Some Misunderstandings About Persecution

(Minghui.org) Recently, I had a conversation with two local Falun Dafa practitioners and realized they had misunderstandings about the persecution.

One practitioner said he hasn’t been persecuted in the past two years. But he then told me that there wasn’t a group of practitioners to study the Fa with that was nearby and he didn’t regularly do the exercises either. The police often harass him through phone calls and home visits. Sometimes they even follow him and control the business operations of his company.

The other practitioner came from out of town to work in my city, but the police in his hometown still called him regularly, and he had to report his whereabouts to them. He also did not believe he was being persecuted.

These misunderstandings are serious. 

I also learned that some practitioners around me have the same understanding. They only take being detained in a labor camp, brainwashing center, or a prison as persecution, while they regard the other forms of persecution as harassment. I believe this is the result of not recognizing the persecution for what it is and not having the righteous thoughts to negate the persecution.

The following is a list of some common types of persecution we are facing. The first three are carried out by the communist regime officials and the last four are more covert things that occur in our daily lives.

Regular Harassment Calls

The harassing phone calls we get from the police are definitely a type of persecution. While the police may just ask about where the practitioner is and what they are doing, such simple conversations may actually intimidate the practitioner and prevent them from going out to raise awareness about the persecution and talk to people about Falun Dafa. If they answer the calls and cooperate with the police, the officers may take further steps to escalate the persecution in the future.

How do we negate this persecution? We can change our cell phone number, reduce cellphone usage, and not answer any call from an unknown caller.

Home Visits

Some police officers visit practitioners at their homes, pretending to be concerned about them and asking if they need any help. This is to collect information about the practitioners, which might be used to make a customized persecution plan.

There have been many reports about such “visits” and practitioners have shared how they responded to them. If we don’t feel ready to face the police in person, we can at least refuse to let them in. If we have stronger righteous thoughts, we can clarify the facts to them. I do not recommend handing them any materials about Falun Dafa, as it’s likely they will turn the materials in instead of reading them.

Financial Persecution

Another persecution policy of the communist regime is to “bankrupt practitioners.” There have been countless cases of police pressuring the practitioners’ employers to fire them. Even when the practitioner is forced to move out of town to hide from the police, it isn’t easy to find a new job in their profession, and they may resort to doing odd jobs to make a living. 

As time passes, their meager income may not be enough to pay for their family’s medical bills or their children’s education. Some family members might associate the financial constraint with the practitioner practicing Dafa, which would make it even harder for them to support Dafa.

To break through the financial persecution, we must understand it clearly from the Fa principles and completely negate it with righteous thoughts. Dafa disciples need to have a stable income in order to cultivate and save people. We should not passively accept the situation of financial persecution. Otherwise, it is like acknowledging the persecution, and it’s far from negating the persecution.

In addition, one key aspect to overcoming financial persecution is for us to do our jobs well. I had my own company and employed a dozen practitioners. I also worked at some other practitioners’ companies. In this capacity, I noticed some practitioners confused the relationship between work and cultivation. Some were absent from work without a reason; some treated a practitioner’s company as a Dafa project; and others told their managers (practitioners) what to do.

Another thing some have in common is that they take help from fellow practitioners for granted and fail to do their job well. Some even develop resentment after they are fired.

I think practitioners should do their best to find a job at an ordinary people’s company and should not always rely on other practitioners for support. Practitioners who are running their own companies and hiring other practitioners must follow professional business management practices without providing special treatment to the practitioners. Otherwise, it will harm them.

Dafa disciples should do their jobs well no matter where they are, whether they work for a practitioner-run company or a regular company. You will be welcomed wherever you go if you have excellent skills and a professional work ethic. 

Interference from Sickness Karma

Every practitioner will encounter sickness karma. If one studies the Fa and exercises daily with righteous thoughts, it might be easier to pass the sickness karma tests.

Some practitioners buy supplements and reassure themselves that those are not medicine. Some seek medical treatment when they don’t feel well. If one continues to do that, their righteous faith in Dafa will be eroded. They might believe that they have an illness, and forget that it is just the illusion of sickness. They may also feel that the exercises don’t help, and gradually give up studying the Fa and exercising altogether. 

Negative Thoughts

I often struggled with negative thoughts myself. When I was interfered with by them, I would feel that the things I did to raise awareness about the persecution were meaningless, and I would rather not do them at all. In the meantime, my attachment to comfort would became very strong and I might watch a movie to pass the time. Sometimes, I was stuck in that state for days.

In order to get rid of negative thoughts, I think we must first realize from the Fa that this is a form of persecution. Secondly, having a group cultivation environment definitely helps us to overcome that state. It is difficult to pull through by oneself.

If one feels that a truth-clarification project is meaningless, they must know that this idea is not theirs. One should know that no project is considered small if it can save people.

I often use the following paragraph of the Fa to encourage myself:

“Some things can still have an impact even when they’re not done that well. If they are done better, of course they will be even more effective, but don’t hold things up and cause them to have no impact at all.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)

Video Games

It goes without saying how harmful video games are for people. If cultivators indulge in them, they will definitely not be able to persist in doing the three things, and, over time, they will slack off. If one plays an online game, it is even worse. In the games, there is swearing and bragging about who is the better player and who has the better equipment. It stimulates all sorts of attachments in the players.

I used to be addicted to video games and I know how hard it is to pull away from them. It is hard to eliminate that addiction without righteous thoughts and self-control.

Video games, whether online or offline and even electronic games such as soccer or basketball, are all generated by alien technology. These are not things humans should indulge in. 

Social Media

Similar to video games, social media were also brought about by aliens. These things often go hand in hand with people’s pursuit of comfort and present severe invisible persecution to young practitioners.

Some practitioners claim that they “have no fear” and establish chat groups on WeChat, thinking that they had found a “home.” 

Some replace sensitive words with pinyin or different characters, thinking it is “safe” to speak this way; some post some so-called sharings, which seems to give others a sense of a cultivation environment. However, most of such “sharing” is to vent their own emotions. When a true practitioner looks at such content, he or she will be able to tell the attachment behind every word.

Some claim that they haven’t been arrested after using WeChat for many years. But they didn’t consider how much time they wasted by using it, and still think they are diligent. They cannot guarantee their daily Fa study or exercise, let alone clarify the truth to people. If this is not a form of persecution, what is it?

I also see that many practitioners on WeChat regard spreading traditional culture as clarifying the truth. They think sharing some traditional culture articles in their circle of friends is equivalent to talking about Falun Dafa, and there is no need to talk about the persecution separately. This is a wrong understanding. If they keep doing that and feel good about themselves, they have been fooled by the old forces.

There is another group of practitioners, who don’t join any group or add practitioners as their friends. Instead, they spend a lot of time chatting, watching videos, and reading others’ postings. 

I once met such a practitioner. I asked her to quit using WeChat and spend more time on Fa study. She took my advice. After just a couple of weeks, her improvement was significant. Her celestial vision was opened, and she was able to see many magnificent scenes in another dimension, which greatly encouraged her to do better in cultivation.

Summary

The types of persecution mentioned above may not be comprehensive. In a nutshell, anything that interferes with our cultivation and prevents us from doing the three things well should be considered persecution. We must always evaluate things based on the Fa, so we will not be exploited by the evil.

If one has been stuck in the wrong state for a long time, has difficulty breaking through it, or has grown used to it, then they might be walking a path arranged by the old forces. We must recognize this with a correct understanding of the Fa, find the root cause, and break through it as soon as possible, or else we will be ruined.

Master warned us before:

“In other words, to tell you the truth, no one intends for your cultivation to be a success and no one is giving thought to how your cultivation goes. The old forces want only to complete what they want to see completed, and that’s it.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)

This is my understanding at my level, please kindly point out anything that is not in accordance with the Fa.

Editor's note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)