(Minghui.org) I suggested to my mother, a fellow Falun Dafa practitioner, on the afternoon of January 6, 2021 Beijing time, that we send forth righteous thoughts for Trump since the U.S. Congress had plans to count the electoral college votes on January 6 U.S. time. We usually would have gone out to distribute truth-clarifying materials exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Dafa, but we sent righteous thoughts together continuously for two hours that afternoon.
My mother and I did only the fifth set of Falun Dafa exercises that evening, before we tuned in New Tang Dynasty (NTD) TV to watch the live coverage of the congressional certification until almost 2:00 a.m.
After learning of the result later that day, my mother and I were extremely depressed. Faced with this situation, I had to calm down. I saw that we were a little too deep into the drama, and were caught up in the election. It dawned on me that we are Dafa disciples and shouldn't be like this, but I still felt a little confused.
When I studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts at night, a sentence kept repeating in my mind, “Wherever you are and under any circumstances, Dafa disciples must do the three things well.” I knew this was a reminder from Master, and I suddenly felt full of energy. My mind was particularly clear when I later did the exercises and studied the Fa again.
Before going to rest, I looked inward for attachments, and reflected on my mental journey since sending forth righteous thoughts for Trump.
I knew that Trump has the courage to reject and fight the CCP, he has the courage to speak for Falun Gong, he advocates traditional culture, and that his reelection would be beneficial to the United States and to the salvation of all sentient beings in the world. Fellow practitioners have also mentioned other reasons for his re-election, such as that his win would be beneficial to Master, who is in the U.S., and the Minghui network, which has many volunteers in the U.S. too. So we should send righteous thoughts for Trump. Despite these many reasons, why did I feel extremely depressed when seeing the current outcome instead of persisting in sending righteous thoughts without being disturbed?
Upon looking within, I realized that I still harbored the following attachments and omissions.
First of all, my frustration was a manifestation of my attachment to sentimentality and emotions. A practitioner's mind state should be compassion, harmony, and staying undisturbed. My fear that a win of the other candidate would be detrimental to Master and Minghui showed my attachment to emotions.
Master is here to rectify the cosmos, who can move him? Minghui has been the website of Dafa disciples for more than 20 years. Under Master's care, it has never been blocked by the CCP despite its vicious attempts.
As for my preference for Trump or dislike of the other candidate, I realized it was not much different than my different attitudes towards people in China that I'd clarify the truth to. There are people who recognize Dafa and know the evil of the CCP, but there are also people who do not believe in Dafa and sing praises of the CCP. No matter what attitude they have towards Dafa, they are all lives that come for the Fa, and are beings that Dafa disciples want to save. What we should have is compassion instead of emotions.
My obsession with the outcome of the general election and my worry that Trump's loss would affect the overall situation of validating the Fa and saving people demonstrated my lack of faith in Master and the Fa.
I now see from the Fa that Master is in control of everything, and everything that happens is based on the amount of blessings and karma that people have. Dafa disciples don't need to be attached to any results. We only need to treat all people as sentient beings to be saved and save them compassionately. The different situations are just the different environments that Dafa disciples face to save people, but our mission remains unchanged.
Since the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, Dafa disciples have been peacefully clarifying the truth and saving people. In retaliation, the CCP has subjected Dafa disciples to arrests, detention, and torture. Dafa disciples have suffered unprecedented tribulations in history, endured all kinds of tortures and even live organ harvesting by the CCP.
Seeing that Trump supports Dafa, upholds justice, and rejects the CCP, I was sure in my heart that if Trump got reelected, the environment for Dafa disciples' cultivation and saving people would change for the better. I now realize that this mentality revealed my attachment to comfort, as I had hoped Trump would help end the persecution so I didn't have to endure any more hardship.
We are never afraid of hardship in our cultivation. Because enduring hardship can eliminate karma, transform karma into virtue, improve xinxing in the process, increase the gong, and eventually achieve consummation.
By hoping Trump would win, subconsciously I had also been counting on Trump to take down the CCP and end the persecution for us because from his series of actions, he was determined to counter the CCP. So in addition to the attachment of seeking comfort, I also harbored the attachment of dependence on ordinary people.
NTDTV was founded by Dafa disciples so we like to watch it. But there is a phenomenon that every time something big happens in the world, some Dafa disciples, myself included, will watch and listen to what NTDTV has to say, which has inadvertently resulted in an attachment.
NTDTV was founded by Dafa disciples as a project to save people. Whether it is the editor or the host of the program, what they talk about, understand, and express represents their xinxing level. In addition, we all know that to save people we must speak from a perspective that ordinary people can understand. What the hosts speak is not the Fa, so if we are attached to their comments, we place ourselves among ordinary people.
What has been lost is already lost. The pandemic is still raging all over the world, and all beings are experiencing life and death dangers. What we can do is study the Fa well, correct ourselves according to the Fa, and cultivate ourselves well, so that we will not be disturbed, and can save more people.