By a Dafa disciple from China

(Clearwisdom.net) One of our local practitioners made a mistake. Some fellow practitioners could treat it with a cultivator's mentality while others couldn't. Some regarded their fellow practitioner's shortcomings and mistakes as those of an ordinary person, and criticized and blamed her without regard for time and place. Thus, it only made the matter worse.

No matter what we say or do, we should think of the Fa and others first. We should consider whether or not our words and actions would help preserve the Fa and save all beings by contributing to form a whole body. Since our fellow practitioner is suffering tribulations and being interfered with, I think we should immediately think of ways to help her, rather than pushing her away. We should refrain from adding more negative substance to the fellow practitioner and drawing conclusions about her. Otherwise it will only prove counterproductive.

So it's all right that we point out or discuss the shortcomings and mistakes of our fellow practitioners, but our approach should be rational, clearheaded, and compassionate. We must restrain human mentality and recklessness when dealing with such wrongdoings.

This reminds me of a past event.

In the winter of 2004, a female practitioner in my area was arrested and later released. One fellow practitioner learned from the police that the female practitioner had told the police everything and even became an agent for the evil, so he said that everyone should avoid her. Under pressure from rumors, the female practitioner, along with her child, had to leave the area.

What I want to say here is that it is not wrong to inform practitioners of what one knows. The important thing is with what mentality it is done, and whether or not it is done with a human interest or is well thought out.

When I heard about it, I was not affected and thought that the practitioner couldn't be an agent. The worst scenario would be that she did not totally reject the authorities' arrangements and subconsciously cooperated with them. If she had been an agent, too many more people would have been in trouble. But none of the practitioners who continued to be in touch with her after her release was arrested. We should really think about this and identify inadequacies in our heart nature and our understanding of the Fa principles.

In my local area, there are some practitioners who have problems in their cultivation. They either strayed in understanding the Fa or behaved irrationally. Some of them did not pass the test of lust well, and some unnecessarily spent other practitioners' money. I think we should adopt the following approach toward fellow practitioners who have shown their shortcomings or made mistakes.

We should neither push them out or to the opposite side nor avoid them. If they do not listen to our advice or even undermine the Fa and interfere with the Fa-rectification process, we cannot ignore it and should safeguard the Fa by treating it seriously. Meanwhile, we should exercise care to not forget cultivating our own speech and heart, and we must avoid aggravating the interference and the loss by refraining from gossiping behind their backs. If we truly mean well for our fellow practitioners, the best we can do is to share with them in a spirit of openness, tolerance, and compassion, or to help by sending righteous thoughts. In my opinion, when a fellow practitioner did not do well, it was because he was swayed by a human heart or attachments. Exploited and manipulated by the evil in other dimensions, he strayed onto the path arranged by the old forces. The whole body of practitioners will suffer less interference and the Fa will sustain fewer losses if he can make amends and return to the righteous path. Our Master does not want to leave a single disciple behind. Our Master wants to save all beings in the world.

Of course, there are those who refuse to listen to anyone and who, totally controlled by the evil in other dimensions, are bent on going to the opposite side. They belong to a different story and should not be given a field for them to act out.

Master said in the new article "Pass the Deadly Test,"

"As your Master, I have never kept account of the wrong things you have done in your cultivation; I remember only the good things you have done and your accomplishments." "Dafa disciples and I will not regard students who have gone down the wrong path in their cultivation the way ordinary people would."

We have all felt our esteemed Master's vast tolerance and boundless compassion. As Dafa disciples, we too should develop our own huge compassion and all-inclusive righteous thoughts toward both our fellow practitioners and other beings.

Besides, Master elaborated on cultivation of speech in "Zhuan Falun." Let us review those words together:

"The cultivation of speech that we teach refers to: that which involves one's reputation and personal gain that cannot be given up among everyday people, that which has nothing to do with the actual work of practitioners in society, the senseless gossiping among practitioners in the same school of practice, attachments that cause one to show off, hearsay or circulating rumors, or those discussions on some social issues that one is excited about. I hold that these are all attachments of everyday people. I think that in these areas we should watch what we say--that is the cultivation of speech we refer to."

I think how we do in cultivating our speech is a true reflection of our heart-nature and realms. In this respect, we should cultivate ourselves well and be responsible for ourselves as well as for fellow practitioners and Dafa.

June 21, 2006

Posting date: 7/6/2006
Original article date: 7/6/2006
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/22/131025.html

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