Thoughts about Westerners and Chinese

By a Western practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) When I began my cultivation I had the wish to learn Chinese for three reasons:

1. I want to be able to listen to and better understand our Master.
2. To be able to clarify the facts directly to Chinese-speaking people.
3. To be able to communicate with my fellow disciples who do not speak English.

For a long time I could only understand a very few number of Chinese words. I could only communicate the very basics of hello, thank you, etc. I eventually began to be involved with a Dafa project. When I went, many practitioners said I couldn't help because I couldn't understand Chinese.

It is very troublesome not knowing what everyone is talking about around you. Then during the Chicago 2003 experience sharing conference, a practitioner gave me an MP3 player with Master's lectures in Chinese, without translation. I began to listen to them frequently. When I returned to the Dafa project about a week later, I found that I could speak very simple sentences and could help some practitioners with certain technical problems. After about 3-6 months, I found that I could hold conversations with Chinese practitioners and could understand about 60-70% of Master's lectures. It was truly that Master had given me this to use during this time because I could let go of certain things, "No loss, no gain" (Zhuan Falun).

Throughout my cultivation I have found that I don't feel like either a westerner or a Chinese. I just feel like a particle of Dafa. When we carry notions about ourselves as Chinese or Westerner we often put up a large barrier that stops us from doing things that a Dafa disciple should do. We are stopping ourselves from completely melting into the Fa.

Both Chinese and Westerners have good parts, and both have bad parts. Master talks about the differences between Westerners and Chinese in Zhuan Falun. The Fa was not taught for knowledge or to be used to justify our actions. The Fa is taught for us to cultivate; cultivate away this notion of separation between Western and Chinese. Only then can we truly harmonize as one body. Why did Master tell us that when we came here we were first Chinese?

The way I see it, the good parts of the westerner and the good parts of the Chinese don't specifically belong to any race of people. The reason that the westerner and Chinese are like this is just the different cultivation paths that need to be taken.

Also I would like to add that I don't think the negative aspects of either western or Chinese are a part of their culture. As I understand it, cultures are from different heavenly kingdoms. Any bad parts are a result of the different attachments and notions that have developed in the human world while in the cultural environments. The reason why certain attachments and notions are stronger in different cultures of people is because each cultural environment is different, and the notions developed in each are a reflection of their uniqueness. The resultant separation that has been displayed among Dafa disciples has been constantly used during the Fa-rectification by the old forces to persecute us.

I understand that the separation of communication by creating so many languages in the world is part of the so-called "test" the old forces arranged. I think that if Master had done the Fa-rectification in one part, the old forces would have arranged for the entire world to speak a common language.

Let's rid ourselves of the different notions we have towards the Chinese or Western practitioners and look inside ourselves to get rid of every last thing of the old cosmos, so that we may more fully assimilate to the Fa. Then we will naturally be one body.

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