My Thoughts on the Mass Arrest of Nearly 30 Local Practitioners in One Day

(Minghui.org) Recently, nearly 30 practitioners in my area were arrested in one day, ahead of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s centennial celebration. The superficial reason of the mass arrest appeared to be the CCP’s attempt to maintain stability and prevent practitioners from exposing its persecution of Falun Dafa. But deep down, I believe the mass arrest has reflected some general problems in the cultivation of our practitioners.

Dependence on Technical Practitioners Causes Security Risks

The first problem I’ve noticed is the tendency to rely on fellow practitioners for technical support as much as possible, without consideration for the technical practitioners’ safety.

It is of course great if others can repair our broken computers, printers, and other machines used for producing truth-clarification materials. But as a practitioner, we should also look inward to identify our own problems, cultivate ourselves, and be considerate of others, instead of immediately pushing problems to technical practitioners.

If we choose to produce truth-clarification materials, then that is our choice and our path of cultivation. As such, I believe we should also learn to troubleshoot technical problems. If we always rely on others to fix the problems, that’d be equivalent to doing things without cultivating our heart. If so, we might well find a computer or printer repair shop to fix our machines.

As far as I know, there are local technical practitioners who are expected to repair whatever machines that are broken. Therefore, they have to travel often, leaving them little time to study the Fa. And their frequent travel also creates a security risk. If they end up being followed by police, the material production sites they visit could be destroyed and they, along with those running the sites, could be arrested.

Learning Some Basic Skills Saves Time and Lessens the Burdens on Others

As far as I understand, printers are consumable products which are not prone to problems before their lifetime capacity is used up. I once used a printer that did not have any issues in the first four or five years, even though I was printing more than the specified capacity (at that time I did not know that I should follow the instructions and not overuse the printer).

Later, some problems did arise, but most were routine issues, such as air entering the ink cartridge. After asking for support from a technical practitioner several times, I felt bad to keep bothering him and having him travel a long distance. I asked him if I could learn to fix it myself. He said yes and taught me. He even made me a simple tool for me to use to fix the problem myself. It saved time for the practitioner as well as myself. More importantly, it would reduce delays in making truth-clarification materials due to machine problems or cause additional risks.

Eliminating the Attachment to Relying on Others; Walk Our Own Path

My printer had a new problem, but before I could learn another problem-solving skill, the technical practitioner was arrested. I had no choice but to purchase another new printer. I felt helpless since I did not know which one to buy or how to set it up. How I wished that others could help me purchase a new printer, set it up, and show me how to use it. But there was nobody I could rely on now. I had to count on myself.

So I went to the Tiandixing forum to find out what kind of machine would be good, and I found a model with a refillable ink tank, which is very suitable for novices and unskilled practitioners. I went to a local printer store three times and finally picked up the printer. I read the instructions carefully and filled the tank successfully! The biggest gain from the whole process was eliminating my attachment to relying on others and not having to worry about delaying production of truth-clarification materials because of my old printer’s problems.

I was also inspired by the sharing articles published on the Minghui website and written by technical practitioners. In fact, we can find solutions to some simple problems on the Tiandixing forum. If everyone relies on oneself, makes one's own materials, repairs one's own machine, and walks on one's own path, isn't that better for ourselves, our fellow practitioners, and all sentient beings? Isn't it also true that we are all the more mature on the path of cultivation?

In addition, I understand that my area hasn’t achieved the state of having small material production sites everywhere, as many practitioners are still in a mindset of waiting for, relying on, and asking for others' support. There might be various reasons, with some facing objections from family members, some thinking it is too difficult to learn to set up and run material sites, some never realizing they should walk on their own path, and some still harboring fear to run material sites at home.

But whatever the reason, aren’t these all things that need to be addressed and overcome in cultivation? Didn't we also see on the Minghui website that some older practitioners in their seventies who had very little schooling were learning to break through the internet blockade and go online and print materials themselves? At the beginning of the persecution, everyone was inexperienced and did not know what to do, so it was understandable to want to rely on others to help us. But after more than 20 years, if we are still in a state of waiting, relying on, and asking for help, shouldn't we ask why we haven’t taken the initiative to do things ourselves?

I know our local fellow practitioners relied heavily on another technical practitioner. Not only did we turn to him to fix computer and printer problems, but we also asked him to get Dafa books, download exercise music, write and send sharing articles, and send out name lists of those who have quit the CCP and its junior organizations. It made this technical practitioner very busy. There were practitioners looking for him every day to solve various problems. With so many fellow practitioners relying on him, didn’t we create a loophole for the old forces to use as excuses to persecute him? The old forces wanted to see how others would still cultivate without the technical practitioner–would they still do what they were supposed to do as Dafa disciples?

I used to ask my technical practitioner (the one mentioned above who was later arrested) to help me submit my articles to Minghui, because I couldn’t access my secure email on my old computer. But after I changed my computer, I never tried to log on to my email because I thought I wouldn't be able to use it anyway. I figured I’d just ask my technical practitioner to help submit my articles through his email. Back then, I was a relatively new practitioner and did not know many fellow practitioners yet. So I was not needed to help submit information to Minghui.

But this time, after the nearly 30 practitioners were arrested, I received the name list of the arrested practitioners and was asked to submit the list to Minghui. However, I did not know how to send them to Minghui. I asked several fellow practitioners, but nobody knew how to do it. We were all ashamed of ourselves for being so dependent on others.

How do we walk our future path? Who should we rely on next? Fellow practitioners, we need to mature on our own and walk our own paths. We should no longer rely on technical practitioners. In the future, when we have to manage sentient beings in our celestial world and when they have problems and need to rely on us, can we say, “I'll ask another king about what to do?” Will that be possible? We have a compassionate and great Master watching over us and empowering us, so as long as we have righteous thoughts, we can do anything!

Do Not be Affected by Fear

As far as I know, not many local practitioners have been clarifying the truth to the public. For those who did step forward to clarify the truth, some were simply going through motions as if finishing an assignment.

After the recent mass arrest, many local practitioners became fearful. Those who had been clarifying the truth stopped going out, some Fa-study groups were disbanded, and there were also practitioners who hid their printers at home or even lived away from home to avoid being arrested. There are no more Minghui Weekly to distribute in our area.

Fellow practitioners, how can we still be affected to such an extent after more than twenty years of persecution and being on the last leg of our cultivation? The arrest of our fellow practitioners didn’t just target the arrested, but also all of us as a whole body of practitioners.

Maybe the old forces have seen us harboring the attachment to fear, so they targeted some of our local practitioners. If nobody is affected and still does whatever one is supposed to do, then maybe the old forces would have no excuse to persecute fellow practitioners anymore.

Of course, we all know to negate all the arrangements by the old forces, but it is not lip service, and we really have to walk the walk. When we are affected by fear, do we believe in Master and Fa? When we do nothing but study the Fa at home, have we thought of those sentient beings who are in grave danger? We have the mission and responsibility to save all sentient beings. When we are affected by fear and the first thing we think of is to save ourselves, do we live up to those sentient beings who have placed infinite hope in us and look to us to save them?

Not being affected by fear doesn’t mean we should neglect safety and security concerns. In the meantime, we cannot choose to do nothing with the excuse of paying attention to safety. It is also no good if we claim that we do not have fear and do things recklessly. We should strike a balance and rationally do the three things well.

After the so-called “knocking on doors” and “zero-out” campaigns, we have seen that the evil is just a bluff as the CCP has failed to make practitioners renounce their faith. In reality, the CCP is very weak. It depends on how our hearts move. If we remain unswayed by the CCP’s various campaigns, it is nothing. But if we are afraid, then haven’t we fallen for its tricks?

Come to think of it, what are we really afraid of losing? Reputation? Profit? Sentimentality? But those are things a cultivator should let go of eventually. If we can let go of those, there will be nothing for us to be afraid of! Of course, it may be easier said than done, but isn't cultivation about having the aspiration and determination to ascend to higher levels?

The CCP virus is still raging. Shouldn’t we put the needs of sentient beings in distress before ourselves? No matter what the situation is, our fear may be much less if we remember that we are here to save all sentient beings and do what we should do.

Fellow practitioners, the persecution has happened in our area, and what we can do is to send forth righteous thoughts. More importantly, we should look within ourselves, cultivate ourselves well, and do what we should do. During my few short years of cultivation, I have been extremely grateful for compassionate Master's protection and fellow practitioners' encouragement and support. In this article I share some phenomena that I have seen, and what I wrote might not be completely in line with the facts. I just hope that we can elevate and improve as a group.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)