(Clearwisdom.net) I have recently observed some notions in fellow Falun Dafa practitioners, and I would like to share my observations. Please kindly point out anything you find inappropriate.
Comparing and Criticizing Two Fellow Practitioners behind Their Backs
When Teacher said, "compare how you have studied and cultivated" in "To the Taiwan Fa Conference," I believe he meant us to prompt ourselves to learn from the merits of fellow practitioners and to remind ourselves to cultivate diligently like other diligent cultivators. I believe Teacher meant that we ought to seek inward when we compare how we have studied and cultivated. I don't believe Teacher meant that we, as genuine cultivators, ought to compare two fellow practitioners and critique their cultivation practices because such behavior is the opposite of seeking inward.
It makes no sense to do line-by-line comparison of two cultivators because no two cultivators share the same inborn quality, origin, cultivation path or determination to remove his respective attachments. Moreover, I find it lacking respect towards fellow practitioners to compare practitioners and critique them behind their backs. Those who engage in such uncharitable discussions might have neglected to cultivate their tolerance of other practitioners and compromised the solemnity of cultivation. Such discussions might also amplify certain attachments in those cultivators who engage themselves in such discussions or who have eventually heard the contents, such as feelings of injustice, misunderstandings, jealousy, vanities, etc. Belligerence, doubt, and distrust among cultivators thus breed from such discussions. We are now in the Fa-rectification period, a critical period for us to offer Teacher's salvation to the world's people. This is the very period of time when we Falun Dafa practitioners need to cooperate with each other more than ever. It follows that we ought to try even harder not to create feelings of distrust or opportunities for conflicts among us. Instead of comparing and criticizing fellow practitioners, I think we should directly and kindly give them our advice on their cultivation practice on the premises of being responsible for Falun Dafa and for our fellow practitioners.
Envying Those Who We Think Cultivate Better and Praising Them before Others
I believe the true purpose of sharing our own or fellow practitioners' achievements should be to compare how we have studied and cultivated so that we would have opportunities to enhance our understandings of the Fa together and to do the three things better, including studying Falun Dafa books, sending righteous thoughts, and sharing the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution of Falun Dafa with other people. In my opinion, envy originates from selfishness because behind an envious heart lies an attachment to own that desirable merit and an attachment to self.
When we envy or keep praising a fellow practitioner's merits or accomplishments, we may have already formed a strong attachment and begun to regard cultivation practice as a competition. In addition, we might even have induced or amplified those praised practitioners' attachments and caused them to slack off in their cultivation practice.
Teacher said,
"You will do him harm, as he will develop the attachment of zealotry and end up losing everything and having them switched off. In the end, he will stumble." (From "The Mentality of Showing Off" in Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun.)
Think about it. The old forces will be merciless in their persecution when they find many of our loopholes.
There is a Trend Among Practitioners to Discuss Which Practitioners Did What Task
We, Falun Dafa practitioners are now trying our best to share the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution with the world's people because we feel compelled to do so. I believe that everyone is trying to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa from his own perspective and with the most acceptable approach. I think it's meaningless to discuss, find out, or surmise which Dafa practitioners did what truth-clarification work. I think that, when a Dafa practitioner regards himself as a particle in Dafa, he will feel compelled to clarify the facts about Dafa and think it is part of his responsibility to do so.
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