How Sad - Self-immolators! How Very Sad, China!

[Clearwisdom.net] A few days ago, I read on the Net a news release by the Xinhua News Agency: Five people set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square on New Year Eve in the Year of the Snake! The news claimed that it was an act by "Falun Gong". I was deeply concerned, for among my best friends a number of them do practice "Falun Gong". I knew that "Falun Gong" is being persecuted in China, and that many have lost their lives, millions are detained, sent to mental hospitals or rehabilitation institutes; I also knew that "Falun Gong" promotes "Zhen, Shan, Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance), and teaches one not to return the same when being attacked! But what I did not know, could they ... ...

I dared not continue with my thought; I grabbed the phone and started dialling. The lines were busy, I could feel my hand on the handset turning icy cold, with my heart trembling, the awful scene of the painful struggle and screams of the self-immolators repeatedly flashed in my mind. I was worried about my friends. Slowly, I started to think about them:

Friend A: A young lad, a software developer, graduated from a top Chinese university; worked as a manager for a computer technology company, a youth with a bright future; friends' comments were: kind hearted, trust worthy, very humble with his ability and success; I always felt his peacefulness and tolerance every time I met him.

Friend B: Small build, quiet, but whenever he's around, others could just lay back and relax, for he was always so willing to contribute, both in service and in providing ... ...

Gradually these memories calmed me down. I started to feel confident that with their senses and wisdom, my friends would not use self-immolation. I also recalled one of my own experiences when I was in China: a college mate of mine, who worked in a department that belonged to the State Department , started to practice Falun Gong in 1996. One day at the end of April 1999, I heard from local police that "Falun Gong" was going to stage a group self-immolation in Xiangshan Mountain. I hurriedly brought this news to her. Surprisingly she laughed and said to me: look at you, so frightened, that must have been a deliberate rumour! I inquired again: "if someone should call for you to go to Xiangshan, don't go." She laughed again: "Who will call? Self-immolation? Not me. Just wait and see, this rumour will soon be broken!" Sure enough, the "Xiangshan Self-Immolation" attempt did not eventuate. When I remembered this experience, I entered into deeper thought; something's going on behind this news report from the central government.

Why is "self-immolation" always related with "Falun Gong"? I still could not figure it out. The next day I rang through to Friend B, and asked: "Did you read the news on self-immolation?" "Yes I did." he said. "What do you think?" He said: "Fabrication." I had a strong desire to find out why he could be so sure, so I made an appointment, and went to see him at his place. He showed me Mr. Li Hongzhi's work "Zhuan Falun" first, letting me read Chapter 7: The Issue of Killing; I understood then that "Killing is forbidden for Falun Gong". Next he took out a book "Falun Dafa - Lecture in Sydney" and showed me the following contents:

"Question: The third question is the issue of killing as mentioned in the book. Killing a life is a very big sin. If a person commits suicide, does it count as a sin or not?

Master: It counts as a sin. Now, this human society is no longer good, and all kinds of strange and bizarre things have appeared. They talk about the so-called euthanasia and give injections to let people die. Everyone knows it. Why do they give an injection to let a person die? They think that he is suffering. However, we think that his suffering is eliminating karma. When he is reincarnated in the next life, he will have a light body without karma, and he will have a great fortune awaiting him. While he is amidst the pain and is eliminating karma, he is certainly not having an easy time. If you do not let him eliminate his karma and kill him, isn't that murder? If he is gone, carrying the karma, in the next life he will have to repay the karma. So, which would you say is right? Committing suicide has another sin. This is because a person's life is pre-arranged. You have disrupted the sequence of the god's entire layout. Through the obligations you carry out to society, between people there is this kind of interrelationship. If the person dies, won't this entire sequence disrupt the god's arrangement then? If you disrupt it, he will not let you go. Therefore, committing suicide is sinful.

When I read this, it became clear to me that "Falun Gong" does not allow/tolerate suicide, let alone self-immolation. Next I went through some videos and photos concerning police persecuting Falun Gong in Tiananmen Square, and read some articles recounting the mistreatment the Falun Gong practitioners' received in jails. It was then so plain and clear to me that the incident must have been a trap carefully set up by Jiang Zemin and his followers to frame and to defame Falun Gong. With a cool head, I was then able to see the many flaws in this Xinhua News Agency story:

(1) On what basis could the Xinhua News Agency so promptly and confidently report these self-immolators as being "Falun Gong" practitioners? The law enforcement and security departments did not even have a chance to investigate such a shocking major incident before the Xinhua News Agency hurriedly released this news. So desperate, and completely disregarding the laws and usual professional practice, what's Xinhua's hidden agenda? It all comes down to the fact that Xinhua is the tongue of Jiang Zemin, whenever Jiang opens his mouth, the tongue has to move first. Pity the brainless tongue, being used in such a manner!

(2) That a CNN reporter's film was confiscated by the police, and he himself detained, showed me an "imperfection" in the performance of this carefully directed, blood- stained drama by Jiang Zemin and his cohorts. Think about it: if these self-immolators were "Falun Gong", and happened to be witnessed by foreign reporters, wouldn't Jiang clap his hands and show them green lights all the way out, probably with an added gift of a few hundred video tapes for making copies? Letting this popular media (CNN) spread the news would be much more effective and would create a far bigger impact than racking all your brains! Why don't they dare to show the videos by the CNN reporter? It must be that lies always have flaws!

(3) Black hearted and handed Jiang, though exhausted from keeping up the persecution of "Falun Gong", is not prepared to back off from his "original wish". Any "Falun Gong" in their symbolic bright yellow (a colour that frightens Jiang) appearing in Tiananmen Square would have been taken down on the spot immediately. How could it be possible then, that these five were able to move all the way up to the Memorial Statue, each pouring gasoline on their body, and then reaching for a lighter to light the fire! It looked more like a director calling for "Action!" from behind the curtain when the scene was set and the actors dressed in yellow were ready to act. The sad thing is, this act was to bury its actors in seas of fire. I could not help thinking: How sad, for those who set themselves on fire!! Who are you? Are you facing capital punishment, or suffering a fatal disease? Are you exchanging your own hopeless "life" for something to support your dependents? Are you laid off workers, or farmers who are cornered by heavy taxes and duties? Do you want to tell the world in the fire that the pain of seeing loved ones suffer far exceeds the pain of immolation? Are you drugged victims of Jiang's diabolical machinations? The dead passed away; pity the "saved four": do you know what your fate would be? Have you come to realise that Jiang is deceiving you and using your "pain" to defame the Great One who is teaching the great truth of the universe and to defame those decent people whose wish is to follow the real meaning of life! Heaven forbid!

I could not face the scene of the incident with peace. I said to myself:

How sad this is - China !!!

Just when I was about to finish this article, I learned from the Internet that Jiang and his gang have increased the number of self-immolators from 5 to 7. It is so ridiculous that they fabricated lies at will.

Yanming

January 31, 2001