(Minghui.org) Master said,
“To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.” (Zhuan Falun)
The most important, basic, and fundamental thing has always been to remove our attachments. And we must not use our work clarifying the truth as an excuse to not give up those attachments, because that would defeat the purpose.
Attachment to the Work
I have been involved in different projects to expose the persecution, including things like writing and putting together reports about the persecution for websites that clarify the truth. I realized the importance of clarifying the truth and put a lot of effort into it.
In time I gave it more importance than other things. Actually, I became attached to it and preoccupied with it. And this attachment to the work I did to clarify the truth then turned around and actually impaired my effectiveness.
I noticed that I had become very attached to what I was doing on the surface. I put a lot of emphasis on that and on the surface arguments I used to expose the persecution.
I had heard many practitioners talking in a way that was too esoteric, too lofty, and therefore almost impossible for ordinary people to understand. I wanted to do it better and use arguments that were easy to understand.
But I went to the other extreme and put all my effort into the surface arguments, disregarding everything else, and was then surprised that it didn't have a better effect– even though the surface arguments were good.
I have now realized that although the correct surface form at the level of ordinary people can't be ignored, it is by no means the only factor, nor the most important.
Removing Attachments Is More Important
As I understand it, one of the reasons why Master has always emphasized removing attachments the most - right from the start - is because in the event of persecution, the old forces could use our attachments as excuses for the persecution, and our attachments could also severely hinder us from exposing the persecution. The persecution then would not be able to be stopped, a lot of people who shouldn't die would die, the old forces would have succeeded in their arrangement, and Master's original arrangement for Fa-rectification would have been impaired.
On a fundamental level, the cosmos would then still have to follow its old law of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction, and on a fundamental level the cosmos would have to be re-created, causing even more people to die and be re-created with it.
But if we do things the way Master has taught us, then the things we do have a deeper meaning – even if they appear ordinary on the surface. Because with Master's help, we can manage to go beyond the principle of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction.
Cultivating and Cooperating with Fellow Practitioners
In the past I often focused on the flaws of others, and intentionally demanded from them things in areas where I knew they were weak, because I wanted to help them cultivate and improve – at least that was my excuse.
But I wasn't cultivating myself, and made the improvement of others the prerequisite, while they, in turn, made my improvement the prerequisite. As a result, none of us was able to improve or move forward.
I now try to stay calm and be tolerant of others – especially in areas that I am anxious about. I also try to be lenient with others. Instead of looking for their flaws, I look for their strengths. Even if I see that someone has a weakness, I think to myself, “If that is his weakness, then what is his strength?”
And if we need to cooperate on something, I ask him for help in his areas of strength. Instead of criticizing him over what he did poorly, I praise him for what he did well. I now notice that there are so many people with so many strengths, covering just about every area, and suddenly it is much easier to cooperate and get things done.
Sometimes when other practitioners ask something of us, we think we don't have time for them, because we are already busy with so many things.
What those other practitioners really want is not to “steal our time” but to cooperate with us – but we say we don't have enough time for this cooperation. That is a contradiction – because cooperation does not slow our efforts down – instead it speeds them up.
Oftentimes on days I was so busy that I didn't have time for other practitioners, it was my pursuit of things that made me so busy. But if we don't have any pursuit or notions in our heart, then maybe we can achieve more things in five minutes then we could in five weeks with a wrong mentality.
Superficial success does plays a role – but it plays the smallest role. Our hearts and our attitudes, on the other hand, play a much more important role.
This is just my personal understanding. Please point out anything improper.
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Category: Improving Oneself
