(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, in some areas and labor camps in China, vicious brainwashing began to be used to persecute Dafa practitioners. Many practitioners receive interference right after their arrival at the brainwashing class. Furthermore, some practitioners who used to be determined were also interfered with and began to develop evil understandings, and now it's very hard for them to come out. This situation concerned me, feeling that the evil force is terribly intimidating. So many people were led astray by evil understandings that it was unimaginable! Then I thought: why is this evil so rampant? At the same time, I wanted to know what were the real underlying issues going on and why formerly good practitioners would "enlighten" along an evil path.

Later on, I had the opportunity to get a closer look at some of the evil understandings from those who went astray. After I looked at them, I realized some of the circumstances and reasons for their evil understanding:

1. They (brainwashed practitioners) forgot that now is the Fa-rectification period, all beings in the cosmos have deviated from the Fa, and Teacher is rectifying the Fa.
2. They didn't treat the relationship between self-cultivation and Fa-rectification correctly, and misunderstood and mishandled Fa-rectification and issues in Fa-rectification with the state of mind and way of doing things from the period of individual cultivation.
3. They couldn't see through the nature of this evil persecution from the perspective of the Fa, and dealt with tribulations with a human heart. Fear of the evil brainwashing is an unstable state of mind, and will also bring on interference.

Here I wrote down the causes behind their evil understanding, so that we can have lucid knowledge of its inherently wrong nature, completely eradicate the field formed by these bad thoughts, and let the vicious brainwashing lose its material environment that it relies upon for existence.

I. The evil changed its approach in the persecution and appeared with a deceitful face, thus some practitioners who didn't get rid of their human sentiment were not able to comprehend its malicious purpose of destroying people.

In some labor camps and brainwashing classes, there is little beating, cursing or torture. The police wear a kind and patient mask and devote large amounts of time and energy trying to talk you into renouncing Falun Dafa, they make you feel they're doing it for your own good. They seduce you by using your fame, interests and sentimental nature. With the interference from thought karma, some practitioners then feel what they're experiencing is somewhat different from what's been said on the Internet (that the evil beings are not that atrocious). Therefore, practitioners begin to doubt the content of the Dafa web site. They couldn't see the malicious purpose of making them give up cultivation and so they became "reformed."

I remember a practitioner pointed out, "They get people into the brainwashing class by force or coercion. Then, they just wipe out the purest, most righteous thought 'be a good person according to Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance' from people's minds. Isn't such behavior wicked? Aren't such methods degenerate? How can they deprive people of their right to think and choose what's good for them? Is there really a fundamental difference between their "kind" advice and using an "evil" force, both are designed to make you give up your cultivation. What's really inside (the fake kindness) is ill intent!

II. After depriving practitioners of sleep, they alternate "advising" and distorting Teacher's teachings until their minds become murky. Then, they are filled with evil understandings and are devastated both physically and mentally. Some practitioners themselves had some unclear or unharmonious perceptions regarding Fa-rectification and Fa-rectification cultivation, which were taken advantage of (by the evil beings) and resulted in serious losses.

(1) "Don't acknowledge the Teacher in the human world, we have to look for Teacher elsewhere/in heaven."

Actually, "Reverse Cultivation and Energy Borrowing" in Zhuan Falun tells us, "The great enlightened people cannot teach this person. It is because if they were to manifest themselves and teach him Fa as well as exercises, it would be disclosing heavenly secrets; they would have to drop down themselves. People drop into the maze because they have committed wrongdoing, and so they must practice cultivation and constantly enlighten in the maze. Therefore, the great-enlightened people cannot teach him. If a Buddha shows up in real life before people's eyes and teaches them both Fa and the exercises, even those with unforgivable sins will come to learn. Everyone will believe it. Then, what's there for people to be enlightened to?"(Zhuan Falun English version, in March, 2000) Teacher is promoting the Fa and saving people in the human world, where else should we look for him?

(2) So called "let go of sentiments."

By advocating disposal of human sentiments towards Dafa, the evil forces call the practitioners' determination in Dafa cultivation "attachment of sentimentality," and entices practitioners to give up Dafa. Teacher said: "Understanding the Fa from Fa's perspective is advancing towards Consummation, attachment of everyday people's sentimentality to Dafa is a mountain that blocks your advancement." (Note: Teacher's comment to 99/3/31's article by Dafa Research Society, no official translation) We know that we shouldn't treat Dafa and cultivation using human emotions, but instead, with rationality. Many of us have been through this process. How can the revelation of our true nature in steadfast cultivation of Dafa and returning to our original true selves be called human emotions? This is not sentimentality! This is Buddha nature! Surrendering to such an extent as to abandon the Fa and Teacher, how can this be called cultivation, and how can you cultivate anymore? We have to clearly distinguish human sentiments and Buddha nature.

(3) Problems of so-called "Compassion."

Some practitioners were arrested, detained and sent to labor camps when they were clarifying the truth and validating the Fa. As a result, they lost their jobs, some were fined, their families became distraught, their children had no one to take care of them, some families broke up, and some of the directors at their workplaces and relatives were implicated, and so on. The evil attributes all these consequences as the practitioners' fault: would this have happened at all if you didn't step forward? You caused all these, are you compassionate? Looking at your parents and your children crying and begging, how can you call yourselves compassionate? Etc.

Everything happens for a reason: if there were not the evil being's slander and libel, brutal persecution, the trampling of basic human rights etc., would anyone have gone to appeal? Would anyone have gone to clarify the truth? Would anyone have lost his job, his family, or have discord in his family? Is this the fault of cultivation? Is this because of appealing? Or is this caused by the persecution? Who, in fact, is not compassionate here?

The so-called "compassion" used by the evil forces, is merely entangling you into ordinary people's emotions, so that you don't oppose its persecution and give up a Dafa practitioners' responsibilities. Are they really compassionate to you, your family and all beings' long-term welfare? Who is the one not being compassionate? Why can't people speak up when (an evil being) is doing something wrong? About a family's suffering, I don't think it's really a bad thing. The pain is not actually caused by us; besides, Teacher also talked about how karma is transformed into de (virtue). I think as long as everyone takes a good standpoint on this issue, every problem will have a good solution.

(4) The subject of "Forbearance."

The kind of "Forbearance" that evil beings crave for is resigning oneself to adversity. That is, you should bear all cruelty; you shouldn't appeal when there is persecution; you shouldn't speak out about the truth when there is slander; you should forbear no matter how bad the persecution gets. The evil tries to make practitioners think that upholding the Fa does not confirm to Forbearance. Teacher said: " 'Tathagata' is what humans call someone who's come with the truth and the power to do what he wants, whereas real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos." ("Speech by Master Li Hongzhi at the Western US Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference of Falun Dafa") In the article "Beyond the Limits of Forbearance", Teacher said: "Forbearance (Ren) is not cowardice, much less is it resigning oneself to adversity. ... Forbearance is absolutely not the limitless giving of free rein, which enables those evil beings who no longer have any human nature or righteous thoughts to do evil without limit." In fact, I think this (the excuses used by the evil forces) is its deceptive reasoning in order to impede its inevitable fate of total extinction.

(5) The relationship between looking inside of oneself in personal cultivation and the Fa-rectification

Teacher has mentioned the issue of looking inside of oneself many times, "When a problem comes up, search your inner self for solutions. That is the fundamental difference between a Dafa disciple and an ordinary person." (Master's article "To Dafa Assistant Center in Shandong") The evil makes use of practitioners' looking inside to persecute the practitioners. They said that practitioners encounter so many tribulations during the Fa-rectification, such as encountering many orders, being arrested and being beaten, being sent to labor camps, seemingly being opposed by people around them, and escalating persecution, etc. They induced practitioners to think whether practitioners have done something wrong.

On the issue of looking inside, I would like to share my personal understanding. As practitioners, we must look inside of ourselves in personal cultivation; even when we are doing the most righteous things, we must look inside of ourselves to discover our shortcomings and to improve ourselves. However there should be a principle in looking inside. Looking inside is not just to judge right or wrong on the surface, which is just one aspect. To judge right or wrong on the surface is to find our own shortcomings and attachments in order to eliminate them. The key is, in judging right or wrong in accordance with the Fa. If it agrees with the Fa, it is right and there is no problem. To safeguard the Fa and to rectify the Fa are the most benevolent deeds. It must first be in accordance and cannot be deviated.

The troubles and persecution encountered during the process of Fa-rectification and truth clarification, are not due to our own wrong doings, i.e. not that we should not safeguard the Fa and rectify the Fa. Instead, it is because that beings of the universe have deviated from Dafa, human beings cannot distinguish evil from righteous, wicked from kind, and they show their degeneration to protect their own interests (it will be rectified during the Fa-rectification). It is also because of the evil being's persecution of Dafa and practitioners (the so-called tests from the old forces in the universe), and the consequences from their sabotage of the Fa-rectification. It is their wrong doing, not ours. To protect the Fa and to rectify the Fa is also the process for practitioners to cultivate and improve, so it requires to cultivate internally and to look inside. However, it cannot be used to negate the fundamental principle of protecting and rectifying the Fa. The inward searching in personal cultivation and Fa-rectification must be distinguished. It is the attachments to be eliminated; it is the xinxing (mind or heart nature) to be upgraded. The persecution we encounter are the obstacles and sabotage of the Fa-rectification. Of course there is some personal karma involved; however, Teacher has endured most of our karma.

(6) The issue of "selflessness and altruism and the attachment to Consummation."

The evil beings said to practitioners, "You cultivators should cultivate to become selflessness and altruistic. However you only want to reach your own Consummation regardless of your family and others. In order to achieve your own Consummation, you go to appeal, to protect and rectify the Fa. Aren't you selfish?" Since there were indeed some practitioners stepping forward for Consummation, they saw their selfishness and went to the other extreme to deny their behavior of safeguarding and rectifying the Fa. They moved into accepting the evil beings' understanding.

Dafa makes us understand that as long as we are cultivating and have not reached Consummation, we will have attachments that will be exposed in different situations (even while doing the most righteous deed). They must be eliminated. What do we negate, the deed or the attachment? The deed is the deed; the attachment is the attachment. They should be treated separately. We should not use looking inside to deny our action of safeguarding and rectifying the Fa, otherwise we will become deviant.

Teacher said: "...Let me tell you, when this Fa-rectification matter is over, humankind will enter the next stage, and those people and beings who have in their minds "the Dafa of the cosmos isn't good" will be the first eliminated. It's because no matter how bad some beings in the cosmos are, they're even worse, for what they're against is the Fa of the cosmos. So when we're clarifying the truth, we're eliminating some people's evil thoughts towards Dafa. Haven't we saved them at least when it comes to this? Since in the process of your clarifying the facts there are people who obtain the Fa, not only is that sin of theirs eliminated, but at the same time you will have also saved them. Doesn't this show that you've done something that's more benevolent, something even better? ..." ("Master Li Hongzhi's Lecture at the Great Lakes Conference in North America") From this viewpoint, safeguarding and rectifying the Fa is the most righteous deed; giving up personal interests and fame for the interests of sentient beings is mighty benevolence, which is to let go of personal interests in order to apply the fundamental principle of righteousness.

It must be clear what is wrong, the deed or the attachment of Consummation. It is the attachment that needs to be eliminated in order to raise your xinxing. Is it selfish to be steadfast in cultivating Dafa? Does the cultivation of a practitioner cause the suffering of family members? Why wasn't it so before the persecution? Is it clear what is the reason, cultivation or persecution? It would be really irresponsible to family members for a practitioner to give up cultivation and further advance in cultivation.

(7) The issue about the Crucifixion of Jesus

The evil beings use the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus and blames Teacher for not going back to China to suffer with the practitioners. This is to defame Teacher and shake practitioners' firm belief in Teacher, and to make them give up cultivation. They talk nonsense about how selfish Teacher is that he does not suffer for the practitioners and so on. Their purpose is not to condemn the selfishness but to have an excuse to persecute more intensely.

Just think of how they treat practitioners appealing for Dafa. Dafa has spread widely in the world. Millions of practitioners overseas practice it. Teacher is responsible for the beings of the universe and for Dafa. Why does he have to come back to suffer the persecution in China? It is an absurdity. Teacher has suffered too much -- too much for the disciples and sentient beings. We only know a little bit, a tiny bit. Do you remember the story that Teacher had to drink a bowl of poison for a practitioner who was supposed to have cerebral thrombosis? Do you remember that to suffer the evil test for Dafa practitioners Teacher's hair had turned white? There is so much more that we don't know. And Teacher has mentioned before that it was wrong to nail Jesus on the crucifix.

(8) "No slogans, no banners and no anti-government"

Teacher said at the New Zealand conference, "Our students' going to Zhongnanhai to report things to government leaders was neither a demonstration nor a sit-in. ...They didn't have slogans or posters, nor did they use any aggressive actions or language. All of them went with benevolent intention and wanted to tell government leaders about our real thoughts --something different from the rumors gathered by the Public Security Department." ("Lecture at the Conference in New Zealand")

The evil beings seized these words, saying that it was not in accordance with the Fa and Forbearance to speak "Falun Dafa is good" or "Restore Dafa's innocence" and to unfurl banners at Tiananmen Square, so as to mislead practitioners to think they are wrong and "enlighten" them along an evil path.

1. Teacher has mentioned that do not pay too much attention to the surface meaning of the words but pay attention to the inner meaning of the words.
2. To practitioners, their intentions are outside of the world although their cultivation is inside of the world. Practitioners have no intention to be involved in politics. The "April 25^th " (peaceful appeal by 10,000 practitioners in Zhongnanhai) event was to present the real situation to state leaders and seek justice. After "July20^th ", (when Falun Gong was banned) a few government leaders damaged the constitution to illegally deprive practitioners' right to appeal and started the brutal persecution of citizens. Going to Tiananmen Square happened in such an abnormal environment. Furthermore, is there any political meaning in words coming from the bottom of the heart? Is there any intention to overthrow the government?

When robbers are robbing or killing people, how can they not allow people to cry for their life? How can they ask people to suffer silently in such a situation? Must the tolerance be in accordance with their need? Teacher said at the New Zealand conference, "Ren is manifested in all of a cultivator's conduct, but it doesn't mean taking no action."

(9) The so-called enlightenment of "higher principles."

Some people with evil understandings in the labor camps believed that they had enlightened to "higher principles," that is, they dare to give up Dafa, give up the cultivation and give up the fear of going to hell. They even persuaded others to give it a try. Going to hell or not has nothing to do with fearing or not, it is heaven's rule that wrong doings must be repaid! The firm determination of practicing Dafa and the fear of betraying Dafa and going to hell are two totally different concepts. The absolute steadfastness towards Dafa is the true nature of a life given by Dafa, and the firm determination of a life that pledge to assimilate in Dafa! The purpose of life is to assimilate in Dafa, and cultivate firmly until completion; otherwise it is meaningless! Everyone knows what it means to give up Dafa and cultivation. Who wants to give up Dafa? Who can give up Dafa?

Moreover, another attachment is that they even thought they had cultivated very well in the environment of the labor camp, "If we do not cultivate well, would those, who are outside the labor camp and dare not step forward, cultivate well?" This is a typical human mentality of self-righteousness (regarding oneself as infallible), its level is pitifully low and deplorable. What the demons have utilized is this kind of attachment, giving you an illusion and good feeling, and letting you fall to the bottom and get ruined in the end. There is an example of demonic interference from one's own mind in Zhuan Falun. When that person thought himself as a great Buddha, the demonic material emerged from another dimension and had already tightly controlled him, let him be unable to escape and ruined him in the end.

(10) The issue of heavenly demons and the eradication of evil.

Some people do not comprehend the eradication of evil and oppose it, thinking there was the existence of heavenly demons in the past after the rebirth of the universe; the demons were doing things according to the previous characteristic of the universe. Teacher talked about the heavenly demons in his lecture: "At present, the entire universe has already undergone a great change. Whenever such a change takes place, all lives in the whole universe will be completely destroyed and lie in ruins. Every time this situation occurs, the characteristic and all the matter inside the previous universe must be blown up. Usually, all lives will be killed from the explosion. Yet not everyone has been wiped out from the blast each time. After the new universe is reconstructed by the great-enlightened beings at an extremely high level, there are still some that survive the explosion...

Those who have survived the explosion will continue to hold onto the previous characteristic and principles to do things in this universe. The newly constructed universe will observe the characteristics and principles of that new universe in its operation. Thus, those who escaped the explosion have become the demons that interfere with the principles of the universe. Nonetheless, they are not that bad since they are only abiding by the characteristic of the previous period's universe. They are what people refer to as the heavenly demons. However, they are no threat to everyday people, nor do they harm people. They only stick to their principles to do things. In the past, this was not supposed to be known by everyday people. I have said that there are many Buddhas beyond the level of Tathagata. What do those demons account for? They are very minute in comparison. Old age, illness, and death are also forms of demons, but they are created to maintain the characteristic of the universe. " (Chapter 5 in Zhuan Falun, English version)

Why could a universe be blown up? Because it was no longer good, so it was blown up. Why could someone not be killed by the explosion?

I do not think it was because they were demons that did nothing but evil so they were excluded from the explosion. Teacher's Fa makes me realize that, Dafa creates all lives, and all lives must maintain and follow the characteristics of the universe "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance." Any life that steps onto the opposite side of Dafa and betrays Dafa, will lose its position in the universe (Dafa cannot tolerate the evil beings lawlessly ruining the universe!)

Teacher's teaching enables me to realize it is now the Fa-rectification period; all lives are repositioning their positions from survival to extinction. What are the evil beings doing then? "Master wants to save all beings. But the evil forces are truly committing sins against Dafa by using all beings, with the ultimate purpose of destroying the beings. (Master's article "Dafa is Indestructible")

"Going beyond the limits of Forbearance is included in the Fa's principles. It is just that because in cultivation, Dafa disciples have tests to pass, their xinxing need to be improved, and they need to let go of all attachments amidst ordinary humans, Master has not talked about going beyond the limits of Forbearance. Once told, it could create obstacles for disciples who are in the process of cultivating. In particular, it could render them unable to handle themselves correctly in the midst of evil's test of Dafa. However, the way the evil is currently performing shows that they are already utterly inhuman and completely without righteous thoughts. Such evil's persecution of the Fa can thus no longer be tolerated.

Completely eliminating the evil is for Fa-rectification, and not a matter of an individual's own cultivation. In personal cultivation, there is usually no 'going beyond the limits of Forbearance.'" ( Master's article "Beyond the Limits of Forbearance")

"...... Meanwhile, we have to eliminate the evil things, period, because they damage the cosmos and damage all beings. This also means that without these evil things there wouldn't be a need for Fa-rectification. ...... With their exceptional breadth of mind, Dafa disciples can endure anything, but different things will happen in different histories of the future. This Great Law of the cosmos is to leave for beings at different levels in different periods of history references for when problems occur in different periods at different levels, and is to leave for beings ways of handling all kinds of situations that occur at different times in history. That is, all the types of problems that manifest today are references being left to history. The manifestations are complicated and they seem random, but in fact they're very well ordered. They're being left for history [to demonstrate] how problems that will occur in different periods in the future should be handled. So if the evil has reached the point of being no longer savable, how to handle it isn't a question of one's own cultivation--it is guarding the Law of the cosmos. When necessary one can use different abilities of different levels to eliminate it." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference")

This period of Fa-rectification encompasses all and leaves out none. It rectifies all that is not righteous. It is different from each time in the past when the high level enlightened beings reconstructed a certain scope of the universe.

(11) The issue of "ordinary human society is also one level of the Fa's manifestation."

Those going astray opposed appealing to the government. Some believed, "the human society is also one level of the Fa's manifestation, cultivators should use the human society's environment to cultivate, and should not disturb and harm ordinary people's environment." They thought the appeals and clarifying the truth are disturbing everyday people and harm the lower level Fa. This is a matter of not clearly distinguishing the relation of individual cultivation and the Fa-rectification: we must be clear that it is now the period of the Fa-rectification, everything non-righteousness in the universe is getting rectified, including human society. Can we stick to everything that has been corrupted and not merge with the Fa-rectification process? What's happening now is rectifying the Fa of the universe and repositioning all beings.

Our appeals also do not damage the Fa at the human level. China's Constitution states explicitly that citizens have the right to appeal. Yet, some people, seeking their own personal interests, have already trampled the Constitution, and they put the blame on their victims. Moreover, every practitioner knows the relationship between the Buddha's Law and human's law (Buddha's Law creates everything). Even everyday people say punish the wicked and praise the kind. If we do not stand up, we therefore stand on evil's side, then we would really violate the law at the human level.

(12) The issue of the so-called "cosmic climate."

In the labor camp, some people saw that quite many people were led to an evil understanding, thus they themselves followed as well, even saying this was the "cosmic climate." Teacher has talked about what the cosmic climate is: " The wishes of the great high-level gods are the cosmic climate. The actions of all the gods are also the specific manifestations of that cosmic climate. Those gods are all upholding the will of heaven." (unofficial translation of "Lecture at the Fa-Conference in Canada" (1999)). Teacher's will is the highest celestial intention; would Teacher wish that disciples be transformed and give up their cultivation?

After going over the above matters, I realized the importance of studying the Fa, it is especially essential to study new articles published after 1999. Due to my limited understanding, what I have discussed here are merely for your reference. Hope fellow practitioners can point out any of my mistakes. In addition, I suggest that we send out righteous thoughts together to eliminate the degenerated matter imposed by brainwashing, and eradicate the criminal betrayers who help the evil forces furnish the so-called theoretical basis for their brainwashing.