Cultivating Compassion

(Minghui.org) In the process of rescuing fellow practitioners, we ran into a lot of resistance lately.

Since the beginning of 2017, many plainclothes officers have been monitoring and videotaping practitioners when they talked to people about Falun Dafa and its persecution by the communist regime, including at markets and on the street.

Local practitioners felt vulnerable and were at a loss as to how to deal with this issue. We thought about recording the officers and exposing their deeds. However, a compassionate thought surfaced: we really do not want to do this, as they are also victims of the persecution. So, we sent righteous thoughts, “Please do not interfere with us when we clarify the truth.” It was effective, as we were no longer monitored. We realized that Master wants us to face sentient beings compassionately, whoever they are.

Paying Attention to One’s Every Thought

We started to look within to figure out how much of the troubles we encountered were brought on by ourselves. Was it because our compassion was inadequate? Since the very beginning of the persecution, Master had taught us how to handle conflict, how to clarify the truth, and how to face sentient beings with kindness. After all those years, how much compassion do we have? We all have to think about this.

We are all diligently validating the teachings of Dafa and resisting the persecution, but inadvertently we still carry with us the indoctrination of the Communist Party–the mindset of struggle, the mentality of fighting and retaliation. It might be deep-seated, and one might not be aware of it. However, it prevents us from assimilating into Dafa. We cultivate kindness, so our state should be kinder.

We all grew up under the Party’s “struggle theory” and were instilled with unkind thoughts for a long period of time. It would unconsciously appear during our daily lives and our relationships at home and with fellow practitioners.

This problem manifested itself when practitioners in our area were persecuted. Instead of supporting and rescuing them, we began blaming, complaining about and resenting others. We all knew this was not a good state, as it did not conform to the teachings of Dafa, but still we looked outward and did not rectify the unkindness in ourselves. Thus, we added more tribulations, sickness karma and persecution; we also affected our cultivation environment.

We all worried about our state, but we ignored individual cultivation. We really have to pay attention to each and every thought of ours to see if our inadequate compassion is affecting and complicating our environment.

Master taught us,

“Do you not realize that you are supposed to be saving people? You must not make enemies.” (Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference)

Eliminating Unkind Thoughts and Developing Compassion

We really have to search within and find out how many “enemies” we have made, including those we do not like, those who bring us trouble, and those who we look down upon, including those policemen. How much have we assimilated to kindness? From now on, we need to remind each other to eliminate all that is not kind, promote compassion, and cultivate together diligently.

Most of the persecution in our area was instigated and manipulated by the old forces in other dimensions. Most of the people in the police department, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and the city’s Communist Party secretary are passively involved; no one is actively carrying out the persecution.

All local practitioners need to coordinate and maintain our greatest compassion for those who have not learned the truth. When they understand the facts of the persecution, they will refuse to commit crimes against Dafa. We can not always rely on oversea practitioners to do our job.

We can still do as we did in the past, such as sending mail, making phone calls, and bringing awareness of the persecution in other ways. Changing our mentality will allow our compassion to come out, and we will cherish each and every life around us. Our compassion will let people see the hope of life; their understanding side will also be grateful.

Master said:

“The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)

“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”)

“Compassion is an enormous energy, the energy of righteous gods. The more compassion that is present, the greater this energy becomes, and it can disintegrate anything that is bad. This is something that has never been taught, be it by Shakyamuni or cultivators of the past. The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it is an expression of tremendous energy. It can disintegrate all that is not right.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference”)

If we all have that amount of compassion for all sentient beings, including our persecutors, the enormous energy from the compassion will dissolve all that is not righteous, eliminate the persecutors’ evil thoughts and save them. That would truly be validating the boundless virtue of Dafa.