(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioners who are familiar with one another sometimes boast about each other. This is because they know each others' character and the way they validate the Fa. When someone is doing a better job in validating the Fa than ourselves, we tend to boast about him or her. A similar problem occurs when one practitioner wants to encourage another to come out to validate the Fa, so he recommends a practitioner who is doing well in Fa validation to take as an example to follow. This action causes those practitioners with strong human notions to admire this “model” practitioner.
As practitioners have become more mature, the latter case is less likely to occur. However, the first case is still emerging among some practitioners. I believe that boasting is not only a human notion, but also relates to the notions of admiration, worship, and safety.
I would like to give examples of how boasting appears:
For example, some practitioners often say, “Look, so and so is really doing great. All people around him have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” The fellow practitioner being praised ended up being persecuted in various ways. He finally disintegrated the pressure around him and created a more relaxed cultivation environment. The practitioner who boasted about him continued saying, “You see he has such strong righteous thoughts and has created a nice environment for himself.”
Another example: Some practitioners attend group study regularly and got to know a few other practitioners very well. One might say that so and so has a great character, is a real solid guy, who does not expose himself, etc.
Some practitioners have formed a habit of boasting about others and are not aware of what they are doing. They treat fellow practitioners based upon their own feelings, and use human standards to judge fellow practitioners. You may able to see an attachment when it is shown to you, but not all attachments are shown to you. When a practitioner encounters an incident, it is intended to remove, not sustain, his human notion. As practitioners, we should use righteous thoughts not human notions to deal with fellow practitioners.
Some practitioners want to praise others for the purpose of encouraging other practitioners to do the three things. While their intent is good, this is not a good example for cultivation. Every one of us has our own path. The only way is to study the Fa, share our understanding of the principles, and apply them in our daily lives. We should help fellow practitioners understand our responsibility to save sentient beings. This is the best way to help fellow practitioners.
In some cases, the practitioner who praises certain other practitioners has a purpose behind his praise. He wants other practitioners to accept the one he praises, because it implies accepting him. He is part of the same group and such a notion is unhealthy, because to some extent it is similar to the notion of a clique in everyday society. Furthermore, boasting about someone puts that person at greater risk of being persecuted.
Although there are various reasons for boasting, the negative impact is the same. It can cause the person who is being praised to show off, to become elated, and to feel superior, etc., and these human notions can bring more tribulations as well. The evil spirits in other dimensions can see clearly what is happening. If you think a certain practitioner is great, they will increase his tribulations until he can't overcome them in order to see whether you will continue your boasting.
The old forces have been using destructive means to test Dafa practitioners. They want to eliminate those they don't like. Hence, we must be careful with what we say or think, and stop boasting about fellow practitioners. If criticizing a fellow practitioner is a sword, then boasting about a fellow practitioner is a time bomb. It can bring more tribulations to the practitioner and could cause a loss for the entire cultivation community.
To help avoid boasting, we should all look within. Is it because we are in a familiar environment that we feel free to say these things? Do we feel the urge to talk about what we did in validating the Fa? Or, do we feel better if we tell our story? Maybe because we are among friends, we feel free to speak and don't feel the need to watch what we say. If we really must report to the entire group about the things we did in validating the Fa, it is better to speak without mentioning any names. This way is safer for our fellow practitioners and avoids the tendency to worship a hero or boast about someone.
Even if a fellow practitioner is really doing great in cultivation, it is not proper to boast about him, because his success is due to Dafa and Teacher. To emphasize him instead of Dafa and Teacher is equivalent to showing disrespect for the Fa and Teacher. Furthermore, Teacher raised up every one of us from hell and led us along the path to become gods. Without Teacher's guidance, where would we be?
