Comparing Ourselves with Each Other and Encouraging Each Other to Improve as One Body
Jin Sheng, a Dafa practitioner in Jilin Province
(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioners outside of China have overcome various
difficulties to continuously clarify the truth in Manhattan over the past
several months, whether under the burning summer sun or in the snow of freezing
winter. This has greatly moved and encouraged practitioners in China, who are in
a relatively harsher situation. Specifically, in this process overseas
practitioners have been able to maximally sacrifice self-interest and become one
harmonious body, which rapidly awakened many people in Manhattan who had not
known the truth. Through much sharing, we have found the gap we possess compared to
practitioners outside of China in terms of forming one body. We would like to
share the following several points: From what we have seen, in the past several years, practitioners outside of
China have attended many experience-sharing conferences, group studies, and
group sharing. They are doing things together to validate the Fa, and in this
process, everyone is forged by the Fa. When conflicts arise, rather than dodging
problems, they are able to constantly cultivate and rectify themselves. As they
continually increase their cooperation as one body, the power of Dafa can always
be manifested. As we examine the situation in China, throughout the five plus years of
extremely vicious persecution, practitioners have kept safeguarding the Fa with
determination, as well as using different ways to clarify the truth to people.
After experiencing persecution, every practitioner has his or her own
understanding and enlightenment. Each Dafa disciple has played a very important
role of validating the Fa in his or her own situation. But due to the special
environment in China, practitioners overall are isolated from each other, and
lack sufficient communication and sharing. Without an environment for
cultivating as one body, many barriers were created, which allowed the vicious
persecution to continue rampantly. Moreover, regarding truth-clarification,
there have also been dead ends and areas that remain to be covered. Through sharing we came to realize that a group cultivation environment is
very important for practitioners, since it allows us to see our shortcomings and
gaps when compared to other practitioners. In the past several years, the evil
has tried all means to create an environment of terror to isolate practitioners
so that we cannot cultivate as one body or coordinate well when validating the
Fa. In November 2004, we overcame various difficulties and arrived at a village
in Jilin Province, where we and several dozen local practitioners held our first
experience-sharing conference since the persecution began on July 20, 1999. We
mainly shared understandings on how to expose the evil, how to look inward in Fa-rectification
cultivation, how to do better as one body, how to help fellow practitioners step
forward, and how to use different methods to let everyone know the truth of Dafa. Two months later, we learned that practitioners who attended the conference
did better in the three things themselves, and also helped more
practitioners to step forward. They also went to the poorest town in that county
to clarify the truth. Wolves and snakes are often seen in that town.
Hardly any government official wants to go there, even after being appointed to
work there. Some residents there had never seen a motor vehicle before, let
alone truth-clarification materials. Practitioners in that town have no Internet
access to Minghui Weekly. Several practitioners who attended the
experience-sharing conference talked with local practitioners there and gave
them truth-clarification materials. They also worked together and in one night
they distributed about one thousand truth-clarification VCDs, several hundred
booklets, along with other truth-clarification materials throughout the town. A
large number of residents came to know the truth of Dafa. It also encouraged
local practitioners to step forward to validate the Fa. There were many cases like this. So far, while considering the safety issue,
some practitioners in my area have started group study one after another with
clear minds and rationality. There are still many determined Dafa practitioners being detained and
persecuted by the authorities. We have also been trying to rescue them. However,
some problems have arisen in this process: some rescue efforts did not last long
and were mixed with human notions and human mentality. Sometime we emphasized
the attachments and omissions of detained Dafa practitioners too much while
ignoring the fact that Dafa practitioners are one body. We did not consider what
happened to other practitioners as our own issues. When we were unable to be
clear on the Fa, we did not consider rescuing fellow practitioners, opposing the
persecution, and saving sentient beings as one part of determinedly safeguarding
the Fa. There is a city nearby where the persecution is very severe, and determined
practitioners in the material production sites have been arrested one after
another, sentenced and imprisoned. Instead of considering this as persecution
against Dafa as a whole and carrying out rescue efforts, local practitioners
became trapped in discussions of whether those detained practitioners have
attachments or omissions. As practitioners they were unable to look inward, and
were unable to catch up with truth-clarification to rescue fellow practitioners
and save more sentient beings, and as a result the persecution there became more
and more severe. Material production sites were damaged one after another, and
almost all determined Dafa practitioners were persecuted. This led to big losses
to the Fa-rectification work in that area. In another area, several material production sites were damaged
simultaneously, and many practitioners were arrested. In order to rescue them,
many local practitioners made all kinds of truth-clarification materials and
flyers. However, in the process of rescuing, some discrimination arose: more
attention was paid to rescuing "important" practitioners while some
"unimportant" practitioners were ignored. By doing that, it actually
provided excuses for the evil's persecution. Through sharing we came to understand that, as Dafa practitioners, even if we
have attachments and omissions, it should not be an excuse for the evil to
persecute us. Instead, those attachments are supposed to be eliminated during
our cultivation. When fellow practitioners are persecuted, our first thought
should be to support them with righteous thoughts, since the persecution of any
practitioner is persecution against Dafa as a whole. Once we realize this, we
will not complain when rescuing fellow practitioners. It is very precious that
detained practitioners could still continue to cultivate with determination even
in such a vicious environment. If practitioners outside can consider things as a
whole, they will not be disturbed by those attachments, nor will they be
distracted by any external situation. This is because continuing to rescue
fellow practitioners and safeguarding the Fa with determination is always a
practitioner's responsibility. Due to the viciousness and complex situation in China, there are still some
practitioners who have not stepped forward. Teacher told us that Dafa
practitioners are one body, and returning without leaving a single one behind is
Teacher's great hope. This requires us practitioners to help and remind each
other, to understand the Fa on the basis of the Fa, and to step forward together
to validate the Fa. There is one practitioner who obtained the Fa relatively early and even had
the good fortune to attend Teacher's lectures in person. He is the head of a
factory, and had previously done many things to introduce Dafa before the
persecution started. However, since the persecution began, due to pressure, he
stopped practicing. There is an elderly practitioner who lives nearby and in the
past five plus years has kept giving him Teacher's new articles. After reading
them, he did not show much change. Other practitioners asked the elderly
practitioner to stop doing that so that she could have more time to validate the
Fa. But the elderly practitioner thought: "He obtained the Fa very early
and even attended Teacher's classes in person. What a pity if this precious
predestined relationship is missed." Therefore, she did not listen to
others, and continued with it. No matter what attitude the practitioner had, she
kept giving him Teacher's new articles and talked with him many times. At the end of 2004, not only did this factory head start to practice once
again, he also spent money on renting a car so that he and other local
practitioners could go to labor camps to help rescue fellow practitioners
detained there. In January 2005, he also took out lots of money to help orphans
left by persecuted practitioners, as well as practitioners who were forced to
stay away from home. His change not only encouraged more local practitioners to
step forward to validate the Fa, but also helped many everyday people come to
know the truth of Dafa. There is also a female practitioner who obtained the Fa in 1997. Since the
persecution started she also stopped practicing. Local practitioners visited her
many time and gave her Teacher's new articles, but she still could not step
forward. Recently, she went to visit a relative who lived in Jilin City, where she met
an elderly practitioner (more than 60 years old). After the elderly practitioner
heard her story, she did not criticize her, but instead they studied the Fa
together many times. Little by little, this practitioner came to realize the
mission of Fa-rectification Dafa disciples: namely, to clarify the truth and
save sentient beings. The elderly practitioner also led her to distribute
truth-clarification materials. At the beginning, this practitioner did not dare
to do it at all. So the elderly practitioner took her hand in hand, and the
first truth-clarification material was posted on the door of her own house Then
they went to distribute truth-clarification materials from home to home, and
clarify the truth whenever they met someone. Then, this practitioner began to
step forward. Still, she had some fear. So she went to a village far away from
her home, threw the materials into people's yards, and immediately ran away
without looking back. Seeing this, the elderly practitioner did not criticize or
complain, but instead revisited the places where she had distributed
truth-clarification materials and placed the materials well. Then they studied the Fa together. The elderly practitioner said it was not
easy to prepare truth-clarification materials. So it is better to first read
them, so that we can use appropriate materials depending on the recipient. This
elderly practitioner is very familiar with residents nearby, such as how many
people there are in each household, and who has a VCD player. Still, she
encouraged this practitioner to be independent in clarifying the truth and
saving sentient beings. With patience and help from the elderly practitioner,
this practitioner truly felt the compassion that could melt steel. From her
heart, she said, "From you I have witnessed the power of compassion. I will
not only step forward myself, but will also let more people come to know the
truth." Later, this practitioner finally returned to her hometown. She not
only clarified the truth herself, but also helped practitioners nearby who did
not dare to step forward so that they could clarify the truth together. Sometimes, we have human notions when helping fellow practitioners and we
always expect some reward. When unable to see the immediate positive effect, we
feel upset. Actually, "doing without pursuit" is a requirement for us
during cultivation. On the surface, it seems we are helping fellow
practitioners. In fact, it is also a process for us to cultivate and improve. No matter where, there are always many determined and diligent Dafa
practitioners who do very well in both personal cultivation and validating the
Fa. In areas where the evil is very rampant, when practitioners share
understandings they tend to talk about how determined they are with cultivation,
how they clarify the truth, and how they break through tribulations. In
contrast, they did not pay more attention to other people. Some examples are: in
entire areas, practitioners are severely isolated. Without a healthy environment
for sharing, the information flow is not smooth. After practitioners are
persecuted, the news cannot quickly be put online, let alone made known to all
practitioners so that they can lend support with righteous thoughts. In this
way, it is impossible to work together as one body to rescue detained
practitioners. It takes a long time for Teacher's new articles as well as Minghui
Weekly to reach practitioners. When practitioners are doing something together to validate the Fa, everyone
tends to emphasize his or her own ideas, requiring others to agree. When
problems arise, many practitioners tend to focus on others. For some local
problems and issues, everyone insists on his or her own idea, expecting that an
ideal coordinator or someone from the material production site can immediately
find a "solution." By doing things that way, they forget that everyone
needs to cultivate in this process. We Dafa practitioners are one body, and
every one of us has the responsibility to work together so as to do Dafa work
well. Everyone needs to have an attitude of being responsible for the Fa, being
responsible for fellow practitioners, and being responsible for himself.
Together we can do Dafa work well, rather than push problems and contradictions
onto a few Dafa practitioners. In contrast, for nearby areas with better cooperation, when practitioners are
sharing their understandings, they not only talk about how to rectify and
improve themselves, but also emphasize how to let go of self and help more
practitioners to step forward. They also talk about how to join together as one
body, how to better rescue fellow practitioners, and how to help each other
improve in truth-clarification. Although sometimes practitioners have different
opinions on validating the Fa, they can have a righteous attitude by
putting clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings as the highest priority,
rather than emphasizing self too much. Practitioners study every one of
Teacher's articles, every article that Teacher has commented on, as well as all
the Minghui/Clearwisdom editorial articles, very carefully. Dafa practitioners
also split the workload, for example, exposing the evil to local residents,
experience-sharing for the past five years in China, providing pictures for
anti-torture exhibits, gathering material for orphans, etc. And all together,
many practitioners closely follow Teacher's Fa-rectification process. As a
result, the Fa-rectification environment is relatively stable in that area. In fact, as Dafa disciples, no matter what we do, Dafa's requirement for us
is the same. In our own individual environment, we need to continuously look
inward to rectify ourselves. Practitioners can compare themselves with each
other and encourage each other to improve as one body. Only by truly regarding
other people's issues as our own issues can we gradually meet the requirements
of the new cosmos and fulfill our prehistoric vows. The above are some personal understandings. I hope practitioners will kindly
point out anything inappropriate. February 4, 2005
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/2/12/95363.html
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