(Minghui.org) Under Master’s compassionate arrangement, I spent a few months with a fellow practitioner last year. It was extremely difficult for me. Fortunately, under Master’s guidance, and through repeatedly passing tests and tribulations, I constantly broke through realms and gained more understanding of the Fa principles. Looking back at those painful and difficult tasks, I see how precious they are, and I am grateful.

I stayed with a new practitioner, and we had intense, heart-wrenching disagreements and frictions during that time. The environment was also strange for me. It was the most painful cultivation process I had experienced. She was the most difficult person to get along with, in my view because she had been heavily polluted in the big dye vat of ordinary society. I felt that way due to my karma, various notions, and jealousy.

For instance, she cooked for herself one day. I went into the kitchen and saw a mess. I began to clean it up, but meanwhile, I had to swallow feelings of anger, distress, judgement, and so on.

Thanks for Playing Supporting Roles in Our Cultivation

After calming down and stepping out of the situation, I discovered that it is those people around us, who make us feel angry, hurt, looked down upon, and averse to, who are truly our supporters on our cultivation paths to divinity.

We often become deeply trapped in these illusory falsehoods that occur in our interactions with various people, or even with fellow practitioners. These others are like actors, sincerely playing their roles to trigger emotions such as sadness, worry, pain, care, enjoyment, etc. They push us forward on our cultivation paths of becoming higher beings. However, we often become trapped in the plot—always looking at other’s shortcomings, complaining about one another—brooding, and resentful.

In fact, from a fundamental point of view, it was not those people themselves who really made us suffer, but rather the thoughts, notions, various human attachments, emotions, etc. that made us suffer. The selfishness of the old universe manipulated the part we had not cultivated well to manifest, and it was those things that moved our hearts.

Changing our notions and looking at the matter rationally, it was actually the people or things around us that triggered all the bad elements that we hadn’t cultivated, and made us reveal our shortcomings. Without playing their part in the drama of life and serving as a companion on the path of cultivation, how could we reflect on ourselves from the plot, find our shortcomings, analyze the root causes, and assimilate to the Fa?

I am extremely grateful for Master’s compassionate and infinitely wise arrangements, which allow me opportunities in cultivation and the environment for improvement through different levels, as well as all kinds of tribulations. All of it helped me to step out of humanness and move toward divinity. I am also grateful to every fellow practitioner who has walked with me and helped me. Those who reminded me, supported me, and even pulled me up or pushed me to do the three things well. Let us help each other and walk the last leg of our paths together.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation” in Hong Yin)

Chinese version available

Category: Improving Oneself