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Eliminate the Poison of the Party Culture and Form a More Righteous Field Among Practitioners By Qing Feng and Ming Yue
(Clearwisdom.net) Yesterday, I had a serious misunderstanding with fellow
practitioners over some trivial issue. Others pointed out my problem, and I also
searched within for my shortcomings. I saw that what they said was true, yet I
still felt it was unfair, "Why did they all blame me? Why didn't anyone
blame the other practitioner who has conflicts with me? Doesn't she have any
problems?" I recognized the jealousy displayed in these thoughts and sent
out righteous thoughts to eliminate it, but it didn't go away. Today I happened to talk to the practitioner with whom I had the conflict.
She has a sharp tongue, and the problems she points out often truly provoke
others. Some practitioners do not understand her, and she suffers from frequent
interference. We discussed the underlying reason, and she said it came from
being poisoned by the evil Party culture. The corrupt notions instilled by the
party have created huge gaps among practitioners. Many still think, "If you
want others to do well, you have to do well yourself first," parroting
exactly the party line that has been repeatedly instilled in us by its
propaganda. It's a case of the evil specter doing mischief. My jealousy vanished instantly when I recalled the following taught by
Teacher. I truly felt that it was the degenerate culture and the distorted ideas
and notions instilled in us by the evil party that were separating us and
creating huge gaps among us. I found Teacher's Fa and read it again
carefully: "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? ... The evil regime's propaganda has twisted that principle into this: if you
want others to behave well, you have to behave well yourself. It's a very evil
saying. On the surface it looks like, "Oh, it's true. That saying makes a
lot of sense." But it doesn't make one bit of sense, and it can only play
a negative role. Who can behave so well? Where can you find a perfect human
being? Even with a cultivator who's reached the last step in his cultivation
and not yet completely shed his human body, he still has sins and karma, and
he still has attachments. But, when he reaches that step in cultivation he has
far surpassed ordinary human beings. If we go by that saying, nobody can tell
anybody else to behave well. Wouldn't society be done for?"
("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference," November 29,
2003) We continued to share about how to form a stronger righteous field among
practitioners. Today, when we truly understand from our inner mind the distorted
notions instilled by the party, aren't we eliminating the huge gap created by
the evil, aren't we forming a more righteous field among fellow practitioners? Some practitioners are still influenced by people when clarifying the
truth to them. For example, people who are immersed in the party line may
say, "I don't think you're doing well enough" or "I will learn it
after you do well." Many practitioners feel embarrassed and accept such
degenerate logic. Instead of saving sentient beings, they become passive and
depressed. It's the same among practitioners who have long participated in the party
culture. When one practitioner points out another's problem, the other may say,
"Stop blaming me. You still have a lot of attachments," or, "Stop
saying that to me. You also have a lot to improve." Rather than thinking
about whether what he or she said was correct, the criticized practitioner
focuses on the other person's shortcomings. Instead of forming a cultivation
field with righteous thoughts, the practitioner is playing a negative role to
undermine the environment. "Let me tell you. When you have a hard time going through a critical
juncture, when you hear some harsh words, that's my law body using harsh words
to provoke you and to tell you."(Provisional translation subject to
further improvement of "The First Fa Lecture in the US" ) Some practitioners are happy when others point out their shortcomings.
"Oh, you have cultivated so well!" He thinks that critical
practitioner is doing better and respects him. He begins to learn from that
practitioner instead of learning from the Fa. Unintentionally he may spur the
other practitioner to think too highly of himself. That is harmful to both
parties. Even in some wicked environment, Teacher may borrow a policeman's mouth
to remind a practitioner, who realizes it is Teacher's hint. However, in the
end, because of the policeman's deceitful performance, the practitioner begins
to trust him and follows an evil path instead. Doesn't this demonstrate the evil party culture? If another person has
correctly pointed out your mistake, that does not necessarily mean that he
has done it well, and neither does it mean that he has done everything well.
How can we follow the false logic instilled by the evil party culture and
believe that one must have certainly done well just because what he said was
correct? Some practitioners also behave with only superficial sincerity. Wanting to
look good in others' eyes, they attempt to maintain "unity" among
practitioners by neglecting to point out other practitioners' shortcomings based
on the Fa. Because one doesn't think he has done well enough himself, he feels
too ashamed to point out others' problems and says nothing even if he sees them.
If another practitioner does point out the problem, he is critical of her,
"She has so many attachments herself, and yet she dares to point out
other's attachments!" Isn't this situation caused by the evil party
culture? "Conflicts are inevitable. Without conflicts there wouldn't be any
improvement. If assistants did well, students did well, and nobody had any
conflicts in this environment, who would be happy? Demons would be happy, and
I wouldn't be happy. The reason is, you would lose the environment for
cultivation, you wouldn't be able to improve, and wouldn't be able to achieve
the goal of returning. So you shouldn't view conflicts as bad."
(Provisional translation subject to further improvement of "Falun Buddha
Law - Lecture at the Western United States Fa Conference") So we must realize that sharing our ideas and thoughts with others will
expose the conflicts. Are they conflicts among us as human beings? Of course
not. They are reflections of those beings that produce such notions and ideas.
When you speak out without your personal notions (i.e., without putting yourself
in the conflicts), it is powerful enough to eliminate those factors hiding
behind both the speaker and the listener. When one of us compassionately points out our shortcomings, if we can be
concerned only about whether the criticism is correct or not and not care about
who the other person is or how well the other person is doing, we will form an
automatic mechanism. In such a righteous field, anything that is not righteous
will automatically be corrected without aiming at any specific person. In such
an environment, everyone is able to see his or her own shortcomings and correct
them. April 26, 2005 Posting date: 5/13/2005 |