(Clearwisdom.net) According to news obtained on the Internet two days ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is arresting Dafa practitioners on a large scale, nationwide. Based on this information and what I have heard and seen, I want to share some of my understandings of the matter.
From the beginning of the Fa-rectification to present, why do arrests still occur on a large scale? All Dafa practitioners, especially those in China, need to treat this issue seriously. I personally believe that it is time that every one of us, being a part of the one body, particularly the practitioners who are directly affected by the persecution, think about the issue carefully.
We know that the persecution is evil and vicious. But we are cultivators of Dafa, and because we are Dafa disciples with mighty powers given by Master, we can disintegrate the evil.
"Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos's Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples' rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings' thoughts disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is." ("Also in a Few Words" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I've noticed several issues affecting Dafa practitioners.
1. Some practitioners have failed to study and understand the Fa well. As I exchange views with fellow practitioners around me, I notice that many practitioners still use their own notions to understand the Fa. They humanly imagine something and fail to comprehensively understand the Fa that Master has taught. For example, they cannot correctly understand the Fa of "selflessness and altruism" (from "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials for Further Advancement) and of "...everything that's done in validating the Fa is done for yourselves--not a single thing is done for me, and that includes the things I've told you to do." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference") They also often quote out of context and use their own notions to understand the Fa and to justify themselves when they fail to do the three things well.
2. There is the issue of whether one truly has faith in Dafa. This is ultimately the key issue.
"So as a cultivator, what is truly remarkable is when you can be steadfast and have righteous thoughts so firm that nothing can sway you. Be solid and firm like diamond, or granite, and then nothing can affect you--evil will be afraid at the mere sight of you. If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil's persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil's persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil's interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")
How much a practitioner believes in Dafa is how much mighty power he or she possesses. With strong belief, the evil beings will have no way to exist around you.
3. Some practitioners have not done well in clarifying the truth, and they are also not very clear about the facts of the persecution.
4. Some practitioners have not put enough effort in doing Dafa work. They don't steadily keep doing well the three things, especially truth-clarification. Some practitioners are bogged down with issues in their daily lives, families, and their busy everyday person's work, continually being in troubled situations. They cannot even find time to think about what they are doing. There are also practitioners who only study the Fa at home and do not step out to clarify the truth. And when they occasionally clarify the truth, they only talk to their relatives and family members.
5. When encountering problems, some practitioners fail to view the issues from the perspective of a Dafa cultivator and using the principles that Dafa practitioners should follow. They fail to view and handle the issues from within the Fa.
6. Some practitioners still lack understanding about the issue of personal cultivation during the Fa-rectification period. They fail to realize that the requirements of Dafa practitioners have become even stricter as Fa-rectification cultivation draws closer to the end.
7. Some practitioners don't fully understand the issue of completely negating the old forces' arrangements. During my interactions with fellow practitioners, I find that many have failed to thoroughly achieve the ability to "completely negate" the old forces' arrangements. They only say that they want to completely negate the arrangements, as Master taught. For example, I told a fellow practitioner that there is a practitioner who was once brainwashed by the police and became a "collaborator," helping the police brainwash other practitioners. Later, he realized his mistake and started to cultivate in Dafa again. But before long, he was arrested again. We sent forth righteous thoughts to help him eliminate the evil that was interfering with him. After listening to my words, this practitioner said that he had done so many bad things while he was a collaborator, that he has to pay for his previous actions, and that his tribulations will certainly be big. This was to say that his arrest was his fate and he could not escape from it. I immediately pointed out that he had unknowingly acknowledged the old forces' arrangements. It was true he had to pay back the karma he accumulated, but this can be rectified within Dafa, and there is no need for the evil beings to resort to their evil means in this regard. It is Dafa that makes Dafa disciples, and it is not the old evil forces that make us.
Let me share one of my understandings. I find that I want to sleep a lot and that I do not have much willpower when it comes to sleeping less. I sometimes do not get up in the morning to meditate, and instead try to sleep more. After I was sent to a forced labor camp, I was not allowed to sleep until late at night and I was forced to get up early in the morning. I was not allowed to sleep for long periods of time. However, amidst the evil persecution, I was still very energetic. I sometimes felt that I was clearheaded all the time, because what I was facing was the old forces that always want to ruin us. I even thought that the forced labor had instead trained and helped me. However, after my release I again fell into the habit of getting up late in the morning, and sometimes I even became slack in my Fa study. I thus realized that the forced labor term had not helped me eliminate my problem of wanting more sleep! It is Master who is compassionately guiding me, and it is Dafa that is shaping me! Based on this experience, I gained that bit of understanding about completely negating the old forces' arrangements. Through studying the Fa often, I have gained even deeper understandings.
Overall, the evil is just evil. When the evil can find our loopholes in order to take advantage of them, it is definitely because we ourselves have some incorrect notions, or that we walk on a path that does not meet Dafa's criteria. It is our own mental states that cause these issues to occur. Of course, I do not mean that the bad things would happen to us simply because we have shortcomings, as we are Dafa disciples and we negate these bad things. However, regarding all the issues that have recently surfaced, we must look at our own shortcomings. We should study the Fa well and correct these issues in a timely manner. In this way we can compensate for the losses that have occurred during the persecution. In this way we can completely disintegrate the evil beings.
May 8, 2005
