Don’t Just Follow Suit; We Should Understand Issues Based on Fa Principles

(Minghui.org) After Master’s new article “Wake Up” was published, I hand-copied it, and read it over and over again for a clearer understanding. 

When I read the opening paragraph of the new article, I was surprised by the rapid momentum of the Fa-rectification and the current situation in society. In addition, I realized that saving sentient beings is very urgent right now. We Dafa disciples need to remain diligent in cultivation practice to catch up with Master’s Fa-rectification momentum. 

Then I came across the following paragraph, 

“Some practitioners have been afraid of getting infected, while others have adamantly refused to get vaccinated. In either case, you should stop and ask yourself whether you are living up to the title of “Dafa Disciple.” This of course includes some female practitioners who are pregnant. But it’s not that I am telling you whether to get vaccinated, nor how the epidemic may impact you. Don’t be extreme either way. Doing that stems from human thinking. What I want to tell you is that you are sizing yourself up with human thinking, rather than viewing things from the perspective of someone who is devoted to spiritual practice. And that is because there is a flaw in how you have developed yourself spiritually.”

These words caught my attention and I read them many times. I was still thinking about it at night while lying in bed because I was one of those who “adamantly refused to get vaccinated.” I felt that something in my heart was disturbed, but I knew that whatever had been disturbed was not my true self; rather, it was my attachments and human notions. After all, I wanted to assimilate myself to the Fa principles unconditionally. 

The next day, I studied the article again and looked within to check where I had done wrong. Below are two big lessons that I learned. 

Following Others, Not the Fa, Prevents Me from Believing in Master and the Fa 100%

My problem in this regard manifested in two ways. One was paying too much attention to whatever was trending on the internet. After the whole world began to push people to get vaccines, I usually read Minghui articles every day, followed by browsing news on Dynamic Web, especially prophecies discussed in practitioner-run social media channels. After reading those prophecies, I developed a notion that vaccines were toxic and were the old forces’ plot to destroy humankind. As such, one should never get the shots. Plus, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had been heavily advocating low-quality domestic vaccines that harmed people. I felt very good about myself at the time because I thought I was clearheaded while non-practitioners had been brainwashed by modern science. 

During that time, my eyesight came a little blurry. As a practitioner, I looked inward and found many attachments including reading everyday society’s news. Then Master’s article “A Strong and Urgent Warning” was published. It was a wake-up call for me, and I immediately made up my mind to stop reading everyday people’s news. Since then I have not read non-Falun Gong related news. Master’s article also helped me see that some practitioners running their own social media channels made remarks not in line with the Fa. Although I stopped following those practitioner-run channels and let go of a long-term attachment to them, I did not dig further. As a result, due to my human notions and karma, my dimension continued to be filthy. I failed to identify my fundamental attachment because I was following other notions instead of Fa principles. 

Another manifestation of my problem was paying too much attention to how other practitioners handled various situations. My city started to mandate vaccination this past summer, and there was huge pressure from my family, community, and workplace. What should I do then? I studied and memorized the Fa, and I also read experience-sharing articles. I then discussed my understandings with other practitioners, hoping to find a solution to the vaccine mandate. With such a strong attachment and pursuit of solving this problem, I was unable to look within or gain understandings from the Fa. When I talked with other practitioners, most of them said we should not get vaccinated. As a result, I did not want to fall behind and treated the mandate as a tribulation. 

In the end, I used an existing illness as an excuse to waive vaccination. After a few days, however, my human notion of having illness brought consequences. I felt dizzy and could not get out of bed. I knew I should not have made up the illness excuse. After I sent forth righteous thoughts several times, Master helped me recover from this tribulation. It was not until I read Master’s latest article did I come to learn that I had deviated from the Fa and failed to catch up with Master’s Fa-rectification process. Out of selfishness, I was following suit in my cultivation. 

To be honest, I experienced huge pressure at the time and once thought of giving up my resistance to the mandate. But the thought of getting the shot was not based on the Fa, but was for the sake of protecting myself from the tremendous pressure I was facing. There were also experience-sharing articles talking about how some practitioners’ vaccines got pushed outside of their body by Master after they got the shots. I thought of doing the same – another example of learning from others instead of following the Fa. Because I had already solved the mandate pressure with the illness excuse, however, I ended up never getting the shot. 

Fundamentally speaking, on whether to take the vaccine or not, I was mainly thinking about what would be in my own best interest, never that of sentient beings. If a significant portion of practitioners used illness excuse to get away from the vaccine mandate, what would non-practitioners think of us?

Lack of Clear Understanding of the Fa Results in Deviation from the Fa

On the issue of vaccination, I deviated from the Fa and went to an extreme. On the surface, I lacked clarity and mistook the vaccine mandate as something of a similar nature to the the “zero-out” campaign aimed to force every practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith. These two are drastically different. The “zero-out” campaign directly targets practitioners and is something that undermines Dafa and ruins people’s futures. That is why we should resist the zero-out campaign. 

But the vaccine mandate does not sabotage the Fa or target Falun Gong. It is something that the entire world is doing, not just in China. Human society has become like this, and people trust science and vaccines. We practitioners have no responsibility to change the status quo, which has nothing to do with our mission. 

Master said, 

“As for those beings who haven’t tried to damage the Fa but that aren’t good, or not so good, right now we don’t do anything about them.” “Right now the focus of our salvation is on those people whose minds have been poisoned by the evil’s lies. Those extremely evil beings that are eliminated as we save sentient beings are only targeted because they damage the Fa. There are many other beings who are at the same level as them but who haven’t tried to damage the Fa, and who haven’t taken part in this affair—do nothing about them. Why? The next stage of Fa-rectification is also going to be an opportunity for those who haven’t tried to damage the Fa. And at the same time, the people of the next stage will still need to cultivate themselves. These things are part of the next stage.” (“Teachings From a Tour of North America”)

When the pandemic first broke out, practitioners did not know what to do. At that time, Master wrote, 

“Any Dafa disciples who have not been diligent, or who are prone to acting in extreme ways, should immediately straighten themselves out, and sincerely study the Fa and work on themselves, for you are at great risk. True Dafa disciples have higher energy and are able to destroy karma and germs; they are emissaries of salvation in these latter days, and bring their wisdom to bear upon saving people as they share truthful information related to our practice. Also, I should mention that there are practitioners in many regions who are calling upon everyone to send righteous thoughts together to put an end to the Chinese Communist Virus (Wuhan Virus). But that is not the right idea. You are not here to change history, but rather, to save people at this most dangerous time in history, by raising awareness, persuading people to withdraw from China’s three major communist organizations, encouraging people to sincerely say the magic words, and so on. All of these are the best medicine possible, the best way to rescue people—when people’s morals change, things will change for the better. The CCP is in its death throes and trying to harm people by causing pandemonium in the world. Dafa disciples should not allow themselves to get ungrounded by any of this. Stick to the fundamentals, and you will be able to see the upheaval that’s taking place in the proper light.” (“Stay Rational”)

Master told us to “stick to the fundamentals.” My understanding is that we should hold firmly to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and maximize the efforts of saving sentient beings. This is the greatest compassion for us. If everyday people do not understand us or approach us, or block us from many places, then it would be very difficult to save people. If it happens that way, it is due to our poor Fa study and lack of a clear understanding of the Fa principles. Therefore, we need to study the Fa well and always follow the Fa principles.

Above is my understanding at my current level.

This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners to “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)