We Should Treat Fellow Practitioners With Tolerance

By a practitioner from Malaysia

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently I had some friction with another practitioner, and became angry. If the same thing happened with a non-practitioner, I would be able to tolerate them and forgive them. But when it happened with a practitioner, my anger came from nowhere. A typical example of this is that I can freely chat and laugh with my father, who does not practice Falun Gong, but I often argue with my mother, who is a practitioner.

When I encounter conflicts with other practitioners, the first thing I think of, is not to search inside, but to complain, and I become upset. "How can he/she behave like this? This is not like a practitioner." Initially, I thought like this. Later, I found that when other practitioners had conflicts, they too would often say similar words, "Not really like a practitioner... worse than an everyday person." This seems to be a common response when we are upset. In fact, it not only hurts practitioners, but it is also disrespectful to Teacher. Teacher mentioned many times that whether a person is a true practitioner or not is decided by Teacher. We are not qualified to judge who is a practitioner and who is not.

One time I gave something to a practitioner and specifically told her not to lose it. Later, she did not return it to me, and waited for me to ask for it back. Several times she said her cell phone was turned off, then she said the item was in other practitioner's home. In the end she told me she could not find it. If this had happened with a non-practitioner, I would not be upset at all; rather I would comfort the person and not pay much attention to it. But she was a practitioner. In addition, some other practitioners told me that she used to have a habit of keeping other people's things. I became very upset, and thought she deliberately refused to return my property to me.

After complaining to a non-practitioner friend about this situation, the friend said, "What kind of person is she? She doesn't deserve to be a friend." Fortunately I did not tell this friend that the person was a practitioner. Otherwise what kind of impression would they have of Dafa? All my friends who don't cultivate in Falun Gong have a positive impression of Dafa. Most of them withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its related organizations, and some even want to practice Falun Gong. If I complain to them about practitioners, it is very possible they will have negative thoughts about Dafa. Isn't this what Teacher mentioned in "Fa Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners," about not being able to differentiate the inside from the outside?

Then I thought, maybe the fellow practitioner was not really like that. Maybe she accidentally lost the item that I gave to her, yet due to my attachment a false impression was created making me feel that she deliberately responded the way she did. Even if the practitioner really has that shortcoming, it is like what Teacher said,

"...as long as the side of you that has been fully cultivated goes over and is partitioned off, everything that you haven't fully cultivated will still manifest. Human attachments will still show themselves, just as will bad elements. When tensions or conflicts emerge it can't be said that Dafa disciples haven't cultivated well, nor can this and that be said about that particular group of cultivators, and it can't be said that the individuals involved aren't diligent. You can never see the side that has been fully cultivated. That side has become divine, and only the side that hasn't been fully cultivated shows itself." ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital, 2006")

The strict requirements for practitioners are requirement for ourselves, not for others. When a conflict arises, you should first ask yourself, "Am I acting like a practitioner? Do I deserve to be Teacher's student?" If we treat our fellow practitioners with tolerance our cultivation environment will be compassionate and harmonious.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/2/17/172583.html

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