By Looking Inward, We Have Improved Our Character

(Minghui.org) An elderly practitioner attends our study group. One of her legs had been painful for a long time. When she joined us in sending forth righteous thoughts, she could not sit in the lotus position and felt badly about it. While studying the Fa, she often had to massage her leg to ease the pain.

Several fellow practitioners attempted to help her by telling her that she must look inward to find the cause, but her problem persisted. Some practitioners felt they had an obligation to advise her to look inward and continued to tell her what she should do. Finally, she responded: “If you don't want to help me by sending forth righteous thoughts, that is fine. Why keep on pushing me around?”

We all felt that she lacked understanding. Her leg remained painful, and our relationship with her deteriorated.

On one occasion, she left right after we finished studying, before the discussion period. The rest of us stayed to share our understandings about the matter. A fellow practitioner and I believed that there could be something lacking in our study group that caused the incident. We suggested that all of us should look inward to find the cause.

I shared: “As practitioners, there should be no difference among us due to rank, age, possessions, or other factors. However, I don't like to study the Fa with the elders, because I believe they are slow and their enlightenment quality is poor. This is one human notion that caused the problem. Another common human notion is our 'holier than thou' attitude. Most people have difficulty accepting such an attitude. On the surface we are trying to help others. Deep down, however, we are trying to validate ourselves.”

Theoretically, as practitioners, we should unconditionally accept any advice that can help us improve our character. However, when a practitioner is undergoing tribulation, he or she is not in a normal frame of mind. Thus, even though our words might be correct, if behind our words are human notions such as “I know better” or “You should listen to me,” the advice will be difficult for the recipient to accept.

Later, all of us found our own shortcomings. After further sharing, we realized that the problem in our study group was really there for all of us to improve our character. It was not just for the elderly practitioner; her tribulation allowed all of us to reassess ourselves.

For example, when we talked about Dafa or Teacher, what frame of mind were we in? Were we serious, respectful, and thankful? Did we have complete faith in Teacher? Did we treat our fellow practitioners with compassion? Why were our words not able to move others? I recalled that another elderly practitioner had told us that we were not compassionate. We needed to ask ourselves whether this was indeed the case.

Another critical issue was whether we were practicing Dafa in order to improve our life on Earth. Although this issue had been pointed out in Master's article “Towards Consummation” (Essentials for Further Advancement II) more than ten years ago, we did not remove this fundamental attachment. This attachment can cost us consummation.

Later, fellow practitioners realized that if we were truly benevolent, we would continue to wish others well regardless of whether or not they accepted our suggestions. Blaming others and not caring for others because they do not accept our advice are not compassionate qualities.

After we uncovered our shortcomings, we wished to explain to the elderly practitioner what we had found by looking within. Unexpectedly, when she showed up for Fa study, before we had a chance to say anything, she said: “You don't have to tell me anything. As I said before, as soon as you improve your character, everything will be fine.” Fellow practitioners asked her about her leg. She smiled and said that her leg had substantially improved.

At this point, Teacher's words from Zhuan Falun came to mind:

“Only the energy field from cultivation practice in a righteous way can produce this effect. Therefore, in the past there was this saying in Buddhism: 'The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities.' This is what it means.”

As long as our field is righteous, it can dissolve any problem.

I'll briefly share two more examples:

A coordinator was concerned about a conflict that existed between her and another practitioner. She sent a short text message to the practitioner, talking about the difficulties she faced as a coordinator. That practitioner wanted to comfort her and wrote her a reply with great compassion. The next time they met, this practitioner said to her: “I had a lot to say to you earlier, but after I received your text message, I could not remember what I had wanted to say.”

Practitioner A had a lot of difficulty overcoming a tribulation. During a local sharing, she told fellow practitioners about her difficulties and expressed grievances. The coordinator stopped her because he thought what she was speaking about would hurt the quality of the meeting. Later, when practitioner B pointed out what practitioner A had done wrong, practitioner C said to practitioner B: “Don't say things behind people's back. A fellow practitioner is having difficulty getting through a tribulation. Why should we make life more difficult for her?”

Practitioner B realized that her negative comments were inappropriate and wrote a short message to practitioner A. The next day, they met and had a good sharing. What was amazing was that practitioner B did not have to say what practitioner A should do. After practitioner A recounted her problem, she realized that the cause of her problem was vanity.

Many more such examples are available from our Fa-study group, but I will not use up more space. Based on the preceding examples, I think as long as we follow the Fa and look inward whenever we encounter a problem, a positive change will occur.

As practitioners, it is best that all of us look inward to improve our character so that we can be more effective in all that we have to do.