(Clearwisdom.net) In two recent Clearwisdom experience sharing articles, "More Compassion Needed Towards Fellow Practitioners" and "How to Deal with the So-called Deviated Substances Added in by Fellow Practitioners," the need for more compassion in our speech was addressed. I would like to share my understanding about this most important issue.

As Dafa practitioners, we are required to conduct ourselves according to the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." This includes compassionately exchanging personal cultivation experiences with each other, instead of finding fault with or criticizing others. But if we don't follow Master closely, then we are walking on the path that the old forces arranged for us. As a result, our thoughts will be less than righteous and we will unknowingly add deviated substances into our speech and then project them onto our fellow practitioners.

Is it thus possible to inadvertently add deviated substances to another practitioner? No it is not. Teacher explicitly tells us that we cannot add anything good or bad to a person's life:

"Even when someone wants to give you something special and good, he isn't able to add it in. And if someone wants to give you something special that was not part of what you originally had in your cultivation, or if someone wants to go overboard persecuting you, they won't be able to. Exceptions only come about when you, yourself, do poorly. Do you understand what I have said?" (Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles, February 25, 2006)

Then, why do we have the feeling that we have invited deviated substances into our lives? Because as Teacher tells us, "Exceptions only come about when you, yourself, do poorly." That is to say, the only way to know for sure if we have invited deviated substances into our lives is to look inward, and let go of our human attachments.

For example, the practitioner who points out the shortcomings of another practitioner may fail to conduct himself in a compassionate manner, and as a result may become angry, complain, or harbor resentment. He may stubbornly think, "You should change yourself now that I have offered you my valuable insights and pointed out your shortcomings!"

But unlike an Arhat who always remains happy no matter how much he loses out on or suffers, a practitioner who is criticized may feel compelled to defend himself, out of his own attachments. Under such circumstances, low-level beings may take advantage of the practitioner's loopholes and actually amplify them.

As a result, the practitioner may become even more irrational as he looks outward and criticizes others, further distancing himself from his fellow practitioners and thus undermining the chance of everyone cooperating as one body.

In the past, I failed to look within, and I frequently criticized others, which resulted in other practitioners criticizing me. At the time, the practitioners I criticized (and who criticized me), seemed to be getting worse and worse, even to the point that I thought they were not even as good as ordinary people!

As the division between us grew larger and larger, it finally reached the point where I was forced to look inward and find the loopholes in my own cultivation and let go of my own human attachments. The more I looked within, the more I focused on my fellow practitioners' merits and tried to learn from them.

As a result, I found so many good qualities in them that instantly the distance between us disappeared. We began cooperating as a whole-body and naturally our dealings with each other became more harmonious and righteous.

Actually, no one can add any deviated substances into our energy fields. It is the human attachments that we refuse to let go of that become the breeding ground for those substances. Only by looking inward and letting go of our human attachments can we completely remove the distance between each other and cooperate in a more powerful and meaningful way.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the practitioners who criticized me in the past and apologize to all the practitioners whom I criticized.