(Clearwisdom.net) Two days ago I was discussing an elderly practitioner's situation with a fellow practitioner. This practitioner said that the elderly practitioner refused to listen to others' opinions and had a show off mentality. She decided to no longer speak with that person.
I knew that this elderly practitioner had some problems, including not looking inward and criticizing others. He had been like this for several years and thus he could not work well with others, interfering with the one body.
I responded, "No, we can't give up on him. It is not easy for a practitioner to have come this far." I also said, "If he does not listen to you, you can wait for a while and tell him again. Maybe he will listen then." Then she agreed and said, "Actually, he has improved a lot."
No matter what, the elderly practitioner is cultivating Dafa. As fellow practitioners, it is our duty to help him come to grips with his problems and improve, so we can form one body and accomplish our task of saving people.
Teacher said many times that Dafa practitioners are one body. Only when we are one body, can we be truly successful in saving sentient beings. When the elderly practitioner refuses to listen, we also should look inward and see what attachments we have not given up.
"I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears." ("Clearheadedness" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Isn't it our own attachments that interfere with us to form one body? Isn't the elderly practitioner actually giving us a chance to improve? If we give up communicating with him, wouldn't we give up the opportunity to improve? Cultivation is about eliminating all that is bad and reaching the standard of the Fa.
During the past years when we faced the persecution, when I went to practitioners' homes, their family members often gave me dirty looks. Once, just before the Chinese New Year, I was at a practitioner's home repairing his computer. I did not consider that the family was preparing for the New Year celebration. His wife lost patience and almost started a fight with him. I left in a hurry. After the New Year, I met up with his wife. I apologized to her: "Are you still angry with me? It was my fault. I forgot about the New Year." She said: "I'm so ashamed too..." Later, when I went to their home again, the practitioner's wife was very nice to me. We should harmonize well among practitioners and everything will be fine. How can we give up on any practitioner?
This is my understanding on the issue of cooperating with and assisting fellow practitioners, as well as looking within. Please point out any shortcomings.