Letting Go of Our Ego When Encountering Conflicts

When our local practitioners get together they often talk about their understandings during cultivation, such as issues regarding passing tests. One complained about how his family member treated him, and who said what, and how that hurt him, or some other things that made his life miserable and hindered his cultivation. It seemed that he did this for the purpose of gaining others’ understanding and sympathy.

I listened to the various practitioner's complaints but felt differently in my mind. Regarding the problems themselves -- if they had looked deeply into them, they would have found their own attachments.

When conflicts arise, some people can’t understand them based on the principles taught in Falun Gong, the Fa, and discipline themselves. Rather, some think about and treat conflicts with the wrong mentality. This brings out emotions just like ordinary people’s when facing conflicts. As the arguments intensify, the turmoil in one’s mind becomes more vigorous as well. In the battle between the human versus the enlightened sides, one can then not let go of one's ego. In the meantime, one wants to find an answer in the Fa. In serious situations, one might go so far as to misinterpret the Fa to conform with one’s own attachments, thus making it sometimes very difficult to eliminate one’s attachment. This often made a cultivator stay confused for a long time. As a practitioner, if one cannot break these notions that govern one’s mind and is unable to break the human shell, these will become huge obstacles in one’s progress in cultivation.

Most people rarely think of things when pursuing human notions and are not aware of their attachments. They will not realise clearly the suffering their attachments create. Cultivators will also feel miserable when they understand the superficial reason, yet cannot discard their own attachments.

Master has said,

"Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person." ("True Cultivation" in Essentials for Further Advancement)

As a cultivator one has to study the Fa more, and strictly discipline oneself. One needs to truly consider oneself as a true Falun Dafa practitioner and melt oneself into the Fa. When facing a conflict, one ought to first think of the situation based on the Fa and treat it accordingly. By using the Fa’s standard to decide what to do, one can quickly break through worldly principles and all sorts of notions formed since birth in everyday life.

Dafa disciples should hold no illusions about the basic thinking points when dealing with issues. The process of getting rid of attachments is painful, but it is the unwillingness to discard any attachment that causes pain! The sooner we can let it go, the less pain we will have. One needs to place high demands on oneself based on the Fa. One experiences a sense of joy after having successfully removed an attachment and human notions; one then senses a much broader and more enormous world.

Cultivators must go through the hardships of cultivation; then we will develop stronger righteous thoughts, a compassionate mind and persistent determination. Let’s discard our egos and be free from its limitations, because we are lives existing within Dafa. Let our lives be enlightened in the Fa!