(Minghui.org) I spoke with another practitioner today about the end of the persecution of Falun Dafa, as many in our Fa study group hoped that it would end soon. I told him that I did not hold this hope.
I said, “About 100,000 people quit the Chinese Communist Party and its youth organization every day, which would amount to about 36 million people a year. The harassment and persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners intensified last year. Over 1,300 practitioners were sentenced to prison. If the persecution ended now, what would happen to all those sentient beings who have not heard the truth about Dafa?”
I continued: “We have good reason to worry about these 1,300 practitioners, but would you give up the lives of 36 million sentient beings that would be weeded out in order to rescue them? What would you choose?”
The other practitioner said, “You are right, the harassment has been constant this year. I was really anxious and hoped Master would end this affair soon. But looking at it from your perspective I reversed my thinking. The persecution will only temper our righteous thoughts and make them stronger. The more we study the Fa, the more we can negate the old forces' arrangements. For us, it is a question of whether we can endure, while for sentient beings, their eternal lives are at stake.”
Then I shared how I had felt some time ago, “I was destitute and homeless for many years and suffered great hardship. Once when I could no longer bear it, I begged Master to end the persecution soon, even though at times I thought of the sentient beings who had not heard the facts about Dafa and the persecution.
“Once I realized that my thoughts had taken a wrong turn, I was truly disappointed in myself, at how low my cultivation level had sunk and how weak my ability had become. Where was my desire to help more sentient beings learn the truth? If it ended now, how great would our regret be?
“Even though we make every effort to awaken sentient beings, it will be too late for regret when the final moment arrives and sentient beings face extinction. Wouldn't it be like Oskar Schindler during World War II who shed tears of anguish for not selling his car so he could save more Jews?”
My wisdom helped me remember a true story, so I said, “Shouldn't we be like Desmond Doss who dodged bullets, without concern for his own life, to save his fellow soldiers in World War II? This true story was recently portrayed in the movie Hacksaw Ridge. He prayed to God to help him save one more. Then prayed again to save one more, and so on.
“We still have time. We should settle our minds and concentrate on clarifying the truth about Dafa. We should no longer long for the end of the persecution. That sentiment is tantamount to the heartless abandonment of sentient beings. Think of how disappointed they would be, and how much they would suffer if their knowing sides knew this?”
The other practitioner shed tears and said, “I will never again long for the end of the persecution. This is the opposite of compassion, it is selfish and cruel.”