Learning to Be Compassionate

(Minghui.org) Authorities in more than nine counties and cities in Heilongjiang Province launched a mass arrest of Falun Dafa practitioners on November 9, 2018. At least 119 practitioners have been confirmed to have been arrested on that day.

It was reported that police had been monitoring the practitioners' cell phones and social media activity in the months leading up to the arrests. The officers were given lists of names of who to arrest. They are intensifying their efforts to track down the rest of the practitioners whom they failed to arrest on November 9. There are still local practitioners who remain unaccounted for at the time of writing.

Most of the arrested practitioners had their homes ransacked and valuables confiscated, and their financial losses are huge. Some practitioners have begun a hunger strike in detention centers to protest the arrests. Their families agonize over the practitioners' well-being; some have become seriously ill, while others try to find legal support for the practitioners.

Under such a chaotic situation, some fellow practitioners realized that they should step out to collect first-hand information to expose the persecution to the outside world and to rescue those detained practitioners. In the meantime, some practitioners began to play the blame game and tried to find faults in the arrested practitioners.

Two years ago, when I recited Zhuan Falun (the main book of Dafa) for the fifth time, four words appeared in my mind, “Learn to be compassionate.” I have been pondering over the four words since the most recent mass arrest and would like to share my thoughts on the situation with fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Compassion is the core nature of a divine being

Master told us,

“When you encounter a tribulation, that great compassion will help you overcome it. At the same time, my Law Bodies will look after you and protect your life, but you will still have to go through the ordeal.” (Chapter III, Falun Gong)

Having “compassion” is the core nature of a divine being and a characteristic of the universe. Dafa practitioners must emerge from the ordinary world and lead humans toward the righteous path. We must assimilate to the requirements of the universal principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”

Those who spread rumors among practitioners must let go of their strong human attachments

I have seen too many times that when a practitioner is arrested, rumors about the practitioner would be spread among fellow practitioners. Those who spread the rumors must have various kinds of attachments, and some even have ill intentions. Dafa practitioners must work diligently to let go of the influence of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture. Anyone whose behavior is influenced by Party culture does not have real compassion.

Let me give you an example. After a practitioner was arrested, she was unable to endure the severe torture and gave away other practitioners' names. After she was released, a non-practitioner friend of hers treated her for dinner and gave her and her family some gifts. In contrast, fellow practitioners in her area seldom gave her any support. Some even said that she was a spy and thus ridiculed her. Others spread a rumor that she had had an affair with someone. When her husband heard those rumors, he was very upset and confused–his wife had been a very conservative person even before she took up cultivation in Dafa, so he did not understand why those fellow practitioners spread rumors about her when she was in desperate need of help.

People in normal societies all know the saying that a friend in need is a friend indeed. However, due to the CCP's decades of indoctrination to promote its communist agenda, Chinese people's compassion has been buried and their minds twisted. Instead of being sympathetic and helping those in need, some practitioners blame those practitioners who are going through tribulations.

Old forces seize upon practitioners' loopholes to persecute us

Of course, behind this massive number of arrests are certainly many complicated factors. One thing is clear, however: the old forces have seized the loopholes of practitioners' various human attachments to persecute fellow practitioners.

Master said,

“Some will say that shan is when you smile at someone and come across as kind and genial. Yet that only amounts to a human being displaying friendliness. True shan is what a cultivator attains in the process of cultivation and cultivating goodness, and this is a genuine shan that is achieved by cultivation. When you interact with sentient beings, it's not possible for you to display your successfully-cultivated divine side in full, since you still have a human side that has yet to complete cultivation. When required, you must be rational and clearheaded like a cultivator, allowing your responsibilities and righteous thoughts to direct you, and only then will your true shan be displayed. That is what's different about a cultivator and a divine being. And that is what compassion means--not some intentional display, show of human preference for this or that, or an instantiation of, 'If you're good to me, then I will be shan toward you.' It is offered unconditionally and has no thought of reward--it is fully for the sake of sentient beings. When this compassionate goodness emerges, its strength is without equal, and it will disintegrate any bad factors. The greater the compassion, the greater the power. Human society never had true principles to guide it before, so man has not resolved his problems via shan. Instead, man has always resolved things through fighting and conquest, and that has thus become man's norm. If man wants to become divine and transcend the human state, then he must forsake that frame of mind and use compassion to resolve things.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)

We should reflect on our every single thought, put ourselves in others' shoes to gain different perspectives, and prevent negative factors from emerging. We should be compassionate with fellow practitioners.

Fellow practitioners in Heilongjiang Province, please do not try to find faults among ourselves. We should eliminate elements of Party culture and learn to be more compassionate. Our compassion can help fellow practitioners break through tribulations.