(Clearwisdom.net) Recently I have noticed that some practitioners have relatively low self-esteem. They feel they have not cultivated well, have too many attachments and cannot succeed in cultivation, or they are unworthy of being future Buddhas, Taos, or Gods. In cultivation, it is constructive to continuously improve ourselves when we see our shortcomings. However, we cannot have low self-esteem. This maybe be a result of not completely believing in Teacher and the Fa. Teacher can certainly save us and I am confident that practitioners can succeed in cultivation.
Our confidence comes from believing in Teacher and the Fa. My understanding is that Teacher is very great (there are no words that can truly express how great Teacher is). Teacher has taught us the universal Dafa. How high can we cultivate in Falun Dafa? It is beyond our imagination. In the old universe, no one can teach such a great Fa! In addition, Teacher is giving us the greatest honor--to validate the Fa and save sentient beings to build up our mighty virtue. Very high level Gods envy us. So why do we indulge in low self-esteem?
Yes, we cultivate in ordinary society and our supernatural abilities are locked. In addition, our bodies change from the microscopic to the surface so we can't see or feel anything special. Actually, every practitioner has a different experience. How can we compare ourselves to everyday peoples' states of mind? Whereas ordinary society slides down further every day, we [try to] improve ourselves according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Although we feel we haven't done enough, as long as we cultivate, as long as we work hard, we can certainly reach our goal. Teacher will make sure that we succeed. We should be proud of having such a wonderful Teacher, of obtaining Dafa, and of being a practitioner in the Fa-rectification period. Fellow practitioners, we should not have low self-esteem because we are old or we didn't get much education or we are not attractive or we can't understand the Fa more or we are not doing well in the three things, or we are not able to save more sentient beings. As long as we persevere in cultivating to the end, we are great. Didn't Teacher also say we are great? Teacher cares for us and has given us so much. As it gets closer to the end, we should believe in Teacher and the Fa more and more!
In fact, what I mentioned above was clearly taught by Teacher a long time ago. I am only trying to remind fellow practitioners. Of course, we cannot go to the other extreme and become self-righteous and arrogant. Going to any extreme is wrong.
September 9, 2008
