My Understanding of Cultivating Speech

(Minghui.org) Cultivating speech is important for a Falun Dafa practitioner. We should not talk about people behind their backs or even spread hearsay. Even in traditional Chinese culture, it was a virtue that people cherished.

Lin Bu, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, wrote in Xing Xin Lu (Recordings of Reflection on Mind), “My ears will not pay attention to others’ wrongdoings, my eyes will not focus on others’ shortcomings, and I will not talk about others’ faults.”

Wu Jing, a historian in the Tang Dynasty, documented in Zhenguan Zhengyao (Zhenguan Political Dignitaries), “A gentleman promotes the goodness of others, while a villain promotes the evil of others.”

Confucius also remarked, “A gentleman is always open-minded and a villain is often worrying about his gains or losses.”

I’d like to explore the reasons that some of us Falun Dafa practitioners failed to do well in cultivating speech.

From the Perspective of Personal Cultivation

From the perspective of our personal cultivation, there could be several reasons for failing to cultivate speech.

One is a lack of a righteous mind. If we fail to treat ourselves as practitioners, we may have thoughts that do not come from our true selves. Instead, the thoughts are from our human notions, thought karma, or external interference. That is, they are based on selfishness on the human level.

The second possibility is not looking within. Sometimes we may want to change others instead of improving ourselves. If we focus too much on others’ attachments, we are walking on a deviated path. We should instead examine ourselves to see if we have similar problems and why we saw what we saw. By doing so, we could turn it into something positive and improve our xinxing.

Thirdly, we become swayed by the superficial appearance of what we observe or hear and forget about the essence of cultivation. Many people in this world were divine beings who came to the human world for Dafa. Coming from high levels, they are relatives of Master and they are sentient beings Master wants to save. With this in mind, we will not get distracted by superficial illusions.

Another possibility could be negative thoughts about others, which can have numerous manifestations, such as jealousy, looking down upon others, resentment, complaint, anger, showing off, zealotry, and a combative and competitive mentality. Negative thoughts could also arise from our attachments to fame and material interest.

With such selfish thoughts, we may have thoughts and words that do not align with validating Dafa or saving sentient beings. We need to be mindful of these and avoid creating barriers between practitioners.

From the Perspective of Fa-rectification Cultivation

As Dafa disciples, our mission is to assist Master with Fa-rectification. Failing to cultivate speech may cause interference or damage to the Fa-rectification. We cannot do things like that.

Master said, “For Dafa disciples as a whole, in the process of validating the Fa, when you work together in concert, the Fa power is great.” (“Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003”) All practitioners are particles of Dafa. Failing to cultivate speech and talking about other practitioners behind their backs is failing to treat all practitioners as particles of Dafa and may negatively affect the coordination of practitioners as a whole body.

Master wrote, “It’s about time you woke up, isn’t it?! Let your discontentment and resentment go; it’s just an attachment. And start watching what you say. It’s not your place to speak among practitioners about things that aren’t in line with the Fa.” (“A Strong and Urgent Warning”) We must listen to Master’s words and focus on improving ourselves and saving people.

Above are my understandings and please point them out anywhere is appropriate.

Editor's note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)