Practitioners Should Not Become Attached to Any Political Party

By a practitioner in Taiwan

(Clearwisdom.net) Any attachment will stop us from reaching consummation. When we consider a political party being good or bad (except, of course, for the evil Communist Party, which is definitely bad), we are looking at it with our human notions, not thinking in a righteous way. With an impure mind like this, we will fail in our cultivation path and also fail in helping Teacher save sentient beings.

If one could reach consummation with the attachment of competition that exists between the political parties, would the peaceful atmosphere in Heaven exist?

When some practitioners speak, they like to imply which party is good or bad, which party needs salvation, or which party has already taken a righteous position. In fact, these comments all derive from human notions. Some practitioners get very upset when others criticize the party that they approve of. This anger comes from wanting others to accept and think the way they do. The motivation for debating the merits of the political parties is wanting to prove oneself right and wanting to validate oneself, not the Fa.

However, when I look at this issue deeper, I realize something positive has also occurred. If no one brought up this issue and stirred up our hearts, we might still believe we no longer held that attachment. Now that the issue has been brought up, we realize our hearts are still childish and attached to fighting, and we still need Teacher to point out our mistakes solemnly in order for us to make self-examinations.

I joined the Kuomintang (KMT) in 1978. Ten years ago I left the army and the KMT. I didn't pay any dues or go to any activities. I haven't been affiliated with any party since then. But did I really give up on recognizing certain parties like an everyday person? No. Every election, though I vote as a non-party person, most of the time I still vote for the KMT. I still couldn't give up the attachment to judging whether something is good or bad based on my human notions. In Zhuan Falun, Master says,

"As a human being, you are a good person only if you can follow this universe's characteristic of Zhen-Shan-Ren. A person who deviates from this characteristic is truly a bad person."

I felt ashamed that I have studied the Fa for so many years and I still couldn't understand the characteristic of Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truth-Compassion-Forbearance). I was merely becoming a somewhat better person (with human notions) compared to those who were lost in this world.

Recently, Teacher has spoken in a solemn manner regarding this issue. If we continue like this, we may jeopardize the practice in Taiwan as a whole. Our compassionate Teacher gave us this opportunity to practice, but not only did we not cherish this unprecedented opportunity, we also pushed this political issue to an extreme. Are we not committing a crime against Teacher and the practitioners who have no attachment to political parties? Wake up, my fellow practitioners. Have we let go of our attachments? The local election is coming up. Do we still have our own strong opinions on the candidates? We don't have much chance left to give up this attachment. Let's not miss this opportunity again. Otherwise, we will damage our practice and hinder the work to save sentient beings.

This article is my personal understanding at this stage. Please point out anything incorrect compassionately.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/4/129560.html

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