A Reminder about Safety Issues

(Minghui.org) One of our local practitioners was recently arrested. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone again about safety issues surrounding practitioners.

The arrested practitioner, Aiyin, often posted truth-clarification fliers out in public. She said that she had no fear and would put up the fliers everywhere, even next to surveillance cameras. I wondered if her arrest was caused by her attachment to showing off when she said that she was never afraid, or if other practitioners looked up to her as a role model.

Some practitioners reminded Aiyin that putting up fliers next to a surveillance camera on purpose was problematic because there was no good reason to do that, and we should still pay attention to our safety on the surface level. Others defended what Aiyin did, saying, “She walks her own path, and nothing bad has ever happened to her,” “Master mentioned that half of the CCP’s surveillance cameras don’t work,” and “The cameras are meant to track bad people, not Dafa practitioners.”

What about the surveillance cameras that do work? There were articles on Minghui that reported that the cameras did not work on the practitioners with righteous thoughts, those who demonstrated the righteous thoughts and wisdom the Fa required them to have at their levels at the moment. Was that true for Aiyin?

Cai was arrested after a surveillance camera recorded her posting fliers. She was released on bail. Cai was a diligent practitioner, but she failed to pay attention to safety issues when she made phone calls. She often talked about Dafa work on the phone with coded words that she invented. After she was released and became destitute, she used a relative’s phone to contact a practitioner. Several days later the phone of the practitioner she’d called was tagged by the authorities. When another practitioner pointed out her mistake, Cai told the practitioner to let go of the attachment to fear. I understand how difficult it must have been for Cai when she was being persecuted, but that is not an excuse for ignoring safety precautions.

Safety is also an issue when it comes to watching what we say. Lingyin was once severely persecuted, and her non-practitioner family member did not have a positive opinion about Dafa and its practitioners. Lingyin did not cultivate her speech and often said things she shouldn’t have in front of her family member, prompting him to dislike the practice even more. He frequently berated her, said bad things about other practitioners and Dafa, and was rude to other practitioners. As a result, when Lingyin was with him, she would not greet other practitioners openly.

Because of the persecution, we need to be extra careful about what we say in front of our family members. We do this to be responsible for Dafa, other practitioners, and ourselves. If we watch what we say and are compassionate in our everyday activities, our family members will be more inclined to have a positive attitude about our practice.

We also need to pay attention to what we do in public. Police and plainclothes officers often frequent a local tea shop. Since July 1999, quite a few practitioners have been arrested in that tea shop. Several elderly practitioners continued to gather in that tea shop to share their experiences and exchange truth-clarification materials. Anyone could have noticed their unusual behavior and known that they were Falun Gong practitioners, let alone the police. When a practitioner pointed out the danger of where they were gathering, one still remarked that they were just “walking their own paths.”

A while ago the police arrested Fengju and confiscated her computer. Fengju had written the password to her computer on a post-it note and stuck it on her computer, so the police were able to access all of her information. After that incident, Fengju again posted her password on her new computer, until a practitioner noticed it and told her to take it off.

Mingli had been imprisoned for ten years for practicing Falun Dafa. After she was released, she still failed to follow the safety guidelines when she clarified the truth. She was arrested again and, unable to withstand the torture, gave out information on other practitioners, who were then arrested. Mingli later died in a brainwashing center.

Think about it: If we failed to pay attention to our safety in the persecution and are arrested and tortured, how will those who know us see us and Dafa? It is already hard for us to save them. When we put ourselves in harm’s way in the persecution, we are giving people reasons to dislike Dafa and, in a sense, aiding in their destruction.

Please take safety issues seriously and check to see if we are all following the safety guidelines on Minghui.