Discussion on "the Internal" and "the External"

By Dao Xing, a Falun Dafa practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) When a practitioner talks about the external, he usually refers to people and things that he encounters in his cultivation. When a practitioner is able to properly deal with people and things, he is already promoting Dafa. We cultivate among ordinary people. If our speech or conduct make people frown, not only will they think that we are bad, but they may also think that Dafa is bad.

These situations are actually quite prevalent. Some of us even push our relatives or family members to such a state, though we may not even realize it. One keeps saying that some of his family members, so and so, are devils who have interfered with his cultivation by doing this and that. But these people are exactly the ones we need to save. They have hung their hopes of being saved on us. Why haven't we displayed the beauty of Dafa to them?

Is it that our speech and conduct have caused them to move to the opposite side? Pushing people to the other side with one's improper actions is also damaging Dafa. We might have destroyed many innocent sentient beings this way and caused huge losses. The lessons are hard and we as practitioners need to think twice about this.

Quite often, we do not know how to position ourselves with respect to ordinary people. The root cause of this is that we have not studied the Fa well. No one should be our enemy. We can expose those who have persecuted us. But the purpose is not to attack them (except those who are truly unsalvageable). Rather, it is to stop the persecution and eliminate the evil. Eventually we still need to clarify the truth to them, and save them and those around them. Even for those who are truly unsalvageable, we should not push them further to the opposite side. Each person will choose his own path.

Perhaps the situation results from the mutual interaction of both parties. If there is only one side, nothing can happen.

If every practitioner can look inward instead of looking outward, true practitioners' righteous thoughts and conducts will be displayed.

What shall we do specifically? One should look to find his own deficiencies instead of finding others' deficiencies. When one sees deficiencies in others, one should examine oneself for the same substances, and get rid of them. Instead of thinking of changing the external environment that causes the persecution, pay attention to cultivating oneself while clarifying the truth. This way, the basis upon which the persecution environment exists is no longer valid.

As a matter of fact, if internally a person is clean, clear, and has no gaps, then he will not see any persecution externally. This is another meaning that I can see of what Teacher said: "Pacify the external by cultivating the internal". The manifestation on the external is to reflect our deficiencies and let us get rid of them.

But sometimes we still do not look inward to cultivate ourselves and take the quantity of work as cultivation. Doing a large amount of work cannot replace cultivation. One has to cultivate oneself in doing work, get rid of attachments, be clearheaded and see the truth. Although under the big scope saving sentient being is always the most important and individual cultivation is nothing in comparison, individual cultivation does lay a foundation for us to tell people the facts. Only if we cultivate ourselves well can we better tell people the facts and save sentient beings. Only if we cultivate ourselves well will Dafa give us more wisdom and capabilities to do well in telling people facts and doing the three things.

Telling people the facts about Falun Gong is the obligation of every practitioner in the Fa-rectification period. In the process of telling people facts, one keeps finding one's attachments and getting rid of them. This way not only does he save sentient beings, but also he cultivates himself well. This has never been possible in history with any other cultivation method except for with what Teacher and Dafa have taught us. It is unprecedented and immensely glorious. Everything in our future is contained here. The effectiveness of our clarifying the truth reflects our xinxing. Fa will give us wisdom and capabilities corresponding to the level of our xinxing. The higher our xinxing is, the more powerful our words will be. One sentence of ours is enough to penetrate a person's life, rectifying or disintegrating the bad thoughts in him and save him. One who has high level of xinxing must also be the most wise. His properly chosen words can untie all the knots in other people's minds.

There are one hundred million practitioners in China, the population of which is 1.3 billion. On average, each practitioner only needs to be responsible for ten or eleven people. Every one of us have more than ten relatives and friends. But it has been many years since the Fa-rectification began, the process is far from being completed. Many practitioners keep talking about saving sentient beings, but in reality they cannot find their true nature and cannot save themselves. They indulged in their own imagination or wishful thinking and need to be saved more than anyone else. They have learned Dafa, but have been blocked by the old factors and cannot see the principles of Dafa. Some say that they have reached consummation and do not need to cultivate any more, and are waiting for the Fa-rectification process to finish. Indeed some people are acting this way and it is truly tragic.

When a cultivator follows the old thoughts, whom is he cooperating with? Who is persecuting whom when it brings about bad consequences? Teacher said that the old cosmos is fundamentally selfish. Many of our conducts in cultivation, are also like this. Only if one looks inward can one keep having new understandings of Teachers' Fa and reinforcing one's belief in what one has learned. Do not leave any bad mark in your own cultivation.

The above is a sharing of my own experiences. Please let me know my deficiencies when you see them.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/12/25/169002.html

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