(Clearwisdom.net) After the article "Expose the Evil Happening Locally to the Local People-With Master's Comment" was published, many practitioners in both China and overseas have made numerous truth-clarification materials aimed directly at specific regions in China. In the aspect of writing articles, I would like to share some of my understanding with everyone. If anything is inappropriate, please kindly point it out so that we can make our materials even better.
1. Clearly indicate the theme of the material
As Falun Dafa practitioners, we often consider the background information of Dafa as "common knowledge." However, many people who receive our materials lack even the very basic facts and understanding of Dafa. They do not know about many of the important issues related to Falun Dafa, for instance, the wide spread of Falun Gong in China, the brutal persecution after July 20th, 1999, the deceit and slanderous propaganda of Jiang's media, the worldwide support of Dafa , and the lawsuits overseas targeting the evil head, etc. Therefore, we need to provide a "Preface" or a "To Readers" kind of short article at the beginning of our material to clearly indicate its theme and to provide the necessary background information. The rest of the articles should revolve around the theme to discuss specific issues in more detail. In doing so, the message that we want to get across will be clear, and every article that the readers read will reinforce the theme. This way the materials will have a more powerful effect.
This short summary of the theme should be written objectively, avoiding the use of words that are emotional. We should truly stand at the readers' point of view and use language that they can accept in putting forth the facts of Dafa. Our compassion towards sentient beings will be blended into those words. Instead of saying straightforwardly, "I am being compassionate toward you," or "I am doing this for your own good," our sincere concern and consideration for all people should be contained in each word and expression.
2. Differentiate the relationship between the Chinese government and the evil head
After reading our truth-clarifying materials, some people think that we are attacking the Chinese government or the leader of China. Out of love of their homeland, they will then take a negative view of our materials.
I think this is not only the issue of the understanding of everyday people, but is also closely related to the understanding of practitioners. Teacher said in Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference, "Our students have said it pretty well: the US's relationship with China does not equate to its relationship with it. I think that was said very well." [Note: "it" refers to the evil head, Jiang Zemin.] I realized that quite a lot of practitioners, especially western practitioners, still regard the Chinese government and the evil head as one. Some practitioners cannot even differentiate the difference between the two, some just use the two terms casually, and some use it to cater to the notions of everyday people. Furthermore, some practitioners even think that given the turbulent past of the Party and its history of forceful repression, it will be much easier to clarify the truth with the terms "the Chinese XX Party" or "the Chinese government" than "Jiang's regime."
However, we know that the phenomena in the human world are very likely determined by practitioners' state of mind. After reading Teacher's lectures, if we are still unable to see clearly on this issue, ordinary people will fall into the same notion as ours and be unable to awaken to the facts. Moreover, the old forces will also use this omission to spread defamatory rumors that we are involved in politics, or we want to overthrow a certain political power or party, etc., to deceive the world's people.
Teacher said in Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference, "No matter what kind of job he does, he is a sentient being. He is a being first. In my attitude toward them, I simply regard them as people with different jobs." As for the Chinese government, there are still numerous sentient beings waiting to be saved. People all hope that their government is dutiful and good. Consequently, due to all kinds of notions, people voluntarily defend the good image that they have created in their minds. If we unintentionally allow the readers who don't know the truth, or moreover, those who are already poisoned by deceit, to reach such a false conclusion that we are "against the government," how many people will not be saved because of this? Hence we must distinctly differentiate Jiang Zemin from the Chinese government, which consists of many individuals, and differentiate the Party from the individuals within it. We cannot give up on clarifying the facts to numerous individuals who hold the identity of "party member" just because this party has been used; nor can we automatically classify all the staff of the Chinese government as Jiang's cohorts just because Jiang utilized the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
When Dafa practitioners clarify the truth to save sentient beings, there are no distinctions among different parties, occupations, social status, political opinions or ages. We see everyone as the same and provide them with the chance to understand the truth. As for what they choose when presented with the truth, that is their own free will.
3. Our mindsets must be righteous when exposing individual persecutors
From the perspective of everyday people's sentimentality, since we as innocent people have been tortured so brutally by the evil thugs, we absolutely have the right to be hostile and to hate them. Nevertheless, we are cultivators of the righteous cultivation practice. From the cultivation point of view, these kinds of hostile emotions are not only looking at the persecution from the standpoint of "humans persecuting humans," but also could not help our readers relate to our situation. This can even obstruct the world's people from understanding the truth. Articles that are too emotional usually lead people to feel that the writers are irrational, going to extremes, or, excessive emotion might arouse in them other unhelpful thoughts. For instance, when practitioners write reports about persecutors receiving retribution for their bad deeds, their different mentalities are fully displayed on paper. Some practitioners are calm and compassionate; they will do their best to discuss this heavenly principle from an everyday person's point of view and tell people the moral that should be learned from this incident. However, some practitioners write articles that leave readers with the impression that we are venting our anger.
4. Saving sentient beings or defending against injustice among humans?
In an article from Clearwisdom.net, a fellow practitioner wrote, "When we write and describe the persecution, our hearts should not be affected or submerged in it. Instead, we should pay attention to saving the sentient beings who have been deceived by lies." I think this understanding is very good.
Over a period of time, practitioners in various countries overseas initiated lawsuits against the evil head. The fundamental purpose is to restrain the evil while clarifying the facts on a larger scale, reaching people from all walks of life, and saving sentient beings. However, when some of our practitioners in China write articles about their personal encounter with the persecution, they ask that it is only to be used as evidence in court, but not to be published on Clearwisdom.net as a means to expose the evil. Of course, if the evil head can be found guilty in the courts of the human world, this shows that the world's people support Dafa and can thereby shock and frighten the evil beings. It is also correct to protect one's safety, especially two or three years ago when the evil forces were pressing in on us. However, saving sentient beings should be a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple's priority. In the Fa-rectification progress of today, in particular, if we only regard the results of the lawsuit against Jiang as important and neglect the quality of the truth-clarifying materials, or overlook each single contribution and the fundamental objective of saving sentient beings in the process of suing Jiang, we would truly be running after the outcome without paying attention to the fundamentals! Furthermore, if we have a very strong desire for protecting ourselves, or if we fervently hope that the court of the human world will uphold justice, then we still have an issue regarding our fundamental basis. Are we doing all this for ourselves or are we doing it to clarify the facts and save sentient beings? Who can reach the standards of the new cosmos through protecting one's own human interests? If we cannot reach the standards of the new cosmos when the Fa rectifies the human world, what will be our fate and the fate of the sentient beings that are relying on us to be saved?
5. Pay attention to the most basic yet most important contents while writing articles
When providing articles that expose the persecution, it is extremely important to fully consider the effectiveness of our materials from an everyday reader's perspective. Actually, regarding some cases of severe persecution, such as death reports and illegal sentences, we should do our best to provide the readers with personal information of the practitioners in question, including the time and location of the incident, and the specifics of what happened. By doing so, the readers will see that the information is actually backed up by sound facts, and thus they will have a deeper impression of how ruthless and evil this persecution is.
For instance, when exposing the use of a certain cruel torture, we need to give the details of the entire case. Why did this specific torture incident occur? What are the direct causes, the environmental influences and the general background? What are the mentalities of the victims and the persecutors? Writing down the dialogues between them and having witnesses are also very essential. This way, the readers will feel as if they were present in the situation, and will be able to experience what the author felt.
We need to have a correct mindset when writing articles, to clearly differentiate the focus of articles written for practitioners from that of articles written for the world's people. Moreover, we need to be truly considerate of everyday people's capacity to accept and understand when clarifying the facts and discussing moral values. In other words, when we really put ourselves in the shoes of everyday people, who desperately need to be saved, eliminate all selfish notions with a calm heart and truly relate to the mentalities of ordinary people. We can then make materials that the readers can accept from the bottom of their hearts. Consequently, more people will have the opportunity to be saved.
In fact, in the local areas where a good job has been done in clarifying the facts, many practitioners had used their real names to expose the evil. They nobly and uprightly clarify the truth; therefore, the evil forces lose all their ferocity in areas like this. The righteous field there becomes stronger and the effect of saving sentient beings becomes very prominent. This kind of environment is established through Dafa practitioners validating the Fa, and is definitely not bestowed by ordinary people.
December 21, 2003
