(Clearwisdom.net) Some practitioners close to me have kept a distance from several other practitioners for years. There were reasons for their aloofness. The other practitioners have shared their understandings with a practitioner whose celestial eye is open, and they reached some conclusions based on his supernatural ability, but not based on the Fa. They were also not active in clarifying the truth.
Every time the practitioner with the celestial eye open came, I had a feeling of alarm: "Fellow practitioner, please do not go awry." When we shared our understandings, I was always the first to speak. I would go on and on, telling them my experiences of clarifying the truth and helping people to quit the Party. It appeared from my actions that I felt only my approach was righteous. When others expressed a different opinion, I always offered my caution: "Does your opinion conform to the Fa?" Oftentimes, by the time we ended our meeting, everyone was disappointed. I felt sorry that these practitioners were drifting away from Dafa. This situation lasted for several years, and it had a negative effect on the communication and cooperation among practitioners in our area. For a long time, I wanted to correct the situation by changing their way of thinking. But the division became worse.
After I watched Master's "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners," I was deeply touched. I realized how wrong I was. I told myself that now was the right time to change my way of thinking. I began to seriously look inward to reveal my own shortcomings. I realized that all my negative views of fellow practitioners were judgmental and that I was blaming others. I failed to cultivate myself in conflicts. I skipped the opportunity to improve myself in the name of safeguarding Dafa.
After I cooled down and looked within for my own problems, I discovered that the key issue was me: I was trying to prove, demonstrate, focus on, and show off myself. Isn't that a big problem? Having realized this problem, I suddenly acquired more understanding and my cultivation improved noticeably. When I sent forth righteous thoughts, I added the following: "Eliminate the barrier between me and fellow practitioners, and completely dissolve the troubling emotions in my heart." During the Chinese New Year holiday, after I read some of Master's lectures given outside of China, I felt very enlightened. Master told us:
"You have grown used to focusing on other people's shortcomings, and never take examining your own self seriously. When others' cultivation one day meets with success, what about you? Isn't Master hoping that you are cultivating well? Why won't you accept criticism, and why do you keep focusing on other people? Why not cultivate inward and examine your own self?" ("Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles")
"Everyone is walking his own path, and we can't impose our own concepts on others. When there's a problem, don't talk about who's right and who's wrong. When a problem surfaces, you should all help each other and try to think of a way to resolve it." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
After repeatedly looking for my own problems, my xinxing standard improved a great deal. The issues of fellow practitioners that used to bother me became less and less in my mind. My resentment about these issues also diminished. When some practitioners talked about the "faults" of another practitioner, I learned to say: "Let's cultivate ourselves always. We should focus on his merits. Even if he were a non-practitioner, we still should have compassion for him. But he is a practitioner. Why shouldn't we treat him as such?" My improvement also influenced the other practitioners close to me.
After letting go of my ego, I felt a need to move another step forward and have a face-to-face conversation with the practitioners in question. I thought I should initiate a meeting to share my understanding. I felt compelled to make this step. On this matter, I must meet the requirements set by Master and not have Master continue to worry about me. With this new understanding, I met with Practitioners A and B. After a long conversation, I told them: "In the past, I always believed that you were wrong, and your thoughts were off track from the Fa. I always looked outward for problems. Even if you were indeed wrong as I believed, did I try to understand and tolerate your point of view with a greater compassion as taught by Master? For years I complained about others. I did not learn how to pay more attention to others' merits and less attention to others' shortcomings. I focused on your human attachments. I feel awful for keeping this mentality for so many few years."
Practitioner A said: "I knew that you worried about us falling behind in the past few years. However, in reality, some things are not what you think they are. Practitioners have all come from different worlds with different characters, and their behaviors in the human world are bound to be different. Take truth clarification, for example; you prefer straight talk while I use more wisdom when telling people the truth. I have not passed up any good opportunity to clarify the truth. I dare to say that after the Fa-rectification is over, I will have done my share." I have known Practitioner A for more than ten years. I suddenly had a deeper understanding of him. I felt very warm in my heart. The feeling was beyond description.
Practitioner B said: "I agree. If we can do the three things Master expects of us in our own environment, we meet the qualification for practitioners. It is impossible to ask everyone to be the same. My employees all know that Dafa is good and the Chinese Communist Party is bad. Some of them have begun watching Master's lecture videos. When fellow practitioners have encountered hardships, we have always helped them quietly." He went on to tell me several touching stories.
During our conversation, Practitioner C arrived. He was the one I had the most issues with. After I told him my thoughts about them and my new understanding, he was quite moved and said: "For the past few years, our efforts to do the three things have been constant and solid. Your opinion was not accurate. If you tried to change me and I tried to change you, then no one could change the other, and the division between us would grow." He went on to tell me many stories of their efforts in clarifying the truth and encouraging people to quit the CCP. While I listened, I suddenly realized that, during all those years, he understood me, and he forgave and tolerated my misunderstanding of him. He avoided clashing with me on many occasions. I was deeply touched by his peaceful expression and candor. He went on: "I never thought about how high a level I would reach in the future. Master has a plan for everyone. As a disciple, I must do my best. I have a small factory, but my purpose is not to make money and improve my life. I live a simple life. I wanted to have more opportunities to contact people and offer salvation to them." His words cleared away many of my doubts.
These practitioners were doing very well. So why did I and some practitioners close to me hold such negative views about them? There are several answers to this question.
1) We did not have an accurate understanding of the Fa and did not unconditionally look inward for our own issues. Master told us to do this clearly in many lectures, but we failed to apply the principles to ourselves. Instead, we applied the principles to others. This is a big mistake for cultivators.
2) We magnified trivial matters, so they became bigger problems, and the trivial things did not even reflect their true nature. After I "discovered" their "issues," I told others. On top of that, I did not pay attention to my own cultivation of speech. So these issues were exaggerated, and it caused unnecessary confusion. I did not follow what Master told us to do, which is that I should always look for my own problems first, then try to compassionately help others. I did not have compassion and tolerance for fellow practitioners. (This is a realm that we all should reach.)
3) I held onto my notions and did not want to change. In fact, Master told us many times that when conflicts arise among practitioners, we should share our understandings openly. However, I had a hard time taking the first step.
After sharing my feelings with these practitioners, I felt a sense of relief. I also felt the joy of attaining a higher level mindset.
