(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Here I would like to share my experience of letting go of selfishness and forming one body.
1. Establishing material production sites in multiple areas to improve together
Since the persecution started, I have been working on truth-clarification materials. As time went on, many practitioners began to praise me. My ego gradually inflated, thinking of myself as cultivating better than others. Helping other practitioners with technical issues in preparing truth-clarification materials, I came across many diligent practitioners who had indeed cultivated very well. Little by little, my ego and attachment to showing off dwindled.
Once when teaching a practitioner technical skills, another practitioner showed up, asking me to stop the training and go to another place. I was immediately agitated. The practitioner receiving the training said to me, "This is a good opportunity for cultivation." His words were not loud, but they did calm me down. Another time, I was installing an operating system for another practitioner, the computer suddenly shut down itself. That practitioner came over to send forth righteous thoughts in front of the computer. When he turned on the computer again, everything returned to normal. From this practitioner, I found a gap in my cultivation and decided to do better.
Meanwhile, I also found that each practitioner has walked their own path of truth-clarification. For example, many practitioners considered practitioner A not smart enough. Nonetheless, she had strong righteous thoughts and was able to learn basic skills in a short time. Every day, she printed materials, prepared DVDs, and went online to visit the Minghui website. Even when the vicious CCP intensified the Internet blockade, she was still able to access the Internet using an old version of an anti-blocking software. She also downloaded new versions of the anti-blocking software and gave them to other practitioners. There was another practitioner who learned computer skills and quickly put them to use. Later, he coordinated technical training in the area.
At the materials production sites, practitioners use their own money to save sentient beings. In the past, a lot of difficulty was encountered when running larger materials production sites. The situation improved after many small scale materials production sites were launched. Take equipment repair as an example. In the past, many pieces of equipment would wait for the one or two practitioners who did repairs. Nowadays, although many practitioners are not good at technical skills, they often look within and cultivate themselves when encountering problems. Most equipment is "repaired" in this way. Right now, every practitioner is taking initiative and walking his or her own path.
2. Let go of selfishness when cooperating with each other
I came to know several practitioners who had worked at materials production sites. Working with them, I was able to gradually let go of my own selfishness.
One day, when taking turns reading the Fa during group Fa-study, I was reading the following paragraph:
"All kinds of food are fine for me. But with many restaurants, when you go in there and just eat without ordering anything to drink, the owners get a bit upset (Teacher laughs), especially when there's a long line to be seated; a lot of restaurants make most of their profits from drinks. So I came up with a solution. There is non-alcoholic beer nowadays, and so I would order a non-alcoholic beer to get around that. Now with that said, I'm not telling you to follow my example." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference" 2005)
Now I have a new understanding of these words. In the past, if I did not want to have a drink, I would not order anything at all. I would not think whether the restaurant owner can make money or be happy. My motive was what I should buy. When looking back, however, I realized that such thinking was selfish. As Dafa practitioners, we should let go of selfishness and cultivate compassion. Only in this way can we cooperate better with fellow practitioners and be more tolerant.
Once we needed to find a practitioner in the local area to get involved in a project, but we had not been in contact with her for more than 10 years. Not long after, practitioner B said she had found the practitioner we were looking for and that the project went well. Later, we came to know that the practitioner we had been looking for had actually stopped practicing. It so happened that her family needed a babysitter, so practitioner B used her vacation time and helped as a babysitter for several weeks. Now that practitioner has started to practice and send forth righteous thought again. She has led more than 10 people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. She is very thankful for practitioner B's help and even more grateful for Master's compassion.
Once we met practitioners C and D from another area of the city. Practitioner C encountered some difficulty when rescuing his relative practitioner. I asked him to look within, but he was very upset, "I did not do anything wrong. Why do I have to look within?" From then on, practitioner D told me not to push C since everyone's cultivation status is different. Later, I heard that D had been compassionately helping C rescue the relative practitioner.
When reading the Fa after returning home, I saw this paragraph:
"But actually, Dafa disciples should first be considerate of others no matter what the occasion, and put themselves in the other person's shoes, and look at the whole picture. Then you will know what to do. Think about where the other person might be coming from, see if you can look at the whole picture, and then you will know what to do." ("Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting" 2009)
In the past, I often focused on other practitioners' shortcomings, thinking them unwilling to change and hard to work with. Now, I have changed my mindset, that is, how to fill in the gaps so that we can become one harmonious body.
After my mindset changed, practitioner C also changed. When interacting with the government agents responsible for the persecution the following day, he did very well. In addition, more practitioners paid attention to it and sent forth righteous thoughts. On the same day, the imprisoned relative was released and returned home.
3. One seamless body
The Minghui website serves as a platform that connects all practitioners. Practitioners working on materials production sites have access to Minghui, and are able to contact Minghui. News and updates are submitted to Minghui. By visiting Minghui every day, practitioners are aware of local information, who needs to clarify the truth and whether rescue efforts are needed. Therefore, we have been able to work together. Moreover, the Minghui website provides email boxes for us to communicate with each other, forming one seamless body.
Here is an example: One day, I received an email that a practitioner is facing a court hearing. He asked other practitioners to clarify the truth by mailing letters and provided a sample letter. I was busy with something else that day, so I only read the first and last page of the letter. Thinking the letter fairly good, I forwarded it to other practitioners and mailed the letter based on my recommendation. When reading the letter carefully the next day, however, I found some parts on the second page that were not appropriate. I checked my email box in Minghui and found several practitioners who had already replied. One of them advised of the inappropriate parts of the letter, which had been fixed, and an updated letter was mailed out. I checked it and found the revised parts were peaceful and compassionate. Another practitioner said, to avoid the redundant letters sent to the same person, he sent out other truth-clarification materials. Some practitioners said they made phone calls to clarify the truth. This way, my omission was quietly corrected and harmonized by other practitioners. After some time, we saw news on Minghui that the persecuted practitioner was released and returned home.
Once, we read on Minghui that an elderly local practitioner was arrested. Her daughter is also a practitioner. Her daughter went to various agencies to ask for her release. She also collected many telephone numbers and mailing addresses and exposed them on Minghui. Other practitioners helped her to submit detailed persecution facts. She said that, when working on this, she could feel that the practitioners involved in Minghui cooperated very well and that articles were always published in a timely fashion. As a result, local practitioners could use and rely on Minghui as a source of information to clarify the truth.
One day, the practitioner's daughter went to the Procuratorate to ask for information. The Procuratorate office's response for this case was, "Why did you expose us? We received many phone calls and letters recently." This countryside practitioner also clarified the truth in the local area. Some practitioners wanted to give her some money to hire an attorney. She was very touched, saying she has money to hire a lawyer and did not need financial support from others.
On the day of the court hearing, many practitioners went there or to areas nearby to send forth righteous thoughts. The arrested practitioner said in court that, "Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! It is lawful to clarify the truth." When the lawyer pleaded innocence for the practitioner, everyone was listening quietly. In the end, both the prosecutor and the judge were supportive.
After stepping out of the court, the lawyer was very happy, "I heard in the past that, cases will go smoothly in places where truth-clarification is done well. Today, I truly felt this." Soon afterward, the court announced no criminal charges would be brought against the practitioner. In this way, the practitioner returned home.
In "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference", Master said:
"Each of you is like an Assistant, each of you is a particle of Dafa, each of you is immersed in and being tempered in the Fa, and each of you knows what to do. The Dafa disciples in Mainland China have already verified, in their actions and without the benefit of Master's presence, that Dafa is indestructible."
My understanding is that every one of us is a coordinator. Good cooperation is a reflection of our solid and genuine cultivation. One seamless body can be achieved only after we let go of our selfishness.
