Some Thoughts After Reading Teacher's Article, "A Person in Charge is Also a Cultivator"

By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Taiwan

(Clearwisdom.net) It is becoming more and more important to coordinate our efforts well during this crucial period. The more urgent the matter is, the more anxious practitioners are, and the more serious the problems become. From my own experience and from conversations with other practitioners, I see that some practitioners have complaints about those in charge or have different opinions about how the team should work, so they are less willing to participate in the work.

In a disagreement, the average practitioner can detect his jealousy or his intention to show off his capabilities. One may feel wronged because others don't adopt his idea. He may keep thinking that things should be done his way, while others believe another approach is better. These are instances of being attached to validating oneself. Yet sometimes the average practitioner will indeed see the attachments of those in charge or have a really superior idea, but he is afraid to speak up. His reluctance to share this information with fellow practitioners not only stalls the cultivation of the practitioner in charge but also weakens the power of validating Dafa as a whole body. This happens when we fail to regard the person in charge as a cultivator. We think that he already sees his own attachments or that he has probably thought about the idea before. This is a reflection of our own fear that our opinions will only be ignored or rejected by others if we dare to point them out.

On the other hand, if the person in charge doesn't regard himself as a cultivator, he misses the opportunities to improve himself in disagreements. The person in charge has more responsibilities and more things to take care of. If he is not alert, he could easily regard those disagreements as normal conflicts in work, rather than seeing them as opportunities arranged by Teacher for us to improve ourselves together.

This problem appears more often in practitioners who have specialties. Because of their specialized knowledge, people usually listen to them, and their opinions become accepted as "expert knowledge." When others have different opinions, they easily deny them based upon their expertise. Thus, opportunities to improve ourselves as a whole body are missed again and again.

I also want to raise one other issue. We should encourage everyone to express his or her opinions. Many times during experience sharing, a practitioner may express an opinion which is different from that of the majority, with the intention of being responsible to Dafa, yet the moderator or person in charge rejects it based on his own opinion. The practitioner's opinion may not have been all-encompassing, and the coordinator or person in charge may understand the matter in more depth, but every practitioner's opinion is an opportunity for every other practitioner to think more broadly and to improve. Really, this practitioner should be commended for expressing a different opinion in front of others.

I would like to strive forward together with you. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

April 13, 2005

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/4/15/99548.html

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