Improving Together Through Group Sharing By a Dafa practitioner from Los Angeles
(Clearwisdom.net) Group sharing is a very good environment for us to improve
together, which enables us to comprehend the Fa in a more harmonizing and comprehensive way, and
helps us see our problems more clearly and solve them in time. Here I would like to share some of
our group sharing experiences. For some activities, it may take a long time to get applications approved. If
they are beneficial to the validation of the Fa, we should go ahead with the application and not be
attached to the time factor. Once we have established righteous thoughts, the matter in question may
take a turn and it may turn out that the application is no longer required. One library is
frequently visited by officials, the media and the public, so a practitioner thought of holding a
seminar there. However, an application for such an activity would take half a year. She felt a bit
hesitant, but she still went ahead and filled out the application form. Half a year went by very
quickly and the library requested her to hold the seminar. When clarifying the truth to everyday people, we should not hold any pursuit.
Sometimes when we clarify the truth to people, they do not respond positively, and we feel
disappointed. This feeling shows our attachment to pursuit, which is also a manifestation of our
lack of confidence in righteous thoughts. Master said, "As for whether the result is good, don't look at the other party, it comes
from your minds. If you want it to be good then it will be good. And if you don't intend to make it
good, or if you are wavering in your mind, then it won't be easy to rectify things. In other words,
you need to have strong, righteous thoughts. If you're thinking, "I'm truly saving you. I'm
truly telling you the facts," then the result will be good." ("Explaining the Fa During
the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference") If we only focus on people's response at the time, then we are behaving in the
same way as those mentioned by Master in Zhuan Falun, "... if people did not believe what they could not see, such people would be
regarded by the community of cultivators as having poor enlightenment quality, as being deluded by
the false impressions of everyday people ..." The process of us clarifying the truth is very important, and if we do well it
can truly achieve the result of saving people. We are not after anything among everyday people, but
if we clarify the truth well, people will naturally change their minds. Besides, the process of
clarifying the truth is also a process of cultivation. Some people are very bad, and that is their
choice. This is also due to the arrangements of the old forces and the persecution. What we need to
do is to try our very best to save as many sentient beings as possible. Sometimes when we clarify the truth to governments, we really wish that they
would say what we want them to say, and we hope that they will support us and give us certain
recognition. This is equivalent to forgetting our mission as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples.
Placing our hopes in everyday people would not only achieve nothing, but also cause more
obstructions for us. Master said, "Since you're Dafa disciples, you shouldn't put your hopes in so-called
"natural" changes, external changes, changes in the ordinary society, or in some favors
that someone might do for us. You are Gods, and you are the future rulers of different
cosmoses, so who would you count on? All the beings are counting on you!" ("Teaching
the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") We do our best to clarify the truth to governments and other organizations, but
we should not rely on them. Whatever they do is making a choice for their future. When experiencing
unsatisfactory events, we should look for causes within ourselves and check if we have any
attachments and think about how to improve and do better. Master said, "In clarifying the truth, when a person's fundamental issues are touched,
and at the same time he feels that Dafa disciples are truly saving him, then I think the side of him
that's clear about things will emerge." ("Explaining the Fa During
the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference") 4. Clarify the facts with wisdom, without attachments from the phenomena in everyday society Many phenomena in our everyday life can be utilized to clarify the facts of Dafa. For example,
SARS is a good starting point for conversation in our current truth clarification effort.
Previously, some people did not much believe the facts of the persecution, or they did not think
Falun Gong had anything to do with them. Now they can see how the government officials tell lies and
hide the facts, and have thus caused consequences of immediate concern to them. Nonetheless, our
truth clarification should manifest the compassion of Dafa disciples, as everyday people are already
in a panic. We are not criticizing their not listening to our previous advice or objecting to their
situations, nor should we have other improper intentions. We truly hope to help them extricate
themselves from the predicament and offer them salvation. For many phenomena in our everyday lives, we should not be attached or rely too much on them;
otherwise it is easy for [old forces] to take advantage of the loopholes, and casual usage sometimes
may bring opposite effects. Be it war, SARS or prophesies, these are just hints given to everyday people and talking points.
Take the war [the recent War in Iraq]for example: many everyday people, including the
American people, may not support it or even oppose it. If they mistakenly think that we hold a
certain stand and viewpoint, it may cause obstacles in our truth clarification effort. The
situations in many prophecies may have changed due to the Fa-rectification and many prophecies are
not totally correct. If we carelessly use them, everyday people may not believe what we say.
Therefore, according to specific situations, we should appropriately clarify the truth with wisdom
to let people understand the wonder of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and to eliminate their
bad notions towards us, so that they can stand up to oppose to the persecution of
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. This is our fundamental bottom line. We do not have stand on
worldly issues. 5. Break through everyday people's misunderstandings We should let people understand that a peaceful appeal to the government is not politics, but
rather the citizens' right and responsibility. If unlawful government officials persecute people or
commit terrible crimes, they definitely should be stopped through legal approaches. How can it be
muddled away with the excuse of involving ourselves in politics? Man should live with dignity. When
being treated unfairly, people certainly should have the right to speak. We do not have any other
designs. We are only against the persecution and for upholding a human being's most basic right and
dignity. Furthermore, what the evil persecutes is the universal principle of
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Doesn't this mean to persecute everyone and attack the most
fundamental part of human nature? How can we let it go by without any reaction? The long history of China has rendered people consciously or unconsciously resigned to rulers'
brainwashing. We should let people realize that an evil ruler does not equal the government, and
even less should he be equated with the population. Thus, criticizing an evil ruler does not mean
also criticizing the nation and the people who are controlled and oppressed in it. Posting date: 5/6/2003 |