(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Our Lawsuits Are All the Best Cases in the Human World
Our legal cases are the best in the world because they demonstrate Fa-principles, and are carried out by Dafa practitioners' cultivating on the basis of validating Dafa. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference," Teacher says:
"You need to be clear that a Dafa disciple's cultivation is about stepping out of humanness; it is to step out of the old colossal firmament that is restrained by all kinds of factors that result from endless, countless, innumerable beings in this old cosmos; it is to gain a new life, emerging from an environment that is at the last of the last stage of the formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction process of the colossal firmament."
A European practitioner said it well, "Everything we have done has all been taken care and done by Teacher. All we have to do is to step out of humanness in order to save sentient beings."
Our lawsuits target Jiang Zemin and his accomplices. This is a focused manifestation of Dafa practitioners comprehensively clarifying the truth to save sentient beings and validate the Fa in the human world. No case in the human world holds more value. Our citing legal rules and precedents, and the strength of our court arguments have been accomplished because we are able to use existing materials in the human world at will. This is a tool and method to facilitate our clarifying the truth to people.
2. Reiterate the Moral Principles of the Law
1). No Person is Above the Law
The law should not grant immunity to any previous or current government officials' acts that violate international law. Jiang Zemin has designed, ordered, implemented and directed a program of eliminating the practice of Falun Gong in China (1), resulting in the selective murder, disappearance, widespread torture and genocide against thousands of practitioners of Falun Gong. In 1997's Clinton vs. Jones case in the Supreme Court, the American public witnessed that even President Clinton did not contend that a President is above the law. Why should the Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin be above the law?
2). Universal Rights Are a Higher Law, Not Subject to Manipulation for Temporary Gain
Jiang's group continues to use diplomatic channels to contact U.S. government officials, encouraging them with economic and other interests to dismiss this lawsuit (1). The interference by the Chinese government with the separation of powers in the U.S., interference in the law and the independence of the judiciary, is unacceptable. The interference challenges and threatens the United States' founding spirit of democracy and freedom. The international society respects treaty law, international law and each country's judicial law and case law. There are certain acts that are considered to be beyond, transcendent, or universal, which are not contingent on the foreign policy of a country, or the political and economical need of the moment. When someone violates these norms, even if he is a current or former head of state, he has to be held accountable. Abiding by these norms, people can cooperate and work together in a civilized system. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Everyone has the right to be free from unwarranted searches and seizures, the right to be free from that kind of the persecution that is going on in China. These inalienable rights are universal, they are beyond and transcend national boundaries.
3). Signatory Countries of International Treaties Have the Responsibility to Follow and Implement International Treaty Obligations
Both the international torture and genocide conventions say that if someone commits torture or genocide, he will be responsible regardless of his status. Any signatory country has the responsibility to implement these treaties and to stop similar violent acts from happening and to bring the responsible persons to justice. The first immigrants of the United States came to this free land to escape religious persecution. Freedom of belief is one of the founding principles of the U.S. The writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Madison, and Benjamin Franklin are replete with mention of the universal norms that operate as the laws and principles of all civilized states. These rights enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution are not contingent, but universal. They are the norms of conduct that form the very bases and foundation of our legal, moral and civil order. They are referred to as the "founding spirit of America" and the "American values". President Bush referred to them as inalienable, God-given universal values.
4). The Persecution Initiated by Jiang Zemin is Unlawful in China
The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is a catastrophe which violates many different Chinese laws and many rights provided in the Chinese Constitution. The creation and existence of the "610 Office" is a total violation of numerous laws and policies. This persecution prevents China from being in sync with the world. It completely destroyed China's newly established legal system. The persecutory movement makes is profitable for people to engage in criminal acts against their fellow citizens, but the lawsuits do not target the Chinese people, they target Jiang Zemin and a small group of people who follow him to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The lawsuit is not simply for the sake of Falun Gong practitioners' rights, but also for the sake of all basic human rights, more universal rights, the right to be a good person and the right to practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. This right is not yours, mine, or his. It is shared by everyone. Just like the ocean, sky, earth and air belong to everyone and are shared by everyone in spirit. Falun Gong practitioners' filing lawsuits against Jiang Zemin is not meant to seek revenge and compensation amidst the persecution. Rather, the lawsuits can help every Chinese person gain the most fundament right of freedom of belief and return to good and kind nature that they were born with.
5). The Lawsuits Help International Society Understand the Truth
The choice between personal interests and morality is an opportunity and a test for every government and person. These lawsuits help international society understand the truth in order to make the right choice based on one's own conscience. As a Falun Gong practitioner said in a forum during the recent UN Human Rights Commission's Annual Meeting when he proposed to condemn China's human rights condition (2), "Falun Gong teaches people to practice the principle of 'Truth-Benevolence-Forbearance.' A genuine internal cultivation following the principle will inevitably lead to personal integrity, courage, and universal love. This book, which documents the Chinese government's violence against women and children Falun Gong practitioners, is a product of courage and love of Falun Gong practitioners, who risked their lives to inform the world what is really going on in China. Someone said to me that we have taken a confrontational approach. I disagree completely. Our approach is completely peaceful. Ours is an approach of courage and love. The Chinese people's quest of freedom, including the quest of freedom of belief and religion, is a quest of courage and love, and at the same time resists hatred and fear. Their quest is not just for themselves, not even just for all Chinese, but for all humanity. With my heart-felt sincerity, I call upon the world, vote with your conscience, vote for your own humanity."
3. The Relationship between Clarifying the Truth to Save Sentient Beings and the Process of the Lawsuits
In "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference" Teacher says:
"Actually, speaking from another angle, being able to bring the evil to court and being able to sue it, I can tell you, that's because the evil has decreased to such an extent. It no longer has the ability to deal with things. It's too occupied to take care of anything beyond ensuring its own life. You've seen how one after another the cases you filed have been accepted and successfully litigated. That's telling. But some of you are still thinking, 'What's going on?' It isn't about something going on. It's just that the evil is on its way down."
Fa-rectification's progress determines our different lawsuits' progress in different countries. Our cultivation state as a whole is the driving force for the lawsuits' progress. Fa-study assures making good progress. If we as a whole study the Fa well, have an in-depth understanding of the overall situation of validating the Fa in the human world, and clarify the truth extensively and powerfully, it will be easier for us to break through the obstacles. If an individual studies the Fa well, his/her personal cultivation problems will not accumulate, when working with fellow practitioners he/she will have fewer conflicts, so the work can be done smoothly.
Does our current understanding meet the requirements? Through experience sharing, many practitioners feel that clarifying the truth using the form of lawsuits is a boundless process. When a lawsuit is processed at the first-level district court, if our joint efforts of truth-clarification cover all necessary areas and aspects, the overall situation may be pushed forward more smoothly. At a higher level in the human world, the requirement we have to meet is even higher. In terms of things that we have not been able to do well in the past, it is not enough to simply follow the old standard to proceed. We must meet a higher requirement in our understanding of the Fa-principles.
Recently, practitioners in two or three areas had the opportunity to explain the true facts of the persecution to legal experts. Some practitioners had never been involved in government or media work and didn't think that they had a good command of English. When they clarified the truth to distinguished legal professionals for the first time, they were scared and timid. With an intention to save sentient beings, they constantly broke through this fear, and boldly faced the world's experts.
Practitioners explained the facts of the persecution suffered by their relatives and explained why people should pay attention to the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. They explained why a fair and reasonable judicial system should help to stop the persecution, and why they should make a choice of conscience when economic temptations conflict with their country's founding spirit.
These efforts have achieved a very good effect. One of the reasons that they were successful was because the practitioners were not attached to whether people would sign or support a specific letter or proposal. Instead, they made actual and solid efforts to let every expert who listened to their explanation come to understand the true facts. Experts promised them that, when it is possible, they would be willing to conduct classroom discussion/seminar on Falun Gong related lawsuits. Some of the experts were willing to let their students get involved in some possible cases, etc...
Another area's practitioners also made new breakthrough. They did not stop at just clarifying the truth to individual experts. First they clarified the truth to people who hosted a law convention. Then, they then asked the chairman to give them three to five minutes to let them make a speech at the meeting full of legal professionals, to summarize the true facts of Falun Gong. They have also achieved a very good effect. Every night practitioners got together to share their understanding and ideas of the day. They searched within themselves for shortcomings. Every day they made great improvements. Every one of them clarified the truth well. Ordinary world's experts were also satisfied with practitioners' efforts and many people have expressed their gratitude toward practitioners' truth-clarification of Falun Gong in a systemic manner.
However, we are not working among everyday people after all. Sometimes a similar experience was less effective, because we repeated previous successful actions without making improvements in ourselves as a whole body. Our estimation of possible scenarios was inadequate because we did not have enough preparation to make in-depth truth-clarification efforts with higher quality. Now, when something backfires on the surface, rather than being intimidated by it, everyone shares their understanding of Fa-principles to find possibilities to elevate themselves.
By getting involved in the legal system, practitioners have seen a lot of opportunities. The process of filing a lawsuit is full of opportunities to clarify the truth. Practitioners don't aim at pushing their projects forward when they clarify the truth, but truth-clarification is instilled in the actual process. Practitioners also saw opportunities to clarify the truth to professionals in different fields and people from all walks of life.
4. Searching Inside Ourselves as One Body
a) We still do not have enough people who took the initiative to participate. Only "a select few elite practitioners" participate. This is a common phenomenon in various areas which stems from different understandings: Some practitioners claim: "I don't understand the law, therefore I cannot participate" or, "Others are already taking care of it, so I can do something else", etc. At the critical moment, some practitioners realized that because they didn't really understand the situation well, and that their statements did not make sense, so they were afraid to say something wrong.
This has caused trouble to the actual process of filing a lawsuit. As a result, some practitioners don't dare to take the initiative to clarify the truth. Instead, they asked practitioners with "good knowledge" to give them talking points, to set the scope and to write a speech for them. Another related phenomenon is that the filing of a lawsuit seems to be the concern of only the litigant practitioners and practitioners in the area where the lawsuit is submitted. Although those practitioners actively and diligently clarified the truth, with only this number of practitioners, after all, they as a whole were still not strong enough to form a big and powerful energy field of justice. Looking at the overall situation, in terms of being diligent and taking the initiative, they lacked the large-scale and large-scope coordination and participation demonstrated by practitioners in other areas. For example, when they first started processing the lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, Chicago practitioners clarified the truth in an in-depth manner to local government offices and the law community's personnel. This is something that practitioners in other areas have failed to completely catch up with.
b) Some practitioners became trapped and entangled in issues of law. We should take the initiative to understand a lawsuit from the perspective of Fa-principles and understand the relationship between Fa-rectification, saving sentient beings and filing lawsuits. Subconsciously, some practitioners probably clarify the truth to people with an attachment of pursuit. Just like what Teacher has mentioned about our attitude toward the United Nations' human rights issue: practitioners do not completely consider "saving sentient beings" the goal of their work; instead, subconsciously, they focus on the progress of a lawsuit. From time to time they appear as if they do well. They saw truth-clarification as a route to make progress, rather than realizing that the filing of a lawsuit is one of the forms of truth-clarification. Legal process is meant to resolve legal issues. Our practitioners should be careful not to get wrapped up in the legal aspects. We should completely eliminate our fundamental attachments. When we file a lawsuit, we should consider truth-clarification the main goal, not a "tool" in the legal process.
c) Some practitioners are unsure how to approach difficult situations. Clarifying the truth to a judge, for example is indeed not easy. Practitioners can meet in a certain setting with the judge and lawyers when convenient, but how to clarify the truth well is still unclear.
Some practitioners feel that more people should be involved, but do not know how to get involved themselves. Some practitioners needed the help of others to guide them in clarifying the truth, and were not able to work independently. This is caused by not understanding that they are saving those who listen to their explanation of the truth. They are not considering themselves to be Fa-rectification period disciples. They are attached to depending on others, obstructed by their lack of legal knowledge, and afraid to break through their obstacles.
d) Some practitioners suspect other practitioners are not within the Fa. When Canadian practitioners testified in a court, while one practitioner was contemplating if the statement made by the practitioner before him was within the Fa, the defendants' lawyer asked a question that exactly targeted at his doubt. He immediately realized that the old forces were everywhere and were constantly looking for loopholes like that. He instantly adjusted his state of mind and patched up the loophole. Our compensating and coordinating with each other as one whole body is the determining factor for our success. Another Canadian practitioner said, "The key is not the battle of the law. Instead, it is knowing that the old forces are on the other end and how they are fiercely fighting with us."
e) Some practitioners did not have a good understanding of lawsuit development. It is not necessary for every practitioner to have a thorough understanding of each lawsuit. What is necessary is to be in the state of Fa-rectification practitioners taking part in validating the Fa, fearlessly and steadfastly forging ahead--the state that they will not be stopped by obstacles created by any old forces. When a Canadian practitioner searched inside himself, he said, "I am terribly sorry. I did not follow up on the case to sue Jiang in the United States. Judging from the situation explained by Chicago practitioners, we need to initiate an immediate large-scale truth-clarification effort. We should let all practitioners understand the development of the lawsuits and understand the existing problems. Otherwise other practitioners' participation with righteous thoughts will be restricted. Can everyone's strong and powerful energy combine together? Filing a lawsuit is not an isolated project. How are we going to let all practitioners understand the situation, coordinate our efforts and combine our righteous thoughts together when it is time to do so?"
