Removing the Attachment to Partisanship

(Minghui.org) The U.S. presidential election is approaching. I recently went to some events as a member of a media promotion team. While interacting with people there, my attachment to partisanship became very obvious.

I found myself agreeing more with the principles of one major political party, and many people within that party also recognized and appreciated our media. I enjoyed interacting with them and hoped that their candidate would win the election so they could support us.

However, as a Dafa cultivator, I must cultivate divine thoughts while being in the human world. Being attached to one particular political party, having a mindset of seeking help from everyday people, and preferring one party over another, all showed that I had forgotten that saving people is about saving their hearts, regardless of their political affiliations, jobs, or other distinctions.

Master taught us, “This characteristic, Zhen-Shan-Ren, is the criterion for measuring good and bad in the universe.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)

Actually, there are good people in both political parties, just as there are people with both political affiliations who have become less virtuous and are declining along with the overall human morality.

Master told us,

“What Dafa disciples need to do is to deliver to people the hope of salvation and lead lives that can be saved onto the path of return.” (“To the Disciples Attending the Fa Conference in Taiwan”)

Master talked about human attachments and political affiliations when answering a student’s question.

“Student: Is the current state of affairs in Taiwan something that Dafa disciples’ attachments brought about, or is it an old force arrangement?

Master: Here’s how I’d put it. The old forces indeed have their arrangements at work there, but if Dafa disciples fail to do well, then it becomes an issue of cultivation for you as individuals. And if a region’s Dafa disciples fail to do well, then that region will experience problems that were brought about by human attachments—problems born from the attachments found among our students. So, if still more Taiwanese Dafa disciples haven’t done well in regards to a certain issue, then it will indeed impact the state of affairs in that place. Of course, I’m not saying that Taiwan’s Dafa disciples haven’t done well; some things are old force interference. For example, if our Dafa disciples didn’t previously have human attachments that caused them to think divisively along Blue-Green political party lines, the situation would be better today. I brought this up repeatedly, right from the start, since I saw what the consequences would be. But, some students give more weight to political affiliations than to cultivation. Human attachments are indeed hard to remove.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)

I came to understand that the growing division between the two major political Parties in the United States is the result of Dafa practitioners’ attachments to political party affiliations. Liking one party or disliking another are both forms of human sentiment. After transcending these emotions, I feel I could face people from any political affiliation more objectively. This realization gives me confidence and wisdom about how our media can maintain a neutral and objective stance—we only need to adhere to our principles of truthful and objective reporting and uphold traditional values, while treating all beings with compassion.

I would like to end with Master’s article, “Cultivation Practice Is Not Political” :

“Some students are discontent with society and politics; they learn our Dafa with this strong attachment that they don’t abandon. They even attempt to take advantage of our Dafa to get involved in politics—an act born of a filthy mindset that desecrates Buddha and the Fa. They certainly won’t reach Consummation if they don’t abandon that mindset.

In my lectures I have repeatedly stressed that the form of human society—no matter what type of social or political system—is predestined and determined by heaven. A cultivator does not need to mind the affairs of the human world, let alone get involved in political struggles. Isn’t how society treats us testing cultivators’ hearts? We should not get involved in politics.

Such is the form of our Dafa cultivation practice. We will not rely on any political powers at home or abroad. Those people of influence are not cultivators, so they certainly cannot hold any positions of responsibility in our Dafa—either in name or reality.

My disciples, you must remember that we’re doing true cultivation practice! We should abandon those ordinary human concerns for reputation, profit, and emotion. Do the conditions of a social system have anything to do with your cultivation practice? You can only reach Consummation after you have abandoned all of your attachments and none of them remain. Other than doing a good job with his work, a cultivator will not be interested in politics or political power of any sort; failing this, he absolutely isn’t my disciple.

We’re able to have cultivators obtain the Fa and achieve Righteous Attainment, just as we’re able to teach people to be kindhearted in society—this is good for the stability of human society. Yet Dafa is not taught for the sake of human society, but for you to reach Consummation.” (“Cultivation Practice Is Not Political,” Essentials for Further Advancement)