"Unfairness" at Work Uncovered My Attachments

An incident that occurred at work made me realize that human attachments are very subtle and complex.

Due to quality issues on the products that our company produces, it was decided, by the director of a certain department, that our department's wages were not to be paid for the month. I am in charge this particular department and was very angry to learn this news. I thought that our department should not be penalized, because the problem was not caused by us. In addition, when this problem occurred before, our department's wages were not affected, so why should it happen this time? I thought that it was very unfair, and I was full of hatred towards the director of that department. Since I thought it was not fair and that I was right, I wanted to talk to people about this matter, to vent my anger and try to resolve the issue.

However, when I tried to make phone calls, I found that I could not contact anyone. The phone lines were either busy or nobody picked up the phone. I then became even angrier. As I was complaining to the accountant in my department, a fan on the window sill suddenly fell off and made a loud noise as it hit the floor. I looked up and found that there was a large crack in the window. I suddenly realized that I was wrong. It was so obvious that I had problems in my cultivation.

I tried my best to calm down and concentrate on the work I had to do. Then I started to quietly look inward. It was true that I was right and the director was being unreasonable, but why was it me who had the problem? At this time Master's words appeared in my head:

A wicked person is born of jealousy. Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself. A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy. An enlightened person has no attachments at all. He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.
("Realms", Essentials for Further Advancement)

I looked inward and found that I was on the edge of becoming a wicked person, as my head was full of anger and hatred. I was not able to forbear; I was not kind either, not to mention being compassionate. Although I believe I was right, I should have shared my understanding calmly and rationally, and should not have tried to complain about it to everybody. I was not cultivating my speech. In addition, the problem occurred in my department after all. I looked inward more carefully and found so many attachments: hatred, feeling unfairly treated, jealousy, hidden fear, selfishness and self-protection, among other things. I recalled that fellow practitioners had said that the evil was hiding in our attachments. How much evil was hiding in my many attachments! In Zhuan Falun Master said, "I’ll tell you a truth: the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments." As practitioners, we really should behave in accordance with the requirements of the Fa, give up all of our attachments, and cultivate to the extent of being extremely clean and pure.

From this incident I learned that when we encounter problems, we should not just look at what is right or wrong from the surface level, which is not important. What is critical is that we should find our hidden attachments and human mindsets. Furthermore, when we encounter tribulations, Master usually reminds us that we should immediately, and unconditionally look inward. Once we are moved, we should immediately look inward. My fellow practitioners, we truly should not cover up our attachments by the rights and wrongs of anything shown on the surface level. We must absolutely give up all of our attachments and reach the standard of the Fa. That is what Master wants, what the Fa wants, and what the future cosmos wants. At the same time, the purer we are, the greater our abilities are to save those sentient beings.