Conflicts Between Practitioners Are Resolved by Studying the Fa and Looking Within

By a Dafa Practitioner from Mainland China

(Clearwisdom.net) I participate in maintaining a materials site in Mainland China for clarifying the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. Recently, practitioners in our group have had some conflicts.

During the middle of 2003, another practitioner and I overcame tremendous difficulties and established a truth-clarification material site. Despite being computer illiterate, we sold our own jewelry in order to buy computers and recording machines. However, in the course of producing materials, our attachments surfaced, and we frequently had conflicts.

One time, my fellow practitioner accused me of not wanting to teach her to use a computer. I was so mad that I started crying. I thought to myself, "I'm still in the learning process. How can I teach her? I learned to use computers on my own by practicing night after night." When we had differences, we remembered to study the Fa, and then we were able to solve every conflict. We came to understand each other very well, so our co-ordination was very good.

To this date we have established four small materials sites. We paid for all our equipment from our own paychecks. We learned how to design and print materials, but more and more problems arose. Usually everyone just does his own work. Since I was the only technician among them, when there was a problem with their machines, they came to me. I worked in the day and was responsible for producing materials for one of the sites at night, so the pressure on me was intense.

Usually when there was a problem, I had to solve it. Sometimes three machines would have problems the same night, and I would be annoyed. I wondered why there were so many problems. It was as if there was a heavy stone in my heart. While doing repairs I would sometimes blurt out, "Why are there always these problems, as if it's messing with me every couple of days?" My tone wasn't very nice when I spoke to fellow practitioners.

One time a practitioner came to me about an error in the printing. Without even considering her feelings, I exclaimed, "Usually when we get copies of Teacher's articles and the truth-clarification materials from other practitioners, we reimburse them for the materials. There's a mistake because we missed something. The money Dafa disciples gave to us is for saving sentient beings. If there's a mistake, then we should use our own money to correct it." After hearing my words, she went downstairs in tears. Later I found out that she had already thought to buy a box of copy paper to re-print the materials at her own expense.

Often conflicts arise from having to do trivial, everyday things. The others always ask me to do such things. Since I don't like to do these kinds of chores, I would sometimes be mean, or try to delay doing the tasks. They strongly disagreed with me about this. They began to talk behind my back and say that I acted arbitrarily.

One day we discussed this together. They found fault with me and revealed their deepest dissatisfactions. Some said I was too attached to myself, that I think whatever I say goes. I expect others to do what I tell them to do, but when they ask me to do something, I always find excuses. Some said they were all waiting for me to change, but I showed no signs of changing. Some said I was mean to their children. Usually when the children see me they don't talk in their normal volume, since I always remind them to lower their voices.

I felt an enormous weight on top of me. I withstood the onslaught silently, but when I got home, I cried loudly in front of Master's picture. I couldn't take it any longer and felt that I was on the edge of collapsing. When I faced my computer, I couldn't work. My mind was filled with the complaints of my fellow practitioners.

I called one of them and said in tears that I couldn't take it anymore. Although I never mentioned anything about the materials site, the other practitioner felt uncomfortable talking on the phone (for security reasons). I hung up, calmed down, and sent forth righteous thoughts for five minutes to eliminate the interference that was pressuring me. Five minutes later, I was able to continue my Fa-rectification work.

After this incident I began a Fa study group that met at least once a week. After we finish studying we share our current work experiences. We also started a division of labor at our sites. Although conflicts and differences still arise, we don't engage in faultfinding with one another anymore. We use compassion and openly discuss things. When we see a problem begin to develop, we discuss it in order to solve it before it gets serious. We often discuss how to eliminate any evil that might influence us and interfere with our work.

I hope what we've learned in the past year about solving problems has been helpful to everyone working at materials production sites.

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