(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2015, and began working in the media almost simultaneously. Working in the media is special and precious. Being immersed in it daily is very helpful for a new practitioner to quickly catch up with the progress of the Fa-rectification.
After working in the media for two years, I moved to another smaller media outlet after a major change. Then, I recently left the local paper media and started working for the English department at the headquarters. This change happened suddenly, and the team members who once worked closely together suddenly became a thorn in each other’s side. Things kept evolving and developing like a thrilling movie, and in the end, everyone had different positions and responsibilities.
Nothing is accidental, and I know that this is a test for practitioners. Dafa is boundless and has transformed a situation that looked bad into a new situation where everyone is repositioned in a new pattern. It was an unexpected, yet best outcome.
I consider myself to be a person with a sense of justice and a straightforward approach. When something unfair happens I would speak out if I can. However, when I am driven by emotion, I cannot communicate calmly. This fault does not help me to resolve conflicts.
When this recent conflict occurred, I recorded my behavior in my diary. Then one day, I unintentionally turned to my notes about an incident when I first started in the media. I saw that I reacted exactly the same way two-and-a-half years ago. I have a habit of keeping a diary, and I was stunned to see two nearly identical records. This told me that when facing a conflict, I still react the same way. There has been little improvement on my cultivation path.
Both times I felt as if I was speaking up for the righteous side, and being responsible for the righteous factors in the universe. I was conscious of my righteous indignation and had a clear conscience from the Fa’s perspective. Maybe it was right to have such a realization two years ago; but when it happens again, I feel there is something here I need to improve.Improvement Required
What was it? I thought about it for several days, but couldn’t figure it out. After working at the headquarters for a while, I discovered that there are two groups of opposing practitioners in the same project for various historical reasons. In the case of our local media, after a conflict, the previously close team became two irreconcilable groups. The two local media projects, for various reasons, also treated each other coldly.
Last August, we began to have local truth clarification car parades. At first everyone participated in the project. Then gradually only some participated. Now, our local practitioners have divided into car-parade participants and non-participants. I suddenly see the “divisions,” the omnipresent divisions...
Who is most happy to see the divisions in Dafa disciples? Without doubt, it is the old forces. I have personally experienced the power of Dafa practitioners when they form one body, a power that the old forces fear the most. Almost every time Master teaches the Fa, he mentions the issue of Dafa practitioners’ cooperation. I have always considered cooperation as a requirement for myself. In the two conflicts in the media, although there were good intentions, the end result was still division and separation. I wondered, what do I need to learn from this? How can I do things differently and better?
After a period of reflection, I thought of several factors. First, it is easy to be dominated by human thoughts, and controlled by negative thinking. Master only looks at the good in disciples, and does not care much about what the disciple did poorly or wrong. Master always encourages us to get up when we fall and not to have a mental burden about it. When my mind was affected, negative thinking took control, and made me think negatively about fellow practitioners. A practitioner who can, in the midst of a conflict, still remember Master’s teachings and focus on the good side of fellow practitioners, is dealing with problems by thinking with Buddha nature. In the future, I should try to maintain a compassionate and peaceful mind, and remind myself that in times of conflict, I should remain calm even more.
Secondly, I had not practiced Forbearance, and lacked the sense of harmonizing the whole body. In doing what I thought was right, I was actually contributing to the divisions that eventually arose. When the conflict occurred, perhaps I could have done more than just picking a side.
I realized that, when seeing divisions among fellow practitioners, it is important to do things based on the Fa. Attitude and tone of voice when doing things is also an important factor. Learning to harmonize the whole body is a higher requirement for Dafa disciples. The evil uses our karma and attachments to create divisions, weakening the power of Dafa disciples as a whole. This is a technique of the old forces. When Dafa disciples stick to their own opinions, and think they are right, they fall into the evil's trap.
Realizing this, I felt that Dafa practitioners who are in conflict with each other and can’t tolerate each other, regardless of which side is right or wrong, have both actually fallen into the evil's trap.
I’d like to conclude my sharing by quoting Master’s teachings:
“The task of saving sentient beings has to be carried out by you. And not only must it be done, but it must be done well. It is not done for Master, however. Though we call it “saving sentient beings,” it is not done entirely for them either. It’s also done for your sake.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
“With any project or any task, if you decide not to do it, then don’t do it; and if you do decide to do it, then you definitely have to do it well and carry it through to the end. If you do otherwise, how shall the time you wasted go down in the annals of history? Whatever is not brought to completion amounts to a failure.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
[Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)]