean out those old forces' behind-the-scenes helpers, meaning, eliminate them... Have this objective in mind: Completely end the old forces' involvement (Enthusiastic applause)" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference").

In "Touring North America to Teach the Fa," Master more thoroughly explained the arrangements of the old forces,

"...the old forces have separated the surface and Dafa disciples' original natures, there are a lot of things Dafa disciples can't do anything about, and their surfaces are manipulated by evil beings and have been driven to do some bad things--which is because they have attachments that have been taken advantage of by the evil beings--so I will extract Dafa disciples' original natures."

Let's think about what effects this arrangement has on our Dafa disciples. We are all still here. We still have this shell of a human body that has yet to be assimilated. This body still harbors notions. Karma is still present, as are human emotions. Sometimes the superficial things appear powerful and things look terrible. Once we look behind the fa ade, we become aware of the other person's true nature -- we see the divine side. Master said in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa,"

"So for you, personal Consummation is minor. You have cultivated multiple times in history, and have gone through journeys like this in many time periods. The current test of your reaching the standard for personal Consummation isn't a big deal at all. That's the standard for measuring how much of the Fa a Dafa disciple can grasp."

3. Developing Mutual Respect

Master has further explained how we came to hear the Fa,

"...you are very different from any cultivation method in the past and from the cultivators in the past, for your missions are great. The Fa of the cosmos is being taught here--who would come to listen to the Fa? ... You only know that some students made pacts with me in the past. When the truth is, there are a lot of other students who came from other cosmic colossal firmaments that are extremely distant and extremely vast, and they came to establish a karmic relationship. And there are also some people who entered while Dafa was being spread this time... So, these are the three categories our Dafa disciples mainly belong to" ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa").

If we would consider where we come from, what our mission is; in short, what it means to be a "Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple," then we will quickly realize that we must treat all our fellow cultivators with great respect. If we can do this, the momentary notions that come up won't bother us any longer, because [when dealing with someone] we can then recognize the great being [hidden] behind the fa ade. We can thus learn to express our thoughts with the mindset of a godly being, and to understand the other person. And what happens to the notions and attachments that a moment ago were so all-encompassing and mighty? Those notions disappear in an instant, as if they had never existed.

Occasionally, when I read in a group with other practitioners and my heart is clear and pure, I sometimes let my eyes rove over the attendees in the room. Oftentimes I cannot hold back my tears, because I see great god-like beings sitting there, each one of them with their capabilities, their own principles formed and confirmed during cultivation, and based on the Fa. It is then that I experience tremendous respect, a great respect for all of my fellow cultivators.

"When the day of Consummation really comes, let me tell you, Dafa disciples really will Ascend in Broad Daylight, and the whole world will be able to see it. (Applause)" (Li Hongzhi in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference").

(Original text in German)

Tuesday, August 12, 2003