(Clearwisdom.net) There is an ancient saying, "One benefits when being humble with fellows, and one loses when being superior." Although "fellow" has many profound meanings, I would like to share my understandings in this regard.
As fellow practitioners, we should be humble with each other, which will make us benefit. If we truly understand this, we would be able to do it wholeheartedly, not just on the surface.
For instance, some fellow practitioners have relatively more human attachments but can do really well in other aspects. If others regard themselves as being superior to these fellow practitioners and do not pay attention to their experience sharing, then they would likely miss opportunities to improve.
What do we do when we cannot understand some fellow practitioners fully? In my observation, many practitioners would self-righteously say negative things about these practitioners from their own angle, and even label them something seriously bad.
What should we do? Shouldn't we look inside whenever a problem arises? Could our own notions and attachments be the reason for not understanding them?
We call them "fellow practitioners," so are we indeed treating them as our "fellows?" Shouldn't we be humble with our fellows? Are we humble? Have we ever asked them with humbleness from the depth of our heart, "I do not quite understand the way you did this. I wonder how you understood it, and if you would share it with me I could be inspired and my obstacles would be eliminated." If we can truly do this, perhaps these fellow practitioners will share their wonderful understandings that can reflect our own shortcomings.
However, there are too many practitioners not doing their best in making friends, in other words, not being humble. They are not only hindered by their own attachments, but also playing bad roles. And, in my opinion, this is caused by their feeling superior, which proves the old saying of " one loses when being superior."
April 26, 2007
