(Clearwisdom.net) Without exception, today's persecution is testing Dafa practitioners relentlessly. Many practitioners have been, since the beginning of this immense adversity, momentarily confused and befuddled and have done things that a practitioner should absolutely not do. Thus, they have brought blemishes upon their cultivation, and caused damage to the Fa-rectification process. With their actions, some have even committed great sins against Dafa, which cannot be resolved through deep remorse alone.

It is not necessary to dwell on the great mistakes that were committed by these fellow practitioners, or whether they still can be clear-headed. What has to be considered is that they are still amongst us. As to how we regard such practitioners depends on the level of our xinxing [1]. Without doubt, those who have gone astray have brought great losses to Dafa. They even repaid our kindness with enmity and obstinately followed the wrong path. But, as practitioners we live by the universal principles of "Zhen, Shan and Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance), which asks of us to be compassionate towards others, and therefore, we must continue to still be rational in how we treat such people.

We know that Teacher will take care of those who have taken the wrong path, but still wish to cultivate again and make up for the losses they caused. Consequently, as Dafa practitioners, we must maintain our purest righteous thoughts, be in harmony with Teacher and help them obtain Teacher's salvation. If we reject them and even strongly censure them, then it may bring about the opposite reaction from some of those who had taken the wrong path. The reason they took the wrong path was because they had strong ordinary people's mentalities. They were not diligent in their Fa study and thus were unable to abide by the Fa principles. Thus, to require them to adhere to the high standard of a Dafa practitioner at such moments is unrealistic. A person that was "transformed" by the evil, even if he considered it only a formality, had at that moment agreed to the transformation; therefore, he can change from a successful practitioner into an ordinary person in a flash.

Once such a "transformation" has taken place, one should view all that he says or does in terms of spreading rumors or showing enmity towards Dafa, as committing sins against Dafa as an ordinary person. Because of this, the situation of such people is dangerous and terrifying. These people have obtained and practiced within the Fa. Such people, although they are unable to follow the principles of the Fa, know in their heart what kind of xinxing is required of a Dafa practitioner. If we provoke them, instead of being compassionate, we would be acting recklessly. We would be acting irrationally regarding matters of life and death, survival or annihilation. Therefore, if we sincerely adhere to Teacher's words and hope to rescue them, we have to fully realize these eccentricities of the human mind. We should gradually encourage those that wish to return to cultivate and encourage them to make up for having committed wrongdoings. In fact, though there are some extreme cases among those not living up to expectations, many of them can still be saved. Let us also not forget that they had, at one time, been closely related to Teacher. We have to abide by the fundamental requirements during Teacher's Fa-rectification in handling them. In this process, there are many factors to be considered. We must first be able to be benevolent and forgiving if we are to be able to assist those who walked down the wrong path, so they can mend their ways and cultivate diligently henceforth.

In fact, in this respect, Teacher has explained to us many of the principles:

"What I'm talking about is, only when Dafa disciples don't do well themselves can they have a bad effect and impact in this world. If a Dafa disciple has an ordinary person's mentality and isn't doing well, or was a spy before, or a student did something wrong because he couldn't pass a test, and thus everybody drives the person out or regards him differently, truly causes his predestined opportunity of thousands of years to really be ruined, and causes him to go over to the opposite side, then, let me tell you, that would be truly doing something bad. (Applause)

"Only when we're able to be forgiving can we save people. If every Dafa disciple could think that way, then think about it, with that power from compassion, would there still be any room for bad factors to exist? With that said, let me tell you, the professional spies aren't able to get in. [The spies among us] are [Dafa] students who used to be in that line of work before 1999 and who didn't cultivate well, or students who gave in to the evil at one point out of fear and didn't do well. If you were to tell them to really harm the Fa, they wouldn't do it. It's just that they became confused at a certain time, didn't do well, and couldn't pass the test, at which point they took the wrong path. There are also some Dafa disciples who are attached to those little things that they have, and some who just wanted to do enough to get the rogue spy agencies off their back. The reality is, it's impossible for anyone to truly harm Dafa."

(From "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference")

Let me give you an example. I met a fellow practitioner in prison who had been brainwashed, although I did not at first recognize this fact. She spoke most disrespectfully of Teacher and Dafa. Although she had begun to attack me verbally, I was not appalled at her behavior. Having seen her change to this behavior, my only thoughts were, "I only hope I can save her." First, I tried to give her the chance to recognize and discover the contradictions in her thoughts. Then, I gradually helped her understand the issues about Dafa that she was unable to figure out and thus rectified her thoughts. Throughout this process, I calmly talked about the principles, and I finally succeeded. The tone of my voice, the words I said and my benevolence changed her false impressions. Once she understood and had returned to the fold of Dafa, she held my hands, and described, with tears in her eyes, the days when she was misguided by the evil. She spoke of her heartache and incongruities, of being confused and without help, and of seeing herself being completely hideous. Though she tried to return to the former glory, she was unable to, no matter how hard she tried, as she had cast Dafa aside.

Teacher said:

"How I look at things is different from how you or the world's people do. When a human being sees someone make a mistake he finds it almost unforgivable. But I don't look at things that way. I look at an entire being overall, and even when there's just one thread of hope, I'll give him hope. (Applause)" (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")

When Teacher lectures to us, he is also leading by example. Hence, should we not learn from that how we should treat others?

Seeing these misguided people that, in their hearts still know that Dafa is good, and deep in their hearts still want to cultivate, we, who know better than those who followed the wrong path, should understand clearly what ultimately awaits them. We should not rebuke them by venting our human sentimentality, but take the opportunity to tell them openly the truth and how to live by it. Only then are we really helping them to return to the fold. Only then are we worthy to walk in Teacher's footsteps and save these people who have taken the wrong path.

They made the mistake because of being confused about Dafa. This led to misunderstandings. Under such circumstances, we can only tell them clearly about the Dafa that we clearly understand and tell them the significance of the Fa-rectification and salvation of sentient beings by Teacher. Only then can our duty and mission of assisting them to return be accomplished. In this regard, there are many articles published on Clearwisdom which can guide us. If there are a lot of people we cannot help to step back on the right path, we should look within to see if we really understand their problems and the Fa principles ourselves. By using the Fa principles to persuade others, our power of compassion will be strong. This certainly is the most positive and the most direct way to accomplish what we set out to do. Once they understand what is correct, all practitioners will know what to do.

Whether these people can again take up the path of cultivation is not only an issue of whether they can be welcomed into the new universe; it is also an issue of whether their sentient beings can also be admitted into the new universe. Furthermore, it is a question of whether the countless sentient beings of the vast celestial bodies they represent can all be welcomed into the new universe. For each practitioner who understands the situation, more humans in the world and sentient beings will have the opportunity to be saved.

[1] xinxing (shin-shing)--mind or heart nature; moral character.