(Minghui.org)
I felt very sad as I studied Master's “Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference.” For the past few years, Master has repeatedly mentioned that practitioners from China should pay attention to clearing away the negative influence of communist party culture.
Master said,
“What’s more, the long-term influence by the Party culture is indeed serious, and the students’ ways of thinking and personal behavior are completely out of sync with people of this world.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Master established traditional culture for people to be able to obtain the Fa. But the old forces have sought to ruin traditional culture to prevent them from being saved. It is therefore extremely important for Falun Dafa disciples to clear away the effects of the poisonous Party culture and purify themselves.
I would like to share some of my experiences in hopes that others can benefit from it.
Since I came to Australia three years ago, I have regularly gone to tourists sites to clarify the truth. Whatever the weather, I go. My xinxing has improved, and I have let go of many of my negative behaviors. However, these problems are often difficult for me to detect.
For example, we had some conflicts at a tourist site. My first thought was often that it was a fellow practitioner's fault or that it was because the people we came across were not good.
I thought it was fine for us to follow the tourists and that it was okay to clarify the truth by singing Dafa disciples' songs or by playing a recording. After officers from the tourism administration came and told a practitioner to stop doing those things, I did not understand what he had done wrong.
I later began to understand that it was because our behavior was at odds with the peaceful and quiet lifestyle of Australia and that we had broken the unspoken rules at the tourist sites.
After I studied Master's lecture, I realized that these behaviors were an expression of our thought patterns generated by the Party culture. Because of our strong attachment to “self,” we were unable to consider others.
If people cannot accept our behavior, how will we ever be able to reach them?
We initially complained that the tourism officers did not know the facts about the persecution of Falun Dafa and were too strict on us. We thought that since thousands of people were allowed to walk on the lawn each day, why should we be prohibited from placing bulletin boards on it?
We also complained that practitioners who could speak English did not clarify the truth well. We did not look inward to see whether we had done anything wrong, so the conflicts escalated.
I was personally guilty of placing display boards on the grass. When an officer from the tourism administration office stopped me several times, I put them away. But the next day, I put them on the grass again.
I did this because I knew she would not come to check every day. I thought what I was doing was for saving people and what I was doing was righteous. I did not consider that we were also guests at a tourist site, and I ignored the person in charge.
We did not follow the rules and could not even be good people. What would those people think of us? Wouldn’t it have a negative effect on the public image of Falun Dafa?
Perhaps I made trouble for fellow practitioners who had worked hard to clarify the facts to the tourism administration staff. This was not a trivial thing.
On my cultivation path, I have realized some of my problems. After we let go of Party culture and the obstacles from “self,” we can act in a more righteous manner. We will then become able to truly assimilate to the virtues of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and follow Master to reach enlightenment.
Category: Improving Oneself
