(Clearwisdom.net) In our area, after the overseas periodical, The Epoch Times, published its editorial series, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in November of last year, fellow practitioners first went through a period of comprehension and understanding. We then wholeheartedly participated in making and distributing the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, especially during the spring of this year. However, due to our negligence in issues of security and safety, plus the fact that only a few materials production sites existed, the evil took advantage of our omissions. In March, two truth clarification materials production sites were destroyed by the evil. Two practitioners, a married couple, were arrested. We suffered financially as well. Our fellow practitioners discussed the situation and we all agreed that we should have paid more attention to security and safety. We also agreed that there should be more materials production sites spread throughout the area. However there was a problem: nobody had any previous experience, and learning how to use computers isn't easy. The issue of materials supply and coordination of the whole body were also issues we needed to consider.
Nobody had any formal training before in this area. We all needed to learn from scratch and tried to gain experience by doing it. I was able to pick up computer-related technical work. Another practitioner had experience in getting supplies before, so he was responsible for getting material supplies. There were several other practitioners who knew lots of other practitioners. So they were responsible for coordination. When we faced any issue or problems, the whole group discussed the issue.
As practitioners during Fa-rectification, we should all try our best to do whatever it is that we should be doing. During that time, I was so busy that it was very rare for me to get home before midnight. I had only one thought: set up the materials production site as soon as possible and don't delay our mission of offering salvation to sentient beings. In the process of doing Fa-validation work, I discovered many of my attachments and also gained some experiences and insights. I have summarized them as follows:
1. Always Keep in Mind Master's Teaching, "It's not work, but cultivation"
Because we started everything from scratch, there were lots of issues that arose and areas that we needed to consider. For a while, it was very easy for us to fall into a state of discussing the details of such incidents and completely ignore Master's teaching to "look inward." Sometimes we were so busy that we couldn't do the Fa-rectification work well, and held up lots of work we were supposed to do. Later, we studied the Fa more, especially Master's words in Essentials for further Advancement:
"Do you realize that as long as you're a cultivator, in any environment or under any circumstances, I will use any troubles or unpleasant things you come across--even if they involve work for Dafa, or no matter how good or sacred you think they are--to eliminate your attachments and expose your demon-nature so that it can be eliminated, for your improvement is what's most important. "
"If you are able to succeed in improving yourself this way, what you do then, with a pure heart, will be the best and most sacred." ("Further Understanding" from Essentials For Further Advancement)
Our lives are meant for the purpose of validating the Fa. When we do these sacred things, if we don't have a sacred and responsible mindset, how can we do it well? Nothing we do is for achieving or gaining anything in the human world. It's our way of cultivating and rescuing sentient beings.
2. We Must Be Strict with Ourselves and Not Try to Be Above Fellow Practitioners
During the last six months I have shouldered lots of projects, such as coordination, work at the materials production sites, technical work, and other projects. Sometimes, many of my attachments have surfaced. For example, I was stubborn when talking to practitioners on the phone. When sharing experiences with fellow practitioners I sounded like I was assigning projects. Once, my mother reminded me, "No matter what you do, never have a thought of being above anybody else." This attachment is really harmful. I recognized it at that time, but didn't realize that this was an exposure of my attachment of pursuing fame and recognition.
Later, I got some constructive feedback from fellow practitioners. At first I wasn't so happy about it. But later when I calmed down, I realized that my attachment to pursuing recognition was very strong! I truly found the root of this attachment when I studied the Fa. In this human world full of emotions and feelings, people often measure their self-esteem only when comparing themselves with other people. For some people, if they take on some responsibility, he or she has the attachment of wanting to be "a supervisor or a leader." If this person is not the first one to be informed of a certain matter, they will be unhappy. They want to have everybody follow their will so they can have control. This is the cause of the attachment.
Just as Master says,
"I want to have a loose administration simply because you cannot let go of ordinary human things and so will feel uneasy in your work. Dafa belongs to the entire universe, and not to any one, insignificant individual. Whoever does the work is spreading Dafa. It is not important whether it should be done by you or by others. Are you going to bring to a paradise this attachment that you cannot let go of, and contend with Buddhas? Nobody should treat Dafa as his own exclusive thing. Get rid of that thought that you've been treated unfairly! When your mind cannot get over something, isn't it caused by your attachment? Our students shouldn't think that this has nothing to do with them! I hope that everyone will examine himself, because you are all cultivators, with the exception of me, Li Hongzhi." ("Further Elimination of Attachments" from Essentials For Further Advancement)
The Fa principles that each one of us enlightens to are just a very tiny part of the whole universe. We are all in the process of cultivation. We still have lots of human notions and thoughts. When we don't have strong righteous thoughts, there are still lots of warped notions and human attachments. So we can't use our own understanding and personal views to measure other practitioners' cultivation path. What we should be doing is cooperating with fellow practitioners with our pure hearts and doing well together the sacred tasks of Fa-validation. If in the process of our cultivation we become self-centered, it must be an attachment we need to eliminate. We can't take this attachment with us to paradise.
3. Be Benevolent to Our Fellow Practitioners in Conflicts
Sometimes there are conflicts among practitioners when doing things or in our understanding of the principles of the Fa. Sometimes the arguments can be fierce. Sometimes, scenarios arise that shouldn't happen among cultivators. I have encountered situations like this. When I first encountered it, I felt that I was treated really unfairly and wanted to argue my point. But later, I found it not very effective. We not only didn't solve the problem, but we made the conflicts even worse. When we all calmed down and looked inward, we found that we were all falling into a state of talking about the details of such incidents. We didn't get rid of our attachments and didn't truly upgrade our xinxing; therefore, the conflicts continued to arise.
After realizing this, I didn't want to argue on my behalf any more. Instead, I listened calmly to fellow practitioners' opinions and suggestions, corrected my own shortcomings and silently did all that I was supposed to do. When I truly corrected my mind and fundamental thoughts, the resentment against fellow practitioners' constructive feedback became much less. In the past, I always wanted to emphasize my own point of view. After I got rid of my strong attachments, the mentality of getting things done was gone, too. Even the "fighting" trait, one of the Nine Inherited Traits that the evil Chinese Communist Party inflicted upon us was gone. Our mindset became truly compassionate and considerate of others.
Master says,
"A cultivating human being is not a cultivating god, and everyone makes mistakes in the cultivation process; the key is how you deal with them. Some people are able to recognize them and some aren't, and then there are people who don't want to recognize them because of their attachment of fear and some other factors. Cultivation is not about taking part in ordinary people's political struggles, and even less is it about fighting for power or gain. The notions, bad habits, and tendencies that you've formed in ordinary society and in political circles and the like are looked down on even among ordinary people, so even more so should they be disposed of in cultivation." ("My Version of a "Stick Wake-up")
In our process of cultivation, we all understand that our great Master saved us from hell and gave us the best. Master absolved us of the mistakes we made in the past and only looks at beings' attitudes toward the Fa-rectification. Therefore, when we face fellow practitioners who are not doing so well, our attitude towards them becomes the direct reflection of our state of cultivation.
Many practitioners recently told me about another practitioner's many shortcomings. Some comments sounded really harsh. But when I talked to that practitioner and got to know some things from a different perspective, I found a severe problem: many of the practitioners exaggerated some of the things that happened to that practitioner. To that practitioner, it was like a sharp knife. If that practitioner doesn't look inward, it could very well be affecting him or her, and the consequences might not be good. If that practitioner really looks inward and is not affected by outside factors, then it's truly nothing. But to those practitioners who are not doing so well, if we have a condemning attitude towards them, then it means we are not standing on the basis of being responsible for the Fa. At the very least, our minds are not right and it could lead the evil to take advantage of our omissions, which would severely impact our advancement as a whole.
We are in the process of cultivation. We are all particles of Dafa. When we see fellow practitioners' shortcomings, we certainly should point them out seriously. To do otherwise means that we are not being responsible for our fellow practitioners. However, we can't act like we are inspectors and blame the practitioners, as that wouldn't have a good effect. I remember once when I exchanged experiences with a fellow practitioner. I was sincerely thinking from her standpoint and gave her my opinions. She was moved to tears. Since then, I found that she has changed for the better. I know that this is because of Master's benevolence. I treated her with my pure heart, helped her find her own shortcomings and used my pure energy field to eliminate the practitioner's non-pure factors. I think this might be what Master means in the words, "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities!"
These are the things we as Dafa practitioners should be doing during Fa-rectification: treat fellow practitioners compassionately, look more at the positive side of fellow practitioners, correct ourselves and practitioners' mistakes, validate the Fa in the process of cultivation, save sentient beings and do well the three things. Certainly all of these are built upon our cultivation and studying the Fa. If we don't study the Fa well, everything else means nothing. It's then just ordinary people doing Dafa's work. We wouldn't be able to do well with what we are supposed to do.
Postscript: in this contributing article, I didn't write any detailed examples of validating the Fa and clarifying the truth. I only wrote about some issues and experiences I encountered in the Fa-rectification with the purpose of sharing and soliciting better ideas. Finally, I wish much success for the "Second Mainland China Falun Dafa Practitioners Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference on the Internet."