Reflection on a Classic Chinese Story: "The Journey to the West"

The practitioners that I have the most contact with are those who came out to clarify the truth later on or those who had stopped practising for quite a while. With Dafa practitioners' sending forth righteous thoughts [using righteous thoughts to purify oneself and the surrounding environment], most of the things that used to interfere have been cleaned out. Thus these practitioners are able to come to understand the true situation, continue to study the Fa [Law and principles in the Buddha School. Here they refer to Falun Gong books or articles] and catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification. But these practitioners in general have some major attachments and fundamental human attachments, which made them unable to cultivate diligently, and made it more difficult to step forward to clarify the truth of the persecution. Yet clarifying the truth to the people is essential, and something that must be done. When I help them, they are improving as well, but most of the time they carry out these tasks with human attachments.

I used different ways to help different practitioners, and helped them improve steadily in their Fa study and in clarifying the truth. However, at the same time I felt I had become their crutch. Had I not mobilised them, they would have kept waiting and not stepped forward. Had I not asked them to prepare truth-clarifying materials, they would have done very little by themselves. Sometimes I even felt that I was forcing them to do so. I didn't want them to lose their chance, thus I always arranged a certain amount of work for them every week.

I thought that a cultivator who successfully completes cultivation would reach consummation, but how can it be right if his cultivation is always led by others? At the same time, I thought that it was also wrong if I didn't help out when I saw their problem. If I didn't help them out when I saw their problems, then these loop holes would be taken advantage of.

Then how should I treat this issue? Last night, I suddenly enlightened to a principle, and came to understand the issue.

I have enjoyed reading Journey to the West [A classic Chinese story.] since I was little. I felt it unfair when I read that Pig Bajie was able to succeed in cultivation. A fellow practitioner said to me that though Pig Bajie always tried to stay with the team when there was danger, he never compromised to the evil. Many times he faced life-threatening danger, but Pig Bajie never switched to the evil side. Sand Monk had better enlightenment quality, and remained single-minded in their mission of obtaining the Scriptures [The Sutras, the Buddhist holy book]. But he had limited capabilities, and was not able to defeat the stronger monsters. Generally speaking, he could only defeat the smaller demons. What about the Monkey King? He is very capable. But if it were not for the purpose of assisting Monk Xuan Zang's mission to obtain the Scriptures, he would still be the wild monkey that was making trouble. We don't need to talk about his role in the process of obtaining the Scriptures. What about their master, Xuan Zang? Could he get the true Scriptures without his three practitioners' protection? He was captured even when they were very close to their final destination. But his will of seeking the Scriptures was the most sincere. He had never swayed no matter what kind of tribulation there was. It was Xuan Zang's solid faith in obtaining the Scriptures that led to their success. On the other hand, if the four were split, none of them would be able to get the true Scriptures single-handedly. Thus, the role of each of them in obtaining the Scriptures could not be replaced. It was because the four together formed an entirety that helped them overcome all kinds of obstacles and tribulations, and enabled them to receive the true Scriptures in the end.

It is critical that all Dafa practitioners together form a unified body in Fa-rectification. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston," Teacher told us,

"In this Fa-rectification, the best opportunity has been created for the colossal firmament's sentient beings; all sentient beings have the best opportunity to lay a foundation for their future. The same is true for Dafa practitioners. The fruits of your cultivation, your position, your mighty virtue, and everything of your future is also established in this opportunity of Fa-rectification."

No matter what form it is in, everyone does various things for Fa-rectification. Some practitioners have fear and attachments, but aren't they still cultivating in Dafa? Then I should try my best to help them. Each practitioner can play a special role in clarifying the truth. For example, a practitioner was able to catch up quite fast after he came to understand that he must clarify the truth. Now his dorm-mates and many of his friends all know the truth. Another practitioner did not dare to clarify the facts to the people around him, fearing that it would cause trouble to him. But he played the VCD that shows the true situation of the staged so called "self-immolation" to many of his classmates at home, and helped his classmates to understand the truth of the situation. One practitioner did not dare to make truth materials, nor did she dare to distribute a single VCD. But she told her story of being persecuted to her classmates who were concerned about her, and helped them to know the truth of the persecution. Another practitioner also did not dare to clarify the truth to others, and could not control his temper, but through long-term contact; his classmates in his dorm also come to know the truth.

Let each practitioner play his best role in Fa-rectification according to his condition, cooperate with each other, give full play to each person's good qualities, and we will be able to achieve many things. Of course I am not saying that we should not be corrected when we are doing things wrong. However, when we are working with other practitioners, we should look more at other people's good qualities in order to do a job well.

When I began to write this article, at the beginning I was writing about how poorly other practitioners had done. I found it harder and harder to keep writing. The more I wrote, the harder I felt Fa-rectification and helping them was. Then I adjusted myself and rewrote it. I tried to pay more attention to others' strong points, and then I felt everything went smoothly. In "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference," Teacher said, "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things." When all Dafa practitioners can improve as a whole in Fa rectification, then we will pass the last test of cooperating with each other.