Don’t Avoid Pointing Out Practitioners’ Problems

(Minghui.org) I have seen a common phenomenon happening among Falun Dafa adherents. When a practitioner has shortcomings or attachments, especially if they are obvious ones, others hesitate to directly point them out to the person. This is not just because they are afraid of offending them. It’s because there are many factors preventing them from kindly talking to the person to help them see something that needs to be worked on.

I have talked with fellow practitioners about this. Some said, “I don’t want to comment to someone else because I know I have shortcomings too.” Others said, “Don’t look at people’s flaws, look at their strengths. Is there anyone who doesn’t have any faults?” Or, “It’s better not to talk about it and create a distance with others, just cultivate oneself.”

Another view is, “Facing the huge pressure of the persecution, it’s good that a practitioner can move forward – we should encourage the person. In addition, a good cultivator shouldn’t talk about the shortcomings of others. One’s character can’t be corrected by hearing a few words. The person has to realize the issue himself and then make the correction.”

With so many rational thoughts, it has become natural not to talk about the shortcomings of other practitioners.

I think that when you see a cultivator’s shortcomings, it is selfish to not say anything to the person. We should talk openly for the sake of being responsible to other practitioners and Dafa.

Genuine practitioners would like others to point out their drawbacks, so they can improve quickly. Even for those who can’t accept what you say initially, they will be grateful to you afterwards because they have to face their shortcomings if they want to improve their character and genuinely cultivate.

We should all learn how to kindly point out shortcomings to others. It is something we have to learn how to do. I see that many practitioners are often reluctant to talk about this issue, and not saying anything has become a habit.

An older couple in our area are both veteran practitioners. The wife has a bad temper, and is a dedicated critic of her husband. She will not let her husband’s shortcomings go, and the couple is in constant conflict.

When local practitioners visit their home, they hear the wife criticize her husband. She wants everyone know his shortcomings. Moreover, she has a thick notebook of excerpts from Master’s teachings, all of which are aimed at her husband. She’ll take it out to show any practitioner who comes to their home, point to a paragraph of the Fa and say, “Look at this. How clear is Master’s Fa? He just doesn’t listen. Is he a true disciple?” Sometimes the more she says, the angrier she becomes.

Since she doesn’t know how to cultivate herself, her health is poor. She has been hospitalized and suffers from a very serious skin disease. Some elderly female practitioners said, “It’s scary to see her legs. Being in such a poor cultivation state, she still points her finger at her husband all day long.”

On the other hand, her husband has a strong ego and a show off mentality. If he cultivated well, his wife wouldn’t act like she does.

The strange thing is, no one has pointed out their problems to them. Most of the people who go to the couple’s home just listen to her endless talking, and some give superficial advice like, “Don’t be like him, be tolerant.” It seems as if they see that her husband is at fault. However, after the practitioners leave the house, they often talk about her behavior behind her back, saying that her cultivation state is poor.

I once asked a practitioner, “Why haven’t you pointed it out to her in person?” The practitioner said, “That’s how she is, would she listen to what I said? We just cultivate ourselves.”

I feel that helping fellow practitioners is also a process of self-improvement. That practitioner doesn’t know how to look within. If we don’t point out what we see, but comment behind her back or make fun of her instead, is it good for her, or doing her harm? If fellow practitioners would kindly point out her shortcomings, she might not be like this.

Master’s Fa-rectification has begun the transition to the Fa rectification of the human world, and time waits for no one.

I have noticed many other similar phenomena. For example, some practitioners brought their mobile phones to the group Fa study site. Although someone in the group noticed, they didn’t say anything. As a result, something went wrong and the group was disbanded.

In another case, instead of sharing about one’s improvement in cultivation before and after reading the Fa, some in a Fa study group talk about new products or deals online and how to help each other buy the items. The Fa study group has almost become an online shopping site. Yet, no one said anything or corrected such behavior. We should be vigilant about such things and reflect on why we don’t respond when it is needed.