(Minghui.org) A member of our Falun Dafa study group is a practitioner who is nearly 90 years old. She reads the Fa, sends forth righteous thoughts and talks to people about Falun Dafa diligently. However, she would sometimes misread or skip characters, or add them in while reading the Fa. I often pointed out her mistakes, but with an attitude of accusation instead of compassion.
Over time, she developed a resistive attitude and expressed dissatisfaction with my comments. Seeing her attitude, I was irritated. Gradually, a separation developed between us which kept getting worse. When she made errors while reading the Fa, I blamed her quite indignantly. My voice became loud and sometimes even startled her. I assumed an attitude of superiority.
A fellow practitioner pointed out, “Your attitude is wrong. You were not compassionate. You should point out her mistakes kindly.” But, at that moment my response was, “She is making mistakes while reading the Fa and you want me to tell her this in a slow and soft voice!” I did not regard the situation as an opportunity to discard selfishness, to improve my character, and to harmonize the situation. Same as many other times when disagreement occurred, I insisted that I was right and argued about right and wrong superficially.
After this fellow practitioner pointed out my mistake, I read the Fa when I returned home. Master said,
“If every one of you can understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary—the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!” (“Cautionary Advice,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I examined my mentality with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and found my problem was that I was not compassionate. I came to understand that with true compassion one can change not only himself but also other people. While cultivating compassion, one also cultivates truthfulness and forbearance. Compassion also contains truthfulness and forbearance.
Master said,
“This characteristic, Zhen-Shan-Ren, is the criterion for measuring good and bad in the universe. What’s good or bad? It is judged by this.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that I did not put my mind into cultivating Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and I had human attachments including the pursuit of comfort, showing off, competitiveness, jealousy, fear, a dependent mentality, and resistance to criticism. I was shocked. The conduct of fellow practitioners showed a clear contrast to how I had acted. When I made mistakes reading the Fa, other practitioners pointed out my mistakes very kindly.
After I found my shortcomings, I talked to the elderly practitioner and admitted to her that I was not compassionate. She was very understanding and tolerant. After I looked inside and corrected myself, the elderly practitioner’s reading of the Fa became noticeably more fluent and had fewer errors.
I learned through this experience that as a cultivator, I should always remain humble and look inside for reasons to truly cultivate my xinxing. I must focus with my whole heart and mind when reading the Fa. Only by doing so, can I truly understand the Fa and experience the miracle of Dafa, and achieve improvement in my cultivation.
I came to understand that a Dafa practitioner must believe in Master and believe in the Fa at all times; it is the fundamental guarantee that we can complete our cultivation. I also realized that a Dafa practitioner must be sincere, kind, and tolerant to fellow practitioners and to all sentient beings, and only then are we capable of harmonizing every situation. A Dafa practitioner must be able to solidly cultivate himself.
After almost 20 years of cultivation, I just came to realize what cultivation truly is; cultivation is to cultivate oneself, not others. I will study the Fa diligently, look inside for attachments, and do the three things well. I will cultivate my every thought and deed in order to accomplish the mission of a Falun Dafa practitioner.
The above is some of my cultivation understanding, please correct me if I have any mistakes.
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Category: Improving Oneself
