(Clearwisdom.net) In "No Politics," Master said, "Human society is a good place for cultivation, since everything here can lead to attachments. Precisely because of this, a person who is able to step out of it and get rid of all his attachments to human society is magnificent and is able to reach Consummation." ("No Politics," Essentials for Further Advancement II)
From the technical work I've been doing over the past few years, I felt strongly that attachments were deeply embedded in my life. Thank you Master for giving me an opportunity to realize this and for helping me let go of my attachments.
In the first two years of my practice, I came across several big conflicts with other practitioners. Only today do I finally have a good understanding of them.
On the first occasion, I wrote a review to compare and comment on the technologies to penetrate the information blockade. The conclusion was that the two projects we had been running had to be stopped. A practitioner from one of the projects was unhappy about my conclusion.
On the second occasion, I used a technique that I believed to be more advantageous than that of another practitioner's, but that practitioner did not acknowledge it. To remind him of the advantage, I raised this topic to him many times. Later, I realized that he acknowledged it implicitly. All of a sudden, I understood the reason behind it.
Whenever speaking of technical issues, I often judged right and wrong merely from the technical perspective. When somebody is unhappy about the way I talk, I believe it is that person's fault. Thinking about other people or talking with compassion were not in my mind. In addition, I often paid attention to who actually did the job. Deep in my mind, I was validating myself when discussing technical issues. When such an attitude was combined with the lack of considering other people first, I often acted quite aggressively.
On another occasion, a practitioner who had collaborated with me for a while decided to stop doing so. One of the reasons was that I often held on to my own views despite my lack of understanding. This unpleasant incident puzzled me for a long time. Recently, I enlightened that there were two reasons behind it.
First, it is ridiculous to always hold on to my own views. As I now understand it, if I have never had any experience with something, it does not hurt to follow other people's suggestions. Besides, I can always learn in the process. In the end, the difference between my idea and those of others is most likely minor.
The second issue is my work style. In my mind, the ideal situation is that students challenge teachers and students challenge one another. At school, I did challenge teachers, and I often got positive responses as teachers encouraged such a habit. However, the situation is different in carrying out a job. Sometimes, when I was questioned, I did not want to explain or make any comments, because I believed that the questioner's lack of essential knowledge would make it unlikely for him to be able learn it. To me, explaining to him was simply a waste of my time.
There was a practitioner who always complained about me. In the beginning, I shared the experience with the practitioners I contacted the most. Most of them said it was that practitioner's fault. Some practitioners were unbiased at the beginning, and then hinted to me that this practitioner was not right. As I talked about it more and more often, I realized that I had an attachment to getting others to agree with me. When conflicts were affecting a Dafa project, the first thing I wanted to make sure of was that it was not my fault, and that everyone agreed with me. Losses to the project often became the last thing I worried about. In Canonization of the Gods, Shen Gongbao publicly sabotaged what his Master wanted him to do and asked Jiang Ziya to burn down the post for granting titles to the Gods. My attachment is no less than that. As a Dafa practitioner, such an attachment is definitely wrong.
On another occasion, a practitioner sent out a few emails, harshly criticizing me for placing fame and personal gain above the project and for placing other practitioners' work behind mine. This time, I enlightened to Master's teaching. As Master taught us, it is the problem of the person who presents a legitimate complaint if the way of criticizing is not right, while it is the fault of the one who is criticized if that person does not accept legitimate criticism. On the other hand, even if the complaint does not look right, I should still be able to see the aspect of truth in it. Indeed, the project I was doing brought fame and personal gain, and my attachment to fame did come out. But I felt it was not right to not listen to him simply because he exaggerated my problems. In the end, it is Master who arranges and accomplishes everything. Who does the job is not important at all. Neither is the opinion of other fellow practitioners, because we are not practicing for other people.
Recently a practitioner praised me very often. In "The Mentality of Showing Off," (Zhuan Falun), Master said, "You will do him harm, as he will develop the attachment of zealotry." Once I get used to praise, I take it for granted. By and large, please do not overly praise other practitioners. Praise is a big test for practitioners.
In cultivation, we must persist in studying the Fa and doing the Falun Gong exercises. It is a matter of whether we listen to Master. There is an issue of how to look at a project we're doing. Has it been accomplished because of our excellent techniques and our extra few hours in place of Fa study and exercises? Or it is Gods that have accomplished it while we just did it on the surface? As Master said recently, the evil factors that persecute Falun Dafa practitioners have been mostly eliminated and only a tenth of a billionth still remain in the Three Realms, and eight percent on the surface. Therefore, within the Three Realms, only one millionth still exists in the superficial dimension. Only if we do the three things well can the Gods accomplish the things in other dimensions. In carrying out technical work, being overly content or overly discouraged is what we need to change in our practice. Personally, I can ensure the time to study the Fa and do the exercises most of the time. As a result, I often have a calm and peaceful heart whenever technical difficulties arise, and I can continuously work for a fairly long time.
The above are some of my understandings during the course of my cultivation. Hopefully they will be useful to everyone. Fellow practitioners, please point out any mistakes.
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