Cultivate Compassion

(Minghui.org) We cultivate ourselves in the mundane world among small things. But on one's cultivation path, there is no such thing as a “small” matter. 

My life is rather simple. I go out with a fellow practitioner to bring the awareness of the persecution to people in the morning, study Fa teachings, in the afternoon, and then make dinner. 

My daughter-in-law broke her foot and needed help. She didn't want to worry her mother so she and my son moved in with us. It was inconvenient for me because I could not go out with fellow practitioners during the day since I had to take care of her.

I thought that, since I am a cultivator, it would be natural to be kind to my daughter-in-law. One day while I was making dumplings for her, I suddenly felt sorry for her. She hurt so much but had to act as if nothing had happened when she called her mother. She is kindhearted and did not want her mother to worry about her.

I suddenly felt I really should take good care of her and help her feel better. It was a feeling that came from my heart. It was not just because I am a cultivator and ought to be kind. I suddenly experienced the wonder of compassion when I let go of myself.

Ten days later, her mother learned what had happened and took her daughter home. My schedule was back on track.

With Fellow Practitioners

Fellow practitioner Yan and I worked very well together, but she recently moved to another city. So I joined another team. It took me a while to get used to going out with practitioner Hua, since she would interrupt my conversation with others at times and caused some interference.

I shared with her how I worked with Yan, that if one clarified the truth then the other one sent forth righteous thoughts. Hua told me that I focused too much on the result, that when she worked with another practitioner, they always talked to people together and things turned out well.

I did not reply, but I suddenly didn't want to go out with her anymore. When I calmed down later, I looked within to see why I felt uneasy. It was because I lacked kindness!

Master stated:

“A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.” (“Realms,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

I developed resentment and wanted to give up working with another practitioner because I didn’t get the result I wanted. How selfish and unkind I was!

Master taught us:

“So what's their state of mind? It's tolerance, an extremely immense tolerance, being able to accept other beings, and being able to truly think from other beings' perspectives. This is something a lot of you haven't achieved yet in your cultivation, but you're gradually catching on and achieving it. When another God proposes an idea, they aren't eager to reject it, and they aren't eager to express their own ideas and they don't believe that their own ideas are good. Instead, they look at what the end result of the other God's proposed approach will be. The paths are different--everyone's path is different--and the truths that beings validate and enlighten to in the Fa are different, too, but the results might very well be the same. That's why they look at the results, and if the result of a God's idea can achieve the goal, if it can truly achieve it, then all of them will go along with it. That's how Gods think. Also, if there's something lacking in it they'll unconditionally and quietly supplement it to make things more complete and perfect. That's how they handle things.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. II)

Master told us long ago how to cooperate with fellow practitioners. I felt ashamed that I had not met the standard yet due to my selfishness.

The night I finished writing this article I had a dream that I had to take an exam. Before the time was up, I noticed I'd skipped a question that counted for 30% of the final score. Then I saw that the question was in English, which I did not understand. I took a classmate’s answer and began to copy it. The classmate said, “Even if you pass the exam and go to college, your foundation is not solid since you copied someone else’s answer.”

After I woke up, I realized that time is pressing for me to cultivate compassion, that copying someone else’s answer cannot help me fulfill my mission. I really need to pay attention to my every thought, cultivate away my selfishness, and cultivate well with compassion.