(Minghui.org) After coming to the United States I often felt that my cultivation state was not as good as when I lived in China. I was growing anxious about it.
Delivering the Epoch Times newspapers one morning I suddenly became muddle-headed, as if a thick substance was suppressing my thoughts. I looked within, and realized that I had complaints about and dissatisfaction with other practitioners, which produced negative thoughts.
Positive Thoughts Have Positive Results
A while ago, I could not find my glasses for several days. I thought that Master was giving me a hint that my vision was okay and that I didn't need to wear glasses anymore.
However, my vision continued to be blurred, so I wondered what I should come to understand about the situation.
I said to another practitioner, “Do you know what your greatest merit is? You sincerely listen to and accept other people's criticism. I really admire you.”
Then, I went to pick up my music book, and my glasses suddenly slid out from the pages.
The practitioner said, “Do you know why you found your glasses? You previously couldn't see others’ positive aspects, so you couldn't find your glasses. When you saw my merits, you immediately found them.”
Practitioners Thoughts are Powerful
We must not hold any negative thoughts about other practitioners, or about our various projects to help save people. The old forces could make use of our negative thoughts and create difficulties for us.
I held negative thoughts about a particular project because I thought the overall direction of the project deviated from our goal of saving people. I always complained about the project whenever we talked about it.
I didn't realize that a Dafa practitioner’s thoughts are powerful, and that my negative thoughts had created a substance in another dimension, thereby impeding the project.
If a project doesn't meet Master’s requirements and doesn't save people, the practitioners involved often felt helpless. This is an example of negative thinking. It weakens the will of the practitioners and negatively influences the development of the project. This is a manifestation of a lack of righteous thoughts and acknowledging old force arrangements.
Differentiating Between Projects
The Minghui article “Do Not Differentiate Between Fa-Rectification Projects; “A Great Way Has No Form” But Exists As a Whole (With Master's Comments)” mentions that every project tests practitioners as a whole, and every project's success or not is a reflection of the attitude of our one body towards that project.
After looking within I realized that I had the notion that projects that I did not participate in had nothing to do with me, and those that I was involved in, I thought that it was good enough as long as I did my part well.
As a member of the Tian Guo Marching Band I was satisfied when I was able to handle my part well, and didn't think to help others with their part. Likewise in cultivation, I paid attention only to my cultivation state, while not thinking about other practitioners who are experiencing tribulations.
These thoughts came from my notion of selfishness. It compromised the effectiveness of our efforts to save people, and increased the separation among practitioners, keeping us from forming a one body.
From then on, whenever I noticed that I had negative thoughts I immediately sent righteous thoughts to eliminate them.
If we could all maintain righteous thoughts to strengthen all of our projects, to eliminate the separations among us and to eliminate our negative thoughts, then the field of our righteous thoughts would be more powerful and our effort of saving people would be much more effective.
Cultivating Compassion
I prefer a quiet life and like to cultivate by myself. I felt that I lacked compassion, and that it was somewhat difficult to cultivate it.
Some time ago while studying the Fa, phrases such as “be good and kind to others” and “cultivating compassion” always touched me. I understood that Master was giving me a hint to cultivate compassion.
When practitioners in the Tian Guo Marching Band were sharing their experiences another member criticized me, saying that I had said some harsh words to him.
As a section lead in the band I commented that he was not being serious about playing in the band. Although he came to the weekly practice he made only a little progress in his music skills.
I thought that this described the situation correctly, and I didn't know what I had said wrong. I felt hurt.
Another situation then came to my mind.
This practitioner also joined our truth clarification activities at a tourist site. However, I didn't want to see him there because I thought that he had a competitive mentality when he talked to people, and I didn't like the way he organized his display boards.
One day, my students showed me photos of his display boards. Then I realized that this practitioner helped my students learn about Falun Dafa. My biased thoughts about this practitioner then dissipated. I learned not to judge people with my opinions and notions, and to treat others with compassion.
The police removed all of our display boards at the tourist site, claiming that we had placed the boards everywhere and excessively. I again became annoyed at this practitioner because he did not follow the rules about where we can place the boards.
I reminded myself to be compassionate. With a peaceful mind, I explained to him why the police took down our displays, and reminded him to follow the rules in future.
To my surprise, he did not argue with me, and agreed to do so. His sincerity moved me.
I then looked inside to find out why he complained about my saying something harsh to him.
Master said,
“We practice kindheartedness—treating others kindheartedly. I often say this: When a person talks to someone else, if he points out that person’s shortcomings or tells him something without attaching any of his own notions, the other person will be moved to tears. If you don’t have any personal agenda, don’t seek to gain anything, don’t even want to protect yourself, truly mean well, and are thinking about the other person, then that person will really see your heart—no matter what kind of person he is. Yet many of us often fail to do our work this way and resort to mandates, which is unacceptable! That’s not part of our Fa.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore)
I realized that although I had described the situation correctly, I was unaware of my tone of blaming him, and my words showed my judgment of him. I was not compassionate, so he could not accept my words. However, I did not know that I was doing this until I was hurt by what he said.
I made up my mind to cultivate compassion. I started to consider others' viewpoints when speaking to them; to speak peacefully without casting blame and without a mentality of showing off.
I noticed that when I was able to do this, my words were easily accepted by others and we worked together much better. I believe that compassion in my words suppressed the negative factors and eliminated the separations among our practitioners. We started to cooperate and work well together.
On our cultivation paths, we must strictly follow the Fa in order to meet the different requirements of the Fa at different levels. We should purify our thoughts, and keep our words and deeds peaceful and compassionate.
Category: Improving Oneself
