(Clearwisdom.net)
Safety for the whole group
In our area there are over 30 small towns. Every so often the coordinators will gather together to discuss outstanding issues. Over the last two years, things have progressed fairly smoothly.
A more localized meeting would involve seven to eight towns. At every meeting we would decide on the time and place of our next meeting. Although there is a restriction on who is allowed to know this information, I think our current approach doesn't give enough consideration to safety.
The other problem I have is that we keep all our Dafa-materials at our meeting place. This is a mistake we should not continue to make. Regardless of how comfortable our surroundings may be, we must not forget the tough lessons learned and the warnings from Master. We are responsible for the safety of fellow practitioners and the Dafa materials. If we cannot find a proper place, we should not hold our meeting. Usually, our coordinators decide on the meeting time and place. This problem still remains unresolved.
Stated another way, when the question about where should we hold our next meeting comes up, everyone looks at the coordinator. No one else volunteers to make the decision. I think we should share the burden and establish more choices and thus reduce the possibility of interference.
Overall coordination
In 2005 Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference:"
"A person who has a position of responsibility is actually a coordinator, and getting more capable people involved is what's key. How big of a role can any one individual play? Only when the group as a whole plays its role has the coordinator done well. When a coordinator does well himself, well, if you're the only one doing well, then you should just be an average student in that case. The key is that you have got to play the role of and fulfill the duties of a coordinator. And I'll mention another thing. The coordinators in all regions must abandon the approach of overseeing all things big and small. Each region should give free rein to the students in that locale and support them when they take the initiative to validate the Fa. Don't hold them back, unless it's those who often go to extremes. Veteran Dafa disciples have matured now, and they are walking their own paths towards Consummation. You need to be clear on this."
A few days ago I spoke to a coordinator. We realized that we were interfering with fellow practitioners because we wanted to oversee all things big and small. Such actions can cause fellow practitioners to become more dependent on or even worship the coordinators. The coordinators may also develop the tendency to show off or feel like leaders. Now we know the problem does not lie in the fellow practitioners. We, the coordinators, are not doing the job correctly. We must let fellow practitioners do their work, encourage them to study the Fa, and participate in the coordination activities.
Cultivation of speech
There have been numerous articles on the Minghui (Chinese version of Clearwisdom) website about watching out for safety issues. In one of them, a fellow practitioner said that when there was less pressure from the outside, practitioners became less concerned about safety and began talking about things openly. There is also another article discussing the cultivation of speech (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/5/6/107097.html). I would like to remind fellow practitioners about this issue because it is, indeed, true that our environment appears much safer now, because all of us have spent a lot of time clarifying the facts about Dafa to people. There is a strong tendency for us to be less careful in what we say. However, things like the techniques we use and places where we keep our Dafa materials must not be talked about in public.
I recall a time when a coordinator asked me at a meeting, "Hey, did you put up that story on the web? Have you sent that article to Clearwisdom? Have they replied to you?" There were many participants at the meeting. To disclose what we do and how we do things to everyone in a meeting is being indiscreet. At first I blamed this fellow practitioner for asking such questions. Then I realized that, since I was seeing this happen, there must be something for me to correct. Indeed, when I looked inward, I found that, on many occasions, I was the one who failed to exercise care. There was an occasion where I was talking to this very coordinator about the quality of a Shen Yun CD in front of many other practitioners.
Why is it that we automatically change our safety standards when there is a change in our environment? I think this is because we fail to cultivate our thoughts and we are not sufficiently diligent in our cultivation. Furthermore, there is a tendency to show off. It is like Master said in Zhuan Falun,
"Because of practicing cultivation among everyday people, a lot of our practitioners cannot release many of their attachments. Many attachments have already become second nature, and these people themselves cannot detect them. This mentality of showing off can manifest in any situation; it can also surface when doing a good deed."
This is my personal opinion. I hope fellow practitioners will kindly point out anything that is improper.
