(Minghui.org) After the Minghui Editorial Board published the notice about not buying lotus flower pendants made by a few individuals in Taiwan, some practitioners had questions about the appropriateness of using or selling the lotus flowers and wondered if all lotus flowers made in Taiwan aren’t good to use or just one particular kind.
Some people in Taiwan who were involved in making the flowers brought up the issue in ordinary society, seeking non-practitioners’ support or wanting them to condemn Minghui for publishing such a notice, even though that was a concern only within our community of cultivators. There are also practitioners who aren’t very rational, and they concluded that some practitioners passed away because they bought lotus flowers with “deviant divine beings” printed on them. There have been other incidents of this kind.
Master has talked about such things several times in his teachings. As a veteran practitioner in North America, I am seeing the same mistakes, which have happened many times over the past more than 20 years, being repeated. While it’s no surprise to see such issues again, I believe this does provide a good opportunity for some practitioners to improve in their cultivation.
In my personal understanding, the major issue pointed out in the notice is promoting images not related to Dafa among practitioners. If those who are making the flowers aren’t cultivating themselves, it’s natural for them to do or say things with strong human attachments. We need to look at the core issue, not fix our eyes on any particular image. Only then can we improve in cultivation and better save people.
When the Dafa Associations in Taiwan investigated the issue and made the correction, they were being responsible for the Fa and their local cultivation environment. As far as I know, such things don’t happen only in Taiwan. Lotus flowers from other places with typos printed on them have been sold in large quantities to practitioners in Western countries before.
On the other hand, many Chinese practitioners in Western countries didn’t pay attention to or care about the typos or inappropriate images when they pass out or sell the flowers. We need to ask ourselves, “Are we treating this as doing things, or are we cultivating ourselves?” Genuine practitioners all know that saving people involves resolving the tremendous and complicated karma issues associated with them. How can it be so easy for us to save people?
In addition, be it a lotus flower or an amulet, their original purpose is to help us better clarify the facts. The flowers and amulets themselves don’t represent the truth of Dafa and can’t save people, so we don’t necessarily have to pass them out when clarifying the facts. If, in the process we develop more attachments or stronger human thoughts and become attached to these “accessories,” things may go contrary to our original purpose in cultivation and saving people, especially after having spent a fortune to purchase the flowers.
There have been many such examples. Most practitioners in China have passed the stage of being attached to amulets. Should practitioners outside of China let go of their enthusiasm for the lotus flowers? Master taught us that we need to cultivate our hearts at all times. We should stop looking at the superficial things in the human world and taking things at face value. Don’t be attached to any thing, any time, or any individuals.
Above is my personal understanding that I wanted to share with fellow practitioners as a reference.
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Category: Perspectives
