A Dafa Practitioner from Shijiazhuang City

(Clearwisdom.net)

Minghui Weekly has recently had many articles discussing how to treat conflicts amongst fellow practitioners. Practitioners have analyzed this very deeply. For different non-righteous thoughts and behaviors, practitioners look inward for attachments. I feel that this is a very common issue. It wasn't obvious before, but during the most recent period of Fa-rectification, the human notions that are not very pure or that haven't been eliminated are now being exposed completely. Facing these conflicts, some practitioners try to avoid them. This doesn't mean that the conflicts have been eliminated or rectified. This is actually covering them. This is just like the root cause of people's sickness - karma. If the root is not being completely dug out, sooner or later, conflicts will show up again.

I think there is a direct reason for why these conflicts are happening: Some practitioners always use their own standpoint to think about problems, whether intentionally or not. They don't even realize it because they are so used to it. They demand others to follow their ways of doing things. They have a strong desire for manipulation. Whether they are doing the Three Things or other things, they always expect others to follow their thoughts and for people surrounding them to cooperate with them. When something is not happening their way, whether they express themselves or not, because they are attached to themselves and stick to their own points of view, they lose out on the compassion and benevolence that a cultivator is supposed to have. They even form cliques and exclude other practitioners. In fighting and arguing, they lose the harmony and the one-body environment. Isn't this what the Communist evil specter does? I suggest that while every fellow practitioner cleans up the communist evil specter in their own universal dimensions, they should also eliminate any communist evil factors that distance other fellow practitioners. When one only wants to change others, but not oneself, isn't this a corrupt notion of the old forces and the old universe? If in the end this is not rectified, wouldn't this be brought into the new universe?

Some practitioners, after coming out of forced labor camps, are used to seeing "transformed" practitioners, and they bring the mindset of distrusting others with them when they are released. They don't trust other practitioners around them. They hate the "transformed" practitioners so much, and they don't want to have any contact with them. Of course, it's necessary to pay attention to safety, but when others see you with a cold and doubtful look, what do they think? Aren't you basically rejecting fellow practitioners?

Master asks us to treat everybody well, especially those practitioners who haven't stepped out and haven't kept up with the advancement of Fa-rectification, and those who had gone astray. But yet we treat them harshly without the basic compassion, friendship and peace, not to mention benevolently treating other sentient beings. How could we save people with this mindset? Indeed, our fellow practitioners were persecuted, treated unfairly, and even hurt by the "transformed" practitioners. But weren't those practitioners subject to brainwashing and manipulation?! We should treat them compassionately even more and bring them back to Fa-rectification. Although this is hard, we should still do our best. Now, in our area, there are many practitioners who haven't stepped out yet. None of the "transformed" and evil ones have gone back to the Fa-rectification path. You can't say this doesn't have anything to do with our fellow practitioners' mindsets. In the end, this is the biggest selfishness - self-protection and protecting oneself from getting hurt.

In our area, practitioners are mostly in their forties. There are elderly and younger ones at home. And they are carrying heavy responsibilities. Some have children going to college. Some have children getting married and needing new houses. Some have elderly being hospitalized. Especially in a society like this, under the pressure of the "three mountains" - the education system, house reforming system and medical system, any of these would cost tens of thousands of Yuan. But the salaries are relatively low (most of the people make only four to five hundred Yuan each month). The income in the countryside is even worse. They are lucky if they could make a living by doing some temporary jobs. In recent years, due to the persecution of Dafa, many families suffered economic losses. Some fellow practitioners were involved in family and human conflicts and are trying hard to make money. Some almost exhausted themselves. So they are very passive and hesitant in doing the Three Things and don't devote enough energy.

What I want to remind fellow practitioners is: We all made great vows when we followed Master to come down to the human world. If we are not able to tell what is more important, we might lose the opportunity of saving sentient beings. During this critical historical moment, if we can't do well, we not only let down Master, but also let down sentient beings, even ourselves. I think no matter what kind of pressure in the family, it must be related to our state of mind. It might be the old forces going after our attachments and human notions which are the biggest and hardest to let go of. For fellow practitioners that are facing this, it is critical to make the choice wisely.

Only if we can have a righteous mindset and remember our first and foremost identity as Dafa practitioners, after we fulfill our mission of saving sentient beings and do the Three Things well, everything will go smoothly. The difficulty of solving problems at home would disappear. On the contrary, the more you attach to something, the more trouble you'll get: My son is in his twenties and is ready to get married. But he doesn't have a house. My daughter was able to go to college. But the tuition is a huge burden. My mother-in-law was hospitalized. The medical expenses are so high. It cost tens of thousands of Yuan for only half a month. How could we carry debts like that?

Human beings live for these. Some family members believe that Dafa is good. But they can't let go of the notion of curing diseases and are afraid of relatives or friends' intervention. They know the hospital couldn't do much. But they still go there. Human beings can never break through the troubles in the human world. But we are cultivators that have to let go of and not be attached to fame, money and qing. We can't forget our missions as Dafa practitioners and forget about doing the Three Things.

For every practitioner, these things seem to be their responsibilities. It seems like other than making money and satisfying family's needs, there is no other way. However, we don't just want to be good people in the human world. Everybody has their own fate. As long as we firmly believe in Dafa and Master, there will be other good ways. When we don't take righteous actions, the old forces will take advantage of us and will cause more losses. Several practitioners have awakened from the lessons they learned and have let go of attachments.

Regarding establishing material production sites everywhere, there were reminders on Minghui Weekly that due to their notions, some practitioners always try to find excuses: I'm not good at doing things with my hands. I won't be able to learn. My family is not practicing, etc. In fact, there is a HP copier that costs only 500 Yuan. There is no need to connect it to any computers. As long as there is power, it can work independently to print materials without any special technology. It's easier than using a TV. The speed is not slow either. The copier is not big - only 30cm wide, and 20cm high. When you are done copying, it can be stored easily without affecting anybody.

With the advancement of the Fa-rectification, I think we should be more active instead of waiting and depending on others and having others arrange or coordinate things. The practitioners at the material production sites have devoted very much and have endured very high pressure in the past several years. Some didn't even have time to study the Fa, practice the exercises or other things. Of course, everybody is doing this without any regrets or complaints. Now, every practitioner should think of others and share the burdens at the material production sites. As long as we have this in our minds, Master will arrange opportunities for us.

The closer we reach to the end, the more righteous thoughts and actions we need to make sure to maintain. It's dangerous to miss any single step because all the gods in the universe are watching us. We shouldn't be stuck in these family and practitioner conflicts to enlarge our human notions and attachments. We shouldn't point fingers at each other. We should rectify every single thought and action of ours. We should make sure to do the Three Things well and harmonize our one body so that we can walk well on the Fa-rectification path.

Master says in the "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles":

"Cultivate yourselves. I don't want the environment Dafa disciples have to become one in which people point fingers at each other. I want the environment to be one in which everyone can accept criticism and at the same time look inside themselves. If everyone cultivates himself, everyone looks within, and everyone cultivates himself well, won't the conflicts be few?"

"Improvement for a cultivator definitely doesn't result from finger pointing, nor does it result from my criticism of you as your Master or from your pointing fingers at or criticizing each other. It comes from you cultivating yourself."
"Some people have become like matches--one stroke and they ignite. They're like land mines--one step and they detonate. [They are acting like,] "You can't criticize me. I can't take any criticism." They no longer listen to any expression of disapproval or disagreement, whether it was meant out of good or ill will, was intentional or unintentional; they reject everything flat out, and even less do they examine themselves. It has gotten quite severe."

"From this point on, whoever can't take criticism is not being diligent, whoever can't take criticism is not displaying the state of a cultivator, or at least on this issue. (Applause) If someone still can't pass this test, I'll tell you, he is in a very dangerous situation, because for a cultivator this is the most fundamental thing, it's at the top of the list of things to eliminate, and it has to be eliminated. If you don't get rid of it, you won't achieve Consummation."

Conflicts are not scary. Master uses this way to help us eliminate our human notions. I suggest we all study Master's lecture -- "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles" again. If we try our best, everything will get resolved properly.

All fellow practitioners are welcome to point out any possible mistakes in this article.

Posting date: 12/9/2006
Original article date: 12/9/2006
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Translated on 11/24/2006
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/10/15/140003.html

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