(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners have focused on bringing awareness of the persecution to the Chinese public and the world's people. Yet, sometimes, they fail to bring the truth about the cultivation practice to their own family members. Sentimentality can be a roadblock that prevents family members from understanding things rationally.

Reaching Out to Practitioners' Family Members

A fellow practitioner in her 60s was arrested and taken to a detention center before the 2016 New Year for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. In order to rescue her, we needed the cooperation of her family. Therefore, I visited her son.

He was visibly upset and said: “I always supported her, but maybe I should have stopped her when she went out to distribute materials about the practice. If I had stopped her a long time ago, she would not have been arrested. I will not allow her to distribute Falun Gong materials anymore.”

I asked him about his plan, and he said that he was looking for a lawyer. I told him that I would look for the lawyer for him. He was grateful for my support.

“You are a very devoted son,” I said before leaving. “You do not want anything bad to happen to your mother. If a three-and-a-half-year incarceration a few years ago did not change her belief, what would change her mind now? You might want to know why she still practices Falun Gong. Ask yourself: did she commit a crime, or is she innocent? That said, I understand what you are going through.”

Persecution Without Legal Merit

On the way to the detention center with a lawyer the next day, we talked more. He had many questions.

“Why do you distribute Falun Gong materials?” he asked. “What do you hope to achieve?”

I told him practitioners inform society that the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of a spiritual discipline is illegal, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. Practitioners should never have been arrested or prosecuted for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief and freedom of the press. If people do not stand up for justice, there would be no justice for them when they are wronged.

Why Practitioners Remain Steadfast

“If the practice is truly good,” he asked, “why was my mother arrested and detained?”

I told him that she was arrested because the communist regime is against people holding any belief, religious or otherwise. They do not want her to follow Falun Gong's principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”

I continued, “Do you think she would give up kindness and become wicked and dishonest? They tried in vain to “transform” your mother in the past, but she is a strong woman. You should be proud of her. She wanted to make people aware of what is happening in today's society and help them achieve a clear conscience.”

I told him how people who practice Falun Gong have given up bad habits formed over many years and became kinder and more considerate of others in their actions.

Family Members Feeling Left Out

The practitioner's son said that family members of practitioners often feel left out, because the practitioner focuses on his or her cultivation and ignores the needs of his or her family members. I pointed out how his family began to live healthier lives since his mother began to practice Falun Gong.

“It would be selfish,” I said, “if one benefited in the past from something, and then, when the going gets tough, turned one's back on society and practices it secretly at home.”

“It would be even more selfish if one knows the goodness of the practice and does not clear up misunderstandings among people who were deceived by the communist regime's propaganda.”

I shared with him how practitioners are taught to be kind to everyone, including family members. Maybe his mother had not discussed the matter more deeply in the past, thinking that he already understood the fundamental reasons of her actions.

In the end, he gained a better understanding of his mother's actions and asked me to discuss the issue with her upon her release. Additionally, he agreed to read the book Zhuan Falun, the main book of this spiritual practice, which would allow him to broaden his mind and gain a deeper understanding of Falun Gong.