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Be Compassionate, Even When Misunderstood and Hurt by Fellow Practitioners
By Huan Ping
(Clearwisdom.net) Under persecution, in a complex and difficult
environment, it is possible that one can be misunderstood, wronged and even hurt
by fellow practitioners, especially in the current situation of the brutal
persecution in China. For example, you do Dafa work with a practitioner and the
wicked people do not have any information about you. If the practitioner gave
out information about you and as a result, you were arrested, your home was
ransacked and you were sentenced, could you still keep a calm mind towards that
practitioner? Take another example: say you break out of detention in a
dignified and upright manner, yet some practitioners say that you have given in
to the evil and have been sent out to do things for the police, and fellow
practitioners also treat you with caution -- could you maintain your xinxing
and know how to do well? Take another instance: In your effort to validate Dafa,
you need fellow practitioners' help and cooperation, yet you cannot tell the
details to all the practitioners involved. Hence some practitioners suspect you
and some even criticize you, and this makes practitioners who used to be
supportive waver and misunderstand you. Or, the group you work with pays enough
attention to security, yet some other practitioners' lack of careful
consideration or their attachments cause the Dafa work environment that you
carefully maintained to be damaged and losses are incurred. When encountering
these circumstances, one cannot do well without a clear and rational
understanding of the Fa and a cultivator's magnanimity. It is very easy to fall
into the traps arranged by the old forces and have conflicts intensify among
practitioners, which causes separation between practitioners or even a knot to
develop in their hearts. Everyone's path of cultivation is different. My path includes enduring the
hardship of being wrongly treated by fellow practitioners. I have been illegally detained three times, and every time it has had
something to do with a fellow practitioner giving out information about me.
After I broke out of detention, practitioners mistreated me. However, I did not
have any resentment or deal with it with everyday people's thoughts. I treated
those practitioners as if nothing had happened. As an example, a practitioner and I went to Beijing together and I came back
safely. My employer did not know about my going to Beijing, but the other
practitioner was arrested and he gave information about me. As a result, I was
in detention for nearly 2 months. Other practitioners all blamed this
practitioner and refused to contact him. After I was released, the first thing I
did was to visit him and tell him to definitely not fall into a mindset of
self-blame and regret, and to not keep lying there without getting up. Seeing
that I was happy and so considerate of him without any resentment, he cried. He
held my hands and promised that he would cultivate until the end. I treated the two other practitioners in the same way. We are cultivating
instead of doing things like everyday people. Is there anything we cannot
endure? After breaking out of detention, I, together with several others, focused on
distributing truth-clarifying materials, and we did an extensive job of it. Soon
a practitioner started to spread rumors, saying that I was "sent by the
police to do things for them" and that I was "a spy who will sell out
practitioners." I kindly asked to talk to her but was refused. I had to ask
fellow practitioners to pass on my words to her. During that period of time,
which was nearly 8 to 9 months, she reacted very strongly to this issue and it
affected us quite intensely. Nonetheless, I treated her with compassion and
looked at her good side in cultivation and her being responsible to Dafa.
Meanwhile, I realized that I should eliminate the interference from the hidden
evil factors. Eventually she realized that she had made a mistake, but sadly, by
then she had been detained and persecuted. There are some similar examples, and some are even very serious, yet I do not
want to give more examples. I endured these hardships without any grievance.
Looking back at my path of cultivation, I have the following feeling and
understanding: First of all, the most important thing is to search inward. When conflicts
occur, especially at the time when other people mistreat you, one still has to
search inward for one's own problems. This is very painful and very difficult to
do, but it is very necessary. The major characteristics of a Dafa disciple's
cultivation is that the practitioner will search inward upon experiencing
conflicts. The major weakness of the living beings in the old cosmos is that
they only want to change others, rather than to change themselves. When
experiencing conflicts, I always check myself to see if I have mistreated
others, or if I have attachments related to the conflicts occurring, such as an
attachment of pursuing fame, attachments to getting everything done perfectly,
or an attachment to not allowing others to find fault with me. We know from the
Fa principles that there is no coincidence in our cultivation when conflicts
occur, and there must be some attachments that we have to let go. By deeply
planting this Fa in our mind and searching inward, one can see "the shade
of willows, the bloom of flowers, a place to rest my head"! Secondly, we must forgive others. Possibly driven by some attachments, other
practitioners may treat you badly or may find fault with you. You have to use a
calm and quiet mind to deal with these conflicts, and never fall into the
situation of quarrelling with others like an everyday person. If we do not
handle the conflicts this way, the conflicts will not be resolved, and might
turn into even messier situations. Nor should we deal with conflicts in
unrighteous ways. It is very difficult to deal with these issues calmly in our
cultivation. One thing we should be very clear-minded about is that when other
practitioners say that you are a spy and that you are damaging Dafa, you have to
maintain a very clear mind about your own conduct. If you can distinguish right
from wrong from the perspective of the Fa, then you are rational and will not be
swayed by qing (sentimentality). You can even see the practitioner's good
intention of being responsible for the Fa from a practitioner's wrong words that
criticize you. At this moment, your heart to accommodate and tolerate other
practitioners will develop and emerge. Then you will realize that it is only a
display of some of his or her attachments, and you will allow other
practitioners to continue cultivating themselves gradually. You will also
believe that other practitioners will cultivate themselves well in the end. Thirdly, we must eliminate the interference and damage that are caused by the
old forces lurking behind the scenes. Actually, things on the surface are always
the result of factors behind the scenes. When practitioners do not practice
their cultivation according to the Fa or develop some attachments, the dark
minions of the old forces will exploit their attachments and keep increasing
their attachments. Eliminating the evil behind the scenes does not mean that we
treat other practitioners this way or that way. What is eliminated is exactly
the barrier built by the old forces. When the factors behind the scene are
eliminated, the situation on the surface will also change accordingly. For practitioners who are mistreating you, they are cultivating themselves as
well, so we should not easily and quickly draw conclusions about them. During
the year when I was detained in the labor camp, thirteen practitioners who were
enlightened along an evil path and who were referred to as collaborators, took
turns trying to brainwash and convert me. Some even tried to brainwash me
several tims. The words they said were very evil and despicable, and I seriously
reprimanded them. Now I know that many of them came back to continue their cultivation and some
of them have cultivated very well. I knew a practitioner who had enlightened
along an evil path and served as a captain in the labor camp. Many practitioners
knew that she had done many bad things. Whenever they talked about her,
practitioners would get very angry and upset. However, during a conversation I
had with her, she recognized and corrected her mistakes. She looked at Teacher's
photo and loudly and full of regret began to cry. She sobbed and said, "I
have done wrong. What have I have done? Teacher, will you still take care of
me?" I said to her, "Teacher will take care of you. Teacher is very
kind and compassionate. Teacher will certainly take care of you." I cried
as well. I studied the Fa with her, and provided her with truth-clarification
material. It has been two years since, and she is truly cultivating herself very
diligently. The conduct of the collaborators are despicable and criminal, but we should
not hold on to too much of everyday people's mentality. Under the severe
pressure, many practitioners followed an evil path, did bad things and were
labeled as traitors, ones who damage Dafa, and even as evil people. After
returning to free environments they recognized their mistakes and problems, and
continued to cultivate themselves in Dafa. We should not draw a conclusion about
other practitioners from their conduct under severe tribulation. We have to look
at them from all perspectives, and their conduct in the end. As for those people
who have created irreversible damage and losses to Dafa and Dafa disciples, they
will be handled by the principles of the cosmos, and we should not be angry with
or hate them with an everyday person's mentality. Because what Falun Dafa
requires us to cultivate is pure compassion and kindness, this is Dafa's
standard for the level of our purity. Teacher said: "He didn't do well today, but aren't you old forces still persecuting
people? I'll have him do things over tomorrow, and definitely have him do them
well! (Applause) Hasn't what's happened proven that Dafa disciples have
become more and more rational, become more and more clearheaded, and done
better and better? Aren't they more and more determined?! (Applause)
When you ultimately really do become determined, then all of what you did in
the past can only be the cultivation process playing out. That's really how it
is." ("Explaining the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West
Fa Conference") If practitioners can truly meet the standard of Teacher's Fa and use
"compassion that can melt steel" to deal with everything, the
conflicts that arise due to mistreating other practitioners will not occur. Even
if it occurs, it can be easily resolved as well. This is my personal understanding; please correct me if it is incomplete. |