Cultivating Speech Is An Important Component of Compassion

(Minghui.org)  A few days ago, I read Master's Fa that discussed being kind to others, and was deeply touched.

Master said,

“Conversely, to the person who always has a bad attitude toward others: Dafa disciples are supposed to cultivate kindness (Shan). Is it that you think this fellow practitioner of yours has cultivated better than you, so you don’t need to be kind to him? Aren’t you thinking too highly of him? You don’t need to be kind to him? Or is he one of those who persecutes Dafa disciples, so you don’t need to be kind to him? Even if he were one of those who has participated in the persecution, one of those who has been taken in, duped, and ended up in a criminal gang, you would still need to be kind to him. Then why can’t you be kind to your fellow practitioners? They are Master’s disciples—do you realize that? (Applause) When you don’t watch what you are saying, does it not occur to you that, at that time, you are like a demon? You are not a demon—I’m just referring to the state you are in at that time. If you are always like that, always in the state of a demon, then are you cultivating demonhood? If people never see you with a pleasant look on your face, and you always act so cunning, then what state would you say you are in? Gods are watching you.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference”)

Looking at the Chinese character “compassion”, it became giant. It has a part that means “mouth” or “speech” in the character. All of sudden, I realized that to cultivate compassion, one must cultivate speech. Even everyday people talk about paying attention to speech. A cultivator should pay more attention to it.

Master said:

“Dafa is in perfect harmony: If one separates the three characters of “Zhen-Shan-Ren,” each still fully contains Zhen-Shan-Ren. This is because matter is composed of microscopic matter, which is in turn made up of even more microscopic matter—this goes on and on until the end. Therefore, Zhen consists of Zhen-Shan-Ren, Shan consists of Zhen-Shan-Ren, and Ren also consists of Zhen-Shan-Ren. Isn’t the Dao School’s cultivating Zhen the cultivation of Zhen-Shan-Ren? Isn’t the Buddha School’s cultivating Shan also the cultivation of Zhen-Shan-Ren? In fact, they only differ in their superficial forms.” (“A Brief Explanation of Shan” from Essentials for Further Advancement)

I came to a higher understanding. When we clarify the truth about Dafa to everyday people, we take their personality and mentality into consideration. Why don't we pay attention to speech when we talk to practitioners?

I did pay attention to “truthfulness” when I talked to practitioners. But I did not think about whether my words hurt and whether fellow practitioners could easily accept them. I did not consider if my heart was filled with compassion when talking to them. I only cared about whether my words were true or not. When I was too direct, the results of speech may not be as good as I thought, and at times they were the opposite of what I intended to achieve.

When talking to fellow practitioners, many of us are too direct and do not consider the situation we are in at that time. It appears that we care about practitioners' cultivation, and how we act is for their own good. But our speeches are filled with what the Party's indoctrination taught us. Our voice is loud, our tone is harsh, and we sometimes hold onto one flaw of practitioners, and do not let go. Our speeches sometimes display hatred, jealousy, competitiveness, and complaint. Some of us even made rude gestures or had unpleasant facial expressions when talking to practitioners, which again reflects the Party's indoctrination. When the other practitioners keep quiet, we sometimes tell them that we are doing this for their own good.

If we look inward, we will see that this kind of behaviors is based on selfishness. We are not really concerned about them. Our purpose is to avoid being interfered with by others. We don't want to be affected by other practitioners' flaws, which may hinder our Fa-study, sharing, or consummation. In our mind, we think, “I talked to you in depth, but you still don't change,” or “I have helped you so much, yet you refuse to consider my suggestions.” Our thoughts highlight our self-importance.

Now when I look back, I realize why my words did not touch fellow practitioners. It is because my base was selfishness.

There is another form of rudeness, which violates the cultivation of compassion. That is practitioners being nice to everyday people, but rude to fellow practitioners. Maybe we thought we are close to each other so that we don't have to be polite or cultivate speech.

We should hold compassion in our heart. Our tone should be gentle, nice, and moderate. Only thus can our words touch others' heart, and have a positive impact. We should treat people with a compassionate heart, compassionate thoughts, and compassionate speech.