Some Understandings of Jealousy
By a practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) Jealousy is a serious problem. A jealous person cannot
tolerate the fact that other people may be superior to him. He would consider
anyone who is better than him to be showing off. His jealousy causes him to feel
embarrassed by other people's merits and unable to appreciate their merits. On
the other hand, he looks down on people he regards as inferior to him. He thinks
he is perfect. Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference," "...you shouldn't look at things in absolute terms. And that's especially
true when it comes to those crooked principles that the evil in China
propagates. For example, they spread, 'if you want others to do well, you have
to do well yourself first.' Think about it everybody, is that saying right?
Many people hold on to that saying and use it to hide their own mistakes that
they don't want to correct. And that's especially so for those who have
problems--they take it as the truth and won't let go. I can tell you, though,
that this is absolutely wrong. Can't a person who isn't perfect tell you to do
well? Can't a person who's made mistakes tell others to do well? What kind of
logic is that? How many people have thought this over carefully?" Through studying this passage, I came to realize that the notion "if you want
others to do well, you have to do well yourself first" is a form of jealousy.
When other people point out a jealous person's shortcoming or mistake, instead
of examining himself, he feels indignant, thinking that he is better than any
other people and that no one should point out his problems. In China many people have a strong inclination to fight and seek revenge
against each other over personal interests. They often resort to verbal abuse or
even to violence. This phenomenon is also a manifestation of jealousy. The old
forces have systematically arranged such a social environment. This bad
environment nurtured the emergence of the evil head, who came just to damage
Dafa. The most significant manifestation of jealousy is intolerance. If another
person praises himself, the jealous person will feel upset. However, if another
person criticizes himself, the jealous person would then correspondingly show
some "modesty." When other people criticize him, he would respond, "You think
you are flawless?" Some practitioners may not be willing to admit they still have jealousy. Such
unwillingness is a manifestation of sentimentality. We all still have
attachments, so this in and of itself isn't the problem. Refusing to face our
attachments is the problem. We ourselves are our own biggest obstacles in our
cultivation, not others. Our post-natal notions, human sentimentality, and
desires prevent us from progressing in our cultivation. Only by removing these
attachments can our true selves awaken. I hope we can all get rid of more attachments and meet the requirements for
Fa-rectification Dafa disciples. The above is just my personal understanding.
Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/22/75185.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net
|
Related Articles
|