(Clearwisdom.net)
Being Considerate of Others and Cherishing Every Fellow Practitioner
One evening, I went to the group Fa study at practitioner A's home. I was hungry when I arrived, because I didn't have time to eat. I said casually, “I'm a little hungry. Can I have something to eat?” Practitioner A immediately got some food for me. Another practitioner said, “You're not being considerate of others. Practitioner A didn't have any food himself, and you just told him that you're hungry.” I was shocked and felt that I wasn't being considerate. Later during the experience sharing, I apologized to practitioner A. He said calmly, “I didn't take it seriously. You should also take it lightly.” Hearing this, I felt that he was truly thinking of others, and that I should also make an effort to improve in this respect.
Later, practitioner A again shared with me, “The predestined relationship between fellow practitioners is truly precious. We don't know how much hardship we've endured, allowing us to be together today - that's why I cherish every practitioner. Once I see a practitioner as a divine being, all negative thoughts about that practitioner disappear. In fact, practitioners all walk the path of divine beings. If we truly view it this way, things will be different.”
I couldn't understand such a high level at that time, but through Fa study and sharing experiences with other practitioners, I enlightened to the concept that every practitioner represents all the sentient beings from his or her own universe, and bears magnificent historic responsibilities. It is truly difficult to become a Dafa practitioner today. As such, we should trust every practitioner. Each one validates Dafa and saves sentient beings. It is normal to occasionally experience human notions. Who is perfect? Therefore, we should emphasize the strong points of others and identify our own shortcomings in order to truly cultivate ourselves.
A Public Security Bureau official once asked a practitioner whose husband didn't practice Falun Gong, “Is your husband a Dafa practitioner?” She answered, “All Dafa practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He isn't qualified (to be a Dafa practitioner).” Perhaps her comment stopped her husband from starting to practice Falun Dafa.
I realized that we shouldn't have negative thoughts towards anyone, especially our fellow practitioners. If we have negative thoughts, the evil forces will see the attachment and take advantage of the loophole. The more you're attached to others' shortcomings, the more magnified their shortcomings become. As such, their tribulations may increase. Aren't the increased tribulations caused by our negative thoughts? Aren't we doing bad deeds? When I enlightened to this, I recognized my negative thoughts towards fellow practitioners, then eliminated them. Gradually, I observed that the negative substances in my body decreased. Now, I feel that all practitioners are magnificent, and as a result, my surrounding environment has also improved.
What we see on the surface may not be true, and is most likely to be false. This is used as a test, to determine whether or not we can let go of our human hearts. I later found that some negative thoughts occasionally surfaced.
Teacher said,
“As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A”)
Sometimes when I viewed things with my human notions, I discovered that it was indeed my attachment. For example, when I saw a man and woman of similar ages having a meal together, I thought – do they have some special relationship? This was, in fact, due to my own negative thinking. I realized that I needed to view things with righteous thoughts and see things from the perspective of the Fa. I can then gradually eliminate the negative thoughts and overcome the obstacles to saving sentient beings.
Once I learned how to cherish every practitioner, I also learned to always consider others first.
Truly Studying the Falun Dafa Teachings
One day, I shared experiences with another practitioner. She said, “I have recently participated in a study group several times, but felt that the environment was not right. It seemed like they were taking Fa study as a task that they had to complete, so they read very fast. They may not have even understood what they read. It was just a formality, not truly studying the Fa. Isn't that wasting time?” Later, she expressed her thoughts during experience sharing, and many practitioners agreed with her. They gradually changed their way of studying the Fa, and subsequently they continually improved themselves.
I was touched upon hearing this, since I also had the same problem. I sometimes read the Falun Dafa teachings very fast, and didn't even know whether I was truly learning anything. At other times, even though I knew what I was reading, I didn't understand the deeper meaning of the Fa. One day during group study, I suddenly had a severe cough. As a result, I couldn't read fast or fluently. I thought that perhaps Teacher was giving me a hint that I should not read the Fa so fast. Since then, my speed of reading the Fa has been at a more natural pace. When I was truly reading the Fa, I felt, “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers...” (Zhuan Falun). Many principles that I'd never enlightened to suddenly manifested. On another occasion, I felt as if every sentence Teacher said reached the depths of my heart, and I melted into the Fa.
Cultivating the Mind and Severing Desires
Many of my attachments are exposed through sentimentality. For example, I often compare my strong points to others' weak points, while ignoring their strong points and my own shortcomings. When this “sentimentality” interferes with my thoughts, my jealousy often becomes very strong. For example, one time when several practitioners gathered, a practitioner was particularly kind to another practitioner. I felt that I was being neglected. I felt uneasy, and thought, “Why does he treat him so well?” Once I became dominated by sentimentality and lost my righteous thoughts, I was moved by all kinds of attachments. If I didn't pay attention to this issue, I could take a deviated path.
I later shared this issue with several practitioners. I studied the Fa and constantly rectified myself. Meanwhile, I was determined to eliminate the bad thoughts. I felt the bad things being gradually eliminated. It is truly as Teacher said,
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Zhuan Falun)
The moment I had the desire to eliminate the bad thoughts, Teacher helped me. I also realized that through cultivation, we make breakthroughs from the microscopic to the surface levels. When the change begins at the microscopic level, it's difficult to perceive tactile changes on the surface of our bodies. Once the changes gradually reach the surface, we'll have stronger and more obvious feelings.
In the past, when I observed other practitioners having a hard time during tribulations, I would think, “What is this small issue that he can't handle? If I were him, I could handle it with ease.” However, when I encountered these tests, I realized that it wasn't easy to pass the tribulations, even though I knew all the principles. It is truly a process of constantly improving oneself. Only after we pass each tribulation, can we truly reach a higher realm. This is how cultivation is. When we encounter tribulations, we can pass them if we truly melt into the Fa. However, it still is a difficult process, so it's important to walk every step well and not let down all the sentient beings in our world.
Cultivate the Self While Harmonizing with the Whole Body
I recently identified my attachment to self. In other words, I'm always attached to what others think of me and desire recognition from others. Although I recognized this problem in the past, I didn't take it seriously. Consequently, the attachment became stronger and stronger. For example, when I wanted to share my opinion or write about my experiences, I had one thought, “What if others think negatively about it?” Sure enough, whenever I shared my experiences, I always heard other practitioners discussing it behind me. Although I didn't want to listen, it seemed that I could always hear it, either directly or from a third party. I later realized that this attachment was selfishness, fear of being hurt, and that others may hold negative thoughts about me. How could I save sentient beings with this mentality? I needed to let go of self, treat this with righteous thoughts, evaluate it with the Fa, and do things in a dignified manner. When I achieved this, I was able to face and handle every issue and share my honest opinions. The thoughts of protecting myself were eliminated.
The other principle is that if we can truly view things from the perspective of the Fa and think about the improvement of fellow practitioners, then we are harmonizing with the whole body. There is nothing to scrutinize.
I realize that the process of recognizing the problem, passing the tribulations and improving ourselves is truly interesting. Whether we're cultivating individually, or cultivating in the Fa-rectification period, or the two mixed together, we'll have this understanding if we truly melt into the Fa – when we can't pass a test, we feel depressed. When we truly let go of our attachments and improve, we'll have the joy of great magnificence.
It is truly as Teacher said,
“See the human world with eyes of compassion,
Then are you freed from the spell of delusion.”
(from “Success at Consummation,” from Hong Yin)
