Carefully Dealing with the Members of Opposite Sex

By Hetong, a Falun Dafa practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) During an experience sharing, I recently noticed some abnormal factors interfering with fellow practitioners, yet these fellow practitioners did not realize the evil behind those factors. Master taught us many times how to correctly treat the relationship between men and women. As Dafa disciples of the Fa-rectification period, our cultivation path will become the role model for future lives; we must be responsible to future lives and we must walk on a righteous path at all times. However, I noticed that many fellow practitioners could not clearly recognize specific issues when dealing with the opposite sex. For example, when we went to remote areas to spread Dafa, we needed to stay in local motels for a night or two. A lot of times, the number of men and women practitioners was not even, such as one man and three women. One practitioner suggested that all four of them stay in one room in order to save money. Some of the other practitioners thought, "Since we are all practitioners, it will be all right." I understand that, as practitioners, we don't have those improper everyday thoughts, so there should be no problem, even if we all stayed in the same room. In addition, it was more convenient for group Fa study. However, could we detect our omission in such an arrangement?

We are all cultivators, since we are all still cultivating, and we still have human notions and feelings. It is true that we are different from ordinary people because we are beyond ordinary people's feelings, but that does not mean we no longer need to do everything according to the Fa's requirements. In modern society, people have lost their moral bottom line, and everyone is impacted by a warped casual view of the relationships between men and women. If we don't clearly understand the Fa on this issue, it is very easy for the evil to take advantage of our omissions. Yet, we felt our actions were permissible.

On another occasion, several practitioners shared a ride to the airport but there were too many to fit into one car. The women practitioners outnumbered the men, so a single male practitioner said, "It is OK. That woman practitioner can sit on her husband's lap, and another woman practitioner can sit on my lap. It is all right since we are all cultivators." This is a very obvious example: if we do not follow the Fa, it is very easy to follow today's warped notions and then cover up the omission with rationalizations.

There is another phenomenon worth mentioning. When single practitioners are looking for a marriage partner, they tend to think that as long as the other person is a practitioner it will be good enough, without considering other living and financial conditions. They treat marriage irrationally. We practitioners are cultivating in ordinary people's society; we should accord with everyday people as much as possible, and balancing everyday life is also a part of our cultivation. Our cultivation must be rational; we are walking on the path from the human level to godhood and we should not mistakenly treat practitioners of the opposite sex with human feelings. If we are moved by human notions and feelings, it will bring problems to our cultivation.

We are all cultivators and if we do not succeed in cultivation, we cannot reach Consummation. Therefore, there will be conflicts among practitioners just like among ordinary people. It is not easy to cultivate. The evil element of lust in other dimensions will interfere with us as soon as our thoughts are not righteous. If we are being truly responsible to fellow practitioners, we should respect each other and follow the standards of the Fa to discern proper manners and rules. In this way we will not provide any omission for the evil element of lust to take advantage of.

Because we are cultivators, we must measure our xinxing according to higher standards. We must consider the impact of our behavior on ordinary people and Dafa's image. There are many experience sharing articles on Clearwisdom.net that have provided examples about single men and women practitioners who work together for a long time and are then taken advantage of by the evil element of lust and suffer setbacks. A single unrighteous thought can provide an opportunity for evil to interfere with our cultivation. We must consider fellow practitioners and our whole body when dealing with this issue.

From another point of view, if single men and women practitioners all stayed in one room, how would ordinary people view us? Maybe some people would think it is normal because today's people have lost their moral bottom line. We, however, represent Dafa and our behavior should set an example for ordinary people.

We must look inward when we have omissions. We must be responsible to all sentient beings. It is not easy to save people; the timing is urgent. We do not have a lot of time to waste on ordinary human notions about relationships. We cannot validate Dafa without acting in a righteous manner. Let us all fulfill our responsibilities for saving people more rationally and maturely.

This is my personal understanding; please kindly point out any mistakes.

October 3, 2007

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/3/163782.html

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