Falun Dafa Minghui.org www.minghui.org PRINT

Letting Go of the Attempt to Validate Oneself

Sept. 18, 2010 |   By a practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) Last year I found a job with help from a fellow practitioner who lives in the city. My job is to accompany one of two heavy trucks that are used for transporting goods. When there are no goods to transport, I am free to do whatever I want. There is also another practitioner, whose family owns the truck.

The practitioner who helped me find the job had an upcoming wedding in his family, and wanted to use the wedding day to host a local Fa conference. With the time and place set, we decided to contact all the practitioners we knew in the area.

I knew that the practitioner from the family where I work would also come to the wedding, so I asked him whether I could have the day of the Fa conference off, and he said yes.

On the day of the conference, while I was preparing to welcome those practitioners whom I had invited to come, my boss (not a practitioner) called, telling me that I needed to come to work. It seemed as if all my plans had fallen apart. I had to call everyone I had contacted and tell them what happened.

At this point, I was really feeling bad. Just two days before the conference I had no work to do, but on the day of the conference, I had to go to work. The practitioner who had promised to help me get the day off had not kept his promise. Then, I realized that there are no accidents. There must be something for me to correct. However, all of the coordinators for the conference were able to attend except me. I couldn't help but feel bad about this.

On my way to work, I tried to look inward to see what was wrong. Suddenly, I noticed that I had a desire to let other coordinators see how many practitioners I was responsible for bringing to the conference. It was a desire to show off my ability and validate myself. Master gave me this opportunity to reflect and remove this selfish desire.

Master said in "Further Understanding" in the book, Essentials for Further Advancement,

"Do you realize that as long as you're a cultivator, in any environment or under any circumstances, I will use any troubles or unpleasant things you come across--even if they involve work for Dafa, or no matter how good or sacred you think they are--to eliminate your attachments and expose your demon-nature so that it can be eliminated, for your improvement is what's most important."

In "Clearheadedness" from Essentials for Further Advancement, Teacher also said,

"Any work in Dafa is intended for people to obtain the Fa and for disciples to improve themselves. Anything other than these two points is meaningless."

At this point I was deeply touched by Teacher's compassion. He was looking after me at all times. Clearly, there was no benefit for me to attend the conference with a selfish desire, which might cause additional tribulations for me. Along the path of cultivation, it does not matter whether we consider an event to be good or bad; in reality, it is all good, just as Teacher says. The removal of this human notion is clearly a step forward in my cultivation.

As a practitioner, the work of a coordinator is no more than serving as a bridge for others. The purpose of cultivation is to improve one's character. If we can achieve this, whether we attend a Fa conference or not is unimportant. Teacher wants all of us to improve our character as one body, but this begins with every individual practitioner being willing to cooperate and improve. An individual has nothing that is worthy of showing off and there is nothing one cannot let go.

Later, fellow practitioners told me that the conference was a success. All of the practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts together (they did not do the hand position in public). During the banquet, the master of ceremonies (a practitioner) played Dafa music. Although some of the practitioners may not have known one another, all are validating the Fa and moving forward on the path of cultivation.