(Clearwisdom.net) The recent publication of the Nine Commentaries (Jiuping) by The Epoch Times exposed the evil nature of the Communist Party to the general public and to practitioners who hadn't been clear about it previously. It really shocked people. I recently heard that some of the Dafa materials production sites in Mainland China are mass-producing the Nine Commentaries, and have almost stopped the production of other truth-clarifying materials to focus only on the Nine Commentaries. They plan to use the Nine Commentaries as the main material for spreading the truth about Falun Dafa. In order to convince other practitioners that this is a good idea, they have printed certain experience sharing articles by practitioners outside China. The articles mentioned that practitioners working for the English Epoch Times feel that we should hasten the spreading of the Nine Commentaries. Many practitioners in China, not realizing that these were simply articles written by individual practitioners, decided to focus on distributing as many copies of the Nine Commentaries as they could have printed at the production sites.
Two problems are obvious with this approach: The first is that overseas practitioners should restrain themselves and point out whenever they are expressing personal opinions to mainland practitioners. The second problem is that mainland practitioners need to accept the Fa as the final standard and not focus on doing one thing at the expense of another. We have to be rational and perform our tasks intelligently.
Regarding the Nine Commentaries, I feel that their distribution is like the progress of a military unit. When landmines and obstacles are expected, then the minesweeper units set to work and eliminate them. However, eliminating these obstacles is not the ultimate goal of the military unit. For example, if there are no landmines, then we can't have the whole unit sweeping for landmines. Not to mention that we are lacking in resources and manpower.
Regarding the relationship of cultivation and media work, Teacher has said in Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York:
"Disciple: The "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese *** Party" that has been carried by the newspaper run by Dafa disciples are great, but I worry that ordinary people who don't understand us will say that we're getting political.
Teacher: That won't happen. Everyone knows that that political party is persecuting Falun Gong. All we're doing is telling people why that political party is persecuting Falun Gong and, meanwhile, telling them what that party hopes to achieve through its persecution, why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is persecuting Falun Gong, and what fundamental differences there are between Falun Gong and the CCP. So we'll just talk about what that political party is and why it is opposed to Zhen, Shan, Ren. But as far as cultivation is concerned, one of our principles of personal cultivation and of clarifying the facts is that we don't get involved in those things. There is an important connection between the media's exposure of the CCP's persecution of Dafa disciples and saving all beings. The persecution of Falun Gong has been carried out in the name of that certain political party, one that has poisoned many people in the course of its persecution. In order to save those people it's important to help them see that party for what it is.
The Minghui website has not reported on this because, from a perspective that's closer to Dafa cultivation, it is not a key issue. The media reports are another way of saving all beings."
Like fellow practitioners, I hope that the Nine Commentaries will be more widely spread in Mainland China to allow more people to recognize the nature of the Communist Party and be saved from its clutches. The media overseas are working on this, but the effect is limited if mainland practitioners rely solely on them. We have to see the relationship between the Nine Commentaries and other truth-clarifying materials and the main focus of our truth-clarifying effort. The Nine Commentaries have their special historic purpose, but they can't replace Dafa truth-clarifying materials. In other words, the Nine Commentaries explain a part of the truth, but they do not represent the complete picture. In addition, they may not be the best approach for explaining the truth to every individual.
Regarding our everyday efforts at clarifying the truth, Master clearly stated in Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York,
"...one of our principles of personal cultivation and of clarifying the facts is that we don't get involved in those things."
And,
"In general when it comes to clarifying the facts, it means talking about the persecution--you don't need to talk about things related to Dafa cultivation. It's fine if people don't want to cultivate. You should tell them that we are a group of good people, and our Dafa teaches people to be good. [You might want to have an attitude like,] 'It doesn't matter whether it resonates with you, I'm not trying to persuade you to learn Dafa. I'm just trying to tell you that the persecution is wicked and that what you know is actually venomous disinformation.' And that will be enough."
Master's teachings taught me that it is enough to clarify the truth according to the standards quoted above. If a person has certain obstacles to understanding the truth, we should find out what the problem is and remove it. The Nine Commentaries are meant to eliminate the evil spirit of the Communist Party, and to free people from the obstacles related to it. We can't consider the Nine Commentaries to be our sole goal and focus. And though the Nine Commentaries may have political influence, this is not what practitioners should become attached to and seek out.
The Nine Commentaries were written to save sentient beings. In the special environment of Mainland China, where practitioners lack resources and manpower, we, and especially those of us who are involved in truth-clarifying materials production, should keep in mind the overall goal of saving the sentient beings. We should always consider the complete picture rather than letting news reports or everyday situations influence our diligence in producing Dafa materials. If we can't properly see the relationship between clarifying the truth and the Nine Commentaries, it might damage our efforts. Time is very limited in saving sentient beings; we have to walk our paths righteously.
Hence, our fellow practitioners working at Dafa materials production sites should rationally consider the situation and not go to extremes. Individual overseas practitioners' experiences do not represent the situation on the mainland, nor the opinions of Minghui.net.
This article is based on my limited understanding. While we try to eliminate the specter of the CCP, we are faced with new problems in our truth clarification efforts. I also hope that other practitioners will share their understandings and experiences in this matter.