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Let Go of the Attachments in Technical Work
By a Falun Dafa Practitioner in US (Clearwisdom.net) In "No Politics," Master said, "Human
society is a good place for cultivation, since everything here can lead to
attachments. Precisely because of this, a person who is able to step out of it
and get rid of all his attachments to human society is magnificent and is able
to reach Consummation." ("No Politics," Essentials for Further
Advancement II) From the technical work I've been doing over the past few years, I felt
strongly that attachments were deeply embedded in my life. Thank you Master for
giving me an opportunity to realize this and for helping me let go of my
attachments. In the first two years of my practice, I came across several big conflicts
with other practitioners. Only today do I finally have a good understanding of
them. On the first occasion, I wrote a review to compare and comment on the
technologies to penetrate the information blockade. The conclusion was that the
two projects we had been running had to be stopped. A practitioner from one of
the projects was unhappy about my conclusion. On the second occasion, I used a technique that I believed to be more
advantageous than that of another practitioner's, but that practitioner did not
acknowledge it. To remind him of the advantage, I raised this topic to him many
times. Later, I realized that he acknowledged it implicitly. All of a sudden, I
understood the reason behind it. Whenever speaking of technical issues, I often judged right and wrong merely
from the technical perspective. When somebody is unhappy about the way I talk, I
believe it is that person's fault. Thinking about other people or talking with
compassion were not in my mind. In addition, I often paid attention to who
actually did the job. Deep in my mind, I was validating myself when discussing
technical issues. When such an attitude was combined with the lack of
considering other people first, I often acted quite aggressively. On another occasion, a practitioner who had collaborated with me for a while
decided to stop doing so. One of the reasons was that I often held on to my own
views despite my lack of understanding. This unpleasant incident puzzled me for
a long time. Recently, I enlightened that there were two reasons behind it. First, it is ridiculous to always hold on to my own views. As I now
understand it, if I have never had any experience with something, it does not
hurt to follow other people's suggestions. Besides, I can always learn in the
process. In the end, the difference between my idea and those of others is most
likely minor. The second issue is my work style. In my mind, the ideal situation is that
students challenge teachers and students challenge one another. At school, I did
challenge teachers, and I often got positive responses as teachers encouraged
such a habit. However, the situation is different in carrying out a job.
Sometimes, when I was questioned, I did not want to explain or make any
comments, because I believed that the questioner's lack of essential knowledge
would make it unlikely for him to be able learn it. To me, explaining to him was
simply a waste of my time. There was a practitioner who always complained about me. In the beginning, I
shared the experience with the practitioners I contacted the most. Most of them
said it was that practitioner's fault. Some practitioners were unbiased at the
beginning, and then hinted to me that this practitioner was not right. As I
talked about it more and more often, I realized that I had an attachment to
getting others to agree with me. When conflicts were affecting a Dafa project,
the first thing I wanted to make sure of was that it was not my fault, and that
everyone agreed with me. Losses to the project often became the last thing I
worried about. In Canonization of the Gods, Shen Gongbao publicly
sabotaged what his Master wanted him to do and asked Jiang Ziya to burn down the
post for granting titles to the Gods. My attachment is no less than that. As a
Dafa practitioner, such an attachment is definitely wrong. On another occasion, a practitioner sent out a few emails, harshly
criticizing me for placing fame and personal gain above the project and for
placing other practitioners' work behind mine. This time, I enlightened to
Master's teaching. As Master taught us, it is the problem of the person who
presents a legitimate complaint if the way of criticizing is not right, while it
is the fault of the one who is criticized if that person does not accept
legitimate criticism. On the other hand, even if the complaint does not look
right, I should still be able to see the aspect of truth in it. Indeed, the
project I was doing brought fame and personal gain, and my attachment to fame
did come out. But I felt it was not right to not listen to him simply because he
exaggerated my problems. In the end, it is Master who arranges and accomplishes
everything. Who does the job is not important at all. Neither is the opinion of
other fellow practitioners, because we are not practicing for other people. Recently a practitioner praised me very often. In "The Mentality of
Showing Off," (Zhuan Falun), Master said, "You will do him
harm, as he will develop the attachment of zealotry." Once I get used to
praise, I take it for granted. By and large, please do not overly praise other
practitioners. Praise is a big test for practitioners. In cultivation, we must persist in studying the Fa and doing the Falun Gong
exercises. It is a matter of whether we listen to Master. There is an issue of
how to look at a project we're doing. Has it been accomplished because of our
excellent techniques and our extra few hours in place of Fa study and exercises?
Or it is Gods that have accomplished it while we just did it on the surface? As
Master said recently, the evil factors that persecute Falun Dafa practitioners
have been mostly eliminated and only a tenth of a billionth still remain in the
Three Realms, and eight percent on the surface. Therefore, within the Three
Realms, only one millionth still exists in the superficial dimension. Only if we
do the three things well can the Gods accomplish the things in other dimensions.
In carrying out technical work, being overly content or overly discouraged is
what we need to change in our practice. Personally, I can ensure the time to
study the Fa and do the exercises most of the time. As a result, I often have a
calm and peaceful heart whenever technical difficulties arise, and I can
continuously work for a fairly long time. The above are some of my understandings during the course of my cultivation.
Hopefully they will be useful to everyone. Fellow practitioners, please point
out any mistakes. |