(Clearwisdom.net) In this article, I wish to address two sides of being attached to validating ourselves. One side is reflected in thinking our accomplishments are sufficient to validate Dafa when our hearts are not pure and we are not truly validating Dafa. The other side is to provide encouragement to the many practitioners who resist stepping forward and taking bigger roles in the Fa-rectification due to self-imposed limitations. I believe that both sides of the attachment can be resolved through deepened understanding of the Fa and getting rid of more human notions, and that this can go a long way in improving our one-body overall. It is my understanding that we Dafa practitioners should form a fluid and harmonious mechanism of Fa validation at this time. I think that the way to achieve this is for all practitioners to reach their maximum capacity or expand their capacity, and give everything they have for the Fa. But the only way we can achieve this ideal situation is if we remove all human attachments and notions that are impeding our progress in this direction.
I wish to share my understandings about Master's recent teachings and hopefully we can eliminate more human notions faster. The perspective I have used here is my personal perspective, but I hope that practitioners can overlook my personal outlook and look within while reading. I know that we all struggle to know how best to do what we should do for the Fa. We are also all aware of things that are not right amidst our body of practitioners, and certain circumstances seem out of our control. I think the most important thing for us to do in this situation is to eliminate selfishness and melt into the Fa. Especially, we should do more to uncover our attachments and to reject the old forces' arrangements while doing the three things with diligence.
The attachment to validating ourselves with skills and capabilities
For those practitioners that are striving to perfect their truth-clarification skills and to do better and better for Dafa in a human way, it's important to realize that how good our skills are on the surface is not the determining factor in saving sentient beings. The true factor is the degree of assimilation to Dafa that we have achieved, the depth of our understanding of Dafa, and the dedication we have put with our hearts to the matter at hand. When these true factors are in place, skills and capabilities are secondary. The skills may manifest as a result of our good cultivation state, or they may simply be human skills that we have been given. It is important to distinguish between these two factors in order to determine how well we have in fact met the Fa's requirements.
Master taught:
"Right now, whether Dafa disciples are validating the Fa as a group or clarifying the truth as individuals, all of those are what Dafa requires. As long as Fa-rectification requires it, you should do it well, and there's no room for negotiation. And don't get conceited because of your roles, and don't think you're different from others. You're each a particle. And in my eyes nobody is better than anyone else, since I scooped all of you up at the same time. (Applause) Some are more capable when it comes to one thing, others with another--you definitely shouldn't let your thoughts run wild based on that. You say that you have such great abilities and so on and so forth, but that was all bestowed upon you by the Fa! Actually, it wouldn't work if you failed to attain that level of abilities. Fa-rectification required your wisdom to reach that point, so you definitely shouldn't think that you're so capable. Some practitioners want me to check out their abilities and skills. But actually, what I think is, all of that was given by me, so there's no need to look." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
In fact, if we are still attached to our skills and abilities, it can cause even greater problems in practitioners' overall efforts to clarify the truth. If we overemphasize ourselves it can negatively affect other practitioners who have good ideas to share. It can create feelings of despondence, superiority, condescension, and a lack of coordination and sharing. It is not that we meant for that to happen, it is just that we did not realize our shortcomings and we separated ourselves from other practitioners as a result. Above all, we may display a lack of righteous thoughts toward other practitioners' efforts, ideas and actions. If this is the case, then we must look inward seriously. Not only do we lack righteous thoughts toward others because we are too attached to our own things, we are failing to think of ways to help and harmonize the Fa if there really is something not right.
We should realize that if we are experiencing any disharmony amongst practitioners working on different projects, it probably reflects our myriad selfish shortcomings. Those listed above are only a few examples. We are dwelling on such things where only sacredness and responsibility for the Fa should predominate.
Quickly uncovering large amounts of human attachments
Master's compassionate salvation is newly evident as recently He has talked much more about ordinary human notions and attachments. I can feel that as Master teaches more about getting rid of human notions, it is making our awareness of human notions more acute. It is as if Master is tugging them away as he speaks, and as we read and reread the articles. Recently I was very encouraged and could feel the truth of Master's words,
"I know that after you become clear on this you will quickly catch up, but you should take fewer detours on this most magnificent, divine path; not leave reason for regret in your futures; and not fall so far behind in terms of levels." ("The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be")
I have written this article in hopes of helping fellow practitioners uncover those human notions, knowing that once we realize our shortcomings we will naturally improve. The evil cannot interfere with us.
Ridding the attachment of despondence by negating the old forces' interference
Recently I have realized some attachments related to how I react when I notice my shortcomings or when I make mistakes. I have always been very strict with myself. Practitioners and ordinary people often tell me that I should be more forgiving toward myself. I would even cry when I discovered certain attachments in my awareness of the tremendous suffering I had caused others in my ignorance. It was not enough for me to strive forward in a lighter state; I always wanted to hold on to the remorse and suffering. Perhaps this made me feel altruistic. Eventually I became aware of how the old forces have capitalized on this wrong understanding and I have manifested low-grade pain and a heavy feeling in my body. I have been holding back the elimination of the black substance and karma due to my lack of understanding on the Fa. I also failed to negate the old forces' arrangements. Recently I was touched by Master's words in the quote below. We too are sentient beings that are being interfered with; it is just that we have great power through our righteous thoughts and understanding of the Fa to negate the interference. We also have very subtle things to negate and great responsibilities and missions to do so. Master said:
"Meddling from those factors of the old forces should never have happened in the first place. It is real only when the sentient beings are able to look at this affair and take a position without being controlled in any way and in the absence of interference from any factor." (Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference)
Forming one body by "doing what we should do"
If the only thought that Master acknowledges is one that is not affected by the old forces, and we are Dafa disciples with hearts dedicated to the Fa, certainly we can break free from all interference. In my understanding it has now become even more incumbent upon us to give up our selfishness and our attachments to things such as our abilities (or whatever they are) and dedicate ourselves entirely to serving the Fa. We should also be more mindful to never slack off just because we got more done than others did. There is a danger of comparing ourselves to others instead of measuring our diligence according to the Fa. Master has said, "Fa-rectification required your wisdom to reach that point, so you definitely shouldn't think that you're so capable." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
Master has given us the standard, and that is to strive to do the best that we can possibly do and let the greatness that we achieve validate the Fa throughout the cosmos and save the sentient beings we are suppose to save. When Master says, "Just do what you should do openly and with dignity, and everything will be covered." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference) isn't he asking us to fully reach our potential in this world and do everything we can possibly do to save people while doing the "three things" well? Right now we can all see that so many things need more help and support to do. Is there anyone out there who can increase his or her capacity? Can I increase my capacity? I feel that we need to seriously consider these questions and help each other. Since we are outside of China, there should be nothing tangible preventing us from validating the Fa. If this is true, then isn't it our own attachments that are stopping us if we see that things are not optimum?
I wish to encourage fellow practitioners who still have ordinary human attachments that wrongly concede to personal limitations and impede them from doing what their own hearts desire them to do. The Fa requires us to break through and to reach our maximum potential. Let's not wait for others - let's step forward! Let's use our skills and abilities and show our greatness from our heart! We have seen so many examples of practitioners who, without technical skills or help, started informational materials production sites and became technical experts. Wasn't this accomplished due to one wish in the heart? "I can see that the Fa needs me to do this, so I will do it."
I can see the fluid mechanism, like Falun turning, which we are becoming in our thoughts and actions. Let us all strive to meet our utmost potential in the human world and to bestow greatness in the heavens above by doing even better in validating Dafa!
Practitioners, please point out if there are any shortcomings you can see here.