(Minghui.org) I am a person who prefers solitude. Since childhood, I have preferred to be alone, so that I could avoid all interactions because I was unwilling to be controlled by others. My greatest desire was to hide in a cave and cultivate away from the world. As an adult, I decided not to get married or have children. An outlier among my peers, I treated my relatives and friends coldly and was not motivated to work with or even help fellow practitioners. At first, I complacently believed this was due to my lack of “human emotions.” Over time, I realized that for a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period, the desire to practice alone and refusing to help others was a manifestation of selfishness. I realized my inability to cultivate compassion.
When studying the Fa, I read Master’s words,
“You should always be benevolent and kind to others and consider others when doing anything. Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems.” ( Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
After understanding this principle, I have attempted to put what I learned into practice over the past few years to become more considerate of others. As I gradually eliminated my selfishness, my righteous energy field became stronger. I encountered many difficult events that were easily resolved.
Compassion for the 610 Office Staff
Two years ago, I discovered an illegally imposed restriction that prevented me from traveling out of China and decided to visit the 610 Office to petition for its removal. As I journeyed to the 610 Office, I truly felt compassion for the first time. I wanted to save them with righteous thoughts and prevent them from committing crimes against Dafa. But at the same time, I remained very afraid and resentful of them, so my feelings of compassion were not sustained at all.
During negotiations, I kept shouting in my heart, “Master, help me.” I suddenly felt myself surrounded by a strong righteous field. Without fear or resentment, and with no fear of life or death, I was almost in a godly state. The officers who had been clamoring to see me instantly hid themselves and refused to meet me.
I knew that Master was strengthening me, but not that I had reached that state of mind through my own efforts in cultivation. I returned home depressed, thinking, “I am not good at cultivation, Master always has to protect me. I may not even reach consummation. I have not lived up to Master’s compassion and the expectations of the sentient beings in my world. If I really fail to achieve consummation, I will bear the bitter fruit of my own actions and give the mighty virtue Master has given me to my sentient beings, so that they can survive.” As soon as this thought manifested, I started trembling and crying uncontrollably. I knew those tears were not mine, but those of the sentient beings who belonged to my world. An indescribably beautiful energy lingered around my body, and I came to realize this was the feeling of compassion.
Each subsequent round of negotiation with the 610 Office and officers at the police station was a test to determine if I could eliminate my selfishness and fear to develop compassion. I could feel Master’s protection at work each time, allowing me to return home safely. With Master’s compassionate blessing, I transitioned from feeling uneasy and on edge with them to desiring their salvation from the bottom of my heart. What was key to this was whether I could follow Dafa’s teachings, let go of my ego, and selflessly think of others.
As I negotiated with them, I started to feel pity for these officers. Having unknowingly committed crimes against Dafa, their souls would face annihilation in the future. When my compassionate side was fully activated, I noticed their awakened sides felt guilty after hearing my admonitions, and they immediately approached their superiors to cancel the illegal restriction preventing my exit from the country. Under this field of compassion, they treated me with polite sincerity, communicated their heartfelt desire to stop participating in the persecution, and even expressed sympathy for me.
Although the issue of my travel restriction remained unresolved, many officers stopped persecuting me thereafter. As long as they were able to change their minds and even reached out to help me, even if my situation remained unchanged, at least these officers could eliminate some of the sins they had brought to themselves from persecuting Dafa practitioners.
Compassion for Fellow Practitioners Who Have Fallen Behind
Through Fa study, I realized besides focusing on my own improvement, I also had a duty to help the practitioners around me who remained stuck. With everyone moving ahead in tandem, we can save more sentient beings. Over the years, most of the coordinators in our area had been persecuted to death or arrested. Scattered like loose grains of sand and devastated from the persecution, many practitioners secretly studied the Fa at home, refusing to come out. Many Fa study groups had also been disbanded. I visited these practitioners’ homes and invited them to participate in group Fa study at my home.
I described the power of Dafa and how I felt after I complied with the requirements of the Fa and improved in levels, before encouraging everyone to step out and save sentient beings. Although my motives were good, my feelings of resentment, jealousy, impatience, and arrogance remained present, so I failed to develop compassion. As a result, conflicts soon emerged. Some practitioners had fallen out of touch with cultivation for a long time and possessed strong attachments to being criticized. When I touched upon a longstanding attachment, one practitioner suddenly jumped up and yelled at me to leave him alone. He refused to listen to my advice, refused to be more diligent, and refused to give up his human attachments.
Faced with this response, I felt aggrieved and frustrated. Although I was tempted to give up, I knew this manifested from him being controlled by human notions and was not genuinely from his heart. I should not let myself be swayed.
Master said,
“When you are working together and experience friction, it is because of human attachments. That is part of one’s cultivation state and process, and absolutely not because someone is truly no good. A person’s good side can’t be seen anymore, as it has been separated. What you see will always be the side that has not been cultivated yet. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a compassionate heart, or should look at people in rigid ways.” (“What a Dafa Disciple Is,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)
I let go of my ego, put aside his words, and looked at the situation from a third person’s perspective with the principles of the Fa. After he calmed down, I replied, “I know these words were not spoken by your true self, and I will not take them to heart. But no matter what you say, I will never give up on you. Even if my chance of success dwindles to only 1 percent, I will not give up, because not only must we save ourselves, but we must also save the countless sentient beings from the world we represent. They are our people and also sentient beings under Master’s care. You must be diligent for the sake of their survival.”
As I spoke, I felt compassionate energy rushing out to engulf my surroundings. This fellow practitioner immediately became calm, reflected on his wrongdoings, and fell into a state of deep contemplation. Subsequently, we encouraged each other to memorize the Fa, put aside our fears, and successfully step out to save sentient beings. We corrected many human behaviors and concepts through Fa study and discussions, thus helping each other improve. Over time, more people joined our Fa study group. Although there is not much time left, we will move forward as best we can, since each of us bears a huge responsibility to live up to the expectations of Master and sentient beings.
Compassion for Ordinary People
I originally started clarifying the truth face-to-face because Master asked us to save sentient beings. I held no compassion for people, especially those who refused to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) despite my explanations. I would condemn such people in my heart, believing them to be beyond hope and not deserving of a second chance.
I am acquainted with many young people, and a large number of them are firm atheists. After I developed a heart of compassion, my strong righteous thoughts allowed me to stop worrying about how they would feel or react. My only desire was to clarify the facts and save them. When they had questions, Master provided me with the wisdom to solve their doubts one by one. Some people told me, “I’m not sure why I believe in your words. It feels as though you are here to save me.” Several ordinary people even made inquiries about starting cultivation practice. A field of compassion can trigger changes in ordinary people and make it easier to save them.
Master said,
“Beings that have not been rectified by the Fa will, on the other hand, use the principles of the old cosmos to go about things, and use those to evaluate Dafa disciples. They will only feel okay with it when you meet the standards that they acknowledge; only then will they let you progress upwards free of interference; and only then will they think that you are qualified to save them.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)
“Thus, Dafa disciples can only save sentient beings when they manage to walk their paths correctly. And only then, while saving beings, can you make it through. It’s that hard. This is what makes it so hard to save sentient beings.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)
After my cultivation level improved, those who were previously more resistant became easier to save. A practitioner’s cultivation level has a corresponding effect when saving sentient beings, and this is the reason that Master has encouraged our continued improvement in cultivation. This is the only way we can save more people.
The Power of Compassion
Before I discovered the power of compassion, whenever I had encountered conflicts or persecution, I had approached the situation with human reasoning, resulting in the manifestation of human attachments, such as combativeness and resentment. Ingrained CCP culture had also led me to believe overpowering others with strength was the only way to sway others to your side.
These past two years have led me to realize the power of compassion. This field of compassion has changed many of my selfish actions and behaviors and even triggered positive changes in those around me by bringing out their innate kindness.
Our cultivation paths are no longer personal in nature since our paths involve the survival of countless sentient beings. The further we progress on our cultivation paths, the heavier our responsibilities. We must be strict and cultivate ourselves well to better assist Master in rectifying the Fa and to fulfill our lifelong missions.
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