(Minghui.org) Melanie, a Falun Dafa practitioner and coordinator in our region, told me that she was experiencing interference in her cultivation. She also said that practitioners had been arrested in our area and in two other regions.
I experienced interference as soon as I heard her comment. I sensed pressure coming from somewhere, and it affected my cultivation state and environment. As a result, I told practitioners not to come to my house for group study, and I also stopped organizing truth clarification materials. Although I knew that this was not right, I just felt that I needed some time to adjust to the new situation.
A thought about “what she said was not the Fa” flashed through my mind, but, somehow, I just couldn't let go of the fear that “persecution was about to begin.” It was a lot of pressure. What was I afraid of? On the surface, I feared that I would be persecuted.
I felt that I had cultivated well, I knew how to look inside, and I understood some Fa principles. But when I was confronted with interference, I didn't have enough righteous belief in Teacher and the Fa. “There must be something I haven't enlightened to,” I thought.
I looked inside. First I remembered that in August, another practitioner told me that when Master was teaching the Fa in Washington D.C. in 2018, he understood that Teacher repeatedly emphasized security. I didn't pay much attention to what he said at the time. Now that he mentioned the topic again, it seemed that I did overlook the issue of security.
Then another practitioner told me that, in Master's “2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.,” he mentioned the issue of large-scale coordination as well as the issue of whether one should send righteous thoughts or look inside when facing a tribulation. Since I wasn't a coordinator, the matter of large-scale coordination had nothing to do with me, but to strengthen my righteous thoughts, I read over the pertinent section of the lecture once more. The pressure was still there.
The Minghui website published a new lecture by Teacher on October 27. I read it quickly to enrich myself. Then I read a sharing article about taking the Fa as Teacher to better cultivate oneself and be more mature. The sharing reminded me of what I'd encountered, which related to interference. As soon as I had this thought, the pressure suddenly disappeared. I continued to look inside at a deeper level and found some of my problems.
That same article mentioned certain things that I had encountered, too. Practitioners in my region used a communication tool to keep us all connected, which could become a security issue. The ones close to me also used this tool and we even had a group list.
Interference for Local Practitioners
Melanie forwarded an article that discussed arrests in a certain area. It asked for practitioners to send righteous thoughts. Then we were told that the matter was aimed at the provincial capital instead of that area. For three days in a row, the global project asked practitioners who weren't too busy to send righteous thoughts. I did not share this request with my small group.
There was some back and forth about the issue, and this time I asked my group to send righteous thoughts. Then I was told that the information we'd received was not accurate.
It didn't stop there. Melanie sent me another news item that said more practitioners were being arrested in that certain area. Other practitioners were being asked to help. This time I spoke of the arrests to my group, but I did not ask them to send righteous thoughts. As the back and forth continued, I told my group that the areas in question were located in three different provinces.
I thought about these incidents. The persecution in China is still going on. We communicate with other provinces and overseas using special software. On the surface, we are globally united, but isn't this interfering with our local practitioners? Isn't this an interference that has impeded our efforts to do the three things that Teacher has arranged for us to do?
On October 30, I read another sharing on Minghui entitled“Leading Practitioners to Follow Oneself Directs Them Away from Dafa.” The sharing made me reflect on my behavior. When I repeatedly said I was doing something good for practitioners, in reality, wasn't I causing interference? I saw myself being driven by my human notions.
I thought about my problems and gained some new understandings about looking inside.
First, I want to address the attachment of idolatry. I used to idolize Melanie. When she asked me to do something, I was happy and wanted her to think well of me. I felt happy to have a chance to work for her. I then realized that was a human mentality, but I didn't associate it with idolatry, which would harm those involved.
Then, when I got in touch with more practitioners, another human notion surfaced, namely, the notion of wanting to take care of things. In that article, Leading Practitioners to Follow Oneself Directs Them Away from Dafa, the author said, “I think those role model practitioners had good intentions—they just wanted to help other practitioners to improve. But over time, they became attached to fame and the evil took advantage of this.”
It seemed to me that I was the shadow of one of the role model practitioners mentioned in the article. I was clear about my human notion and tried to cultivate it away.
However, I felt that I was the focus for several practitioners. I wanted to take care of them and see how they were doing in their cultivation. I would help when they needed it. It is just as one of them said, “Nobody is as good as you are. You're the best.”
I was worrying about things that were happening in other regions when I didn't even know if the information was accurate. But I still asked other practitioners to cooperate and send righteous thoughts. I interfered with them and disturbed their cultivation environment, which was not good. Because I hadn't seen my attachment, I couldn't enlighten to the pertinent Fa principles and therefore made mistakes.
Teacher said,
“Over disciples' two years of doing actual cultivation, I have not allowed any activities that have nothing to do with actual cultivation to interfere with the orderly, step-by-step process of improvement arranged for students. “ (“A Letter to Shijiazhuang Dafa General Assistance Center” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I understand that a stable cultivation environment is very precious and so are the arrangements to negate the persecution and tribulations caused by the old forces. The concept of a “whole body” is not about everyone doing the same thing but, rather, about all individuals doing the three things well. I have to be clear about myself, my every thought, and my every word and deed. I must cultivate myself and not others. Most importantly, I ought to be clear about whether I am actually “helping” other practitioners, tugging them along, or interfering with them.
Another problem of mine was that I allowed the use of a widely used, large-scale communication tool called WeChat. It allowed me to share information far and wide and fast. Whoever subscribes to it receives notices from all over. Some practitioners have many contacts and are in many groups. Those that are engaged in many things are frequently asked to cooperate with this and that.
The pressure I experienced this time made me think about how heavily we relied on these tools to communicate among ourselves on a large scale. From using it just occasionally at first to where we now check it all the time.
I don't have many contacts and do not enroll in groups; otherwise, I think I would bury my head in such technology all day long. We need to make good use of such tools. After all, we are still humans, have a human mentality, and are still cultivating. But we need to be cautious.
Take the incident of cooperating with practitioners in other regions as an example. My current understanding is that we didn't need to be involved in that. We are all practitioners and are being looked after by Teacher. We all have our own things to do and everyone has his or her own path. If we walk our own paths well and do the three things solidly, we contribute our best effort to the whole body. As far as using such tools is concerned, on the surface, we are cooperating, but, in reality, aren't we interfering with each other?
After I saw the Minghui notice on October 4, I realized that my understanding of rallying everyone on a large scale was wrong. The problem is not the tools themselves; the fault lies in the fact that we were not paying attention to security issues and were interfering with each other. I also realized that it is wrong for us to opt for a path led by modern science rather than following Teacher and returning to tradition.
I reminded myself of a Minghui's editorial notice:
“Cultivation is serious. Any human notions we still have will become an obstacle on our cultivation journey. Additionally, no Dafa disciple wants to cause any difficulty to Master's Fa-rectification or to prolong Master's wait because of our failure to improve ourselves. No matter how much or how clearly a cultivator sees, it is only part of the vast whole, a grain of sand in a desert. Only Master knows the true picture of the whole. What is truly good for us is known only to Master. Only by doing better in believing in Master and the Fa, taking the Fa as Master, constantly relinquishing our attachments and human notions, and meeting the Fa's requirements are we truly cultivating.” (“Paying Attention to Security and Safety Is Essential” from Minghui Editorial Board)