Cultivating Oneself While Saving Sentient Beings

By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, several diligent fellow practitioners were arrested while they were talking to people about the persecution, and they still have not been released. They were the main force in our area in saving sentient beings and they have exhorted many people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Why were they arrested? This puzzled some practitioners and it has had an impact on their efforts to save sentient beings. They started to think: "The more diligent one is, the greater the possibility of being arrested; coordinators are targeted for arrest; the authorities are focusing on practitioners who produce truth-clarification materials. When they get arrested, they could get sentenced to several years or more than ten years of imprisonment."

As practitioners, we should not be looking at things only from the surface or outward; we should look inward and examine our hearts. It must be that our own mindset that is not pure enough. It is not because of what we do.

In recent years, many information material production sites have been damaged and practitioners arrested. The losses have been significant. The root cause? Our own mindset.

Master says:

"Some people might disagree with my stance: 'Don't some qigong masters teach people to use certain techniques? One can concentrate, visualize something, focus one's mind on dantian, look internally at dantian, chant the Buddha's name, and so on.' These are types of techniques. Yet they are not merely techniques, but also reflections of one's abilities. Accordingly, these abilities are directly related to our xinxing cultivation and the level of our improvement. Moreover, one cannot attain tranquility by using such techniques alone." (Lecture Nine in Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation version)

If we develop an attachment to time, doing things with the show-off mentality while saving sentient beings, this method will not work. If we continue to cultivate our hearts, improve ourselves, and eliminate our attachments, this method will be effective in saving sentient beings.

A certain practitioner was responsible for making truth-clarification materials. A couple of years ago, an arrested practitioner gave out his name, and the authorities set out to catch him. He was forced to leave home to avoid being arrested and worse. He then became "wanted." While away from home, he started producing materials again. In the meantime, he studied the Fa well, sent forth righteous thoughts, and read "Minghui Weekly" on a regular basis. He changed significantly. He understood the Fa principles clearly. What he did and what he said were all from the Fa's standpoint. Later, in order to save more sentient beings, he returned home. Based on everyday people's logic, as soon as he got home, he should have been arrested, not to mention what would happen if he produced materials again. Some people even commented, "He shouldn't come home. As soon as he gets back, he will for sure be arrested and sentenced to several years of imprisonment." However, cultivation is cultivation. Cultivation does not follow common logic. It turned out that the authorities did not come after him at all. Even when the situation became "worse," they went and threatened other practitioners and never disturbed him. It was as if he did not exist. He has been safely at home for almost three years producing Falun Gong materials.

However, over the three years he gradually developed a show-off mentality. Although Master gave him hints several times, he didn't pay enough attention. As a result, another arrested practitioner gave out his name again. The authorities started looking for him again and went to the village several times wanting to search his house. Luckily, the Party secretary of the village protected him. Finally the secretary told him, "If you continue to be all over the place, I will not be able to protect you anymore!" He suddenly realized, "Isn't this a warning from Master? If I do not eliminate the show-off mentality, Master will not be able to protect me. Nobody will be able to protect me." He suddenly understood. He started to study the Fa more, send forth righteous thoughts more, and eliminated his showoff mentality. Since then, no one has gone after him anymore.

If this practitioner had cultivated more diligently and eliminated the show-off mentality earlier, he would not have had this trouble. It would not have caused people think that it was due to his producing materials. It is obvious that his showoff mentality was the root cause. There will be issues whenever one has a show-off mentality.

It is clear that human notions such as the competitive mentality, show-off mentality, the mentality of doing things, jealousy, the attachment to time, the mentality of relying on others, and the attachment to money are root causes of complicated and ever-changing situations and the persecution of many practitioners. Therefore, it is imperative for us to cultivate our hearts. We should study the Fa more and send forth righteous thoughts more. While saving sentient beings, we should identify and eliminate our human notions in time and cultivate ourselves well. Only in this way can we maintain a good cultivation state and save more sentient beings. We are fulfilling our missions and cultivating ourselves while saving sentient beings.

This is my own understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/8/29/184927.html

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