(Clearwisdom.net) After I was released from jail, the shadow of the persecution still covered me for some time, and it manifested in my body, my mind, and through my financial situation. I experienced symptoms of a stroke, which resulted in having a crooked mouth and eyes, had many conflicts with my wife who is also a practitioner, and had such big financial problems that even food became a problem.
I have been able to overcome this state almost completely now. Looking back, however, I can now see that I had many human notions and insufficient righteous thoughts, which nearly caused me to fall. I encountered the persecution from many aspects, as I had shortcomings for the evil factors to take advantage of.
My understanding with regard to completely denying the persecution transitioned over time. At first, I felt numb with helplessness, but later I was able to take the initiative and negate the persecution directly. I discovered that exposing the evil and totally annihilating the shadow of the persecution is very important. Here, I would like to share my understandings and examples, in the hopes that they may help other practitioners.
When I encountered some problem, these thoughts emerged: "It is dangerous to do this?; it is unsafe in that way? what if I am framed?; if I suffer the persecution, what should I do to eradicate the persecution?" and so on. It might be normal to have these thoughts occasionally, since we have been in the evil environment for such a long time, but it is not right to think this way too much or constantly.
In this way, I was looking at the persecution from within the persecution itself, which amounts to acknowledging the existence of the persecution.
Once I realized that my problems were merely a shadow caused by the persecution, I immediately suppressed and eliminated it, but it still emerged once in a while thereafter. My dreams also reflected this state, and occasionally I dreamed that I was still imprisoned. Then I realized that these factors still existed in my heart and my dimensional field. Some of them were imprinted so deeply that they formed a thought pattern of acknowledging the persecution. When I began to relax in my cultivation or had insufficient righteous thoughts, this mode of thinking would come out.
In my understanding, I have been able to overcome these things because I regard the Fa as Teacher, and I have also been improving myself while doing the three things, including exposing the evil and sending forth righteous thoughts with a particular target in mind.
In these years of persecution, at least several million fellow practitioners have been detained in prisons, forced labor camps, detention centers, and brainwashing centers, and some have even suffered persecution in mental hospitals. Some are still lost in these evil places.
Some have returned home, however, and continue to do the three things well. But many of them hardly get involved in exposing the evil, and even fewer document their persecution experiences in their own name.
In 2008 and 2009, the authorities illegally arrested several hundred practitioners in Zhengzhou City alone. Most of these practitioners were sent to forced labor camps or prisons. However, at this point, reports on this incident are still extremely limited. Once I checked the list of persons and parties involved in the persecution on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom) and found that many evildoers in the prison system have not yet been exposed. According to my observations, most of the prison guards that had been exposed subsequently appeared more restrained with regards to persecuting practitioners, and some even abandoned participating in the persecution entirely.
Systematically exposing the evil requires more practitioners' cooperation. The persecution suffered, witnessed or heard of should be reported and exposed. If all practitioners achieve such a realization, then the evil would be completely exposed and it would no longer be able to persecute practitioners.
Everyday people have a saying, "Bitten by a snake once, he fears even a rope for ten years." This type of fear is the main reason that many practitioners have been unwilling to directly expose the evil. Actually, what is hidden behind this unwillingness to expose the evil, fear of retaliation, and acknowledgment of the persecution are selfish old notions that originated in the old cosmos. As a Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners, we should not have such thoughts.
Master said:
"Clarifying the truth, at the same time as exposing the evil, restrains the evil and lessens the persecution; and exposing the evil is at the same time purging from people's minds the poison of the evil's lies and deception--it is saving people. This is the grandest mercy, ..." ("A Message" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
If we truly stand for saving sentient beings, Fa-rectification, disintegrating evil and denying the persecution, I think we must begin by exposing the evil. At the same time, we can specifically eliminate interfering factors by sending forth righteous thoughts. I believe that we'll then be able to step out from the shadow of the persecution and correct our mindsets.
These are some of my understandings at the current level. If there is anything inappropriate, please correct me.
