(Clearwisdom.net August 6, 2003)

I think some recent incidents that have happened in our region are related to our loopholes as a whole, and we should upgrade on the Fa so as to reduce the losses.

Some practitioners did very well while they were in the labor camp and were able to walk out with dignity. Many practitioners have respect and admire these fellow practitioners to the point of following their suggestions without measuring them with the Fa, thus, easily harming themselves and others. Master said, "If you want to be a good ordinary person you can take heroes and model citizens as your example. Those are ordinary people's role models. But if you want to be a cultivator, your cultivation all relies on your own mind, and your understanding all relies on your ownself, there aren't any role models. The good thing is, we've now let the Great Law be known, whereas before, even if you wanted to cultivate, there just wasn't anybody who would teach you. So, follow the Great Law, and maybe you can do a little better. Whether you can cultivate, whether it'll work out, and which level you'll break through to--all of this depends on you, yourself (Zhuan Falun, The Fourth Talk, Transforming Karma)."

Master said, "So in clarifying the truth, don't wait, don't rely on others, and don't just hope for changes in external factors. Everyone of us is creating history for the future, that's why everyone is not only participating in group activities, but also taking the initiative to look for things to do. As long as something is good for Dafa, you should take the initiative to do it, take the initiative to work on it. Every person you come into contact with in society is someone to clarify the truth to, and what's manifest in clarifying the truth is Dafa disciples' mercy and their salvation of the world's people. I hope that every Dafa disciple will fully take initiative and fully play his role as a Dafa disciple" (Essentials for Further Advancement II, " To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference").

Dafa disciples are forming one body, which is not formed by physically staying together like before July 20, 1999. The one body of Dafa disciples is formed by our hearts melting together, by thinking simultaneously, and by working as one body. It is not surface solidarity. The lack of recognizing one body leads to the following:

Thinking from an individual standpoint, and not thinking about the impact on other fellow practitioners. Master said, "I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you say, you must consider others--or even future generations--along with Dafa's eternal stability" (Essentials for Further Advancements, "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature")."

1. Measuring fellow practitioners with personal opinion, and subconsciously emphasizing oneself. Actually, every one of us is a particle in our one body. No matter how much Dafa work each one of us has done, we are all part of the Fa-rectification. If person A did not do this, person B would do it; if person B could not do it, person C would do it. Because it is all caused by the heavenly climate, Fa-rectification must be successful.
2. Some think those who are being persecuted are persecuted because of their own gaps. However, the fellow practitioners who are persecuted should seek their own loopholes in their personal cultivation and negate this persecution as they are validating the Fa. The persecution towards them is damaging Fa-rectification and we should not acknowledge it, but should completely negate it. At the same time, fellow practitioners should think carefully why these things happened around them? Why did I see this? Why did I hear this? Master said, "I've often said that when two people have friction between each other, each should examine him or herself. Not only should the two people in conflict examine themselves, but also the bystanders who happen to observe the incident should examine themselves. Then you'll really improve by leaps and bounds (Falun Buddha Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Singapore). Master also said in Essentials for Further Advancement, A Dialogue with Time", "Master: There are also such people among veteran disciples. And the most outstanding evidence of that is that they always compare themselves with humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the requirements of the Fa at different levels. Divine Being: These problems have already become very serious. It would be good if they could manage to search within themselves for the things that they have been able to find in others. Master: It's time for them to become clearheaded so that their environment can turn into one for true cultivation practice, and thus they will be able to become real gods.
3. Subconsciously, we divide Dafa work by hierachy; the work involved at the materials center is the most sacred Fa-rectification job. Actually all the task of creating Dafa material, such as downloading, printing, distributing, explaining, compiling are all very important indispensable jobs. We are all doing part of the very important Fa-rectification.

If we have problems as one body, that means each individual has problems. Fellow practitioners who are established should shoulder more responsibilities since they are more influential. Every fellow practitioner should start from oneself. If each one of us does well, the whole body will be fine. We should pay attention to those questions in one fellow practitioner's article, "Our Own Improvement is Fundamental to Our Doing Everything Well" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/7/14/38106.html, and http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/7/18/38240.html).

Some phenomena mentioned in the article are manifestations of the fellow practitioner's subconscious thought, which is not necessarily very clear. The root causes are usually the mentality of showing off, jealousy, and the mind of pursuit. When carefully checking ourselves, behind all these surface factors, it is almost always caused by jealousy. Master said, "Jealousy is very serious, because it directly impacts whether we can cultivate to Perfection. If jealousy isn't eliminated, all the thoughts you've cultivated become fragile...Today I'm telling practitioners: stop turning a blind eye to your problem. Your goal is to cultivate up to higher levels, so you have to get rid of jealousy. That's why I've singled it out (Zhuan Falun, Seventh Talk, Jealousy)." Master said in Essentials for Further Advancement, "Realms,"

"A wicked person is born of jealousy.
Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself.
A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.
With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.
An enlightened person has no attachments at all.
He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions."

Written on August 6, 2003.