(Minghui.org) Continued from Part 3.
Editor’s note: The environment in mainland China is filled with Communist Party culture. Immersed in such an environment, one would gradually be influenced by Party culture without realizing it. This 8-part series explores some commonly seen problems among practitioners that may be attributable to the Party culture. We hope it serves as a reminder as we work to break free from the grip of the Communist Party.
A major characteristic of Party culture is hatred. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) taught: “Bite into your hatred, chew it, and swallow it. Plant the hatred into your heart so it sprouts.”
Under the Communist Party, people were raised with hatred towards class enemies since childhood. Cruelty toward “enemies of the Party” is praised as a virtue, and it replaces universal values such as friendship, love, compassion, empathy, and harmony among people.
The CCP's inciting hatred and struggle motivates conflicts and causes the Chinese people to have a strong competitive mentality, be very protective of oneself, and disrespect and ignore the needs of others. These have almost become second nature.
Sometimes when we are trying to let people know about the persecution, hatred or other negative thoughts derived from Party culture may manifest in our actions and hinder people from accepting what we all have to say.
As cultivators who follow the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” we should try to identify the hatred in us and remove it through cultivation. We need to open our hearts and be more considerate of others. We should learn to appreciate when others do us good, and also learn to forbear and forgive when others harm us, especially those who persecute us.
A practitioner once shared that she was beaten unconscious by a few police officers. After she woke up, one of them asked her, “Do you hate us for beating you?”
“No, I don’t. I only pity you and feel compassion for you,” she answered.
She said she really hoped they would stop doing evil. With great compassion, she persuaded them not to participate in the persecution, and encouraged them to quit the Communist Party.
I was really touched by her great forbearance. Compared to her, I still hadn't fully forgiven those who had hurt me or persecuted me. Although I stopped complaining about them on the surface, those unhappy moments still constantly returned, replaying in my mind like a movie.
In fact, Master showed me my karmic ties with them in history, and that when they caused great harm to me, they were in fact giving me shining diamonds. Their hurting me was actually an arrangement by Master for me to improve my xinxing and repay my karma.
I once heard some practitioners say, “Posting truth-clarifying posters won’t be useful. As soon as we post them, someone will tear them down.” Some said, “Whoever takes it down will be punished and have pain in their hands or suffer other retribution.”
I think that such thoughts are a reflection of complaints against and hatred of people who are involved in the persecution. The thought itself is wicked and is like cursing people who take down the posters.
Master said:
“But do you know what a bad person is and what a good person is? If your mind is filled with hatred and malice, think about it, everyone: what kind of a being would one be? And it will show in your conduct and even in your looks, and people will see evil in you.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference”)
We have to keep in mind that our thoughts carry energy and can restrain non-practitioners. Sometimes it is exactly because our thoughts aren't righteous that sentient beings commit crimes against Dafa. We have to bear responsibility for that!
On the other hand, if we can have positive thoughts toward the materials and hope that anyone who reads them will change their minds about Falun Gong, then the results might be better.
I know a six-year-old who often goes out with his mother to hand out truth-clarifying materials. He always rushed to put the materials on people's doorknobs and didn't let his mother do it. His mother was curious and asked him why.
He told his mother that the materials he gave out were golden and shining. When people with a predestined relationship read them, strings of Falun immediately eliminated the beings blocking them from being saved, and they didn’t even think about destroying the materials. However, the materials given out by the mother didn’t have that effect.
I was very impressed by what he said. Young Dafa disciples have less contamination from Party culture and the human world, so their thoughts are much purer and more powerful than ours.
We adult practitioners really need to work harder on our minds, improve ourselves, and purge our human thoughts. If we don’t cultivate ourselves well, we waste a lot of Dafa resources and obstruct sentient beings from being saved.
There was an elderly practitioner who had conflicts with her family and wanted to stay with a young practitioner for a while. The young practitioner rejected her and complained about her in front of many practitioners, who then made all kinds of comments about her.
The elderly practitioner was very upset and no longer wanted to cultivate.
I saw their complaints transform into black substances and form gaps among practitioners. When those who agreed with the younger practitioner made casual comments about the elderly practitioner, a group of duckbill-like monsters entered their dimensional fields and replicated themselves infinitely. Those practitioners incurred more karma when they didn't cultivate their speech.
Master said:
“Karma is produced by a person’s doing wrong in this life or in past lives. For instance, killing, taking advantage of others, infringing upon others’ interests, gossiping about someone behind his or her back, being unfriendly to someone, and so on can all create karma.” (Falun Gong, Chapter III “Cultivation of Character”)
If indeed the elderly practitioner gave up cultivation because of the conflicts among practitioners, then she and the lives she represents would be destroyed. What a serious matter this is! Instead of blaming her and saying bad things about her behind her back, we should truly support her with righteous thoughts.
In fact, those two practitioners were mother and daughter in a previous lifetime. Master was using the conflict for them to resolve their karmic ties and improve their xinxing. It was also an opportunity for practitioners who got involved in the matter to improve themselves. Everything that happens around us is related to our cultivation.
Master also said:
“Some people always insist, 'My, how come that person always has such an attitude? Why is he like that with everyone?' And there are some people who say, 'Well nobody thinks too highly of him.' But if you ask me, your master, you're all wrong. When none of you are attached anymore to wanting to hear pleasing things, when none of you are affected when you're insulted, see if he'll still be like that. Exactly because you people have those attachments, there exist factors that hit on your attachments; and exactly because those attachments of yours are stirred up, you get irritated; when all of you have those attachments, the situation where everyone is irritated by the person who hit on their attachments comes about. If you can all keep a calm and steady state of mind while being assaulted by strong words, and you're not at all affected, then see if those factors still exist.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference”)
After the conflicts, I visited that elderly practitioner three times. She was very upset about others’ talking about her and didn’t want to go back to the Fa study group. I encouraged her that she could still cultivate at home.
It was true that she still had human thoughts and needed to improve. But it was our poor attitude and lack of compassion that blocked her from returning to the group.
On the other hand, I also saw an example of how one practitioner who was disliked and not welcomed in many Fa study groups changed himself when the practitioners at a new study group treated him kindly and didn't blame him for the interruptions he caused to their Fa study.
Other practitioners are a mirror of ourselves. When we see others not being rational, lying, or losing their tempers, we need to look within and change ourselves. If we truly do things according to Master’s requirements, things will all change for the better!
Master said:
“When you encounter a tribulation, that great compassion will help you overcome it.” (Chapter III, Falun Gong)
Master also said:
“So, regardless of the setting or circumstances in which you run into problems, you must maintain a compassionate and merciful heart in handling everything. If you cannot love your enemy, then you cannot reach Consummation. (Applause) Then why is it that when an ordinary person angers you, you cannot forgive him?! And instead you argue and fight with him like an everyday person? Doesn’t this also hold true for the interactions among practitioners?” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia”)
Our cultivation environment with fellow practitioners is precious and sacred. We should help and support each other to do better in our cultivation. It’s something that goes beyond any relationship in the human world.
When we let go of the attachment to ourselves, we will have a broader heart, and the conflicts or hatred among practitioners will go away. I hope we can all improve together based on the Fa, eliminate the gaps among us, and truly form one body and support one another to finish the last leg of our cultivation journey.
Continued in Part 5.