(Clearwisdom.net) In recent memory, the single realization that has left the strongest impression on me is that I am still unable to let go of my human attachments.
As a Dafa disciple who is conducting Fa-rectification cultivation, the following are the things that I have consistently been unable to do well while participating in specific projects: how to listen to and accept fellow practitioners' opinions, how not to overly emphasize my own understandings, and how to use my own concrete action to harmonize with the group after reaching the same understanding as other fellow practitioners. These things might be the keys for us to maintain the state of being all-harmonizing-and-never-failing as a whole body.
Revealing Human Attachments Whenever Encountering Specific Things
Under normal circumstances, I know to search inward and feel that my understanding of the Fa principles is quite clear. But I often encounter problems in the following situation: whenever I am faced with a specific problem, it feels just like second nature to me to emphasize my own viewpoint and my own understanding on the matter. I always hope that other practitioners will agree with my understanding, even though I also pay lip service to saying that it is just my own understanding and is only intended as a reference for others. But whenever other practitioners bring up different understandings, especially when their understanding is completely different from that of my own, I often find it difficult to handle myself well. I can't help myself from trying to explain myself to the practitioners who have different opinions from mine, and practitioners in general, over and over again.
In reality, when I try to explain myself too much, it is a manifestation of putting too much emphasis on myself. What I was doing is partially intended to persuade others.
The other party in the debate is also a person who is cultivating, and it is possible that he also still has certain human attachments. Sometimes it is possible that he is also not in a good state, and he also finds it necessary to explain everything to others and me. The exchange of words might create conflicts and gaps. If we can't handle ourselves well and end up saying things without thinking it over during this process, it is difficult to maintain a harmonious state among fellow practitioners.
What troubles me even more is the following: why does the same problem surface over and over again?
In order to lessen conflicts with other practitioners, in order to maintain a harmonious environment in a working team, I have tried many different techniques. For example, for a while I tried my best to communicate with fellow practitioners and explained to fellow practitioners my thoughts and opinions as much as possible. But shortly after that, I found that fellow practitioners often couldn't understand my opinions and thoughts, and we even developed misunderstandings that caused conflicts. So I decided to try my best not to express my opinion and say as little as possible. I also decided to just accept the opinions and wishes of fellow practitioners. But I still encountered just as many conflicts, and I began to feel that I was being treated "unjustly."
I finally stopped feeling this way when I worked as a tour guide and spent several days and nights with a visiting group from a certain Mainland Chinese university. Only after trying to clarify the facts with them face to face, did I come to truly understand the things that cause certain people mental blocks and lead them to be deceived. At the same time, I also realized that when we clarify the facts to people, we should not only clarify the facts around the lies that they have been told, we also need to let our actions display the elevated state of mind and character that we have achieved through Dafa cultivation.
A pure and benevolent state of mind is the basis for people to accept one's opinion and thoughts. If somebody uses big words and rhetoric to argue with others, he might be able to win the argument. But he can't make others accept his opinion in their hearts and accept the facts about Dafa as the truth.
We should clarify the facts with a pure, benevolent state of mind. It is also the way that we should approach things among fellow practitioners. Harmony among practitioners is based on the purity and benevolence of every one of us. Whenever we have to emphasize coordination and harmony, it is because we still need to be even more pure and benevolent. It is especially true among practitioners, as we don't have a chain of command that ordinary people have. Everyone is conducting oneself according to his or her own understandings of the Fa, which makes it easy for us to act differently because we have different understandings of the Fa. If we then overly emphasize our own understandings, it becomes a major reason why it is difficult for practitioners to coordinate well with each other. As a matter of a fact, while doing Dafa work, each practitioner shouldn't just bring out what he thinks is the best approach and insist that others to follow it. All of us should truly think about what is best for Dafa as a whole, be tolerant toward each other, truly think about what is best for others, and truly think about what is best for saving sentient beings.
It might be very difficult to tolerate and understand different practitioners' thoughts and understandings of the Fa. Of course, the prerequisite must be that we place Dafa above all other things. Dafa encompasses everything, and Dafa disciples come from different places. What we share in common are our steadfast faith in Dafa and Master, as well as the genuine benevolence we have developed while conducting genuine cultivation in Dafa, even though sometimes we may not have the same understanding of the Fa when it comes to specific matters. As long as we acknowledge and understand this point, our human attachments will not matter as much, and a harmonious state will naturally emerge. Acting on our own attachments is the source of not being able to coordinate with each other well. Each practitioner should have faith in other practitioners. One's own ideas represent one's own understanding of the Fa. No matter how good one thinks it is, it absolutely doesn't represent Dafa as a whole.
Having an Environment Where Practitioners Can Perform Genuine Cultivation While Working on Specific Fa-Rectification Projects
Having a genuine cultivation environment might be a key for us to maintain our strength as a whole body. No matter whether it is a specific working team or among a group of local practitioners, creating and upholding an environment where one can conduct genuine cultivation is not just very beneficial to practitioners' cultivation. It is also vital to whether the final outcome of the specific task meets the requirement of the Fa.
We often talk about the fact that doing Dafa work is not doing things of everyday people. When we are together, we not only need to talk about specific tasks, which appear no different from ordinary people's project meetings. We all have the following experience: when we talk about specific tasks, everyone chimes in and contributes to the discussion. But when it comes to discussing our understanding of the Fa, how to ensure we can bring out the inner meaning of Fa-rectification cultivation while doing specific tasks, how we can cultivate ourselves while doing the specific tasks, and whether we have gained deeper understanding to Fa-rectification cultivation, the discussion becomes relatively less animated. I think this situation occurs because we haven't created a strong enough team environment where we perform genuine cultivation, especially a genuine cultivation environment of "searching inward."
Creating and maintaining an environment where we can perform genuine cultivation is something that the main coordinators, as well as each member of the team, should work hard to achieve. Under an environment where we perform genuine cultivation, even if a certain practitioner temporarily holds an extreme understanding or viewpoint, it wouldn't negatively affect the project as a whole. The practitioner in question would also be moved by this environment of genuine cultivation, calm down, naturally search inward using the state of mind of a cultivator, and improve himself while conducting genuine Fa-rectification cultivation. This way, the harmonious aspect of Dafa would be fully displayed.
The above are some understandings that I've developed recently. I'd like to share them with fellow practitioners.
