Understanding with Kindness and Tolerance Are Needed in Cultivation and Fa-Rectification By a Disciple in China
(Clearwisdom.net) In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference
in Boston," Teacher spoke of Kings in the Heavens as an example, saying
that "Of course, they can see the truth and they can see the best way, but
often they, too, have certain differences in some of their views. But they would
never argue. They are in a state of immense tolerance, of mercy toward all
beings, and of being able to understand everything with kindness. To put it in
human terms, they're always able to be understanding of others." This was
to help us see how we should handle different opinions in our cultivation, that
is, "a state of being able to understand everything with kindness."
In an experience-sharing article, a fellow practitioner said,
"Principles of the universe stress the idea of 'containing.' A high-level
being contains all the beings in lower levels and a higher-level being contains
high-level beings. There is no logic here. It is the capacity of
containing." Why does a being in the universe fall down? In my
understanding, it is because this being had a thought in his mind that he should
not have at his level. If a high being is carried along by lower-level beings,
he has indeed lowered his standard to that of those lower-level beings and mixed
himself up with them. Therefore, he will fall down. The principles of the
universe restrain everything.
Being at different cultivation levels and having enlightened to different
principles of Fa, practitioners will hence have different understandings and
opinions. Other people may not agree with you on what you have enlightened to
and you may not agree with other people on what they have enlightened to.
Furthermore, "higher-level principles can only be understood in
cultivation, but not expressed in words." ("Lecture at the
Conference in Singapore") As soon as you say it out loud, it sounds
different. It is really not easy to be understood completely by other people.
We are all in the process of our cultivation, still with a human being's
mentality. We shouldn't hold on to what we ourselves have enlightened to or
measure everything and judge everybody by the understanding from our own level,
or even regard whatever is in agreement with our understanding as right and what
doesn't as questionable. Otherwise, in viewing other people, we would say that
"you have this attachment and he has that attachment," and so on.
There are many quite stubborn practitioners, who often subconsciously consider
themselves the most enlightened and solid cultivators. They seemingly can see
clearly through other people's problems and this makes them feel that they are
at a higher level than others. Indeed, all principles enlightened to at a
certain level only guide cultivation at that level. If you hold on to them or
stick to them you may have set up a barrier keeping you from catching up with
the process of Fa-rectification. This is because the principles of the Fa
elevate continuously and the progress of Fa-rectification is pushing on
unceasingly. It is a temporary phenomenon that one may hold on to his own
understanding for a while during his cultivation, but it would be a problem if
this is done for a long time. Since the principles we have enlightened to, no
matter how high we think they are, are only from our understanding at the
present level, there will be higher-level principles to serve as our guide when
our cultivation is going towards higher-levels.
Let's view the issue from an individual perspective. If your level is high,
why should you be carried along by lower-level matters? Why are you unable to be
understanding of others with kindness? How could you be upset by those phenomena
that you think are from a lower level? If your level is lower than others', you
may not consider right the principles understood by others. How could you
measure others' understandings at a high level by using your own understanding
at a low level? You may even think that you have a better understanding and try
to look for others' problems.
Dafa disciples came from different origins and have certainly enlightened to
different things. Sticking to one's own understanding is being attached to the
principles at a certain level. The old forces will take advantage of one's
attachment to hinder the cultivation process and, at the same time, have us
consume our energy in endless debates, undermining our powers. Being
understanding of each other with kindness among disciples and being tolerant to
different understandings with great compassion and mercy are certainly needed in
the process of our cultivation and Fa-rectification. We really should take it
more seriously.
Posting date: 7/3/2002 |