(Minghui.org) More and more practitioners, especially young practitioners, are keen to discuss their cultivation experiences on social media platforms, publishing their views about other practitioners as well as an entire cultivation group, “liking” each other’s postings and leaving comments. Some even have their own fan base and are followed by other practitioners. Some use pretentious or attention-grabbing tones to comment on the internal matters of a particular group of practitioners. They also criticize and ridicule fellow practitioners who have different opinions, not being mindful that non-practitioners can also read our posts.
I would like to share my thoughts with the practitioners involved, and I'd also like to bring other practitioners’ attention to this matter. I hope that we'll all spend more time reading the Fa and cultivating ourselves, instead of sharing and communicating publicly on social media platforms. Our negative comments about other practitioners and their cultivation states may have a negative impact on non-practitioners. In addition, it's our responsibility to safeguard Falun Dafa practitioners’ cultivation environment. If our practitioners have good opinions or ideas, we should share them on the Minghui website, as well as during group Fa-study, which are the forms of cultivation Master left us.
Master said,
“Also, during the course of cultivation you have all come to know that this environment of ours is very good. At the practice sites everyone can open his heart and say freely what he wants to. This isn’t possible anywhere else in human society. That’s why every student can feel that upon arriving at the practice site he has entered into a pure land and has stepped into a place that is most sacred. People all care about each other in a way that “you care for me and I care for you.” This can’t be found in any other human setting. Why can it be this way? It’s simply that every Dafa disciple is cultivating himself. Once a problem or a conflict emerges, everyone searches for his own shortcomings, looking to see whether it was caused by his own wrongdoing. Everyone knows to do this, but some individuals who aren’t persistent in studying the Fa still cannot do it. Since I have mentioned this individual problem, I need to say that—and of course, I have mentioned it to you on numerous occasions—when running into a conflict, everyone should search inside themselves. Yet some people still can’t seem to search within when they encounter a conflict. Some people can become aware of it, while some aren’t even willing to consider it or even completely forget that they are cultivators. I would say that’s not doing well enough. Whether it’s between you and another student, whether it’s at the workplace, or whatever the circumstance in human society, in those conflicts among students or between a student and an assistant these persons have not thought about searching for the reasons within themselves.” (Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference)
Based on my understanding of Master’s Fa, our cultivation environment is a pure land because as Dafa disciples we always search for our own shortcomings once a conflict emerges. As Master pointed out, sometimes we have not studied the Fa well, and we forget we are cultivators and do not search within when we encounter a conflict. When we see other practitioners’ shortcomings, we should help the practitioners by pointing it out and embracing the practitioners with compassion and tolerance. We should not criticize or complain, and especially not publicly criticize them on social media. Our behaving this way may lead to non-practitioners' misunderstanding us and losing their opportunity to understand the truth and to be saved.
Master also said,
“I often tell you about situations like this: When two people have a conflict both should look for the causes within themselves, asking, “What problem do I have here?” Each should search for his own problem. If a third person witnesses the conflict between the two, I would say that it’s not accidental for that third person to see it, and he too should think it over: “Why did I see their conflict? Is it because I still have some shortcomings?” Only in this way can it be good. Yet whenever you run into a conflict, you always push it off to the others and find weaknesses and shortcomings in others. Your doing that is not right. You could cause the work for Dafa to suffer a loss and cause Dafa to suffer a loss. You haven’t realized that you are all using Dafa and Dafa work to excuse your own shortcomings or hide your own attachments. When you think that another person hasn’t done well, when you can’t get over it in your mind, you should think about it: “Why is my mind troubled by this? Does he really have a problem? Or is it that there’s something wrong deep inside me?” You should think about it carefully. If you indeed don’t have any problem and what he did is really problematic, you should tell him with kindness, and that won’t lead to conflicts. It’s guaranteed. If the other person isn’t able to understand it, that is his own problem. What you have said is said.” (Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference)
I hope this article can bring practitioners’ attention to the issue of discussing our cultivation process publicly on social media. It's also a reminder to myself to not be obsessed with cell phones and social media. I should spend more time on Fa study, cultivation, and doing the three things well. When conflicts emerge, I should follow Master’s teaching and search within to find my own shortcomings and truly improve myself. I sincerely hope that the practitioners involved will treat our cultivation environment more seriously and that we can all safeguard our precious cultivation environment.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Improving Oneself
