(Minghui.org) I still remember an incident that happened five years ago. I was at a Falun Dafa truth clarification site in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. I arrived a little early, and a police officer wanted to know if I had a permit to distribute materials. It is possible that a tour bus driver called the police, as he had yelled something at me when I was handing out informational materials about Falun Dafa.
After the police officer asked to see my permit, I tried to call Annie (alias), as she had the permit for our activity. I thought that since my Japanese was not that good, if I could reach her, I could give my phone to the police officer and she could explain everything.
But I could not reach Annie, no matter how often I tried. In the end I had to explain the situation myself. The policeman finally understood, found everything in order, and left.
Annie arrived soon after the officer left. She explained that she could not answer because she had left her phone at home. I realized that everything happens for a reason, so I had to think about what attachments I had. I found that I had developed a dependency attachment.
Dependence: Laziness and a Bad Habit
On one occasion we ran out of English language Dafa truth-clarification materials. I noticed that westerners who were passing by seemed disappointed after they viewed our displays. Although I felt something was wrong, I didn't do anything. I later realized that it was because I had a dependency attachment. From then on, when I saw westerners in front of our truth-clarifying boards, I greeted them in English and talked to them about Falun Dafa.
Dependence is laziness, and even a bad habit for an ordinary person. For a practitioner, dependence makes us look outward. That is, the effect of doing things tends to rely on outside factors. One would attribute the reason for failure to an external factor, instead of looking within.
Mixed Up Priorities
The outcome of independence is where one positions oneself. After my experience with the police officer, I started asking myself when I faced a difficult situation or felt disappointed and helpless and wanted to quit, “If I refuse to validate the Fa without a fellow practitioner's help, then what is the meaning of my life? If the fellow practitioner I rely on quits cultivation, will I just not validate the Fa?”
If I don’t save sentient beings because of a shortage of truth-clarification materials, my priorities may be mixed up. As a Dafa disciple, we should put our heart into cultivating our xinxing and validating the Fa. We cannot avoid problems, nor can we shy away from our responsibilities. We have the Fa in our minds and we cannot just wait, and rely on others. We should try our best to do what we have to do.
Cooperation
Letting go of dependence however, does not mean starting on a new cultivation path. We should simply cooperate with each other. I enlightened that letting go of depending on fellow practitioners is essential to being part of the whole body. Participating in a project with dependence is not truly contributing. I would say this is being self-centered, hoping that others will cooperate and help me.
When problems occur, some practitioners first response is, “This should be handled by the coordinator, or that should be done by a fellow practitioner who has the technical skills, or to another fellow practitioner who is familiar with this type of situation.” This is also a kind of dependence.
In view of the whole body, an ordered division of labor and good cooperation increases efficiency. As a practitioner, one should ask oneself if any problems encountered by the whole body are problems that he should also face. He should shoulder the responsibility and try his best, and also cooperate with fellow practitioners.
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Category: Improving Oneself
