My Understanding of Seeking Within and Showing Tolerance Towards Others

By a Falun Gong practitioner in Shandong Province

(Clearwisdom.net) When two cultivators have a conflict, both of them need to seek within. If one of them sees a flaw or attachment in the other, he needs to look for the same flaw or attachment in himself. Many fellow practitioners and I often remind each other to do this. Although we all know the meaning of looking within from the Fa's perspective, it is still a challenge to truly seek within when we face a test. Removing our attachments is a heart-wrenching, agonizing process, because we want to protect ourselves from any harm. Sometimes when a fellow practitioner points out my inadequacies, I will promise to seek within, but I will actually feel defensive and explain the objective criteria to justify the behaviors that were commented upon.

Sometimes I am able to calm down and look for my attachments. Every human notion is an obstacle to a cultivator. Every human attachment will bind a cultivator and prevent him from moving forward. With that in mind, I often check myself against the Fa. When I encounter a problem, I know I should study the Fa with a tranquil mind and eliminate the identified attachments with the Fa. However, at times it is not easy to identify my hidden attachments. Often I don't realize that I am completely consumed by them or further nourishing my hidden attachments. It is not until my conflicts with fellow practitioners reach a deadlock that I finally identify my selfishness.

I realized that I had taken great pride in my understanding of the Fa and doing the three things well. In other words, I had been complacent about myself. Hence, I started to evaluate fellow practitioners based on my personal standard and I expected them to attain my standard. If a fellow practitioner failed to meet my standard, I saw him as a complete failure without any merit at all. I even ordered him to do this or that to reach my standard. When this happens, I completely forget what it means to seek inward, forgive, and tolerate.

Now that I think about it again with a more peaceful frame of mind, I realize that every Falun Gong practitioner is a cultivator, and everyone has flaws. Every fellow practitioner is doing what he or she should do on his or her respective path of cultivation. We are each guided by Teacher's Fa and not by any fellow practitioner's personal standard. I felt utterly ashamed of myself when I identified this selfish heart of mine, especially when I remembered that Teacher has required us to treat the Fa as Teacher.

We must have enormous forgiveness and tolerance for each other. I have promised myself to learn to admire fellow practitioners' merits and tolerate their flaws. There is no model on the path of cultivation practice— we have the Fa to follow. From now on I must apply the strictest standards to myself and truly cultivate myself well.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/14/137770.html

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