(Continued)
(Clearwisdom.net) Speech or action that can be called "heroic" and "extraordinary" on the human level cannot be considered the same to cultivators, because the standards for cultivators are higher than those of good people among ordinary people. From the perspective of cultivation, any extreme action that emphasizes an individual's understanding does not meet the xinxing standard of a Dafa disciple. A cultivator must oppose the persecution and clarify the facts to save people. But whatever the circumstances, a cultivator should remain rational, clear-headed and wise. This is indeed a high standard. Because cultivation is supernormal, the requirement is of course also above the level of humans. As cultivators, we need to try to meet this high standard while doing the three things.
Regarding the Fa-rectification formula, when global Dafa practitioners first started sending forth righteous thoughts in May 2001, some practitioners, either because of human attachments or a lack of understanding on the requirements for sending forth righteous thoughts, treated the formula as a slogan or words for banners and displayed it before ordinary people. Practitioners who still do not have a good understanding on this Fa principle should pay attention to this issue.
In addition, after the recent incident on the White House lawn, when some practitioners saw that many Western media and ordinary people paid attention to the issue, they said things like, "We've been handing out flyers and hosting parades for many years, and it's not been as effective as that practitioner's one shout. We need to re-examine the methods of how we clarify the truth." Some other practitioners feel that there is a hero among Dafa practitioners, and they even admire and worship her. If everyone can calm down and study the Fa, and return to the state of mind that a cultivator should have, I believe the practitioners with these kinds of thoughts will soon realize they have departed from the Fa in their views. The sooner they can correct it, the better. Otherwise it will affect the overall situation of Dafa practitioners' saving sentient beings.
We, as Dafa practitioners, have cultivated up to today. Whatever we do, we must learn to look at things from the perspective of the Fa. Only then can we meet Teacher's requirement to be mature. We should do truth-clarification work, but it doesn't mean we can take inappropriate means to do it. Something may have some positive effect, but it doesn't mean that the part that does not meet the xinxing standard of a Dafa disciple can be rationalized and sanctioned.
There are no role models or heroes among cultivators. Everything we do is xinxing cultivation and taking the Fa as the teacher. As individuals, project groups, or community-based organizations, anything we do that has a positive effect is the result of the part that meets the Fa principles, of Dafa practitioners' efforts, and of the power of Teacher and Dafa. When a practitioner does things that are not rational, if the other practitioners around him wish to treat this practitioner with compassion and truly cherish the cultivation environment, they should not compliment or worship this practitioner, but rationally remind him or her of the principles and the need to do the three things with even greater rationally. This can only be accomplished when every practitioner first looks at things from the perspective of the Fa with rationality and wisdom.
I remember a discussion with another practitioner on clarifying the truth with emotion. The practitioner said that if an article written by Dafa practitioners can use emotion to move the readers, it is usually easily accepted because ordinary people live within emotion. If they can relate to the article, then they can finish reading the article, which in turn saves them if the article also exposes the persecution. But aren't Dafa practitioners reading these kinds of articles, too? If the answer is yes, then the article is promoting emotions among Dafa practitioners and could affect many practitioners' cultivation. On the other hand, is the author clear-headed enough to use emotions just to relate to ordinary people? If that's not the case, the article could amplify his or her attachments in this respect and could affect that individual's cultivation.
Along the same lines, radical behavior is perhaps not a big problem among ordinary people. There is an audience for it among today's people. Thus, if we take a path of radical actions with a competitive mentality, or shout out slogans with strong emotions, these things at the human level may be able to move some ordinary people. But this is nothing compared with what a cultivator does when he truly knows and remembers the fundamental difference between himself and ordinary people. In addition, the irrational part in the Dafa practitioner's action will produce negative outcomes. Many other practitioners will need to pay a high cost to make up for the losses. In order to not create negative results when we are doing good deeds, we must always remember to "take the Fa as the teacher", "Compare in studying, compare in cultivation", "Accomplishing is cultivating" (Solid Cultivation, Hong Yin).
Recently in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles," on the issue of Dafa practitioners needing "a little human courage as they were going about validating the Fa today," Teacher said, "When Dafa disciples make mistakes, they do not like to be criticized. No one can criticize them, and when someone does, it sets them off. When they are right, they don't like others bringing up things they could improve on; when they are wrong, they don't want to be criticized." "They no longer listen to any expression of disapproval or disagreement, whether it was meant out of good or ill will, was intentional or unintentional; they reject everything flat out, and even less do they examine themselves. It has gotten quite severe." Teacher said it was not our fault that we had not done well before, since Teacher left a little of it for us to cultivate. However, we must correct our mistake now, as Teacher has already talked about it. Then as practitioners, when faced with good or bad feedback in ordinary human society, whether fellow practitioners have done well or not, we must first look inside ourselves, so that we ourselves can do better in every aspect and complement other Dafa practitioners so we can be a whole. Only then can we use the precious opportunity in a timely way to better clarify the truth and save sentient beings. The above is just my personal understanding. It is not yet well thought out and I have yet to have time to organize it better. I wrote it down in hopes that it could at least remind us to be vigilant on this issue. Please correct anything that is inappropriate.
