Discussion: Searching Within Summarized by Overseas Falun Dafa Practitioners
(Clearwisdom.net)
Practitioner A: There was an article on Clearwisdom.net which pointed out
that we look very closely when we view other people's attachments, but maybe we
should consider if this is due to the limited capacity of our own tolerance.
In addition, I understood recently that we should pay more attention to and
directly point out the shortcomings of Dafa practitioners as a whole in doing
Fa-rectification work, but at the same time, we should be more tolerant and not
be overemphasize minor attachments that practitioners have in their personal
cultivation.
Practitioner B: Recently, I also had some understandings about searching
within during conflicts:
When I am calm and in a good state, I do not feel that searching inside
myself is difficult to do. However, I find it difficult to deal with others'
criticism of me when they have different mentalities.
When I read Teacher's Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference (May 2 to
3, 1999) I came to a better understanding. Teacher said, "When others say
things about you that are not pleasant to hear, why do you become unhappy?... At
that moment you should think, "Why am I unhappy?" When others
criticize me, I become unhappy inside my heart - aren't I pursuing something?
With the pursuit of everyone being nice to me and living comfortably among
everyday people, how can you improve? Without letting go of anything of everyday
people, how can you improve and elevate? Therefore, you simply cannot improve
and elevate. You must truly let go of these things, attachments that humans
cannot let go of." (Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference,
unofficial translation)
Practitioner C: We all know that we should search inside ourselves when a
conflict arises, regardless of whether the conflict that we see happens to us or
to others. However, why do we still often fail to do things this way? Recently,
through Fa study, I have found some causes.
First, we are used to measuring other people or matters from our own points
of view, because that is all we know. Moreover, many of us are selfish, and tend
to think of ourselves first. So we will protect ourselves, and
"naturally" see the shortcomings of others or argue in our own favor
when our shortcomings are exposed. We think that we are right and others are
wrong. If everyone thought this way, it would be strange if no arguments or
conflicts appeared!
Second, from the perspective of Fa-rectification, many of our actions, ideas,
and thoughts are arranged by the old cosmic forces. Although the ancient people
said, "I do not get angry even though others do not know I have great
virtue and learning," "Be tolerant toward others and be strict with
oneself," and "Learn from a person of virtue, and search one's inner
self when seeing a person with no virtue to find out whether you have the same
problem" etc.We are no longer used to restraining ourselves with these
traditional moral standards, and these moral standards for being a good person
have now been abandoned. Even though I theoretically understood the meaning of
these standards after I started to study Dafa, I failed, during my actual
cultivation, to completely get rid of the many degenerate mentalities of
everyday people brought about by the old forces. This has piled extra
difficulties onto our work of validating Dafa in the Fa-rectification period.
Therefore, in the present time, how well we can break through the arrangements
and persecution of the old forces and walk out of the realm of everyday people
is related to how we Dafa disciples can better fulfill our missions in the
Fa-rectification period.
Teacher said in the section "Why Doesn't Your Gong Increase with Your
Practice?" "Without knowing the Fa at higher levels, one cannot
practice cultivation. Without cultivating one's inner self and one's xinxing,
one cannot increase cultivation energy." (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
We should search inside ourselves and always be guided by high-level Fa. Only in
this way can we upgrade ourselves. I have been able to cultivate myself this way
in the recent period and I have benefited tremendously. I felt a little
difficulty at the beginning, since I was used to searching for external help,
measuring others with my own standards, and seeing nothing but others' problems,
mistakes, and attachments. At that time, it was really difficult for me to
search internally, since I "truly" believed that others were wrong.
However, if I were right all the time, how could I upgrade myself? In fact, all
the issues appeared because of my limited understanding of the Fa at that time.
In addition, the shortcomings that I saw in others were usually reflections
of my own attachments. A benevolent great enlightened being can see the Buddha
nature of everyday people who are lost in delusion, so he can overcome many
hardships to save them, even though they are no longer that good. When we find
ourselves focusing too much on others' attachments and not considering why
Teacher let us see those problems, or when we do not want to change ourselves
but eagerly try to "educate" others, we, as cultivators, should
clearly consider if this is a reminder that we should increase our capacity for
tolerance, further cultivate our benevolence and search within. Posting date: 8/3/2002 |