(Clearwisdom.net)
Many practitioners have had a chance to reflect on the fact that the governmental agencies of democratic countries such as Germany, Iceland and Hong Kong went along with the Jiang regime's wishes to persecute Dafa practitioners. Here is a bit of my personal understanding to serve as a reference in understanding this from the perspective of Fa principles.
Seeing what happened to practitioners in Hong Kong reminded me of the situation back on July 20, 1999, when several fellow practitioners and I went to Beijing. Back then, we assumed that we had the right to appeal to the authorities and resolve any problems through peaceful dialog just like we did on April 25, when practitioners appealed peacefully in Zhongnanhai to the Chinese leaders. After arriving in Beijing, we waited on Tiananmen Square for more people to arrive. We failed to recognize such a great opportunity; the human notion of "going with the crowd" became an obstacle and the courage to step out as an individual was lacking. Therefore, we missed a lot of good opportunities. At that time, we could tell there were a lot of fellow practitioners in the square. Everybody was waiting, and nobody made a move to step out.
After going through several mass arrests, we reached a consensus through discussion. Everyday, there were a lot of practitioners waiting on the square, and they would arrest two or three of us at a time. Therefore, we could no longer wait. Even if no one else stepped forward, we should go ahead and step forward. Moreover, we would not get in a police van on our own initiative.
Soon after making this decision, seven or eight of us sat on the ground in a circle and started reciting Lunyu. A plainclothes policeman had been watching us. He approached us and said, "Dafa disciples, follow me." He assumed that we would follow his instructions obediently, just like before. Everybody ignored him. He then tried to drag me away, as I was the only male practitioner. As he pulled me up, the other female practitioners said to me, "Sit down; just ignore him." So I freed myself from the plainclothes policeman's hands and sat down. Several plainclothes police saw that they were meeting with some resistance, so they didn't make any overly aggressive moves. They called their team members via walky-talky. At that time, we were already surrounded by a lot of people, including some tourists and other practitioners. Practitioners continued to walk into the circle to sit down and recite Lunyu with us. More and more practitioners gathered around, and more and more non-practitioners also gathered around us. The plainclothes police raised their voices and said, "Get them out of here!" Their nervousness was so obvious that people were neither afraid of them nor listening to them. Pretty soon, the practitioners in the square gathered around and so did the police in the square. At that time our alignment was not very orderly, so a female practitioner said, "Everybody stand up to recite." So we stood up and formed neat rows facing Tiananmen Square's city building. We recited Lunyu with loud voices over and over again. I was in the first row so I couldn't see how many people were behind me, but I could distinctively feel our voices as a whole getting louder and stronger. Afterwards, according to the police who interrogated me, at the time some two to three hundred people gathered within a very short period of time. The police drove tourists out of the square; armed policemen started enforcing martial law throughout the square and kept the tourists out. Some practitioners bypassed the blockades and made their way onto Tiananmen.
We were in the center of the square, surrounded by police who kept asking for vehicle support via their walkie-talkies. A small bus arrived and the police cursed out of anger; they then requested larger vehicles. Several of their team leaders were busy running around us. Then the same female practitioner said, "Everybody, let's hold our hands together." So we held our hands together. The police dared not look us in the eyes from the beginning to the end. When we laid our eyes on them, they would look away. Later, two extra long buses came, and we knew the police were about to make their move. When the police approached us, the female practitioner said, "Everybody sit down." So we all sat close to each other with our arms locked together.
The police dashed in like a pack of mad dogs, beating and kicking us and using their full strength to drag us away, but we wouldn't break our links with each other. I was dragged away several times, but the practitioner behind me held my waist and pulled me back again. The police became exhausted and couldn't drag anyone away after a while. Later, the police beat us badly, grabbing female practitioners by the hair and slapping them on their faces. Gradually, we couldn't continue to hang on, and I was the first one to be thrown onto a bus. Then one practitioner after another was thrown onto the bus. I stood by the bus window and waved goodbye to the other practitioners. At that time those practitioners shouted from below, "Don't stay on the bus; come down." I immediately woke up. I crawled out through the window and went back to my original spot and sat down. Seeing this, the police exploded, several of them came up to beat me and caused my nose to bleed. Even though I knew I had been beaten severely, I didn't feel anything, as Teacher endured the suffering for me. Finally, we were all thrown onto the bus.
After that, practitioners no longer hung on, and they got on the bus on their own initiative. Later I thought, "It would have been nice if everybody had hung on until the last practitioner was left. If each group of practitioners were like this, the evil perpetrators from the top to the bottom would have encountered great resistance; the police would not have been so rampant."
The reason I mentioned this past experience is because what I saw happen to Hong Kong practitioners is very similar to what had happened to us back then; I would like to share this with everyone:
1. We are one whole body
When we see other practitioners being persecuted, we should step forward and form our strength as a whole. We should not let the evil take advantage of our loopholes one by one. I felt that the evil took advantage of our loopholes in Hong Kong to the point that some of our practitioners were carried to an airplane with their bodies strapped in stretchers and some were hauled out in canvas bags.
2. Not complying with unreasonable requests is not being unkind -- it is being compassionate
Teacher has clearly told us : "No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won't be this way." (Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts Are Powerful) We were able to clearly realize that the things that were done by the Icelandic police and the Hong Kong police were due to the evil controlling them to damage Dafa. Therefore we should not have handled this like we handle ordinary human affairs. We should understand clearly that to cooperate with evil persecution is actually pushing these people to a dangerous point where they might be beyond redemption forever. Some practitioners probably thought that by compromising with the police, the atmosphere might become harmonious so as to facilitate their effort to clarify the truth to the police. However, if we can look at this from a higher perspective, we probably would have thought differently. First, doing so is enabling the police to commit a crime to begin with; whether or not they would be able to come to understand the truth is another matter. Secondly, if we let these police smoothly carry out their incorrect orders, enabling the execution of governments' incorrect actions, the consequences will be serious. Because their government is selected by the people and represents people of the entire country, our stance must be firm and clear. We should not cooperate one bit, and it doesn't matter what excuse there is or what form it is in.
When we saw the Icelandic police requesting practitioners to sign their names on a guarantee statement, we thought the evil was truly vicious. It utilized the fact that overseas practitioners have never experienced something like this and took advantage of practitioners' loopholes. If it were Mainland Chinese practitioners, they certainly would not have signed their names. Every time they would ask practitioners to sign their names on guarantee statements, they would come up with some very pompous or even ridiculous excuses. I remember at the beginning, we were requested to make the guarantee of "no appeal, no alignment with a group, no assembly and no promoting [Falun Dafa]", and other similar things. Later, they escalated the situation by asking us to guarantee that we would not practice again. Actually, it doesn't matter which form it is in; it is giving ground to the evil, enabling the evil to become more arrogant. When suddenly facing tribulations and tests, if we are in a hurry and don't think clearly, our loopholes will then be taken advantage of by the evil. That is why I understand that when we do something, we cannot have our eyes set on specific goals; each and every word and our conduct at every moment, through the entire process, are our opportunities to validate the Fa and tests for us to pass. Therefore, we should constantly remind ourselves to refer to Dafa in order to conduct ourselves properly.
3. Letting go of human sentimentality
I don't know if overseas practitioners have this mentality, that is, everybody is always very polite and graceful, with good social status and recognition as their backup. Moreover, because they have been living in civilized countries for a long time, they felt disgraced to be yelled at, bullied and dragged by the police in public. Perhaps they felt embarrassed that they kept ignoring police's relentless persuasion when the police had not resorted to violence. Perhaps they didn't speak up firmly to stop the police upon seeing the police's incorrect actions. Perhaps they felt obligated to other customers whose flights were postponed, or who were repatriated because of us. I understand that this attachment of sentimentality and saving face must be cut off completely; otherwise, problems will occur at crucial moments.
Of course, I don't mean that overseas practitioners should shout back at the police. Because every area of ethnic origin has a different situation, with people having different behaviors and customs, their degree of understanding and recognition of certain behaviors would be different. What I mean is, we should not mix in human sentimentality. Instead, we should look at a problem with righteous thoughts, and handle it with wisdom and with steadfastness. The manifestation in this dimension is a peaceful attitude with firm and righteous words. We should be so noble and so righteous that we are beyond reproach. As a consequence, our physical bodies will not be harmed. If everyone does this, our righteous energy field will be able to restrain and eliminate the evil behind the police; then they will not easily dare to conduct themselves in such a manner.
When facing people who are manipulated by the evil, we should not appear to be meek and easily pushed around, nor should we appear to be desperate and fanatical. In order to handle this correctly, we must study the Fa more and melt into the Fa; this way, we will develop righteous thoughts and wisdom. We can calm our hearts and read the article "The Dignity of Dafa" and Teacher's commentary on this article, "On 'The Dignity of Dafa'". I feel there are a lot of articles that we can use as a reference.
Speaking of this reminds me of the incident of Swiss practitioners experiencing police brutality when the police arrested them for appealing in Hong Kong. My personal understanding is that we shouldn't have just left when the police drove us away; that would mean that our conduct complied with the incorrect implementation of Hong Kong's law. It's true that the evil deeds committed by people in this dimension who were manipulated by the evil, which has become even more hysterical as the final stage draws closer, contributed to the problem. However, the problems that surfaced later, and the false accusations made by the police may perhaps be due to the Hong Kong practitioners' understanding of this matter; as a whole, they may not have reached the realm that they were supposed to reach. Therefore the evil took advantage of their loopholes. I understand that we must tell right and wrong from the perspective of Fa-rectification. We shouldn't base our decisions on our human side's friendliness; instead, we are safeguarding Dafa. Our human side's friendly atmosphere is not to be created by human ways. Instead, it is the power of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" demonstrating "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities", (Zhuan Falun) which has made possible our harmonization while standing on the solid ground of Dafa.
4. Clearly recognize thought interference. What seems to be correct, often is not
I recall reading an article about another dimension, which mentions that some demons are very sly, pretending to help with Fa-rectification on the surface while actually doing evil deeds behind the surface. This is the manifestation of beings in another dimension. The manifestation in our human dimension is the kind of thoughts in our heads that seem to be correct, yet are actually damaging. For example, when we resolutely refused to cooperate while facing the police's unreasonable requests, in our minds we were thinking, "Am I not being benevolent enough?" "Am I damaging Dafa's image?" or "Am I damaging Dafa?" and so on. If at the time, we make reference to what Teacher has required of us, we will be able to distinguish what is correct immediately. If we don't do it this way, we will then be interfered with and will somehow not be able to distinguish clearly; our righteous thoughts will falter; and the evil will take advantage of our loopholes. Our looking inwards is referring to Teacher's Fa to measure our minds, not specific goals and principles. When we send forth righteous thoughts in close proximity, instead of using human principles to determine actions displayed on the surface, we should look inwards to examine ourselves to see if our righteous thoughts are as solid and unshakable as diamond, to see if we have doubts about our abilities, to see if we are able to not cooperate a bit with the evil's orders and instigations, and to see if our thoughts are mixed with human notions, and so on.
5. We must have a firm notion of "we won't allow any excuse by the evil to persecute Dafa practitioners"
No being in the cosmos is worthy of testing Dafa and Dafa practitioners. The persecution aiming at Dafa practitioners is an insult to Dafa, which is totally unacceptable to us. Teacher has clearly told us "those so-called evil beings are in fact nothing. Yet because the old forces have taken advantage of Dafa disciples' mercy, the evil beings that are protected by the old forces have been deliberately persecuting, so what Dafa disciples are enduring is no longer just their own karma, but something they should not endure under the evil beings' persecution. Yet these evil beings are extremely base and filthy, and are not worthy of playing any role in the Fa-rectification." (The Effect of Righteous Thoughts in Essential for further Advancement II)
The path Teacher has arranged for us is to, "Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy." (Rationality in Essentials for Further Advancement II), instead of being locked in prisons, being brutally tortured, attending brainwashing classes or suffering other forms of persecution. We know from Fa principles, that the reason why the evil still reigns is because we practitioners still have not done well enough in many areas; so the evil still has spaces to survive in. But, this definitely does not mean that the evil's persecution is acceptable and should exist, nor does it mean that since we Dafa practitioners have attachments and omissions that it is acceptable that we should be persecuted. Just the opposite is true: it is not acceptable, and it is something degenerate that is to be rectified.
In the past, whenever I saw practitioners fail to do well under severe torture, I would blame these practitioners in my mind, "What is the matter that they did not do well?" Afterwards, I realized my thinking was so very much like that of the old forces. Realizing that this is the old forces' degenerated principles reflecting in my thoughts, I understand that this is not how Teacher looks at practitioners. What we should look at is the extreme evil of the old forces attempting to eliminate sentient beings and our determination to eliminate the old forces completely and steadfastly, instead of blaming our practitioners.
I understand that in our minds we must solidify this thought, "We won't allow any excuse by the evil to persecute Dafa practitioners." Teacher told us that the thought of a God at a very high level is itself very powerful beyond comparison. If we as a whole all have this kind of initiative and powerful thoughts, they will thus form a righteous energy field in another dimension, and the evil will then be suffocated and eliminated. If we ourselves have a passive and pessimistic thought of "since you have attachments, the evil old forces are bound to use them to persecute you", this is accepting it and putting ourselves in a passive position. The old forces will then take advantage of our loopholes.
Actually, in our cultivation, every step we take demonstrates how losing our righteous thoughts for one moment could lead to different consequences. Just like when we deal with our thought karma, it is only when we persistently resist it and absolutely not accept it, that Teacher can eliminate it for us. If you say, "I'll just let it stay there because I am not capable of eliminating it," it will then stay for a long time. We should realize that any persecution against Dafa practitioners is aiming at Dafa and an insult to Dafa. If our thoughts just refuse to accept the old forces' arrangements and won't allow them to persecute Dafa practitioners, not even touch a finger of ours -- for any reason whatsoever, I think this itself is a righteous thought. Teacher will then be able to help us. If we think, "This is not like if I don't acknowledge it then it will not be acknowledged. It is because I have attachments so I will be persecuted," I think this is a passive endurance that means you consent to the persecution. Then it will be difficult for Teacher to take care of it.
The above is some of my personal understanding. I did not have firsthand experience of overseas Dafa practitioners' environment, so there is a lot that I don't understand. I just want to share with everybody my thoughts for everybody's reference. If there's anything improper, please kindly correct me.
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