Cultivating Away the Competitive Mentality

(Clearwisdom.net) I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1994. Prior to taking up the practice I was a very competitive person. I could not tolerate others' criticizing me one bit. I had a bad temper, I looked down on others, and I fought frequently with my husband. After I started to practice Falun Dafa, I became a different person. My mind and body elevated and improved. I never quarreled with my mother-in-law, father-in-law, aunt or uncle. We all got along very well. When my in-laws saw that our entire family had become healthy and happy because of practicing Falun Dafa, they also began to study the Fa and do the exercises. Our entire family was bathed in the happiness brought to us by Falun Dafa.

After July 20, 1999, when Jiang's regime started to persecute Falun Gong, my in-laws were afraid to validate the Fa openly. Soon they stopped practicing. When my husband and I went to Beijing to validate the Fa, they could not understand our actions. They criticized us for being foolish, saying, "Why don’t you just live a comfortable life? Instead, you are fighting the CCP. Why don’t you practice secretly at home?" We asked them, "What is wrong with practicing Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance?" However, they continued to criticize us, even saying things that were disrespectful to Teacher and to Dafa.

Whenever my husband and I went to visit them, they criticized us. After returning home, I could not maintain a calm heart. I had regrets about buying them a television, a telephone, Falun Dafa books to help them to do the exercises, along with other items. I felt that they were fearful and acted like ordinary people, disrespecting Teacher and Dafa. I was angry that they were ungrateful. I was also angry that, despite the health improvements they experienced due to practicing Falun Dafa, they were still speaking for the evil. My heart was full of anger, and I felt very bad. I decided that I would never visit them again in their home. Even the mere mention of them was enough to upset me. I even swore at them.

Through studying the Fa, I enlightened to the fact that my competitive mentality had been stirred up during the process of the above-mentioned incidents. I realized that I needed to eliminate the evil beings behind my in-laws and that it was these evil beings who were controlling them. The words they spoke were not from their true selves. The evil beings were also controlling me when I swore at them, and spoke words that should not be spoken by a true practitioner. I started to study the Fa more diligently. The more I studied, the stronger my righteous thoughts became. After I eliminated my competitive mentality, I again clarified the truth to them and showed them truth-clarification materials. Then they changed their attitudes.

When I clarified the truth in my daily life, my attachments were also exposed. When I first began to clarify the truth, I had to repeat myself several times to classmates and friends before I succeeded. Every time I met someone who was easy to clarify the truth to, I felt secretly happy in my heart. I enlightened to the fact that this was an attachment to complacency, and therefore I should suppress it and control it. When I met someone who was difficult to clarify the truth to, and when that person wanted to debate with me, I sometimes could not succeed in clarifying the truth to them even after several attempts. I would then look down on that person. Although I did not show it to that person during my attempt to clarify the truth, I would speak badly about that person when I got home. All of these are manifestations of the competitive mentality.

Through continuous Fa study and cultivation of the heart, I found that, when I searched in depth, the root of my competitive mentality contained selfishness. The old cosmos is selfish, while the new cosmos is selfless. Dafa is for cultivators to succeed in cultivation and become righteous enlightened beings who are selfless. Therefore, we must be within the Fa when we speak every word, think every thought and do every act. During the Fa rectification, in order to clarify the truth and save sentient beings, we must eliminate all interferences and conform to the requirements of Dafa with a pure, righteous, clear, and calm heart.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/10/9/139670.html

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