(Clearwisdom.net) One afternoon, a practitioner invited me to attend an experience sharing meeting. When I got there, I learned that it was Ms. A, one of the major local coordinators, who had some tribulations and no longer took part in any coordination activities or the group Fa study. They invited two practitioners from out-of-town to discuss the issue with us.
The out-of-town practitioners wanted everyone to look inward unconditionally. I was a bit reluctant at first, because I didn't know why Ms. A stopped coming out. Other practitioners spoke one after the other. Some said that they felt that Ms. A did not do too well – she only spoke well but did not act accordingly. Some said that they did not like the way she talked. As the discussion went on, we gradually saw the fact of the matter- all of us, both from within the city and from the countryside alike, had some sort of reservations toward Ms. A. If every one of us had some reservations, weren’t we creating a barrier against her? Weren’t we separating her from the group? Wasn’t this the reason that she was persecuted by the evil?
We realized that her not participating in activities was the result of our bad notions toward her. Our bad notions formed a barrier, and provided an excuse for the evil factors to persecute us. Through this incident we learned once again the wonders of looking inward, which is most critical to our improvement.
There was another practitioner with whom I cooperated many times, and we worked together very well. We had similar understandings about the Fa often, and I never felt that there was any barrier between us. But I exploded in front of her one day, absolutely not like a practitioner. I was surprised at my lack of self-control, and found that it was the attachment to fame that had resulted in my bad actions. It was in my deeper self that I was still attached to fame. Another element I found was that I had a certain impression of her which resulted from my noticing her inclination to criticize others. This time she criticized me, which resulted in my irrational response. It was the pre-existing impression in my mind that strongly influenced me, and I unintentionally let it all out. I didn't act like a practitioner. As a matter of fact, the barrier had existed since long before the recent incident.
This made me more clearly realize that the barrier arises from people’s notions and our bad impressions of others. Teacher said in “On Buddha Law,”
“To open up this field, ordinary people have to fundamentally change their way of thinking. Failing that, the reality of the universe will forever remain something of a myth to mankind, and ordinary people will forever grope around inside the box created by their own ignorance.” (Zhuan Falun, 2003 translation version)
I enlightened that in order to remove barriers among fellow practitioners, we need to fundamentally change our ordinary people’s ways of thinking. If we don't change our ordinary people’s ways of thinking toward fellow practitioners and treat them based on the Fa, the barriers will be very difficult to eliminate.
I tried to send forth righteous thoughts to clear away my ordinary people’s thinking and bad impressions toward fellow practitioners, use my true original nature to treat them, and see the part in them that agreed with the Fa, since only that part represents my true fellow practitioners. Take Ms. B for example, I first looked within for any bad thoughts and bad impressions toward her and eliminated them. Gradually, I could see her pure kindness and her persistence during her hardship. Her image in my eyes displayed a truly benevolent and wise person, and we became very close. I found that she is a person I can always work with and the past feeling that made me feel it was difficult to work with her disappeared completely. I felt so relaxed and happy.
I used the same method to eliminate my ordinary people’s notions and bad impressions toward other practitioners and tried my best to see their Fa-agreeing aspects, while reminding myself not to form new notions. The gaps between fellow practitioners and myself grew narrower and narrower, I became more peaceful, and my heart became purer. I began to feel benevolence in my mind, without any sentimentality, or anything of myself. I felt her pain and sorrow, wanted to help her, and even worried for her from the bottom of my heart. I felt no grievance, blame, or contempt toward her.
Teacher said in “Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference,”
“Dafa disciples should handle everything positively. Don't look at the negative side of other people. You should always look at their positive side.”
The fact that they are still validating Dafa and saving sentient beings today is a remarkable deed in itself. If I have a problem with others it must be me, myself, who still has deeply hidden notions or other problems. I need to find them and get rid of them so I can look at things and treat fellow practitioners with my original nature, and completely eliminate the barriers of separation.
