PureInsight | December 8, 2013
[PureInsight.org] One day, I suffered a lot from physical tribulations. Fellow practitioner A came to visit me. I wanted to share with her so she can help me find the cause. But she said: "My arm has been hurting for many days. Are you asking for my help? It is also very hard for me to do the posture of holding a wheel. I haven't found the cause for it. How am I able to help you?" On the second day, fellow cultivator B came to me. I also asked for help. B said: "Well, I'm recently not in a good status myself. I come to ask you to help me to enlighten." While I was disappointed about it, a question suddenly flashed into my mind: "When I asked for help from fellow practitioners, they avoided answering my questions but instead only shared about their own problems. Isn't this showing oneself off and isn’t this selfishness?"
I remember that for many times in the past, some fellow practitioners who were suffering from tribulations came to me to share with me. Instead of understanding them in their situation or listening to them quietly, helping them to upgrade themselves on the Fa principle, I interrupted them quickly or jumped in by saying that I had something urgent to do and ignored their sharing. This happened especially when some practitioners who had tribulations asked me to help them to enlighten from it. I said: "Well, I've also been in such a status for many days. I haven't broken through it myself." My reply turned the practitioners' request for my help into my request for their help.
I had another showing off when I was in a good status. I did not want to understand nor had sympathy with those practitioners who were in tribulations. I was proud and spoke loudly towards them. I used Master's Fa to teach them and questioned them: "You have been cultivating for a long time. How come you could make such a basic mistake? This is not good, etc., etc.” I tried to wreck them up and placed myself outside the boundary of cultivation. Consequently, instead of giving a hand to practitioners, I probably pushed them down. In fact, helping practitioners is a process of cultivating ourselves. It is a matter of realm that whether we are truly helping others, or taking this chance to show off ourselves and ignoring practitioners' sharing. Living beings in the new cosmos will not behave like this. A fellow practitioner told us a story. There was an elderly practitioner in their Fa study group. She was thought to have cultivated very well. Her face was fairly clean and looked very young. However, not long ago, after she finished Fa study, she said that she had blurred vision and couldn't see things clearly. She asked them to help her to enlighten from it. But every time when she mentioned it, nobody took it to their hearts. Everybody talked about their own matters and everybody placed themselves in the centre of importance. They just talked about what they knew or problems from their own tribulations. Even sometimes they argued loudly. The elderly practitioner's speaking pace was slow and she was ignored. She was so lonely that she had to shut up. Sometimes she left the site first by herself. Finally one day we heard that the elderly practitioner was hospitalized. After a period of time, we heard that she stopped cultivating.
It was then, that all practitioners were touched and came to understand: "We were too selfish. The elderly practitioner mentioned about her blurred vision many times at Fa study group but who really cared about her? Who has really tried to help her pass through tribulations based on the Fa principle? After Fa study, all practitioners spoke about their own issues. It was noisy. The elderly practitioner was not good at talking. Since nobody talked to her, she thought that it was because of herself who did not cultivate well that nobody paid attention to her. Since she was unable to overcome tribulations, she left the group. At this moment, Evils saw it clearly and persecute her more severely in order to pull her out of practicing."
When sharing with other people, even if there are only two of us, we should not emphasize ourselves and ignore others. Otherwise it is being selfish. When fellow practitioners raise an issue about a project, or about an illness, they need your help. You should quietly listen and think. Don't interrupt or jump in. Don't pretend to listen when you are actually thinking about your own matter. If you can really make it to listen, no matter how little help you give to the fellow practitioner, you will be the best, because it is a realm of selflessness.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/121193
