The Desire to Change Others Instead of Oneself

(Minghui.org) Since I was young, I’d always thought that I did not study the Fa in depth, that I didn’t know much when I interacted with older practitioners. I thus got into the habit of “listening to adults.” I saw that some practitioners’ words and actions were not in accordance with the Fa, with some even deviating quite a bit. They often criticized and blamed others, and they told others how they should do things.

After that, I started to develop dissatisfaction and defiance. Resentful thoughts would appear in my mind, such as, “Why is this practitioner never on the Fa? She keeps trying to find fault in others. She’s correcting others instead of cultivating herself. She has never thought of looking at how much she’s deviated from the Fa.” As time passed, my thoughts also became accustomed to finding fault in others and how to make others change. However, I did not realize that my initial thought was a human notion rather than a righteous thought.

I was trapped in this way of thinking for more than two years.

Master said,

“There’s something I told you before. I said: what is a Buddha? "Tathagata" is what human beings call someone who’s come with the truth and the power to do what he wants, whereas real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos. Nevertheless, in this affair, they have also fully shown the positions of their xinxing after their deviation from the Fa and have fully revealed their impure side. This has resulted in many things that shouldn’t have occurred in certain situations and all kinds of interference; this is quite similar to the display of our students’ xinxing at present during their personal cultivation.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Guiding the Voyage)

The last sentence above made me realize that the old forces’ way of thinking–always thinking of changing others but not themselves–is being forcibly imposed on Dafa practitioners. They meant to achieve what they wanted and to take this opportunity to weed out people whom they think should not be kept. Thus, they destroy Dafa practitioners and sentient beings. Therefore, whenever a thought that “someone is not good” appears in our minds, we must be alert to whether our minds are actually being controlled by external elements.

Missing the Requirement of Being Selfless

On the surface, the thought of changing others may seem like it is for the good of others and to help others reach the requirement of the Fa. However, this easily leads to resentment, and it does not meet the requirement of being selfless.

With this mentality, there is no room in one’s heart to accommodate the mistakes of others. Over time, one will start to look down on others, and the resentment will grow until one goes on the attack with unkind language or firmly holds onto it in one’s heart. This goes against the principle of tolerance and totally ignores the principle of compassion.

In the same vein, we use the excuse of “helping others improve in their cultivation” to avoid cultivating ourselves and get rid of our own inadequacies. Over time, in the midst of blaming one another, under the psychological effects of wanting to change others, negative notions start to form, including not wanting the best for others, harming others, attacking others, and even taking revenge on others. We thus form resentment without realizing it. In the end, these notions create separation between practitioners and bring them more tribulations while we claim to have done our best.

At the same time, practitioners who receive help from everyone feel that they should continue to be helped. If others help them in a way that deviates from the Fa and does more harm than good, then resentment will develop. This is the attitude of living beings that have deviated from the Fa. In this scenario, even though practitioners feel that the environment is not right, no one wants to touch the conflicts.

Master said,

“Incidents such as Jesus being nailed to the cross have become the precedent for high-level beings who come down to save people. How could this be acceptable? This itself is degenerate! A God comes down to save people, yet humans nail him to a cross—what a huge sin people have committed! They are still paying for it today. But that wasn’t done by human beings alone. It was caused by the degeneration of beings at higher levels. They don’t dare to admit anything wrong on their part in all of these matters. This is because everything is becoming warped—so warped that they’ve deviated from the Fa and gradually become how they are. No beings at any level have ever dared to touch them. Everything is determined by interwoven elements that have become extremely complicated. All of these impure things have to be eliminated—completely eliminated!” (“Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America,” Guiding the Voyage)

Making Sure that Everything Aligns With the Fa

Based on my level of understanding, I feel that this is a display of the old forces' deviation through practitioners. We might feel that the conflicts that surround us are so complicated that no one can resolve them and no one wants to be involved in them. But there is a deeper cause. All of what is impure will need to be corrected. The environment will change only when everyone can look inward, truly understand the Fa through studying the Fa, and improve themselves voluntarily.

My intention is not to demand that practitioners who are going through tribulations or those who have deviated from the Fa to somehow meet the requirements of the Fa. Instead, it is about filtering each and every one of our thoughts, words, and actions to see what has deviated from the Fa so that we can align ourselves with the Fa. We should only do things that align with the Fa, such as looking inward and reminding others in a compassionate way. Things that deviate from the Fa, such as looking outward and cultivating others, should not be done.

Whether we are able to follow what Master says is also a manifestation of our belief in Master and the Fa. If we truly believe, then instead of demanding that others meet what we think is the standard of the Fa, we should trust that Dafa is able to correct and accommodate everything without fail, that every bad thing can become a good thing.