(Clearwisdom.net)

A few days ago I read a practitioner's article on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website regarding the group environment in a certain city, specifically the attitude of indifference practitioners had about rescuing fellow practitioners, as well as their lack of a sense of unity. It so happened that practitioner "A" was from that area, and he was quite aware of the situation in that district. According to him, it was just as the article stated. We talked about this issue, and thought about how to resolve the problem. I encouraged practitioner "A" to take some action and told him what I thought about it. Practitioner "A" had the same thought, so he went to that city to exchange and share thoughts with the practitioners there.

A few days later, practitioner "A" came back very discouraged because the practitioners in that area did not go along with his recommendations and even criticized him quite a bit. I felt it was not fair after listening to him. How could that area be so ignorant? How could they not recognize their many shortcomings? Why didn't they look within after having it pointed out by others? I felt that I was responsible for that area, so I found another practitioner, "B," who also knew practitioner "A." She had maintained contact with practitioners in that area so I asked her to talk with them to minimize any misunderstandings. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eradicate the gaps between them, hoping they could form a single unit as soon as possible. Yet the problem persisted and everyone who tried to sort things out was rebuffed. I finally settled down and started thinking about this matter. I felt something was wrong with myself: I did not really understand the real situation, yet I demanded that my fellow practitioners work things out based on my perceptions. My trying to force the issue was definitely a factor.

The next day, I received Master's "Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital." After studying Master's lecture over and over, I suddenly realized that there was one problem that many practitioners, as well as I, had not enlightened to for a very long time. It was that when a problem arose, we tended to get stuck trying to beat on the issues within the problem, trying to solve the specifics of the problem on the surface. We got stuck trying to tell others how to resolve their own problems. We tried to solve the problem by helping others to raise their thought processes. Fundamentally, we were trying to resolve the issues, but did not take advantage of these issues to solve our own problems or to cultivate our hearts even though from time to time, we did look within ourselves when there was a problem. We did cultivate ourselves, but quite often, we ignored our own issues. Rather, we still tried to dig at the faults of others, and only later did we remember to look within ourselves. Worse, we might not even get around to looking within ourselves.

I realized that we should not assume we know how to look within ourselves just because we had done so before. We should not allow this to cause complacency in our cultivation. Because the cultivated part has already been separated, what is left behind to be cultivated is our human side. Often we fail to look within ourselves.

In "Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital," Master told us,

"Cultivation is about cultivating one's self. No matter what kind of state emerges, you need to take a hard look at yourself."

"When a Dafa disciple has a hard time with something and needs to think things over, he should look for things starting with himself and do things in line with the environment needed by Dafa disciples and the Fa-rectification. When a problem occurs, it is because that person is stubbornly going against the Fa principles. Go and find where the problem lies, let go of that stubbornness, and sort things out. When you encounter something, the best approach is not to charge forward and contend with others, push your way to the front, and rush forward to chase down the solution. Let go of your attachment, take a step back, and then resolve it. (Applause) If whenever something happens you instantly jump into who's right, whose problem it is, and how you have done, then while on the surface it looks like you are resolving the conflict or tension, in reality that's not the case at all. On the surface it looks plenty rational, but in reality that's not rational at all. You haven't taken a step back and fully cast off your attachment, and then thought the issue over. Only after a person calmly and peacefully withdraws from a conflict and then looks at it can he truly resolve it."

The issues that this article describe did not appear to have anything directly to do with me, and neither did I ever connect them directly. Yet now they appear to be more and more about me. Even though my intentions were good, my own thoughts were going against the Fa and I did not look within myself. I still tried to charge forward, against the conflict, and ended up intensifying the conflict, making the problem even worse.

After studying the Fa, I had a deeper understanding of why we must look within at all times. The fundamental nature of cultivation is that we must raise our own levels. Raising our own levels is the first priority and whatever we encounter is set up for raising our levels. Therefore, we most definitely need to look within ourselves. This is what every practitioner must soberly understand - to understand what cultivation is and how it is counted as cultivation. We need to understand how to be responsible for our own cultivation. We are with the Fa by looking within when we are faced with issues. Master told us this is the most direct, expedient cultivation method. How could we lose our perspective? We argue about specific issues when we encounter problems. We still charge forward against others, when, in fact, we are stubborn about our own attachments. Although I was trying to resolve the problem, I was digging into a bull's horn. If we can all take a step back and let go of our attachments, we will in fact broaden our vision, expand our capacity, increase our wisdom, and raise our perspective. This is the most solid and true -- an innate state of a true practitioner. This is also what Master expects from us. In this state it is truly, "when you take a step back in a conflict, you will find the seas and the skies boundless," All issues can be resolved because you have raised your level. You are no longer within the issue and you have harmonized the character of the universe. You are fortified by the righteous factors. Once your xinxing level is raised, you have unlimited power on every issue below your level.

Please kindly point out any shortcomings in my understanding.