PureInsight | June 7, 2004
[PureInsight.org] I find myself once again sitting down in front of my computer trying to write a paper to share my experiences and understandings with my fellow practitioners. It is almost exactly one year ago today that I was doing the very same thing trying to write an experience sharing paper for the upcoming NY Fahui. Just like last year I find myself overwhelmed with work. I have my medical boards to study for, a long workday in the hospital, Fa-rectification activities to participate in, my Fa-study and exercises to do. My first thought about writing a paper is…no way!! I have so much work going on I can't possible find the time to sit down and write something. It could take me hours and then I won't have any time to do all the things I think I need to do.
Then I stopped and thought about it for a while, and I realized how selfish that thought was. I remembered how much I have benefited from other practitioners' sharing and how important it is to share our experiences. I thought to myself if there is only one other practitioner who reads or hears my experience and benefits from it than it would all be worth it. If there is only one other practitioner who is able to overcome a similar tribulation that I am going through because they hear my sharing than I am honored.
I also thought about what a great excuse it is for myself to say that although I want to write a paper I'm way too busy to do it. I bet while I'm thinking that my uncultivated side thinks to itself, "Wow, that was a close call." I almost had to expose some of my shortcomings to fellow practitioners and let others see that I am not perfect. I would have also had to stand up there in front of all those practitioners. Maybe I would have made a fool out of myself or have others not think too highly of me. Its as if my attachment to pride, ego and fear are using any excuse they can to stop me from sharing. What a shame it would be to let those parts of me stop me from sharing something that might be important for other practitioners to hear.
When I finally sat down to think about what I wanted to share with fellow practitioners I couldn't help but think back to last year's NY Fahui when Master came to lecture us. Then I asked myself, did I learn what I was supposed to from Master's lecture a year ago? Did I understand with my heart what Master was teaching me and then did I put it into action? I believe it's extremely important to learn the lessons Master has taught us and not just forget about them when a new lecture comes out.
In Master's lecture he mentioned the importance of practitioners interactions with other practitioners. Thinking about the lecture made me remember all the practitioners who have helped me so much with my cultivation and with my Fa-rectification work. Now looking back it seems that Master has carefully arranged certain practitioners to be around me at certain times to help me elevate myself. From the very beginning of my cultivation practitioners have been quietly helping me. When I first learned about Dafa I immediately contacted a fellow practitioner here in NY by email. Soon later we met for dinner so that I could learn more about Dafa. From our first encounter I could feel this practitioner's genuineness about wanting to help me. After that he gradually gave me more and more of Master's lectures and articles to read. He would encourage me to practice with him but not in a way that made me feel that I was being forced to. Whenever I had a question he was there to share with me his understandings and experiences. He never let me feel that I was bothering him or wasting his time. It was as if he was holding my hand and gentle encouraging me to take another step. Looking back on it now I see just how important it was to have someone like that for me in the beginning of my cultivation.
With that practitioner's encouragement I decided to go to Geneva to participate in the annual United Nations Human Rights Conference. There I met many practitioners who shared with me their understandings about Dafa and what Dafa meant to them. One thing that was a barrier for me was accepting the higher content of Dafa and that miraculous things were happening to and around Dafa practitioners. During my time in Geneva, I had the good fortune of staying in a hotel with a practitioner from Canada. My first night there, this fellow practitioner spend the whole night talking with me about his experiences and understandings of Dafa. It was as if he knew that I still had many barriers to break through for me to fully except Dafa in my heart. That night he shared with me many of his own very personal cultivation experiences, I felt he didn't hold anything back and he spoke from a place deep in his heart. That practitioner's sharing broke through many of my barriers. Although we only spent a short time together, the impact he made on me was tremendous.
There have been so many practitioners that have helped me on my cultivation path. Whether it was a practitioner's actions that have inspired me or another practitioner who pointed out one of my omissions that I wasn't aware of, so many have helped me along the way. Because of that I stood here before you one year ago and opened up my heart about a very difficult tribulation I was going through and because of that I stand before you today and share with you my thoughts and experiences.
Last year Master lectured to us about practitioners arguing with one another. Master said:
When there's a xinxing friction among our students or disharmony when you're cooperating with each other, and it doesn't matter if it's something big or small, I'm telling you, it's definitely demons exploiting the gaps. You're Dafa disciples, so the part of you that's completed cultivation meets the standard of Gods fully, but your surface is still cultivating in Dafa. Basically, as Dafa disciples, you should display the state of a Dafa disciple in every respect. So when there's friction that tries your xinxing from time to time, that's caused by your understanding or your own attachments related to your xinxing. Although those incidents are minor, they can easily be taken advantage of by messy, bad beings in the different dimensions. Pay attention to these things!
(From "Teaching and Explaining the Faat the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
One year has passed since that lecture and I still have seen many instances where practitioners have been arguing with one another over various things. It seems that the biggest excuse practitioners have when they're doing it is that it's okay to argue because I am doing it for Dafa and for Dafa's sake. Every time I see this it truly saddens my heart.
Master has lectured to us many times about what type of beings Dafa disciples are, where the places are that Dafa disciples have come from and what type of beings Dafa disciples will become when the Fa-rectification period is over. If, when we're arguing with each other, we could see the true situation I think we would stop arguing in an instant. If we could see the horrible beings that are using our omissions and manipulating us like puppets or if we could see how magnificent the other practitioner is who we are arguing with and how many lifetimes of sacrifice and hardships he has endured to be a Dafa disciple then we would for sure never argue with each other again. Instead we would respect one another and cherish our time together. From another perspective if we are unable to show compassion and tolerance for our own fellow Dafa disciples who are we able to show it towards. In the very least we should realize that Master has allowed this sentient being to enter Dafa and take part in Fa rectification activities. Shouldn't we have respect for Master's decision that this being is worthy of our support and worthy of our tolerance?
Master also taught us during that same lecture:
In the audience there are people from Europe, Asia, Australia, and also South America and lots of other regions. It's not easy for all of you to sit together. There's something I said before. I said: although you're together now, when you reach Consummation none of you will be able to find each other. As you know, this cosmos is incredibly vast... So, you should treasure this part of your karmic relationship. And what's more, those karmic relationships of yours have been intertwined with each other, and different karmic relationships were formed over every lifetime—it hasn't been easy. So, cooperate well when you do things. Each Dafa disciple's thing is everybody else's. Don't create distance and disharmony between each other over some little, trivial thing. You can't do that, and you should treasure all this.
I remember how hard these words hit me when Master spoke them. I thought about all the times I have argued with fellow practitioners and all the times I had negative thoughts about certain practitioners. When I first became a practitioner I remember how little tolerance I had for other practitioners. I often thought to myself look how poorly that practitioner is handling himself. Hasn't he read the Fa? He should know not to act that way. In fact I often felt that going to a reading group for Fa study was more like suffering for me than something good and beneficial. I would even try and avoid certain practitioners because I felt their behavior was ugly and unacceptable. It wasn't until later that I realized that the reason I felt like that was the things I disliked in other practitioners was really the things I disliked in myself. I also couldn't see how small my tolerance and compassion was for other practitioners. I knew after hearing Master's words that I had to change myself and truly see each fellow practitioner as someone worthy of my respect, support and understanding. Now I go out of my way for other practitioners and I try not to leave anyone behind.
I now know the importance of supporting and helping fellow practitioners. Master has told us "each Dafa disciple's things are everyone else's things." In that case my omission is your omission and your shortcomings are my shortcomings.
Looking at it from another perspective when the Fa-rectification period is over and Dafa disciples become the future Gods, Taos and Buddhas of the colossal firmament what type of Universe will it be if the majority of us still have omissions and gaps. Isn't the stability and greatness of the future cosmos dependant upon Dafa disciples perfecting themselves? What type of body will we become if half of the body still has problems and gaps? I think we should all think about this very seriously. If we all just think about our own personal cultivation and achievements in cultivation how can we become one magnificent body?
It is my understanding that when we can truly see each other as part of one body then we will be able to come together and act as one body. Master has told us the importance of cooperating well with each other.
In Philadelphia Master has clearly taught us how Gods handle disagreements:
Actually, did you know that those Great Enlightened Beings have a lot of things in the heavens that they too need to coordinate and discuss with each other? ... So what's their state of mind? It's tolerance, an extremely immense tolerance, being able to accept other beings, and being able to truly think from other beings' perspectives. When another God proposes an idea, they aren't eager to reject it, and they aren't eager to express their own ideas and they don't believe that their own ideas are good. Instead, they look at what the end result of the other God's proposed approach will be...and if the result of a God's idea can achieve the goal, if it can truly achieve it, then all of them will go along with it. That's how Gods think. Also, if there's something lacking in it they'll unconditionally and quietly supplement it to make things more complete and perfect. That's how they handle things.
(From Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.)
Let's come together and support one another. Let's only look at each others good side. Let's see each other for the magnificent beings that each one of us is!
If we do that nothing will stop us from saving all the sentient beings that can be saved.
