The Need for a Heart of Shan

(Minghui.org) A few days ago, I had the following understanding: Shan (Compassion) is the righteous path by which we as cultivators assist Master in the Fa-rectification.

I would like to share this brief experience on how I understood Shan from this angle.

One thing that has always intrigued me is the relationship between the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the Western mind. It’s easy to see how this book is effective at helping Chinese people overcome the notion that the Party is good for China and encourage them to break free from the communist regime that started the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

But does this book have the same effect on the Western mind? In Brazil, for example, would the Nine Commentaries make people give up the notion that the leftist guerrillas during the military period and the parties aligned to the communist countries and their worldview are a good thing?

Comprehending the role of the Nine Commentaries, I came to the conclusion that whenever the opportunity arises, I should reason with the person I talk to and help him or her see the Party for what it is. That’s easier said than done.

My problem was that I wanted to win the debates. Online or in person, if the other person defended the leftist parties and their ideology, I would argue vigorously. The outcome was that the person would avoid talking to me about that subject, either because I was so dogmatic or because I put the person in a position where he had to agree with me in order to seem rational. There was no Shan in this attitude, just my selfishness, my desire to be right, and that others acknowledge it.

How could I clarify the truth to these people if they no longer wanted to talk to me about those issues? Was I getting involved in political issues? Was the path wrong or was it my heart?

Without worrying too much about it, I continued to do the three things and to participate in Dafa projects. But over time, that agitation for opposing any mention of the communist specter began to bother me. So I tried to control that impulse and calm myself, no matter what the political events were around me.

It took me a while to cope with this inner turmoil, especially in relation to social media, which seems to be the door to all types of chaotic things that people have. But by studying the Fa diligently, I managed to improve my xinxing in this regard.

Instead of bombarding the person with my viewpoint, I started to calm down and listen when I saw that there was an opportunity to clarify the truth, bearing in mind that in doing so, I’m helping Master to save that person. Things changed after that, and it no longer matters to me whether the individual is a communist or not. I stopped trying to compel people to agree with me.

One example is something I posted on Facebook a few days ago. I got a response from a person who leaned towards communism and said that the article was poorly done and its content was nonsense.

My first reaction was to take issue, and we argued. That got us nowhere. He said that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so I went to do something else. But one question stuck in my mind: How could I have spoken to him in a way that avoided conflict?

When I went back to Facebook, he had asked me a question that let me know his opposition to my post was not because of what I had shared, but because he misunderstood, and he thought that I was defending the dictatorship.

It was precisely because of this that I realized that Shan is the righteous path by which a cultivator assists Master in the Fa-rectification. If my intention is to help a person undo the knot that makes him confused, and try to help him understand, the conversation will flow properly, and situations that favor clarifying the truth will emerge. Otherwise, we’ll just find the difficulties of ordinary people.

It’s my understanding that a heart of Shan attracts those who want to be helped.

Please point out anything inappropriate.