(Clearwisdom.net)

Recently I read some articles published on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. These articles quoted Teacher's words from Fa-lectures; however, they either didn't use quotation marks or they didn't specify the source when they quoted a whole sentence or a few words directly from Teacher's Fa-lectures. When they did this, what Teacher said became part of what they said. Personally, I don't think it is appropriate to do this.

I actually had the same problem before when I wrote articles. My fellow practitioners pointed it out to me that I quoted too much from Teacher's lectures and therefore it appeared that I was trying to use Teacher's Fa to justify my own understandings. Since then, I have paid more attention to this. However, it took me quite a while to truly realize that even though this seems to be a minor issue, it reflects a problem: we weren't being respectful towards Teacher and the Fa. The root cause of this is selfishness -- an attachment that we haven't let go of yet. In other words, we were trying to validate ourselves and so when we wrote articles, we tried to force our ideas or understandings on other people to make them change by claiming Teacher said this or that. We didn't keep a pure heart towards Teacher and the Fa. We forgot that it is Teacher who is in charge of everything and only the Fa can make people change. We should put the Fa first and then humbly share our limited understandings. Our purpose should only be to validate the Fa. How can we validate the Fa without being respectful towards Teacher and the Fa?

When talking to fellow practitioners, we used to say, "Teacher said so and so." Then we'd add, "Well, I can't remember Teacher's exact words on this and therefore this is not exactly how Teacher said it." Later, we came to realize that we need to use the exact words if we want to quote Teacher. If we can't remember Teacher's exact words, then we should only share our understandings on that part of the Fa. What we used to do wasn't being respectful towards Teacher and the Fa. It actually exposed our attachment, namely that we were trying to justify our own personal views by claiming Teacher said something. This happened due to our attachment of selfishness.

When I came to understand this, I paid more attention to my mindset when quoting Teacher in my articles. I constantly reminded myself that Teacher's Law Body is behind each and every character, and therefore I should only share my limited understandings on the Fa. During this process, I gradually removed my attachment of trying to change other people and validate myself.

I recently read Teacher's "Non-Omission in Buddha Nature" from Essentials for Further Advancement and "Steadfast" from Hongyin II. I came to realize a deeper meaning in the words,

"The devout cultivator sets his heart on Consummation."(Steadfast from Hongyin II)

That is, it is essential for cultivators to firmly believe in the Fa and be sincere and committed to the Fa in order for us to reach consummation. If we are truly respectful towards Teacher and the Fa, we would be able to put Teacher and the Fa foremost in our hearts. We would always think about how we can safeguard the Fa without mixing any selfish elements into the Fa. We would be able to remove selfishness and the part of us that originated from the old cosmos. We would then become a life in the new cosmos.

I hope fellow practitioners will take this issue seriously and be respectful towards Teacher and the Fa when we quote Teacher's Fa-lectures.

Finally, when we quote Teacher's Fa, we must be accurate. We need to verify the words. We should not use omission marks [...] to skip words in Teacher's Fa-lectures. We need to include the original punctuation marks in our quotes. Then we should specify the source in parenthesis. We often quote Teacher's poem at the end of our articles. When we do this, please do not say something like "Please correct anything that is inappropriate" right after Teacher's poem. Instead, please say this before we quote Teacher's poem. Or we can say "Please correct me if I said anything inappropriate in my sharing."