(Minghui.org) Master said,
“In the Buddhist tradition, meanwhile, practice focuses on the shan of zhen, shan, ren.”(Zhuan Falun)
When cultivating in Dafa, we need to achieve “compassion” which meets the standard of the Fa.
I remember the few days before Master allowed me to enter the state of gradual enlightenment, I felt myself rushing out of the three realms. As I rushed out, I felt that the space above my being was vast, and once I exceeded the three realms I felt that the two words that could most closely describe my state were “peacefulness” and “compassion.” As my body in the other realm continued to grow, I also assimilated to the characteristics of the higher realms of the universe.
I gradually understood the inner meaning of Master Li’s Fa,
“If human beings want to be valued by high-level beings, they have to practice cultivation and become high-level beings too!” (“Awakening” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
During recent years, everyone has increasingly felt the display of a cultivator’s kindheartedness and kind thoughts, which includes the “compassion,” which can be seen in our behavior and manner of speaking. These are manifestations of our levels of solid cultivation.
The following discussion shows how important “compassion” is in the Fa. Not only is compassion an important factor when it comes to passing the life and death test, it is also a display of a cultivator’s true cultivation level.
A practitioner from out of town once told me that they had a local elderly assistant who had very strong righteous thoughts. Once when she was being persecuted by the old forces in the form of an illness, her tongue and arms became black. She overcame it by relying on her righteous thoughts and her strong belief in Master and the Fa.
At another time, when her motorbike flipped and landed in a ditch, a few of her ribs were broken, but she recovered very quickly. She had quite an influence in her area, and everyone felt that this practitioner was doing very well in her cultivation.
It is important to understand that when we face difficulties, our origins and our righteous thoughts in the Fa will become very important elements. They will help us overcome problems, such as the life and death tests.
Once when I happened to be in the city where this practitioner lives, I thought that this would be a good chance for me to meet her and exchange cultivation experiences. When eight other practitioners and I arrived, we were told that this practitioner was asking us to send righteous thoughts to help her overcome an illness tribulation. As we sat down to send righteous thoughts, I saw that the strong energy field of the Fa instantly corrected that practitioner’s true soul.
I saw that there were two old forces entities holding down that practitioner to keep her within the three realms. I wondered, “Why did this happen?!” I heard that a few years back, when this practitioner was very diligent in her cultivation, she had drifted home without her feet touching the ground. This showed the extraordinary abilities and the greatness of Dafa. Yet, why did this practitioner end up being persecuted by the old forces? So I told the two old forces to let go of that practitioner immediately. They told me that she must die.
I immediately asked Master for help, but Master shook his head solemnly. I understood that she had not cultivated compassion, nor was she “compassionate.” She thus had to face the tribulation of life and death. Furthermore, she also had some issues with being disrespectful to Master and the Fa.
This incident helped me realize that what we see on the surface versus the practitioner’s actual cultivation state can actually differ a lot. The situation was very critical, as the life of that practitioner could be taken away by the old forces at any time. Master put his hand on my head to energize me. With that, I sent out strong righteous thoughts towards the old forces. The energy of the righteous and the evil intertwined and my entire body became numb. After a while, the evil seemed defeated and let go of that practitioner. She was saved for the time being.
Master sent a thought into my head, “Tell her to let go of her thoughts about life and death quickly and really look within. This way, there will be hope for her life to be prolonged.”
The situation for this practitioner was still in a very dangerous state. I then saw that within a very big space, boundless yellow sand filled the sky and ground. The whole world was covered by the yellow sand and there was no life in that world. I realized later that this practitioner had not cultivated herself solidly, and her world could not be restored. After coming out of this state, I shared what I saw with everyone, but they could not grasp the seriousness of the matter.
We returned to this practitioner's home the next day. I saw that Master’s portrait was hung on a side wall and covered with a dirty piece of cloth. I felt that this was disrespectful.
After some discussion I found that this practitioner has been cultivating by herself for quite some time and had deviated in her understanding of the Fa. In addition, her husband had an affair, which led to her becoming resentful. However, she did not take the cultivation matter seriously and eliminate her attachments.
She once had a fight with her husband and threw a hammer, which bounced back from the wall and hit her head. She did not, however, realize that her behavior had deviated from the Fa. She did not often participate in the activities with the other local practitioners, had conflicts with them, and did not look within.
An older practitioner asked us why she was experiencing such a serious tribulation. We replied that such major tribulations require one to let go of the attachment to life and death. Besides, a cultivator must cultivate well to achieve kind thoughts and a kind heart. Not only was this her main problem, but she was also disrespectful toward Master and the Fa. She seemed to understand her problem and admitted that she should cultivate her compassion and look within. I saw that Master had prolonged the life of this practitioner. Only by guiding herself with the Fa could she continue to live.
We had other matters to attend to, but we tried to exchange our cultivation thoughts before leaving. The practitioner was reluctant to let us go. Actually, I was worried, as I saw that there was a coffin beside this practitioner. A few days later, we heard that she had collapsed while at another practitioner’s house. She was taken to a hospital by her family and passed away.
After her demise, that practitioner’s family found her personal savings of a few thousand dollars. As practitioners were helping to pack her belongings, they found a piece of paper on which she had written the name of a practitioner with whom she had conflicts. She used it to curse that practitioner. Everyone understood that if we do not cultivate compassion, we will not raise our cultivation level and may also do bad deeds.
While still with the human space of our cultivation, the situation is very complicated. The lower the realm, the more complicated and dangerous life becomes. Therefore, we must achieve the requirement of the Fa, so that there are no excuses for the old forces to persecute us.
At the level of sentient beings, the Fa talks about being kindhearted. Buddhists talk about a wider and deeper “compassion” to save all sentient beings. However, Falun Dafa is boundless, can forgive all beings’ sins, and save them from going through reincarnation.
Master can make all bad lives return to goodness. During all the years of my cultivation, I many times witnessed Master’s boundless powers. I can only share what I can understand within my cultivation level, improve together, and cultivate more diligently.
When I wrote an experience sharing article a few years ago, I felt that there were some impure substances in my body. These substances were very bad and I could not finish writing the article. I meditated and looked within, but I could not see any reason, so I pleaded with Master.
Master waved his hand and my body was split into two halves. The impure location was clearly delineated and I could see that as I did not cultivate solidly, the matter in my body still belonged to the low-level realms. I felt very ashamed.
Master knew that I recognized the difference in the quality of my cultivation, thus he waved his hand and at that instant, all that low-level matter (living beings) became pure lotuses. My whole body instantly felt very comfortable and wonderful.
Master left us with this wonderful ancient Dafa, which allows all the evil beings and lives that have deviated from the Fa an opportunity to be corrected. This is my fortune and that of all life forms within the three realms!
The profound understanding of the simplicity, kindness, and purity of Dafa is difficult for practitioners who are not diligently cultivating to understand.
I also understood what Master said:
“I dare say that our Falun Dafa is a pure place.” (“Suggestions Given at the Beijing Falun Dafa Assistants Meeting,” from Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)