A Short Story of Compassion

I wanted to share a short story about compassion from a few years ago.

My elder brother is a little eccentric and sometimes a difficult person to live with. He is very easily stressed out, and can be in a constant state of mental and emotional agitation for a long time. He would often end up in intense conflicts with those around him and create an atmosphere of tension around him. Growing up with him, it is not difficult to imagine that I naturally became very resentful of certain character traits of his, his self-centred nature and the fact that he would dominate nearly any situation and conversation which he took part in. I often felt very repressed, jealous, resentful and frustrated. At the same time, I could see that my brother was often deeply unhappy, and this upset me too because he was my brother and I loved him. As a person, his mind is dominated by all kinds of notions and intellectual concepts and he sometimes has difficulties coping with the more emotional manifestations of existence, and difficulties in his relationships with others.

Through reading the books of Falun Dafa my compassion became greater, and as I understood more and more about letting go of sentimental attachments, I found that what replaced them was a simpler, more genuine compassion which could not be affected by how others treated me and which would not come and go with the passing of my emotions. I learnt to take my own feelings more lightly and to consider others’ feelings more carefully in my words and actions.

When I began to practise cultivation in Falun Dafa I still lived at home with my parents and my brother. I used to practise the meditation in my room. One day, as I was doing the meditation, I could hear my brother talking loudly to himself in the next room. He was clearly very agitated and upset. He became more and more agitated, sometimes shouting at himself. This was fairly typical. I began to feel annoyed and upset at his selfishness. Then remembering that my state of mind as a practitioner should be compassionate and peaceful, I stopped myself and suddenly realised that he was completely lost in this world; that he was being tortured by his notions and his emotions, and didn’t believe that real kindness existed; deep inside he was terribly lonely and frightened. I just felt this compassion towards him grow in my heart. All the years of frustration and jealousy melted, and suddenly I just had a simple thought – I wanted to say a few words to him to let him know that there was real, genuine kindness in this world, and on some level to let him understand that I cared for him not out of sentimentality as a brother but out of true compassion. There was no sentimentality in my mind or heart. I uncrossed my legs and went to talk to him. I talked to him for five or ten minutes - I don’t remember what I said, I just remember having the feeling that I only cared about him and not myself, and just wanting him to be touched by the kindness in my heart. He calmed down, and whatever had been troubling him seemed to melt away to nothing. I remember seeing tears in the back of his eyes, as he said something like, “You are really a good person. You are very kind”. I could see a peace in him, which I had never seen before in all the years I had known him. I went back to my meditation with a peace in my own heart that I had never found before.

I know that this is not an unusual example amongst Falun Dafa practitioners. I wanted to share it to help others see the wonderful effect of learning to follow the principles of Falun Dafa.