(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners! I have been practicing cultivation for over two decades. When we cooperate, amazing things happen!
Eliminating the Mentality of Not Accepting Criticism
When another practitioner said, “We have been cultivating for over two decades. Why haven’t we eliminated our human impulses?” I knew she was talking about my bad temper.
I found it difficult to hear people criticize me and I easily lost my temper. I always had several excuses to defend myself. This was more obvious when I interacted with my family. I frequently became angry with my wife and daughter. As a result, my wife had a poor opinion of Falun Dafa, and there was little communication between my daughter and me. I knew this situation was wrong, but I found it very difficult to control my emotions.
Why was I so easily agitated? That practitioner’s words often echoed in my ears, “Why haven’t we eliminated our human impulses?” What made me so weak and so unwilling to accept criticism? What was the root cause?
When I looked within. I realized that I couldn’t deal with criticism—but it was my human side that was agitated. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the part of me that hadn’t met a practitioner’s standard. I tried to control my behavior.
One day when I got angry with my wife, I realized that the side that wasn’t cultivated was controlling me. Although I shut my mouth, I still felt my anger surging. My mind was full of complaints against my wife. I kept my mouth shut. I sent forth righteous thoughts. I tried to suppress the demonic side, but it felt like my anger and feelings were about to explode. It was extremely uncomfortable.
I tried to suppress that side whenever I got angry, and it weakened over time. At first, it took me a few minutes to realize it; then a few seconds. At last, I could tell that my state was wrong and kept silent as soon as the anger rose. If I felt I couldn’t suppress it, I turned around and walked away. The demonic side manifested less and less as I kept suppressing it.
However, this was far from eliminating its root. What exactly made me so easily irritated and angry? Why couldn’t I take criticism? When I looked inward deeper, I realized it was the attachment to fame. I cared about my reputation and my self-interest. My human side didn’t want to lose face. When I lost my temper and defended myself I only wanted to protect myself from being hurt. I never considered others’ feelings. Wasn’t I extremely selfish?
People in China are immersed in the Chinese Communist Party culture from the minute they are born. The arrogance, rudeness, and ruthless mentality of fighting against heaven and earth have been deeply rooted in our minds and bones. It has become so natural that we aren’t even aware of it. The inability to accept criticism comes from a competitive mentality. It is the manifestation of the notions developed in the constant fighting, from the Party culture. I found myself dealing with people in a forceful, tit-for-tat style. My shortsightedness and narrow-mindedness came from a competitive mentality.
Master taught us,
“You should always maintain a heart of compassion and kindness. Then, when you run into a problem, you will be able to do well because it gives you room to buffer the confrontation.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
If I have a competitive mentality, how could I have a heart of compassion and kindness? I had to change the way I dealt with problems. I had to learn to solve problems with compassion and to be kind to others.
When my daughter was a few minutes late for school, she didn’t want to go at all, and she skipped all her classes. Her mother talked with her. She defended herself with a lot of excuses and she even blamed her mother. I overheard their conversation and I was mad at her. I thought, “You skipped an entire day of school. You don’t reflect on your shortcomings—instead, you made tons of excuses for yourself.”
I was about to scold my daughter—but I realized I needed suppress my anger. I sent forth righteous thoughts to control my emotions. I had to learn to solve the problem with compassion. I thought I should wait until I calmed down, and then I would deal with it calmly and compassionately.
It took me several days to calm down. I finally felt confident that I wouldn’t get angry. I found it ironic that I didn’t even know how to kindly educate my daughter. I really hadn't done well in cultivation. I felt ashamed of myself. But, with my faith in Dafa, I had confidence that I could handle it very well and be compassionate.
Master said,
“Compassion comes from a person's cultivation, and it's not something that's acted out; it comes from deep inside, and it's not something done to show others. It's something that exists eternally, and it doesn't change with the passage of time or changes in circumstances.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
I talked to my daughter a few days later. Now, our father-daughter relationship is getting better and better. Sometimes she comes to talk with me. She even holds my arm when we walk in the park.
Cooperating with Other Practitioners
Jing and Tian are two fellow practitioners who work in my small restaurant. They live in the same apartment. In June 2018, Jing went out of town to attend a wedding. She spent some banknotes printed with Falun Dafa information and was arrested at the train station. The police went to their place and took away both Jing’s and Tian’s personal belongings, including ID cards, bank cards, 7,000 yuan in cash (some of the bills had Falun Dafa information printed on them), and the paperwork on Tian’s detention in 2017.
Jing was released fifteen days later. She went to the police station to ask for her belongings. The police gave them back to her, but wouldn’t give her Tian’s belongings. They said, “Tian must come here herself. We are looking for her. Her case is not yet closed.”
In my understanding, those banknotes are Dafa’s resources, and we shouldn’t let bad people take them. This matter was hotly discussed among fellow practitioners. Some blamed Jing for telling the police their address. What if Tian was at home when the police came to ransack the place? They said that Jing should go ask for the banknotes. Other practitioners even said that Jing should pay for Tian’s losses. It was a xinxing test for Tian. How should she handle it? Would she complain, blame others, or even resent them?
Tian’s understanding of the Fa was very clear. She said, “We are cultivators. Everything bad that happens to us happened because of our human attachments.” She realized that she was attached to protecting her interests. She also had fear. She was afraid of being persecuted. Since the old forces were taking advantage of her fear, she thought she should face it. She made up her mind to go to the police station and ask for those banknotes herself.
I supported her decision and told her, “I will go with you. But have you thought about what you are going to say?” Jing said she would go with us.
The three of us got together and had an in-depth discussion the night before we went to the police station. We shared our understandings and clarified a lot of matters. It strengthened our confidence. We agreed on the following understandings.
1. We would not acknowledge it if the police use the banknotes as an excuse to persecute practitioners. We would not allow evil to take advantage of it, nor would we let the police commit crimes.
2. As a Dafa practitioner, Tian uses the banknotes to save sentient beings. The evil is not allowed to keep them.
3. Jing's detention and Tian's financial persecution was arranged by the old forces as so-called tests against us. This is not Master’s arrangement. We should not accept it. Such arrangements should not exist at all. We should eliminate whatever arranged it or participated in it.
4. The purpose of our visit is to clarify the truth and to eliminate the evil beings in other dimensions that were controlling the police. Our goal is to save the police officers.
We felt that the power of the three of us was merged. We were strengthened by the positive energy.
Talking to the Police
It was raining lightly the day we went to the police station. The doorkeeper was the only person there. When we explained why we came, he said, “The officers have all gone on patrol. Let me call them.” He called and explained the situation. The police said, “Tian must come pick up her belongings in person.” He told them that Tian was there. The police said, “Wait there, we will be right back. Her case isn’t finished yet.”
The wait felt endless. It was a test for all three of us, especially for Tian. We went outside to talk. We were clear that the persecution should not exist; the police were lives waiting to be saved; this was an opportunity for us to further eliminate evil and clarify the truth. We sent forth righteous thoughts.
We waited for an hour. The rain stopped, and a police car pulled up. Six or seven officers got out of the car. They asked, “Which one is Tian?” They opened the door and told her to go inside. She hesitated, but went into the station. Jing and I wanted to follow her but they wouldn’t let us. Then, they let Jing in. But they wouldn’t let me in. They told me I had nothing to do with the matter.
I continued to send forth righteous thoughts outside the station. I felt that we were so powerful that we could eliminate all evil. Twenty minutes later, the sun shone through the clouds and into the courtyard of the police station. Tian and Jing came out. I asked them what happened. They were very happy and said, “We got everything back!” We were all very excited and so grateful to Master.
Clarifying the Truth at My Restaurant
I had not been doing well at clarifying the truth in person. I was very anxious. Perhaps Master was aware of it and gave me a little help.
In September of 2018, I opened a small restaurant in a market. Two fellow practitioners joined me. They were both very good at clarifying the truth. One of them was able to talk to almost anyone and helped several people quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The other practitioner had been clarifying the truth for many years and was very experienced. I was very happy to learn from them.
One day I had some negative thoughts while they were clarifying the truth to the customers. I worried that, as Falun Dafa practitioners, our identities were revealed to everyone, including the police and the residential committee. The restaurant had just opened and many people at the market didn’t know me yet. The competition was intense. What if someone reported us to the police? I was afraid.
But one thing was very clear to me—I must not stop those practitioners from telling the truth or saving sentient beings.
Master said,
“All human attachments and notions that interfere with validating the Fa and saving sentient beings must be removed. For cultivators traveling a divine path, is it really that hard to get rid of those attachments that arise from human thinking and to change those notions? If a cultivator doesn’t want to get rid of even those things, well, how is he to show that he’s a cultivator?” (“The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate my negative thoughts. Not only must I not stop them from clarifying the truth in my restaurant, but I should also provide them with an environment to save sentient beings. I should clear away my own notions that were interfering with saving sentient beings. I need to walk my own path of validating the Fa.
Master said,
“Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings are what you need to accomplish. There is nothing else for you to accomplish. There is nothing else in this world that you need to accomplish.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
I asked Master to place a shield over my restaurant to keep out all the negative factors that interfered with saving sentient beings: Let the restaurant be a place where sentient beings are saved.
I learned a lot from my fellow practitioners and overcame some of my obstacles, such as fear and being afraid of talking to strangers. As time passed, I was able to get one or two people to quit the CCP and its youth organizations every day. Whenever we had time, we would clarify the truth to the customers and ask them to quit the Party. The restaurant really has become a place where people are saved.
A city worker was one of our regular customers. When we first told him the facts about Falun Dafa, he refused to listen and threatened us, “If I report you, you’ll all be arrested.” We didn’t give up on him. We tried every opportunity to clarify the truth from different angles. At last, his heart was open and he decided to quit the Young Pioneers, one of the two youth organizations of the CCP. He would even help us to clarify the truth to other customers. He has truly been saved.
Sometimes the three of us would work together on clarifying the truth. I found this approach more effective. A young couple was selling steamed buns across the street. We clarified the truth to the young man a few times. But he always made excuses not to quit the CCP. Once I spoke with him alone. He finally decided to quit. We wanted to clarify the truth to his wife. Master arranged it for us.
One day, the young lady came to have breakfast at our restaurant very early in the morning. She was the only customer. The three of us looked at each other and smiled. The other two practitioners talked with her while I sent forth righteous. They told her about Master’s poem,
“Talking of Karmic Bonds
In the vast sea of people, it’s hard to meetA smile encountered by chance is from a karmic bondQuiet down your mind and hear the truthYou’ve waited millennia for these wordsThe saving Dafa is spreading in the worldEach word of the heavenly secrets is true”(Hong Yin III)
She still hesitated to quit. I began to feel anxious for her. I had the compassionate thought, “It is truly a pity if she doesn’t quit.”
I said sincerely, “Did you know that 360 million people in China have already quit the Party and its affiliated organizations. In other words, almost one out of four has chosen to quit the CCP. There are workers, peasants, doctors, lawyers, highly educated intellectuals, and even Party officials among them. Some high-level officials quit the Party using their real names. People have realized that the end has come for the CCP and the Party is about to collapse. Nobody wants to be a scapegoat for the CCP. I don’t ask anything from you. I just want you to be safe.”
She smiled and agreed to quit the Party. We were happy for her. The power of cooperating as a whole body was truly amazing.
I’d like to end my sharing with Master's teaching.
“Also, with those people that you run into by chance, who you run into in daily life, and the people you run into at work, you should all clarify the truth to them. Even when in your daily life you pass by people so quickly that you don't have a chance to talk to them, you should still leave them with your compassion and kindness. Don't lose those who should be saved, especially those with predestined connections. Actually, a lot of Dafa disciples say when they're clarifying the truth, "I'm going to go clarify the truth now," as if at that moment they're going to clarify the truth, but they don't clarify the truth normally. Saving beings should permeate every single aspect of your daily lives at this time. If you can all understand and really see its importance, I think you'll probably save more beings.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
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