(Minghui.org) A distant relative of mine and his wife are very selfish and often exhibit annoying behaviors. Other relatives often talk about them behind their backs. Over time, I also developed a disliking for them.
I then had a dream in which I met a man who had been sent down to Hell and annihilated because he had done many bad things and was guilty of terrible crimes. But he was now alive and well again!
I was surprised and asked him what happened. He said, “Yes, I was destroyed because I did too much evil, but because I still had a trace of righteous thoughts about Dafa, I came back after enduring many tribulations. I finally finished paying off my karmic debt and was able to return to life.”
I was shocked to hear this and, at the same time, admired Dafa's infinite compassion.
I then asked, “Did you also come down from Heaven in the first place?” He replied, “Yes, I was also in Heaven at the beginning.” To make it clear, he added, “I was in the same Heavenly Kingdom as your relative.”
This made me cry, and I felt very guilty. It turns out that the relative I find annoying was once a great god, who also came down from a beautiful Heavenly Kingdom to this evil and poisonous world. I should have saved him quickly and given him a hand! But I harbored ill will because of his behavior in this life and felt he was not worthy of being saved. I thought about this for a long time.
It occurred to me that we all have a circle in our minds. Inside the circle is what we think should be kept; while outside the circle is what we believe should be abandoned, or even eliminated. But often the circles we draw are too small.
Moreover, I realized that many practitioner's truth-clarification efforts were not done well, which caused many undesirable losses, because we cannot distinguish between what should be inside the circle and what should be outside.
For example, when encountering someone who doesn’t listen or accept what we are saying, although we don’t say it, we may be perceiving this person as being stubborn. We may then quickly place someone like that “outside the circle,” instead of looking at whether we are behaving in a manner that leads people to not understand or to disagree with us. If we hold strong notions and judge people, we simply can’t continue to effectively clarify the truth.
This is like in the story Journey to the West. Whenever the Monkey King wanted to go get food, he would use the magic golden cudgel to draw a circle on the ground, so the goblins could not enter the circle, which would protect the Tang monk and his disciples.
From today’s point of view, each of us is a Monkey King, and, Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, has given us the power to eliminate demons. At the same time, we also have the responsibility of protecting and saving sentient beings. So who should be placed inside the circle, and who should be placed outside the circle?
Even those officials in the public security, prosecutorial, and judicial departments who participate in the persecution are deceived and coerced by the evil communist spirits. If they cannot turn back, they will go to the abyss of eternal damnation. Shouldn’t we also save them? After realizing this, when I read persecution reports, I no longer feel resentment towards those who participated. I only pity them.
The ones we should put “outside the circle” are the old forces, dark minions, and evil communist spirits – those who interfere with people obtaining the truth and manipulate them to do bad things. They are the true culprits that hinder the Fa-rectification and destroy all beings. For doing these things, we resolutely eliminate them!
As I write this, another situation comes to mind: when there is a gap between practitioners, we often put them “outside the circle,” thinking that they are not in line with the Fa and are incomprehensible. At this point, we should first look inward, as we must have our own shortcomings; otherwise, we would not encounter this. If the other practitioner really has a problem, however, then aren’t they like Pigsy in Journey to the West? There is no sarcasm here. No matter how badly Pigsy behaved, Monkey King would not push him away, but still put him inside the circle, right?
I realized that there are actually only three kinds of beings: fellow practitioners, sentient beings, and the old forces. Fellow practitioners, whether they are diligent or not in cultivation, are the ones we should cherish; and we should support each other. Sentient beings, regardless of their appearance, are the ones we have to save. Then there are the old forces who, no matter how evil or hypocritical they are, have to be firmly eradicated.
May we be awake at all times, walk the final path well, and fulfill Master's wishes!
[Editor’s note: 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)]
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Improving Oneself
