Don’t Be Quick to Judge

(Minghui.org) A practitioner should measure things with the Fa principles. For a long time I didn’t realized that I measured others based on my preferences.

While I was at a Shen Yun show this year I saw from the second floor that someone on the first floor was holding his cell phone, and the image of the emcee appeared on his screen. His cell phone was still on after the program began. At first I thought security would handle it, but no one came. I signaled security on the second floor, but he did not see me.

I approached the security on the second floor and told him that someone was recording the show on their cell phone. He said, “I didn’t see anything.” I remained calm and told him, “Come with me, and I’ll show you where the person is.” When he saw that someone was indeed recording, he quickly informed the security on the first floor to resolve the issue.

I knew this security person because he was in charge of safety during local events, but he didn’t know me. I did not like him because he often talked about rules and this made me feel uncomfortable. I felt he wasn’t friendly. This incident at the theater allowed me to see that he wasn’t as difficult as I thought. Instead he listened with a humble attitude when I pointed out a problem, and acted quickly to resolve the issue with a sincere and friendly attitude.

I realized that it was indeed my problem that I didn’t like him. I liked people who were easygoing. I didn’t like rules or the feeling of being restrained from what I wanted to do. When I interacted with someone who paid attention to the rules, I unconsciously rejected them and did not use the Fa to measure my thoughts. I did not look within when I felt uneasy.

I realized that I always rejected people who held me to strict standards. As soon as someone treated me sternly, I got upset, thinking that person was not benevolent, and did not act like a practitioner. This was in fact me looking for an excuse to act the way I want.

What I wanted was to avoid conflicts and suffering, and live comfortably. I had no regard for others. This would bring a lot of problems if a practitioner overly stressed his preference, and always wanted others to be considerate of him to make him happy. A practitioner should always be considerate of others and prioritize saving people.

If a Chinese Communist Party agent posed as a practitioner, he might exploit our attachments. The agent may be able to manipulate us by using our notions of liking people who are friendly. We’re practitioners, so we should follow the teachings and not indulge ourselves.