(Clearwisdom.net) An article I read reminded me of the conflicts which have been occurring for more than a year among practitioners in my area. Many other areas are having similar problems, I understand. It's normal to have conflicts because we are still cultivating and we still have human mentalities. We should use the conflicts as opportunities to improve. If the conflicts continue, however, it is not right, and it means that practitioners are not improving.
In many practitioners' minds, it is not right to have conflicts among practitioners and it is not tolerable for practitioners to have human thinking. They become attached to conflict, causing rifts between practitioners. My understanding is that when we are faced with situations like this, we should keep in mind that practitioners are still cultivating and they are exhibiting human mentalities. We should not focus on the conflict. Instead, we should ask ourselves whether the incident has touched us in any way. If we reflect on our own words and gestures, and especially on what we were thinking when it happened, we will see clearly the reason behind the conflict.
If we could see the incident from the perspective of the another practitioner, we would understand. If we cannot see our shortcomings, then we can simply ask ourselves why we feel upset. It has to do with our human mentalities, without which, we would not be upset. The conflicts happen to help us eliminate our human thoughts.
As practitioners we should come to have the compassion and tolerance with which conflicts can be resolved. Nothing could then stop us from becoming one body.
Conflicts that happen during cultivation are different from those that happen among ordinary people. We should avoid interpreting incidents from a human perspective, as that can add a negative substance to the field of fellow practitioners.
June 30, 2010
