(Minghui.org) When a Falun Dafa practitioner named Li passed away, I fell into despair and felt helpless. Li did what she could and worked hard to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution. She gave her best to help those in need. However, after the persecution began, she slowed down and stopped cultivating entirely. She eventually passed away because of sickness karma.
After seeing what happened to Li, I began to wonder about the point of all her years of sacrifice. She still didn’t reach the level of cultivation she sought and passed away, leaving her family and friends disgruntled and misunderstanding Falun Dafa. The practitioners she once helped didn’t become genuine cultivators—some stopped practicing or even betrayed her.
While thinking that the things she did were a waste of time, I believed it was better for me to stay home and cultivate on my own. I’d do what I could to validate the Fa if the situation allowed, and I wouldn’t worry much if people couldn’t be helped. This way, I wouldn’t attract the old forces’ attention and could avoid persecution. Also, I’d have plenty of time to improve in cultivation and not fall behind or fail.
I became passive, negated everything I had previously done, and stopped actively saving people and helping practitioners who were ill. When I saw a practitioner in need, my only thought was to avoid putting myself in danger.
Master saw my degenerated thinking and allowed me to see the difference between me and practitioner Li.
Li used to be an assistant for a study group. After the persecution began, she organized other practitioners to study the Fa together and to distribute informational flyers. She’d arrange for us to send righteous thoughts together when something bad happened, offer help to sick or new practitioners, and was the first to file a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. Later, a practitioner betrayed her, and she was incarcerated and tortured. The authorities released her after she signed statements renouncing her faith. Then, out of fear, she cut back on Fa study. She continued to help others out of goodwill, and sometimes the outcome was disappointing. Other practitioners would criticize her. She believed she hadn’t done well and tried hard to look within and improve herself. Eventually, she passed away.
Master, smiling, showed me Li’s current state. She was sitting on a lotus throne, wearing a splendid golden kasaya, and had an enormous halo behind her. The characters “Ci Bei” (compassion) appeared next to her. She was a righteous enlightened being approved by Master.
Suddenly, it struck me what compassion really means. I understood the difference between Li and myself.
Although the things she did seldom turned out well, Li did them out of altruism. When she acted with good intentions, and others looked down on and criticized her, she looked within, blamed herself, and didn’t complain. She suffered for others.
When I cultivated at home, I didn’t go out of my way to help other practitioners, even though I didn’t want to fall behind and wanted to consummate. That was selfishness and individual cultivation. I only suffered for myself.
Master saw Ms. Li’s intentions and selfless heart. The ordinary things she did generated an absolutely pure, transparent energy that can’t be achieved through individual cultivation.
I stopped feeling discouraged, because I realized that many of our shared actions weren’t wrong, and we didn’t take the wrong paths.
Category: Cultivation Insights
