Re-Thinking the Issue of Jealousy By a Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
Master said, "A wicked person is born of jealousy. Out of selfishness and
anger he complains about unfairness towards himself. A benevolent person always
has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship
as joy. An enlightened person has no attachments at all. He quietly observes the
people of the world deluded by illusions." ("Realms" from Essentials for
Further Advancement) In the past, my understanding of jealousy was
narrow-minded. I thought that jealousy is like what we usually call the "red-eye
syndrome."1 I had not tried to understand jealousy more deeply based
on the Fa. Recently, when disagreements occurred between fellow practitioners
and me, I calmly thought through the disagreements and came to realize that
jealousy is not limited to only one attachment; it includes many factors, and it
is an assortment of things from a person's bad side.
If one is entangled in a conflict and cannot let go for a prolonged period,
strictly speaking, he is behaving like a wicked person no matter what he has
done or said, or if it is right or wrong. The reason that he keeps arguing and
won't let go is because he attaches himself too strongly to the flawed reasoning
or mistakes of others. Looking from another angle, isn't he attached to his own
reasoning or being right? Isn't it obviously an attachment to "oneself"? How can
one, if overly attached to his own things, avoid arguing angrily when in
conflict? When arguing angrily he would surely feel unfairly treated. The
feeling of unfairness would again intensify the conflict. At that moment if one
could not rationally examine oneself, he would get even angrier, and to relieve
the anger he may do bad things. Then, in this conflict, hasn't he behaved like a
wicked person?
From a different perspective, why should one focus on other people's faults,
shortcomings, or mistakes and not let go of it? Why shouldn't he look at others'
strengths and where they are right, and appreciate these things? This is a
telling reflection of one's realm. If one's mind is filled with other's faults,
then it is just like a principle Master taught us, "A person is like a
container, and he is whatever he contains." ("Melt Into the Fa", Essentials
for Further Advancement) If all that is contained in one's mind are other
people's faults, shortcomings, and mistakes, and these faults, shortcomings, and
mistakes have penetrated the depths of his mind, then can he have a pure
thought? If a living being can let go of others' faults, be magnanimous and
tolerant, and from the bottom of his heart sincerely and benevolently accept
others' strengths, he is then a great being. Isn't this the mentality that we
should have as a Dafa practitioner?
As for jealousy, I think it is not simply a question of whether we can get
rid of it. If we judge and deal with things using a jealous mentality, we are
seriously limiting ourselves from achieving further and higher understandings,
and preventing ourselves from fundamentally changing this bad state of mind.
Furthermore, if one tightly catches other's faults and does not let go, where
can his Shan2 come from? "Shan is the manifestation of the nature of
the universe at different levels and in different dimensions. It is also the
fundamental nature of Great Enlightened Beings." ("A Brief Explanation of Shan,"
Falun Dafa Essentials for Further Advancement) If one is cultivating
Shan, shouldn't he first have a magnanimous and tolerant mentality when judging
things?
Master talked many times about achieving "benevolent solutions" to the things
when teaching the Fa. He taught us to have "the benevolence that can melt
steel." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa
Conference") My understanding is that this is also a requirement set by Master
for a Dafa practitioner's state of mind when facing conflicts. "A benevolent
person always has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he
takes hardship as joy." ("Realms," Falun Dafa Essentials for Further
Advancement) I understand that resentment also arises from jealousy. If one
has too much resentment, how can he understand the cultivation state of "takes
hardship as joy"! Now I understand that, in the current Fa-rectification period,
especially when in conflict with fellow practitioners, limiting oneself only to
finding and discarding individual attachments is far from enough. We are
required to use a benevolent person's mind to deal with the conflict, recognize
the root of the conflict and resolve the conflict with the wisdom of an
enlightened being. This is perhaps to break the old forces' arrangement in the
process of elevating our realms.
This is my personal understanding, please benevolently point out anything
inappropriate. Let us encourage each other with Master's poem.
Realms
"A wicked person is born of jealousy. Out of selfishness and anger he
complains about unfairness towards himself.
A benevolent person always has a
heart of compassion.
With no discontentment or hatred, he
takes hardship as joy.
An enlightened person has no
attachments at all.
He quietly observes the people of the
world deluded by illusions."
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2 Posting date: 5/5/2003 |