(Minghui.org) As long as one is still on the cultivation path, a cultivator has not let go of all attachments. One still experiences different kinds of issues, good or bad, that have to be resolved.
Master said:
“I’ve seen this problem many times before, with you stumbling along in this manner and taking one fall after another. But what I hope is that after taking a fall, you will all learn something good from it. Don’t always take away bad things from your experiences. When you learn bad things, you are in fact using human thinking to consider things, and becoming more cunning, and sly, which means you are becoming worse.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference XI)
I have seen that on the one hand, while practitioners in China refuse to acknowledge the persecution, they still worry about being tortured. Thus, they think of ways to avoid being persecuted.
A practitioner may remember the bad things he experienced when being persecuted. Especially if the persecution was severe, the practitioner may acknowledge the persecution and develop fear. The old forces will take advantage of that fear, and trigger all kinds of illusions based on fear.
Effects of the Persecution
If a coordinator remembers the bad experiences from being persecuted, it will not only interfere with his validating the Fa, but also affect the cooperation of the group and hinder his Dafa truth-clarification efforts.
I was arrested and sentenced to prison in 2002. I appealed. Two judges asked me if I would continue practicing and I responded in the affirmative. One of them said, “If you keep practicing your faith, then your appealing is meaningless. The fact that you were a coordinator is enough to sentence you to prison.”
After I was released a year later, I decided to no longer be a coordinator. I thought that cultivation does not need a leader, thus I need not take on such responsibility, as this could be an excuse to persecute me.
When practitioners asked me to get involved in the local coordination work, I told them, “We only need Master and Dafa to cultivate. Everybody can cultivate without a coordinator. Practitioners should walk their own path.” However, this was not from true conviction, but was based on my worrying about being persecuted again. These thoughts had a negative effect on our local group projects.
After studying the Fa, I looked inward and found that the real reason for my being persecuted was my pursuit of fame, showing off, validating myself, and lustful desires. I then gradually walked out of the shadow of being persecuted.
No One Wanted the Coordinator Position
A practitioner in a nearby town was arrested and sentenced, but I did not see anything about it on the internet. So we talked to practitioners in that area and asked why they didn't report on it. The coordinator, who was just released from prison, talked to us.
“You don't know the situation here,” he said. “Some practitioners did want to do that, and they even made posters, but I stopped them. In my opinion, they don't cultivate diligently and are not mature in their cultivation. I want to wait until everybody cultivates well. If we expose the persecution at this point, maybe more people will be arrested.”
I then talked to several former coordinators who told me that there were no coordinators in their area. Apparently, most of the practitioners who were coordinators before the persecution began had been imprisoned. Some practitioners then took over the coordinator positions, but they were arrested in 2002. A few practitioners became coordinators in 2005, but they too were arrested. So, the practitioners in that area concluded that being a coordinator could result in being persecuted. Thus, nobody wanted to be a coordinator.
Some coordinators helped the arrested practitioners hire lawyers, and then they themselves were arrested for this. They just were mired in the bad happenings from being a coordinator.
After being released, they held a negative opinion on hiring lawyers to rescue arrested practitioners. In addition, they refused to get involved in any rescue efforts.
“It's useless,” they said. “Not only were practitioners not rescued, but also a lot of money was wasted. Even if it were useful, one cannot rescue very many practitioners. Many practitioners are still being persecuted.”
A coordinator concluded: “If you were persecuted, it is because you have loopholes in your cultivation. If you look inward and get rid of human notions, you won't be persecuted.” They only focused on bad issues and put their personal cultivation first. Thus, practitioners in that area do not get involved in rescue activities.
Master's Surprising Response
In another area, the police arrested a few practitioners who hung up banners in public. Again, the coordinator took away only the bad things from this experience. She stopped all forms of truth-clarifying activities in public.
I came to understand that if I do not study the Fa well, I would have the notion, “I have loopholes; I will be persecuted.” To be truthful, this notion acknowledges the persecution. To solve this problem, I asked Master a question at the New York Fa Conference in 2017.
“Disciple: Disciples from mainland China send their greetings to Master. For over a year now, a large number of kidnappings of Dafa disciples have taken place in many places in our province. My question is, Fa-rectification is approaching the end, yet this kind of interference is taking place today. Is it because there are gaps in the one-body cultivation state, or … ”
“Master: It’s nothing like that. It is just that you have not cultivated well, and they will give you trouble—they will insist on doing this. Using the old forces’ words, mainland China is like the Supreme Daoist’s dan-tempering furnace, and that fire must burn fiercely so as to forge true gold. As I have said, it's not that when a situation is getting better, the evil will also become better. The evil will not become better, and it can only be eliminated. Before it is eliminated, it will act up, especially during its near-death struggle at the end, it will do that. It’s like poison, if you want it not to be poisonous, is that possible? It’s just poison.” (“Fa Teaching at the New York Fa Conference on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Dafa’s Introduction to the Public”)
By asking my question, I thought Master would tell us that there were gaps in those specific areas, so I was surprised by Master's answer.
After reading the teaching many times, I understood that Master does not acknowledge the persecution. This is a flaw in the old universe and is something that Master will rectify. Practitioners' human notions and attachments will also be rectified by the Fa.
Although I was aware of this principle, I did not understand it. Now, I came to the true understanding. All we need to do is do the three things well, and everything will be arranged by Master. We don't have to think about whether one might be persecuted.
Master said:
“It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations. (Applause) So looking at it from this angle, what we need to do is completely negate the old forces. Dafa disciples and I don't even acknowledge the manifestations of their last-ditch efforts.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference IV )
Master Turns Bad Things into Good Things
Many practitioners say that they don't acknowledge the persecution. But, when a fellow practitioner is arrested, they do not focus on denying the persecution and on rescuing the fellow practitioner. Instead, they focus on finding what kind of loopholes the arrested practitioner has, as if the purpose of studying the Fa is to fix the loopholes.
Even if we still have loopholes in cultivation, we should follow the Fa and do what we are supposed to do. As long as we follow the Fa, Master will turn the bad things into good things.
A few years ago, we tried to rescue arrested practitioners at a brainwashing center. One practitioner believed that she needed to see the lawyer at the brainwashing center, but other practitioners thought it was dangerous. She and the lawyer were arrested.
A practitioner said that he saw through his celestial eye that the old forces were trying to persecute here and told her not to go. But when she heard about this, she said, “If I get scared off, doesn't that mean I acknowledge their arrangements? I must go.”
She was sentenced to two years. In the detention center, she and other practitioners created an environment to clarify the truth and save people. She also clarified the truth in court. Their truth-clarifying articles have been spread widely on the internet. Their stories have touched many lawyers and helped many practitioners strengthen their righteous thoughts.
Her experiences made me realize that being persecuted is not what Master wants, and if we follow the Fa, Master will turn something bad into opportunities for us to improve ourselves.
Category: Improving Oneself
