(Clearwisdom.net) There is a practitioner who lived in the countryside adjacent to my city. I don't know much about him except that his celestial eye is opened. He could readily see other dimensions including the realms of Buddhas and Gods. Recently there were disputes among fellow practitioners in his area.

The disputes arose because of a couple of issues. This practitioner would tell fortunes and interpret geomantic details for ordinary people using his supernormal abilities. It was his occupation before he practiced Dafa. Then he started clarifying the facts using his occupation. Many people believed him because of the accuracy of his information. In fact, he was confident of his own abilities. Many people had denounced any affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party and some had even started to practice Dafa. Some practitioners were supportive of his methods of clarifying the facts while some were not. This practitioner believed that what he was seeing were the true manifestations in those many dimensions as well as the principles that couldn't be seen in this dimension. Hence a lot of people, including some practitioners, admired him. He would relate and write articles for those practitioners to read. However, some practitioners felt that his behavior was not appropriate.

They even went to his house to criticize him, but he just ignored the criticism. Subsequently, there was a rift between practitioners. There were those who supported him and there were those who didn't. In the end, the situation did get quite serious. Some said he had interfered with others' cultivation and had undermined Dafa. In return, he thought those practitioners were not genuine. They were cultivating at low levels, possessed strong jealousy, and so on. Many unpleasant words were exchanged. These extreme actions undoubtedly affected their duties in clarifying the facts.

The disputes eventually got so intense that they had no choice but to enlighten to their mistakes. Still, that was only to a certain extent. They apologized to each other as their attitudes were very bad and their words very strong. They realized that their behavior was not in line with being a practitioner. The practitioner who was at the center of the dispute also conceded that he ought to reconsider whether his method of doing things was appropriate. Practitioners still were of different opinions, but at least they had stopped those ordinary types of disputes.

A practitioner from that area came to join our city's experience sharing and shared this incident. Today, when I was studying Teacher's article "Further Understanding" from Essentials for Further Advancement, I suddenly developed a deeper understanding of the Fa.

The conflict had caused much interference and loss to the local practitioners. We felt that the main cause of the disputes was that, during the process, they never looked within or attempted to cultivate internally. Consequently, their divine sides were restrained by their demonic sides. At the same time, the elements of the old forces took advantage of their loopholes. The practitioner who shared with me said, "When disputes take place, some practitioners think we shouldn't always focus on the problems of others but should look within. However, some practitioners believe that we shouldn't just look within because we are Fa-rectification period disciples as opposed to personal cultivation period disciples. That practitioner has undermined Dafa, so he has to be stopped. If we are to cultivate ourselves only and ignore the problem, then we are not being responsible to the Fa, ourselves, and others." Other practitioners said, "Those practitioners believe that only they themselves are following the principles of Dafa, that only they themselves are absolutely righteous and right. Others can't even measure up. So we just want to stir them up and expose their demonic side. If they can genuinely realize their problems and improve, it would be fine even if I have to play an evil role." These practitioners genuinely believed that their initial goal point was to assist the others. How are we to understand these two different opinions then?

Our understanding was that these issues had come about to test how well we could handle ourselves, how to walk a righteous path, and how to eliminate the interference from the old forces. My own understanding was that, suppose a practitioner was interfered with by the old forces because he had failed to genuinely cultivate, or an ordinary person's action had undermined Dafa because he was manipulated by the evil elements, then as a Dafa practitioner, how should we protect the Fa and eliminate the interference from the old forces? If we were to persuade, criticize and stop them by ordinary means, then the two sides would start to oppose each other, a bit of a tit for tat. If we could not handle well our personal attachments, our evil side would be taken advantage of by the old forces, making the situation even worse and leading to a greater loss. As a result, even if we claimed that we were negating the arrangements of the old forces, actually the old forces were taking advantage of our loopholes. If we are to discipline ourselves as practitioners, we need to look within, look for our own issues, and ponder them. Why did we encounter such issues? Were they due to our own attachments? In the meanwhile, whether we encounter an ordinary person or a practitioner, we should be kind to them in this dimension. We must take time out and touch them with our compassion. More importantly, we must try to eliminate the interfering elements behind them. Only by doing so can we eliminate the interference from the old forces effectively.

After sharing these comparisons, we ascertained that it was not because we shouldn't just look within in the Fa-rectification period but that, in this period, the requirement has been raised higher than during the personal cultivation period. During the personal cultivation period, to look within was to look for our attachments and raise our level. This ultimately embodied the elements of personal consummation. For genuine practitioners during the Fa-rectification period, Teacher has told us clearly that our personal consummation is out of the equation. I understand that to look within in this period embodies an element of selflessness, which will then leave no loophole for the old forces, eliminate any interference from the old forces, and save sentient beings more effectively. On the other hand, if we had slacked off in looking within during the personal cultivation period, our level would have improved only gradually. If we slack off during the Fa-rectification period, however, the old forces will take advantage of our loopholes, causing much losses to sentient beings. Hence, we must be stricter and more disciplined during this period. Only then can we effectively assist Teacher in Fa-rectification, complete our prehistoric vows, and fulfill the hopes that have been placed in us by sentient beings.

Our thoughts are now clearer after this sharing, and we have decided to document it for the reference of fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

April 7, 2009