(Minghui.org) The main local coordinator in our area, Ms. Chen (alias), has recently experienced severe sickness karma. She was taken to a hospital for treatment by her family members after she lost consciousness. Many practitioners participated in helping her. Some have also shared their understandings about what has happened and I have written a summary of our sharing for fellow practitioners' reference.
Analyzing the Sickness Karma Situation
Ms. Chen has been the main coordinator in our area for many years. The severe sickness tribulation she has been suffering has something to do with her own cultivation, but to a large extent, it has also resulted from the cultivation state of us as one body.
As her sickness karma is rather serious, and she is in and out of consciousness from time to time, practitioners visited her to share their thoughts and understandings. Alas, some also held various human attachments. As a result, Ms. Chen developed some mental resistance, and even though practitioners have tried to help, her condition has not improved much.
Facing such the situation, practitioners gradually realized that they must not focus only on Ms. Chen, and on trying to change her. Instead, every practitioner involved should calm down and look inward. We must improve our understanding on the issue as one body and truly form one body with Ms. Chen. We must send forth strong righteous thoughts, completely negate the arrangements by the old forces and get over the tribulation with Ms. Chen as one body.
For a long time, many local practitioners have become dependent on Ms. Chen, treating her as someone they could rely on in cultivation. Some even protect her because of personal feelings towards her or themselves, and see her as a role model. As a result, she had been very busy every day and could hardly calm down for Fa study.
Creating a Big Gap Due to a Human Mindset
Some practitioners don't agree with the way she does things, so they oppose everything she does, creating a big gap among practitioners. There are also others who do not agree with her in many regards, and after communicating with her still cannot see much improvement. So they start taking an indifferent attitude towards things she coordinates.
When Ms. Chen faced sickness tribulation, practitioners around her have shown all kinds of understandings and thoughts that are not on the Fa, and all these indicate that practitioners have used their human minds in dealing with the situation.
Master said,
“When students exhibit severe sickness karma, it undoubtedly has two goals. One is to have that person display such a state and then see how people around him or her look at it. It's to see how and whether your minds are moved by it. Isn't that the case?” (Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005)
“The other goal applies to that person himself: how well has the person who exhibits the sickness karma cultivated? Is he able to make it through with strong righteous thoughts while in such a state? Does he truly treat himself as a god and pay no attention to any of it whatsoever?” (Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005)
Looking Within Instead of Without to Form the Unified Body
When Ms. Chen exhibited severe sickness karma, many practitioners thought it was her problem, so they all came to share with her, trying to help her look inward. In fact, trying to help others look inward is already by itself looking outward. Master told us to form a cultivation environment in which we all look inward as one body. Only when every one of us looks within can we form the one body.
How should we understand the concept of one body of cultivators? It is not like that of everyday people, such as people getting together, and helping each other out of kindness. The one body of cultivators means that practitioners improve together on the Fa and establish a unified body beyond each individual body. To reach this state, we must follow Master's teachings and look within for our own problems under any circumstances instead of looking outward for other people's problems.
As a member of one body, how should we look within when fellow practitioners have problems?
Practitioners repeat platitudes instead of trying to resolve the issue. They say, “Nothing is accidental, as cultivators, we should always look inward when encountering problems. I have truly found that I still have many attachments, such as combative mentality,” and “I really need to cultivate myself well, but...”
Then they move on to another issue as they believe to have made a statement that justifies their looking outward. Even when they look within, they only talk about things in general terms.
Forming Indestructible Body
Genuine looking within involves specific issues. Practitioners who have a tendency to rely on Ms. Chen should look inward for the reason. Is it because they do not know how to do things because they do not have the Fa in their hearts? Or is it because they have attachments to laziness and comfort so they look for an easier option to follow the coordinator? Or is it because they are reluctant to take the lead and bear responsibility for fear of being arrested?
They just go with the flow, thinking there is always someone taking the responsibility if something goes wrong. There are all kinds of human attachments hidden in the mind of practitioners. How could we eliminate them through cultivation if we don't expose them?
Master said,
“Let each and every thingbe measured against the Fa.Only then, with that,is it actually cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)
Looking inward is the beginning of solid cultivation, not the end. After we find our attachments, we should let go of them through solid and painstaking cultivation.
Ms. Chen encountered some other tribulations prior to the severe sickness karma. She looked within then and said she should not just busy herself with doing things and she should study the Fa more with a calm mind and cultivate herself solidly. Some other practitioners also realized that they should not always rely on the coordinator, but walk their own paths. However, when those tribulations were gone, they returned to their prior state of mind.
As cultivators, when problems arise, our first thought should be to look within for our own problems and at the same time treat others kindly. When one practitioner conducts him/herself this way, his/her cultivation state will improve rapidly. When a group of practitioners act this way, they would form an indestructible body, solving the problem.
Cultivating Instead on Relying on Coordinator
Ms. Chen is a coordinator. There have been many issues in the coordination work over the years in our area and coordinators have also suffered serious persecution. We really need to keep a calm mind and think about the situation carefully.
In the early days of the persecution, many practitioners did not know what to do in the face of the severe situation. Some practitioners stepped forward and played a very important role in organizing practitioners to resist the persecution, and do truth-clarification. However, there have also been many problems in the process, due to the fact that practitioners, including coordinators, were not yet mature enough in their cultivation and coordinators suffered severe persecution as a result. Very often, when one group of coordinators suffered persecution, another group of coordinators would step forward, facing the same problems, and such a situation has continued to date.
The Fa-rectification situation has changed a lot. Although the persecution is still going on, the evil forces have become much weaker and practitioners have become more mature. Every practitioner must walk his or her own path. We should not always rely on coordinators when issues arise, as if we do not know how to cultivate without coordinators.
As for coordinators, we must become even more mature and handle situations with responsibility for the Fa, for fellow practitioners and for our own cultivation state. In the early days, when Dafa required us to step forward to coordinate things, we should have done so without hesitating. Today, if there is no need for such a coordinator, then we should also let go of it. We must not do coordination work for the sake of doing it, in the name of one body, while undermining the essence of cultivation.
Walking Cultivation Path in a Formless Way
Coordinators in some areas in our city have handled things very well. They and fellow practitioners have walked their paths in a formless way by downplaying the role of coordinators and encouraging practitioners in each small Fa study group to organize their own activities.
When issues arise, someone will step into the role of a coordinator. In a sense, everyone is a coordinator. They quietly offer help and support whenever there is such a need, and harmonize with the whole body in every way they can. They will do it without hesitation.
There are also some coordinators in our city who argue that no one is able to coordinate things they do or no one steps forward to take responsibility. In fact it only shows that they have not been able to walk a formless cultivation path together with fellow practitioners. If they still fail to rectify their way of doing things, their paths will become narrower and narrower.
We are not saying whether an area should have coordinators or not as it all depends on the specific situation in that area. However, coordinators and practitioners in that area should all consider things based on our responsibility for the Fa and let go of our personal views and attachments. Everything should be handled in view of the needs of Dafa and the essence of cultivation. We must not allow form to interfere with our cultivation.
Master said,
“Whether you're doing things as a group or doing things individually, what you're doing is the same kind of thing, and that's what we mean by one entity. You're all clarifying the truth, sending righteous thoughts, and studying the Fa, so the specifics of the things you're doing are different but the division of roles is orderly, together there's a form, and separated there are particles.” (Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
Negating the Old Forces Arrangements with Wisdom
Ms. Chen's sickness tribulation has continued for a few months, and many practitioners have spent much time and energy visiting her and sharing with her. When a suggestion was put forward to send forth righteous thoughts as one body for Ms. Chen, some practitioners said that people were feeling a bit weary about sending righteous thoughts as a group.
For years, we have asked practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts as one body whenever there were practitioners who were illegally arrested, who suffered sickness karma, or when the persecution worsened.
Master told us not to even acknowledge the existence of the old forces, and yet we have always tried to deal with the old forces in one way or another. Not only have we acknowledged the existence of the old forces, we have also been dragged along on the path arranged by the old forces. How can we negate the old forces by behaving this way? However, we must not abandon fellow practitioners when they suffer persecution. Then, how can we balance everything? Where have we gone wrong?
One of the problems is that we take the persecution too seriously and fear the persecution. We should deny the persecution and not develop fear. We must deny all the arrangements and interference by the old forces. When we understand the Fa principles and reach the required state of mind we will not be moved easily or trapped in any specific issue, and we will have the wisdom that a cultivator should have.
The 20-year-long persecution has left us too many dark shadows, and the old forces have also become a lingering nightmare for many practitioners. However, we must never forget that we are Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples and we have Master, who is capable of doing anything.
Master has long ago pushed us up to where we should be. Then, why don't we demonstrate the confidence we have cultivated in Dafa? Why don't we dare to take a further step and act with our divine side? The old forces are nothing and there is nothing to fear.
Cultivation Is a Serious Matter
Of course, cultivation is a serious matter. Strong righteous thoughts come from solid cultivation. Every thought we have, everything we say or do and every choice we make based on righteous thoughts is a solid step on our paths towards the godhood.
Sometimes we lack self-confidence. This is because we have too many human notions that restrain our wisdom and ability.
Master said, “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
We only need to focus on our improvement based on the Fa and do well in anything we need to do. Master has arranged everything for us, and we must not be afraid of the false appearances in the human world.
Category: Improving Oneself
