Reflection on a Classic Chinese Story: "The Journey to the West" (Clearwisdom.net) The practitioners that I have the most contact with are those who came
out later or those who had stopped cultivation for quite a while. With Dafa disciples' sending forth
righteous thoughts and eliminating large amount of evil, most of the evil that used to control them
has been eliminated. Thus these practitioners are able to come to understand the true situation,
continue to study the Fa and catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification. But these practitioners
in general have some major attachments and fundamental human attachments, which made them unable to
cultivate diligently, and made it more difficult to step forward to validate the Fa. Yet clarifying
the truth to the people is the mission of Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, and something that
must be done. When I help them, they are improving as well, but often times they are doing the work
with human attachments. I used different ways to help different practitioners, and helped them improve steadily in their
Fa study and clarifying the truth. However, at the same time I felt I had become their crutch. Had I
not mobilized them, they would have kept waiting and not stepped forward to validate the Fa. Had I
not asked them to prepare truth-clarifying materials, they would have done very little by
themselves. Sometimes I even felt that I was forcing them to do so. I didn't want them to lose their
chance of validating the Fa, thus I always arranged a certain amount of work for them every week. I thought that a cultivator who successfully completes cultivation would be a great God. How can
it be right if his cultivation is always led by others? At the same time, I thought that it was also
wrong if I didn't help out when I saw their problem. If I didn't help them out when I saw problems,
evil would take advantage of their gaps. Then how should I treat this issue? Last night, I suddenly enlightened to a principle, and came
to understand the issue. I have enjoyed reading Journey to the West [Monkey King] since I was little. I felt
it unfair when I read that Pig Bajie was able to attain the right fruit (succeed in cultivation). A
fellow practitioner said to me that though Pig Bajie always cried to dissolve the team when there
was a danger, he never compromised to the evil. Many times he faced life-threatening danger, but Pig
Bajie never switched to the evil side. Sand Monk had better enlightenment quality, and remained
single-minded [in their mission of] obtaining the Scriptures [the Sutras, the Buddhist
holy book]. But he had limited capabilities, and was not able to defeat the stronger monsters.
Generally speaking, he could only defeat the smaller evils. What about the Monkey King? He is very
capable. But if it were not for the purpose of assisting Monk Xuan Zang's mission to obtain the
Scriptures, he would still be the wild monkey that was making troubles. We don't need to talk about
his role in the process of obtaining the Scriptures. What about their master, Xuan Zang? Could he
get the true Scriptures without his three disciples' protection? He was captured even when they were
very close to their final destination. But his will of seeking the Scriptures was the most sincere.
He had never swayed no matter what kind of tribulation there was. It was Xuan Zang's solid faith in
obtaining the Scriptures that led to their success. On the other hand, if the four were split, none
of them would be able to get the true Scriptures single-handedly. Thus, the role of each of them in
obtaining the Scriptures could not be replaced. It was because the four together formed an entirety
that helped them overcome all kinds of obstacles and tribulations, and got the true Scriptures in
the end. It is critical that all Dafa disciples together form a unified body in Fa-rectification. In
"Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston," Teacher told us, "In this Fa-rectification, the best opportunity has been created for the colossal
firmament's sentient beings; all sentient beings have the best opportunity to lay a foundation for
their future. The same is true for Dafa disciples. The fruits of your cultivation, your position,
your mighty virtue, and everything of your future is also established in this opportunity of Fa-rectification." No matter what form it is in, everyone does various things for Fa-rectification. Some
practitioners have fear and attachments, but aren't they still cultivating in Dafa? Then I should
try my best to help them. Each practitioner can play a special role in clarifying the truth. For
example, a practitioner was able to catch up quite fast after he came to understand. Now his
dorm-mates and many of his friends all know the truth. Another practitioner did not dare to clarify
the facts to the people around him, fearing that would cause trouble to him. But he played the VCD
of the truth of self-immolation to many of his classmates at home, and helped his classmates to
understand the truth. One practitioner did not dare to make truth materials, nor did she dare to
distribute a single VCD. But she told her story of being persecuted to her classmates who were
concerned about her, and helped them to know the truth of persecution. Another practitioner also did
not dare to clarify the truth to others, and could not control his temper, but through long-term
contact; his classmates in his dorm also come to know the truth. Let each practitioner play his best role in Fa-rectification according to his condition,
cooperate with each other, give full play to each person's good qualities, and we will be able to
achieve many things well. Of course I am not saying that we should not be corrected when we are
doing things wrong. We have to be worthy of the title of "Fa Rectification Period Dafa
Disciples." However, when we are working with other practitioners, we should look more at other
people's good qualities in order to do a job well. When I began to write this article, at the beginning I was writing about how poorly other
practitioners had done. I found it harder and harder to keep writing. The more I wrote, the harder I
felt Fa-rectification and helping them was. Then I adjusted myself and rewrote it. I tried to pay
more attention to others' strong points, and then I felt everything went smoothly. In "Teaching
the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference," Teacher said, "The next person's things are
your things, and your things are his things." When all Dafa disciples can improve as a whole in
Fa rectification, then we will pass the last test of cooperating with each other. Posting date: 12/13/2002 |