(Minghui.org) The Minghui website published a few articles that warned Falun Dafa practitioners of the dangers of blindly following or idolizing coordinators. I was shocked that some of the alarming problems discussed in the articles had taken place here in Daqing. I began to wonder if every one of us practitioners is fulfilling our responsibility to the one body.
Some practitioners may have ignored the issue because the problems only concerned coordinators and those in close contact with them. But, even if one was not involved directly, what did we think when we first heard about the problems? Were our first thoughts based on human notions or a righteous thoughts? A whole body consists of many practitioners and everyone's thoughts are powerful, thus the thoughts of the whole body cannot be overlooked.
The articles reminded me of some problems that exist in our area. Therefore, I wish to share with fellow practitioners what I have observed.
Our coordinator had organized experience-sharing conferences frequently in our province. When he goes to places, practitioners take turns driving him. As for the coordinator, he is not shy about calling people to give him a ride for anything big or small, sometimes day after day. One practitioner even sold his apartment and used the proceeds to buy a car for driving the coordinator around.
However, practitioners who chauffeured him encountered tribulations, with two having passed away.
One practitioner drove the coordinator and two other practitioners to another city for an experience-sharing conference. They were involved in a car accident on the way back. The driver died, and the others, including the coordinator, were injured.
A female practitioner drove the coordinator everywhere. One time, she and the coordinator went to the provincial capital. The coordinator asked her to submit evidence of persecution to a government office while he sent forth righteous thoughts outside. She was arrested and ended up writing guarantee statements. Soon after, she passed away at the age of 37.
The coordinator saw no responsibility on his part, but believed that the death of his drivers and their tribulations were personal cultivation issues.
When a coordinator expects that other practitioners have to comply with his or her wishes, without any concern for their time and money, it encourages human attachments and creates a loophole for the old forces to persecute those practitioners. When practitioners blindly comply with his requests, it further promotes the coordinator's misunderstanding of the Fa.
The coordinator did not have a correct understanding of his role with respect to the Fa, Master, and fellow practitioners. He put himself above others. He mistakenly thought that he was doing the right thing because other practitioners unconditionally cooperated with him.
The practitioners who drove for the coordinator also did not have the correct understanding of their roles in Fa-rectification. They followed the coordinator instead of the Fa, which created a loophole for the old forces.
In another incident, a local practitioner was taken to a brainwashing center in another town. The coordinator arranged practitioners to rent apartments near the brainwashing center from where they sent forth righteous thoughts. This also caused disagreement among local practitioners.
Usually, brainwashing centers are set up in remote places. When practitioners show up, one group after another, it is very conspicuous. Moreover, practitioners would often bring food and other items to the apartments, which would draw attention from neighbors.
Many practitioners do not have the correct understanding of their roles in Fa-rectification and with respect to Master and the Fa. They are impressed by the coordinator and lack their own understanding of the Fa. These are all tests of our own understandings of the Fa.
Our hearts must be on the Fa. We are not beholden to someone's suggestions or other practitioners' requests. Only when we fully believe in Master and the Fa, can we resist the confusion caused by human attachments.
A practitioner in another city set up a factory to produce incense, claiming that the formula for the incense came from Master. The incense was sold to fellow practitioners at a high price. Our local coordinator firmly believed the claim and tried to promote the product among practitioners.
After the Minghui website issued a notice that there was no such thing as an incense formula by Master, the manufacturer admitted this to be true. However, our coordinator still did not believe it. He even set up a regional sales agent. Even now, some are still making money by selling the incense to fellow practitioners.
This incident illustrates that many practitioners do not have a clear understanding of the Fa at a fundamental level. What Master teaches us are the universal principles, Great Law or Great Dao. Why would he give students such a formula and method of a lesser path, such as burning incense? Isn't this very easy to recognize?In addition, this incident showed that we have not taken responsibility for protecting our whole body. If everyone can safeguard Dafa and Master's reputation, then such an issue would never materialize.
Some practitioners knew that this was a scam, but still bought the incense. When practitioners do not treat cultivation seriously and are not strict with themselves, they unknowingly damage the group cultivation environment.
In an effort of rescuing arrested practitioners, our coordinator and a group of practitioners formed a rescue team. They hired lawyers for the arrested practitioners and entered a guilty plea.
Another group of practitioners shared that entering a guilty plea is not validating the Fa and may prevent people from listening to the truth about Dafa. They tried to discuss this with the coordinator, who viewed it as interference in the rescue effort. Thus, they hired a lawyer to defend arrested practitioners with a not guilty plea.
The coordinator told other practitioners that the rescue effort was interfered with by fellow practitioners, without providing details. This led to arguments among practitioners, which has lasted for over a year. All sorts of human notions were displayed.
Dafa practitioners cannot hire lawyers who plead guilty for practitioners. There is no point in arguing about it. Any argument about it is clearly caused by human notions and attachments.
We are one body, and this is not just a few people's issue. Even if you are not directly involved, you should hold a righteous understanding of this issue.
The state of the group environment is affected by everyone's behavior and attachments. It is not possible for a group to have no conflicts. Because a cultivator is not an enlightened being, there will be attachments which need to be eliminated. Therefore, one must look inward when conflict arise and rectify oneself. This is what cultivation is all about.
If one notices that the coordinator does things that violate the Fa principles, one should stop him from making mistakes that could disrupt the Fa.
We have had too many tribulations and long term disagreements among the people in our group. On the surface, every one of the disagreements has to do with the coordinator, but it is definitely not the problem of one or two people. It is the result of attachments by many practitioners.
Master taught us that good or evil comes from that one thought. When you see or hear disagreement, or notice conflicts among the group, if you can look within for any thought that is not righteous and rectify it, then you have helped improve the group environment. If everyone is selfless and rectifies where he or she fell short, our group environment will in turn be good.