(Clearwisdom.net) Master has lectured clearly on jealousy in the Fa. Jealousy means being envious of others. I would like to share about several manifestations of jealousy that I have encountered. My understanding may not be correct. The purpose of my writing this is to share understandings with fellow practitioners, so that we can recognize jealousy and improve together. In the past, I believed that jealousy always meant being envious of others who were better, more capable, or had more strong points. I now have new understanding about jealousy. Some kinds of jealousy are subtle, and have formed naturally, so they are difficult see, and you may not be able to recognize some jealousies. What I have discussed may not include every aspect of jealousy. I ask fellow practitioners to point out anything that I have understood incorrectly.
1. Gloating over others' mishaps
I remembered that shortly after I obtained the Fa, one practitioner mentioned that a coordinator had not done well on certain things, which resulted in a conflict in the coordinator's family. Upon hearing this, I somehow felt happy knowing that coordinators also have times in which they fail to do well. So what was hidden deeply in my mind was that I felt better when those who were more capable than I had faltered. On the surface however, I didn't say a word or show any reaction that would indicate my mindset. So although others didn't see me that way, I was actually jealous in my mind.
2. Being jealous of others who are better at doing things than I am
Shortly after I obtained the Fa, I realized when I saw others doing the exercise movements accurately, I felt anxious. One day, after we finished the exercises, the coordinator announced, "Everyone come here and let me correct your movements." I then thought in my mind, "What is the use of correcting the movements? It would be fine if it is not so bad." Immediately after I had this thought I realized that I was jealous of others. I still find myself becoming envious when others are much better at doing things than I am.
3. Being jealous of others when I feel inferior to them
Sometimes, our local coordinator made the decisions as to when the practitioners should practice the exercises or study the Fa. I thought in my mind, "The coordinator can arrange for us to study the Fa and practice the exercises. Their words count, while mine do not count. I am not that good." As Master said,
"You're Employee of the Month and you're so good at your job, you should come to work early and go home late. Why don't you do all this work? You're doing so well, and we're not good enough... " (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun, 2003 Translation Version)
In my case, I was just jealous in my mind and it wasn't visible on the surface. There are also times when jealousy is manifested strongly between practitioners, and this interferes with validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. For example, practitioner A and practitioner B worked at the same materials production site, and Practitioner A was more capable than practitioner B in some areas. Practitioner B then spread rumors about practitioner A's mistakes, telling others not to get into contact with practitioner A or accept the materials brought to them by practitioner A. They were then instructed to accept the materials brought by practitioner B himself. Practitioner B also told others how well he had passed the tribulations in that situation. Those who had believed in practitioner B then avoided practitioner A, and didn't accept materials brought to them by practitioner A. This is an example of one's being jealous of others, and doing something that interfered with the Fa-rectification. Here I don't want to say how bad practitioner B is. I just want fellow practitioners to recognize the attachment of jealousy and then eliminate it.
4. Using one's own strong points to measure others' weak points
When I was detained in a detention center by the evil last year, all the inmates there said that one Dafa practitioner there could move his legs into a double-lotus meditation position without using his hands. I thought that even though he could do the double-lotus position so well, my xinxing may not be worse than his. A moment later, an inmate said "jealousy" in front of me. I then wondered why he mentioned jealousy in front of me. Was it possible that I had jealousy? However, what I had thought did not seem to indicate my being jealous of others, as I had not felt unbalanced in my heart. After I came out of the detention center, I wondered more about that incident. One day, a fellow practitioner told me that when her uncle told her how nice his house looked, she thought to herself, "What is so extraordinary about your house being nice? In some aspects we are better than you, and we will be better off in the future." She asked me what attachment this was, and I replied that Master had lectured on the story about that child who scored a hundred on a test, and the neighbor who was jealous of the child, "'What's the big deal? It's just a hundred. What's he got to brag about!'" (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun) This allowed me to see that I also had such an attachment, and it was just that the nature of the jealousies were different. When others received something good, I always used some of my strong points to measure against their weak points, so as to satisfy that unbalanced heart of mine. Sometimes when I saw that some ordinary persons had made fortunes, some had become government officials, and some had gotten rewards, although I didn't go to compete as ordinary people would, I thought about how much we practitioners will be better off than everyday people in the future. So what was hidden deeply in my mind was my being jealous of others. When others got something good, I didn't feel happy, and instead used my strong points to measure against their weak points.
5. Being jealous of those who are not as capable as I am
Jealousy is not just reflected in my being jealous of those who are more capable than I am. Sometimes, when one who is not as capable gets something good, I also became jealous. For example, when a fellow practitioner mentioned his understanding of some Fa principles, or some cultivation-related matters, I didn't want to hear them, because I thought that I already knew it. So in my subconscious mind, I held the notion that their understanding of the Fa was not as high as mine. This is just like what Master has said,
"Or when a qigong master holds a class, some people sit there in a huff, 'Pfff, what kind of qigong master is he? I don't want to listen to any of the stuff he talks about.'" (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)
For a person, whether he is non-practitioner or practitioner, if he is not as capable as I am, and tells me how I should do things, I would think, "You, being not as good as I am, why are you telling me how to do things? My understanding is better than yours." So I felt unbalanced in my mind. This was just like the story mentioned in Zhuan Falun about the person who wasn't as capable becoming the supervisor, which made the other person feel unbalanced. When those who are less capable as I am got something good, why did I feel unbalanced? Even if others are really not as good as I am, why could I not be modest in carefully listening to their suggestions? Why do I not feel happy when other practitioners make progress in their cultivation?
6. The jealousy that results from the belief in absolute egalitarianism
One fellow practitioner talked to me about her work. She said that her work can only be accomplished when four persons do it together: Each person performs one task, and all the tasks are different. One of the tasks is relatively difficult to do, while the other three are relatively easy. In the past, when they did the work, they rotated the roles. In this way, no one would be at a disadvantage. There was a period of time when it was her turn to do the difficult task. At that point, the other three persons stopped the rotation of roles. She didn't mind much when it went that way for a few days. But after it lasted for quite a long time, she could no longer take it. After she could not endure it, she told her family about it. Her family members then went to those persons who did the work together with her. At the time, I also felt that it wasn't reasonable for the three everyday persons to act that way, but after judging it according to the Fa, I came to realize that it was the evil party's past propaganda about "absolute egalitarianism" that had resulted in my thinking that way.
"If the sky falls, everybody dies together, after all; everybody should share equally in anything good; when there's a pay hike, everybody should be entitled to the same share." (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)
We Dafa practitioners should not use ordinary people's principles to measure things. We particularly should not use the evil party's ideology to view things. We should use Dafa to measure things. Usually when I make a little more sacrifice than others, I feel unbalanced in my heart. If the others were my own dear ones, or my parents or children, would I still feel unbalanced?
"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)
When I didn't get the good things, but others got them, I felt envious. When I encountered a bad thing while others didn't, I also became jealous. For example, when I was still in school, I and several classmates did something we shouldn't have done, which was found out by the teacher. The teacher didn't criticize my classmates, but he criticized me. I then felt unbalanced. I thought, "They also did it, so why was I the only one who got criticized?" This was, in fact, the result of believing in absolute egalitarianism: One feels comfortable only when one shares things, no matter how good or bad.
People carry different amounts of de (virtue) and karma, as well as the amounts of de and karma that one's ancestors have accumulated. The amounts of blessings that people will get in their lifetimes are all different. So how can we get rewards based on absolute egalitarianism? What Dafa cultivators should do is to cultivate when encountering things, take hardships as blessings, and not be moved by the ordinary pursuit of fame, interest, and sentimentality. Only by striving to be this way can one make progress in cultivation.
During the course of my writing, I have gained a better understanding of jealousy. Only by truly recognizing it can one eliminate it. Many practitioners agree that through writing about their experiences, they can gain new understandings. In this way, they can not only improve themselves, but also help others by pointing out their mistakes, so that we can all recognize and then remove them.
Please kindly point out anything that is improper.
