Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I have been practicing forbearance since I started cultivation. Forbearance can dissolve disputes among practitioners. We can coordinate well if we have forbearance. Forbearance can dismantle evil and any unrighteous elements. Forbearance is a manifestation of one's realm and compassion. It is something enlightened beings must have, so we Dafa practitioners must also have it. I try to treat other people with forbearance and constantly rectify myself. I'd like to share with you three experiences.
1. It Is a Good Thing to Be Wronged.
Before I started cultivation, I had the strong attachment of being afraid of losing face. I was afraid that I would lose face if I didn't do something well and people would find fault with me. So I tried to do everything well and lived most of my life for others' praise. If I was wronged or accused of something bad, I absolutely would not tolerate it.
I was the coordinator for supplies and equipment purchases in my area. After we started to make Shen Yun DVDs locally, I handled tens of thousands of yuan in funds each year. Once a practitioner had a conflict with her coordinator and was not able to pass the test. She blamed me instead.
She said that I was the biggest cheater locally. She said that my grandson's death was my punishment for embezzling Dafa funds. When I heard this, I was not able to control myself. I was angry, agitated, and indignant. I wanted to go to argue with her immediately. I wanted to ask her on what evidence she based her comment and say to her, “If I have used Dafa funds for my own personal use, may I be struck by lightning and punished by Heaven; if I haven't misused any money, you should be punished because of your slander."
Practitioners tried their best to me calm down, and I felt less upset, but I still held it in my heart. I didn't want to see or have any contact with that practitioner. For a long time when I recalled this incident, I felt upset and angry. I had put money into the fund to make materials and risked my life to validate the Fa, but I was still wronged. I felt so conflicted.
Master said in “Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan:”
“Don’t argue left and right, and don’t emphasize who’s right and who’s wrong. Some people are always stressing that they’re right, but even if you are right, even if you’re not wrong, so what? Have you improved on the basis of the Fa? The very act of using human thinking to stress who’s right and who’s wrong is in itself wrong. That’s because you are then using the logic of ordinary people to evaluate yourself, and using that logic to make demands on others. As gods see it, for a cultivator to be right or wrong in the human world is not important in the least, whereas eliminating the attachments that come from human thinking is important, and it is precisely your managing to eliminate those attachments rooted in your human thinking as you cultivate that counts as important. (Applause) If you can manage to handle things calmly no matter how wronged you may feel, if you can remain unmoved and not try to come up with some kind of excuse for yourself, then with many things you won’t even need to argue. That’s because on your path of cultivation there is nothing that is by chance. So, when you get into a heated exchange and it stirs things up in you, or you get into a conflict over something that concerns your vital interests, perhaps the factors behind it were put there by Master. Maybe you only get upset when it’s a case of someone saying something that really provokes you or hits a sore spot. And maybe the person really did treat you wrongfully. But, those words weren’t necessarily said by that person. Perhaps they were said by me. (Everyone laughs) I want to see how you handle things at the time. When you butt heads with that person, it actually equates to butting heads with me. (Master laughs) (Everyone laughs, applauds) That’s all for today. I can completely remove the material substance for you, but the habits that were formed are something you definitely have to remove—definitely, absolutely. (Applause) ”
It was not until then that I realized that Master was giving me hints to look inward. This incident had triggered my attachments. After looking inward repeatedly and deeply, I became very disturbed, because I found that I had a pile of attachments: being afraid of losing face, seeking fame, being afraid of being wronged, complaining, jealousy and a large ego.
In short, I had a narrow mind and a small heart, and couldn't tolerate other practitioners. I had yet to cultivate compassion, which meant I had to increase my capacity and improve my xinxing and realm. "If you are good to me, then I will be good to you." That's what an ordinary person can achieve. But a practitioner has to reach such a realm that you are still good to people who are not good to you, without any complaint. I realized that it was a good thing to be wronged. When I changed my notion, everything changed and I felt so relieved.
I was very thankful to this practitioner who helped me improve my xinxing. I contacted her, but I could tell that I made her feel uneasy and guilty. Later on, we cooperated very well. Through this incident, I came to understand that forbearance can solve conflicts and is a manifestation of kindness. Dafa opened up my mind and heart. It was a serious test to see if I could treat others with compassion and tolerance when facing unfairness and injustice. Master and sentient beings alike are counting on me, and I need to live up to their expectations.
2. Dissolving Hatred and Treating Sentient Beings Kindly
Before I became a cultivator, there were people I didn't want to see, and I ran into some things that I thought were unfair. Sometimes I still got angry when I thought of them. I judged people before I clarified the truth to them. But when I remembered Master's Fa, I dismissed unkind thoughts and no longer made judgments.
A man who worked in a CCP legal department falsely accused and cheated me 25 years ago. I hated him so much whenever I thought of him. I forgot about him after I started practicing Dafa. The year before last, one of my fellow practitioners gave me a list of phone numbers of officers in the local legal departments and asked me to publish them on the Minghui website, so that practitioners could call them and clarify the truth to them. I saw his name on the list and got upset again. I didn't want to put him on the website. Then I remembered Master's Fa:
“Saving people is just that, saving people, and to pick and choose would not be merciful.” ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference")
This awakened me. I shouldn't have the same mindset as ordinary people. Everything has a causal relationship. Maybe I hurt him or owed him something in one of my past lives and I paid it back in this lifetime. I should thank him instead. Maybe I had a big predestined relationship with him. If that was the case, shouldn't I save him all the more? I felt compassion for him, and I put his name on the list and sent it to the Minghui website. I felt joy in my heart as I did so.
Two former colleagues hurt me when I was in a managerial position. In order to gain or protect their personal interests, they tried to hurt me by any means. My friends and colleagues felt sorry for me and asked me to fight back using the same methods. But I didn't follow their advice and, for some reason, I let it go. After becoming a cultivator, I forgot about it.
In recent years I have been looking for my previous colleagues and acquaintances, including those two people. I went to visit them with gifts and clarified the truth to them, and asked them to withdraw from the Party and its youth organizations. When I saw them, I felt sorry and regretful. Through conversations and communications, our problems were resolved and my resentment disappeared.
“A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.” (“Realms” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
A few of my friends haven't quit the CCP yet, but I have laid a good foundation for my future visits. I will definitely go to see them again.
I feel that my xinxing has improved a lot recently. I am surrounded by a big field of energy. Forbearance and compassion will bring you true happiness and is indeed a beautiful realm.
3. Compassion Dissolves Tribulations
In October 2012, police from the National Security Division and the local police station arrested me and took me to the local brainwashing center. Agents from the 610 Office talked to me and slandered Dafa and practitioners. They forced me to watch DVDs that slandered Dafa and Buddhism all day long. They tried to make me give up Falun Dafa.
The head of the 610 Office came to talk to me three times a day: morning, noon, and evening. He enticed, deceived, threatened, and intimidated me and tried to “reform” me for eight days, but his efforts were in vain. I sent forth righteous thoughts to clear the evil elements behind him but achieved little result. I tried to find the reason why. The head of the 610 Office came to me again and pointed his finger to my nose and said, “You Falun Gong people put up photos of me everywhere and publicize my deeds. You hate me and mistreat me. So tell me, shouldn't I treat you even worse?” I realized where the problem was.
I was writing a report on how the local police persecuted Dafa practitioners before I was taken to the brainwashing center. The torture practitioners endured in the detention centers, forced labor camps, prisons, and brainwashing centers was unimaginable. My heart was moved, and I hated the head of the 610 Office all the more. One of the reasons I was arrested was because of my hatred.
Master said:
“As long as a person’s body has qi, he is at the level of healing and fitness and is not yet a practitioner. As long as he has qi, it means that his body has not yet been highly purified and so still has pathogenic qi—this is for sure.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
“There is no constraint between this qi and that qi.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I realized why he was so cruel to me and had so much hatred and had no intention of stopping. It was caused by my own hatred and jealousy. Though he was extremely vicious, he is still a human being. He demonstrated such evil because he was a pawn of the CCP. He himself was a victim. How pathetic he was. When I changed my mind and no longer hated him and tried to clear the evil elements behind him, he changed his attitude. He said, “ So you don't want to give up? I will not come see you anymore.” And he didn't.
The local brainwashing center could not "transform" me, so they sent me to the provincial brainwashing center. The persecution escalated there. Over ten inmates from a forced labor camp and prison took turns trying to brainwash me and threatening me. They made me stand for long periods and deprived me of sleep. They forced me to watch DVDs slandering Dafa for a long time. I recited the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts, but it was not effective. I looked inward and found that in my heart I still had hatred and competitiveness, and I looked down on them. I also felt a slight fear. I dug further down and found that this fear was a kind of selfishness. Only selflessness can lead to fearlessness.
Master said:
“But I think that the Fa is immense and that this is the Great Law of the cosmos, after all, so it can resolve anything. As long as you can open up your heart and be tolerant, I think anything can change.” ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Conference")
I recited the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts to clear up my bad thoughts and attachments. I asked Master to strengthen me, and then I had compassion and tolerance. Those people were pathetic, and I cried inside for their sentient beings.
Several days later, they changed their methods. In the last 15 days before the brainwashing center was dismantled, the guards, inmates, and other staff members didn't monitor me. But they still strictly watched over those who had been “transformed” before they were released.
Eventually a guard came to my room to hear the truth. He asked me for an exercise DVD and told me I would be released with those who had been "transformed." The head of the provincial 610 Office moved several very determined Dafa practitioners to one room before the brainwashing center was closed. He said to us that we could discuss and share our thoughts. We knew what he meant and didn't say anything.
When he talked to me privately, he said, “Can't you be flexible? Just say you give up, but after you go home you can continue practicing and nobody will know.” I said, “Falun Gong teaches people to live according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We should be truthful. How can we lie?” Then I clarified the truth to him. Although he didn't quit the CCP, I knew that he had recognized the truth. Finally he said, “We cannot 'transform' you. If you think Falun Gong is good, then practice at home.”
In the process I came to realize the inner meaning of what Master said,
“For a cultivator, looking within is a magical tool.” ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference")
I realized that if a cultivator could reach the state and realm of high compassion and forbearance, he could dissolve the evil and dismantle tribulations. And I came to understand the great realm and connotation of what Master said:
“Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring Righteous thoughts can save the people in this world” (“The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos” from Hong Yin II)
I realized that it was Master's Fa that led me to dissolve tribulations. I will treat my family members, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, people I don't know, people who hurt me before, or even those who persecuted me with compassion and forbearance and save them with a sincere heart. I will cherish this time and its special opportunities.
Please point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners! Heshi!
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