(Minghui.org) Loyalty is a virtue and an important component in traditional culture. It is also a manifestation of the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In fact, loyalty is critical for both everyday society and cultivation practice.
In ordinary society, loyalty is often associated with fulfilling one’s roles at work, upholding one’s principles, being able to overcome difficulties and let go of attachments so as to be responsible for one’s projects, and supporting others through thick and thin.
With the moral degeneration in modern society, however, many traditional values have been neglected, including loyalty. For example, it is very common for people nowadays to “jump ship” for “more money and lucrative positions.” As I see it, this is the result of a lack of loyalty, responsibility, and capability to resist temptations.
Loyalty and Cultivation
As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I think loyalty means faith for cultivators and is a high realm to be achieved. This concept of loyalty was well established in history.
A great example is Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty, who was framed by a sinister minister, Qin Hui, and was put to death by his emperor. Yue Fei, however, never wavered in his loyalty to the emperor, the nation, and its people. No difficulty, torture, or any temptation could change that.
He was one of the numerous loyal court officials who were wronged or executed throughout China’s history. Many modern day people consider Yue Fei and similar loyal officials silly or even stupid in pledging loyalty to seemingly incompetent and corrupt emperors. What they don’t realize is that loyalty is a higher-level Fa. A life pledging loyalty to their lord is anything but silliness.
We know that the Master of Falun Dafa played the role of Yue Fei during his reincarnation in history. In other words, Master has personally demonstrated in history what loyalty should be like so as to serve as a reference for Dafa disciples today in our final cultivation period. Without a correct understanding of loyalty, a practitioner might go astray on the cultivation path.
For instance, some practitioners have failed to improve their xinxing or grasp the real meaning of loyalty. They find it harder and harder to have faith in Master and Dafa. They also feel that Master is becoming more and more stern. When falling behind on their cultivation journeys, they still only want to hear nice things about themselves, and are unable to take any criticism or warnings from Master. In my opinion, they are using their own xinxing level to measure Master. How dangerous it is for them to imply they are higher than Master. It would be impossible for them to keep cultivating in Dafa. They have failed to realize that they are just low-level beings without any capabilities.
Story of Milarepa
Another example is Milarepa, whose master gave him many difficulties, one after another. From an everyday person’s point of view, this was unimaginable and irrational.
But from the angle of cultivation practice, everything happens for a reason. In fact, Milarepa’s master Marpa later explained, “Regarding what happened in the past, none of us were wrong. I needed to cleanse Powerful Man [Milarepa]’s sinful karma, so I intentionally had him do hard labor and build houses... This is now finished, so I did not do wrong.”
As practitioners who are lost in the maze, we have no idea of how Master is using whatever ways to help us eliminate our attachments and reach consummation. How many of us can remain determined when things don’t go our way? Some practitioners even dream of treating Master as a friend; otherwise they’d have doubts about Master.
Milarepa’s master was deemed evil by ordinary people due to the obstacles he created for Milarepa to remove karma and attachments. Even Milarepa himself almost couldn’t stand it. Fortunately, he never lost faith in his master.
From what I know, some practitioners are facing the test of maintaining faith in Master. I hope no one drops in level. If Milarepa could do what he did with no doubt about his master, we Falun Dafa disciples should do even better.
This is just my personal understanding at my limited level. Master’s Dafa has much more profound meanings beyond my comprehension.
This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)
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Category: Perspectives
