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Some Understandings Regarding "Righteous Thoughts"
(Clearwisdom.net) An everyday person's thought is usually out of selfishness. It happens
whenever there is contact with others, so conflicts and competition for personal
interest appear one after another. When I clarified the truth in the past, I
often argued and debated, especially with my coworkers and people that I am
familiar with. Every time this happened, I looked into myself to see whether my
thought was out of my selfishness; in the end, I concluded that I was not being
selfish. I truly wanted them to learn the truth so they would have a good
future. But why did conflicts always happen? One day, I saw Master's words, "selflessness and altruism" when I
was reading Essentials for Further Advancement. ("Non-Omission
in Buddha-Nature") I realized all of sudden that although I was not
selfish while clarifying the truth, I didn't meet the requirement of altruism.
What I should do is only to clarify the truth. I should just do what I'm
supposed to do, instead of being attached to or going after results. To believe
or not is their choice and for them to position themselves. If I forcibly
instill my thoughts into them with the excuse of doing it for their well-being
and try to force them to believe what I said, it is equivalent to my making a
choice for them and depriving them of their right to choose. I should try my best to understand them and think about what is most
important to them. I should care more about them rather than myself. I should
not be attached to what I want them to be, what I want to do or what results I
want to accomplish. So much "ego" will make my thoughts impure and cut
them off from kindness. I was trying to persuade them and trying to force them
to believe me. I realize that there is a big gap between "selflessness" and
"selflessness and altruism." In fact, my desires, understandings,
opinions, perspective, ways of thinking, etc. were related to egotism and not
detached from selfishness. If I think more about other's perspective, and level
of understanding, the effect of clarifying the truth will be better. I should
also pay attention not to hurt them or adversely affect them. Now when I look
back, not only did I not meet the requirement of "selflessness and
altruism", I always pursued the results. I always thought, "Why should
I clarify the truth if there is no effect? Isn't that a waste of my time?"
In fact, with pursuit, it seems that those thoughts are already not righteous.
Master says, "Do but pursue not----- Often stay in the Dao." (Hong
Yin: "In the Dao" ) It's not right for practitioners to
pursue anything. Even when we practice with a heart of cultivation, we are
obtaining gong without any pursuit. After tracking down my thoughts, I
found that my sense of self was manifested in every aspect, for example, when
coordinating with other practitioners. Afterwards, I still defended myself by
saying that I was not selfish. I didn't realize that this
"selflessness" corrupted with such a strong sense of self is actually
a distorted form of selfishness. Even when studying the Fa, I let my egotism
emerge, instead of assimilating myself to the Fa. In the future, I will purify my thoughts while clarifying the truth. I will
assimilate my thinking and words to the Fa, and manifest the power of the Fa. In
doing so, it will lead to more people waking up to the truth; otherwise, they
may well lose a precious opportunity. May 10, 2003 Posting date: 5/22/2003 |