(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I'm a computer technician at work and have been strict with myself in following Dafa's requirements. No matter who was wrong, I did not argue with my colleagues. Even if I was wronged at work, I did not complain. I held onto the thinking that I needed to save them and I couldn't have conflicts with them. Sometimes, a few people caused trouble for me on purpose, and others said that I was a coward. After a while, I realized that there must be something wrong. It's not wrong to be a good person according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Later, I read an article on Minghui (Chinese version of Clearwisdom) entitled “Do Not Be Too 'Soft' When Facing Evil.” The article mentioned: “That kind of kindness on the surface is essentially encouraging evilness. It strengthens the arrogance of the evil and makes it more evil.” “In everyday life, Dafa disciples may face some irrational person who is unreasonable and goes too far. In such a situation, we should first consider it as an opportunity to upgrade our xinxing. We should look inward unconditionally and find out what we did wrong. However, we shouldn't accommodate such a person blindly losing all principles. We need to clarify the facts and point out his or her irrational behavior. We should be considerate for them and send forth righteous thoughts or use other ways to control their demonic side.”
Reading this, I was suddenly enlightened. I was too nice in the past. My understanding on compassion was only on the surface, and was too far away from Dafa's requirement, which is to be truly considerate of others. I dug inward and found that I had fear. I was afraid that if I argued with my colleagues, it would be hard to clarify the truth to them in the future and I worried that they would report me after finding out that I practiced Falun Gong. I'd been extremely cautious all the time. Now I realized that this kind of forbearance was actually a forbearance mixed with selfishness to protect myself. It was “the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns.” (“What is Forbearance (Ren)?” from Essentials for Further Advancement) After I enlightened to this, I decided to change. I should not unconditionally tolerate everything. I also sent forth righteous thoughts in the office.
Later on, a female coworker again tried to make things difficult for me on purpose. I analyzed what was going on and found that I hadn't done anything wrong at all. So I responded to her firmly, in a voice filled with confidence and reason. She was surprised and seemed to be frightened and didn't say a word.
Since then, I've kept a peaceful attitude, neither obsequious nor arrogant, toward my colleagues. It has been very effective. After seeing the change in me, they sensed that I'd gotten a little tough. Some of them later learned that I practice Falun Gong and have become more respectful of me.
After experiencing these things, I have a deeper understanding of cultivation. My understanding of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is different from before. When Dafa disciples are clarifying the truth and saving people, we need to show our kindness and compassion, but when people are unreasonable and manifest demonic furor, we also need to demonstrate the dignity of Dafa and stop them from committing wrongdoings against Dafa. This is truly a compassionate act.
Elevating myself when doing technical work
I found an opportunity to cultivate in an online forum to help fellow practitioners solve technical problems. I have been doing this for over a year now.
In the beginning, my heart was very calm. Gradually, as I got to know more and more practitioners from the forum, I started to pursue fame unconsciously. Sometimes I wrote articles about how I utilized the Internet to clarify the truth on a large scale, how many people I'd saved, and how capable I was. I also wrote the detailed methods that I used. After I published my article, I was expecting compliments, but, instead, my article was removed from the forum after a short while, and practitioners criticized me. At first, I felt a little indignant, because I thought that my method to clarify the truth online was pretty good and I thought that I was validating the Fa in writing these articles.
Later, Master gave me a hint while I was studying the Fa.
“This mentality of showing off can manifest in any situation; it can also surface when doing a good deed. In order to gain fame, personal profit, and a little benefit, some people often brag about themselves and show off: 'I’m very capable and a winner.'” (Zhuan Falun)
“Dafa disciples, in your cultivation in the ordinary human world you all have understood something clearly that's based on the Fa's principles, namely, not to be attached to the 'gain and loss' of ordinary people. So when things related to validating the Fa are involved, there too you shouldn't insist on voicing 'my ideas' or on having things done 'my way.' It's not like only then can you establish mighty virtue in the cosmos. If you've got a good idea, well, you came up with it, you're being responsible to the Fa, and it's not important whether your idea is adopted or whether your approach is used.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.”)
Then I realized how strong my mentality of showing off and attachment to myself were. I looked at my article again and it was all about validating myself. There was a lot of jealousy and attachments to fame, personal gain, and competition. I immediately admitted my mistake on the forum.
Viewing others' attachments with righteous thoughts
The Minghui website always raises our attention to security, especially for cell phones and computers, but some practitioners don't pay enough attention to it. As a result, I tried to stay away from them. I was afraid that their inattention to security would bring me danger. I had known Xiao Mei for over two years and knew she paid little attention to security issues. She always called other practitioners' cell phones on her own cell phone and visited the Minghui website on an everyday people's computer. I reminded her several times, but she didn't listen. Later, another practitioner got arrested. Xiao Mei had often made phone calls to this practitioner on his cell phone and chatted with him online. When I heard about it, I immediately told Xiao Mei to change her cell phone number and the online account as well. However, Xiao Mei is a salesperson and she has lots of business contacts on her cell phone and online chatting account, so she didn't do as I suggested. I was disappointed and tried not to contact her very often. After other practitioners became aware of this, they also gradually stopped contacting her.
Later on, Master published the article “Be More Diligent.” Master said:
“...the number of lives to be saved before the final moment arrives has not reached the amount it should; and that there is still a portion of Dafa disciples that hasn’t kept up. That is the key reason why the end of this undertaking still hasn’t been enacted.”
I realized that finding and waking up past fellow practitioners is what Master wants and that I needed to get in touch with Xiao Mei again. So I sent forth righteous thoughts specifically for Xiao Mei's environment, and took the bus to her place. On the way, I kept a strong and powerful righteous thought all the time. I felt that my body in other dimensions was elevating like a rocket through layers and layers of universe and went beyond countless layers. That was a sacred and wonderful feeling. I knew I had made the right decision and Master was encouraging me.
After talking to Xiao Mei, I felt that she was eager to get in touch with other practitioners and have a good cultivation environment. Again, I told her about the security issues on the cell phone and computer. She said she would consider it carefully. Later, I went to visit her several times to help her reorganize her computer operating system so that she could visit Minghui safely. Not long ago, she told me that she would like to change her cell phone number and the account she used to chat online.
Now she has moved to a new place, and there is a nice group cultivation environment for her. It reminds me of Master's Fa:
“You folks can't just go and abandon a person without trying hard enough. No matter what kind of mistakes someone has made, or what kind of a person he is, I still want to give him a chance.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference”)
There must be lots of care and arrangements by Master behind all those things. Master doesn't want to abandon any disciple. We must be more diligent and save more people. I hope practitioners can all do better in this final stage. Let us meet Master's expectation: “I hope to see you regaining your enthusiasm and getting back to your best cultivation state.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple”)
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
