(Minghui.org) I have found that one particular type of human attachment is relatively common among our fellow practitioners—the comparative mentality. It manifests in practitioners who often measure themselves against other practitioners, or compare one practitioner's cultivation state to the cultivation states of other local practitioners. Many take the results of the comparisons very seriously.
When the results of the comparison suggest that some are not as good as others, practitioners will sometimes develop jealousy. The less serious case is that practitioners become not willing to cooperate with others while doing Fa-validating work; the more serious is that they sometimes undermine a project secretly. An even more serious case is that they form a separate group and break up the one body of practitioners. Sometimes practitioners may develop a feeling of inferiority and become frustrated, worried, or lacking in confidence. Some may develop impatience. Some may feel that they are behind and become eager to catch up. This can lead to practitioners becoming very extreme in doing Dafa work, seeking after the quantity of doing things, or using this quantity as the criterion for cultivation. Because of this loophole, these practitioners can become easy targets for persecution by the evil.
When practitioners feel that they are better than others, the attachment to zealotry may surface. They may feel quite pleased with themselves. Sometimes they may develop complacency in thinking that they have cultivated well and become satisfied with their cultivation state. They may then start slacking and no longer take the initiative to continuously improve themselves. This can also be the case where practitioners are easily moved by the attachment to comfort and want to relax. Sometimes they can become very opinionated and feel that they are better than others, and that they are remarkable. Such practitioners may feel higher than other practitioners, which results in them becoming complacent, supercilious, and maybe eventually to disrespecting Master and plundering the Fa.
When comparing the majority of local practitioners to another particular practitioner, if one thinks that this particular practitioner is doing a better job than the rest, one could easily start to idolize him. Eventually, one may view this particular practitioner as a model and follow him as an example, instead of measuring oneself against the Fa. This can result in the idolized practitioner becoming arrogant, and the evil can thus take advantage of this loophole and arrest this practitioner.
On the other side, if one thinks that this practitioner is not doing as well as others, then one may have the tendency to focus on this particular practitioner's shortcomings and what he is lacking. The longer one looks at this practitioner, the more he or she becomes unhappy with this practitioner. If this tendency is developed further, one may come to think that this practitioner does not seem like a real practitioner and will look down on him or her. Eventually, one may even ignore and reject this practitioner. If further developed, one may treat this practitioner as a demon that interferes with Dafa practitioners' cultivation practice and try to kick him or her out of the group.
The reason why practitioners can be moved by the comparative mentality is due to being unclear on the principles of Fa. Master said,
“Study the Fa and gain the Fa,
Focus on how you study and cultivate,
Let each and every thing be measured against the Fa.
Only then, with that, is it actually cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation” from Hong Yin)
Master also told us,
“There are also such people among veteran disciples. And a most outstanding manifestation is that they always compare themselves with humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the requirements of the Fa at different levels.” (“A Dialogue with Time” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
My personal understanding is that, as practitioners, we should measure ourselves against the requirements of the Fa instead of comparing ourselves to one particular person. Master telling us to “Focus on how you study and cultivate,” (“Solid Cultivation” from Hong Yin) is to tell us to look inward to examine ourselves and get rid of our own human attachments so that we can truly cultivate and strive forward in the Fa, regardless of what we see in others. If every one of us practitioners can learn to use the Fa as the sole criterion for our actions, then we may soon realize that in the boundless Dafa, every being is very small and insignificant. We could then become compassionate and rational, harmonize each other, focus our effort in doing the three things solidly, and save more sentient beings.
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Category: Improving Oneself
