(Minghui.org) There will be a presidential election in the US this year. I have noticed some practitioners making all kinds of comments about the different candidates. I also had my own opinions about this election. However, I do not think this is correct.
Hearing practitioners make political comments that I didn’t agree with helped me to recognize my own attachment in this regard and rectify my thinking on these issues.
In my understanding, Master has taught us that human beings' political matters are arranged by the heavens and have no bearing on cultivators.
“In my lectures I have repeatedly stressed that the form of human society—no matter what type of social or political system—is predestined and determined by heaven. A cultivator does not need to mind the affairs of the human world, let alone get involved in political struggles. Isn’t how society treats us testing cultivators’ hearts? We should not get involved in politics.” ("Cultivation Practice is Not Political," Essentials for Further Advancement)
Being attached to liking or not liking a certain politician or party is obviously just an attachment, but during this special period of time when Dafa disciples are to clarify the facts to society at large, this attachment can cause serious interference.
I felt that Master's recent lecture was very serious. One of the warnings Master gave in the lecture mentioned practitioners airing their opinions on ordinary issues.
Is it a coincidence that, after the recent lecture, there is now an election in the US, which people seem to have a number of strong views on? I believe this could be testing some of us.
“But whatever the case, sometimes when I see the articles [you are publishing], I can’t bear to read them, for they almost seem to be speaking on behalf of the wicked CCP. And some of you write critical opinions on things that are of ordinary people, and even sometimes sensationalize those things. Do you not realize that you are supposed to be saving people? You must not make enemies. You should report things the way other media do, as you are media. Why would you want to go and offer opinions on things that are of ordinary people? And you even feel compelled to give your opinion on whether something is good or bad, and get all worked up. But you are a cultivator. Do you not know what you are doing? If something you have said causes people to think that your media has a negative opinion of them, and they develop an aversion, or form an aversion toward Falun Gong, then how are we going to save them? Then what role did you play? And in some cases you have even gotten all worked up about certain things that have happened in China. When someone was arrested, you got worked up and went off about how they only arrested people who didn’t have much power, and so on. You don’t even know who you are anymore. Are you a member of that evil Party?” ("Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference")
Although Master was addressing the media in the above quote, perhaps we should consider that our public voice—especially those practitioners who are active in social media—is also a form of media, and we should likewise be responsible concerning these issues.
Practitioners are supposed to conform to ordinary society, but that doesn’t mean that we should be exactly like ordinary people, especially when doing so will interfere with our clarifying the facts.
I should mention that, when I’ve seen practitioners talk about these issues, they do come across as more benevolent than ordinary people, many of whom can become quite vicious when discussing politics.
Also, in my understanding, the Fa that Master has taught us is the Fa of high levels and Master has not yet taught the Fa to ordinary society. Master has mentioned many times, in my understanding, that human society is complex, with good and bad hard to tell apart. As such, we should be careful not to casually mix our understanding of Dafa with ordinary matters.
“My Dafa disciples, do you realize something? In terms of what I expect of you in relation to the Fa, I don’t have a lot of outward rules or requirements. But other religions and cultivation forms are quite stringent on those things. So why the difference? I only ask you to focus on the substance of Dafa, for that is what you are to cultivate by as Dafa disciples at present. As to surface things, I haven’t asked you to focus on them much, for those will be things addressed during the period of the Fa’s rectification of the human world. They are of too low a level for you to concern yourselves with—that’s the idea. The requirements will be high, however, during the Fa’s rectification of the human world, and at that time it won’t work if you aren’t reading the Fa in Chinese, if you don’t understand the meaning at the source.” ("Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference")
"In the workplace or in society, some people may say that you are bad, yet you may not necessarily be bad. Some people may say that you are good, but you may not really be good." (Zhuan Falun)
If we have strong political opinions, maybe we should ask ourselves: are these opinions something a cultivator should get rid of?
What if we air public comments supporting a candidate that has helped the Chinese Communist Party persecute Dafa? What if we oppose a candidate that has all along supported Dafa and then push that person and those that support them to the other side with public comments? And we do this all because of incorrect notions that we should not have had in the first place.
Helping to awaken ordinary people out of their atheistic and science-based notions is something I think practitioners should do if they can. We also need to clarify the facts to people. What does airing political views have to do with those things?
The above is only my personal understanding at a limited level. Please compassionately point out anything that is incorrect.
Category: Improving Oneself
