(Clearwisdom.net) Recently many practitioners have participated in trying to rescue fellow practitioners from prison. Some sent forth righteous thoughts, and some assisted fellow practitioners' family members in requesting the release of fellow practitioners. During this process many of our attachments were also exposed.
One practitioner said, "We've sent forth righteous thoughts for such a long time, how come he has still not been released? What is wrong with him?" Many practitioners lost confidence when fellow practitioners were not released after several days; they blamed the imprisoned fellow practitioners for not doing well. For all practitioners participating in the rescue efforts, we must clearly understand that we should continue to send forth righteous thoughts, and we should not lose confidence in our righteous thoughts when fellow practitioners are not released after a short period of time. Some even doubted the power of righteous thoughts. Master told us that
"Actually, my disciples all have abilities, and this includes students in China and other countries, as well as some new students. They all actually have abilities." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference")
During the rescue process we should not require the imprisoned practitioners to do much. Because they do not have the environment to study the Fa, we should not expect them to have the same understanding that we have gained through continuous Fa study. The key for our rescue efforts is our hearts. Some practitioners thought we needed a reason to request the release of imprisoned practitioners that were on hunger strikes or were not sick. This is our human notion. People often think, "How could a person sentenced for so many years be released for no reason?" We must clearly understand that Dafa practitioners are innocent and they must be released unconditionally. Even for ordinary people, if an innocent person is sentenced, what should we do? Do we need an excuse to request their release? This human notion has caused us to unconsciously admit the "crime" the evil forced upon us, and we must let go of such a notion.
Cultivation is a serious matter, and any attachments could be barriers for us in rescuing fellow practitioners. We should not be attached to the result of our efforts to get practitioners released. At all times we must remember our true responsibility, which is saving people. The rescue process is also a process of clarifying the truth and saving people. We must let people understand the truth about Dafa when dealing with government authorities. We are offering them an opportunity to put themselves into a good position and correct their own mistakes that caused loss to Dafa. We must do these things with a pure heart and not be attached to any result. Master said,
"I was talking about it from the angle of having compassion and saving sentient beings. The key is to stress doing well with what you should do during the process, and the result will be whatever it will be." ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
If we do well clarifying the truth to people, people that know the truth will know what to do.
There are also some practitioners who could not let go of personal feelings when their family members were imprisoned. They often used ordinary people's means such as giving presents to government officials in exchange for a reduced sentence or release for medical treatment.
In "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005", a disciple asks: "How should we look at giving gifts to the head prison guard in order to ease the suffering of relatives imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong?"
Teacher: It can't be called some sort of major mistake. It's just that you should do your best to act a little more righteously and do a little better. If you could clarify the truth to that head prison guard with very strong righteous thoughts and get the message across to him, it would be much better than giving him gifts. But this is just talk, and when doing it like this in that kind of environment... the question is, are you going to have very strong righteous thoughts? Are you able to have really powerful righteous thoughts when placed under pressure by the evil? That's the big question. It is very hard, but when you turn it around and think about it, wasn't human history created for today? Isn't everything that Dafa disciples need to forge precisely about making it through all of this? So in order to go from being human to being divine, don't you need to make it through this way? (Applause)
When reading this part of the Fa, some practitioners tried to cover up their attachments, saying Master said it is not a serious mistake. Although Master teaches us different levels of Fa, why do some practitioners always look at the lowest level of requirements? Why don't we compare ourselves with fellow practitioners who have done well? How come they do better when we are studying the same Fa? Human morality today is deteriorating; bribery is a behavior of today's perverted humankind. Ordinary people may not know it is wrong to bribe, but how come Dafa practitioners do not know? Does achieving personal goals through immoral means follow the Universe's principles? No matter what results such behavior achieves, it is not righteous. We must be clear that we are assisting Master in rectifying the Fa. Could we assist Master to rectify the Fa through such perverted behavior? Dear fellow practitioners, we must study the Fa well in our rescue efforts, we must measure everything with the Fa, we must be clear about what we should do and what we should not do, and we must walk well on our cultivation path.
