(Minghui.org) A few days ago Wong (alias) told me that he noticed that messages sent to our local group were sometimes deleted. At first, he thought it was done by a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agent, but it turned out that other practitioners had done it.
After a message asking that everyone send righteous thoughts for an arrested practitioner was deleted, a practitioner named Evan (alias) said, “Please do not send righteous thoughts for him. If he had maintained righteous thoughts, would he have been arrested?” Evan was usually very critical and had something negative to say about everything. If a practitioner left a detention center, Evan would comment, “If he'd had righteous thoughts, he wouldn't have been arrested in the first place.”
When I heard this, I realized that I had a similar way of thinking, but I never thought it was wrong. Those negative comments sounded unkind and selfish and that the speaker had not put himself in the shoes of the person who had been arrested. It was adding insult to injury.
Wong went on to say that when a practitioner encounters tribulations, their righteous thoughts probably weren't strong enough. If we can send righteous thoughts for them it might help them pass the test. But if we don’t, it is like doing nothing while seeing other people in trouble. Criticizing the practitioners going through tribulations is like pushing them further down into an impossible situation.
I finally realized what was wrong with my initial response - it was a negative way of thinking. As Falun Dafa practitioners, we should consider others first. When another practitioner is in trouble, we should at least send righteous thoughts. We should not criticize them.
Identifying Jealousy
When Wong mentioned that another practitioner noticed that Evan seemed to look down on everyone, I immediately realized that it was jealousy. This started me thinking.
Why did I have these negative thoughts, especially when I do care about fellow practitioners? Then I remembered what I read in “The Ultimate Goal of Communism,” which said that the ultimate goal of communism is to destroy the human race. I realized that, despite my best intentions, I have always been critical and negative about people and things in general. With this negative mindset, how can I save people?
For example, I care about my father and hope that he'll withdraw from the CCP and remember that Falun Dafa is good, but our conversations always end in arguments. I know that these are opportunities for me to eliminate my competitiveness and my attachment to emotion. When I've shown him NTD news programs, he badmouths them. Worse yet, he's criticized Master [Li Hongzhi] and Falun Dafa. It's as though he's been brainwashed by the CCP.
I was puzzled at first, did not understand him, and even looked down on him. I felt he could not be saved and that I should give up on him. I was concerned because every time he attacked Dafa, his skin condition got worse.
Gradually, every time I planned to talk to him about quitting the CCP, I had negative thoughts about him. I realized that this negative way of thinking is because of the indoctrination by the CCP.
In fact, my father was not beyond saving. He is receptive to new ideas. Why did he act that way whenever we got together? I enlightened that communism is preventing people from being saved. My negative way of thinking was in line with its goal. I cared for my father, and we had a good relationship. As practitioners, instead of going along with this negative thinking we must eliminate it.
Stop Blaming Others
Whenever I heard about a practitioner going through a tribulation, I always thought: “If only they had paid more attention to safety, or been more considerate of others, or if only they had not looked down upon others, or they had studied the Fa well, or if only they had not been resentful, or had been quicker in their thinking.” I realized that my being critical was going along with negative thought patterns, which was right in line with communism.
We are Dafa disciples and should follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and walk the path arranged by Master. We must strive for a positive way of thinking.
Master taught:
A wicked person is born of jealousy.Out of selfishness and anger, he complains about unfairness towards himself.A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.An enlightened person has no attachments at all. He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.(“Realms” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I feel that when we eliminate our negative way of thinking, in addition to purging the communist specter, we should dig out our jealousy and selfishness, which might be the root cause of our negativity. The old forces, which embody jealousy and selfishness, do not want us to succeed in cultivation.
In my interactions with other practitioners, I've noticed that some of us still have negative thoughts. I hope we can all walk our cultivation path solidly.
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Category: Improving Oneself
