(Clearwisdom.net) "Follow Teacher closely, steadfastly cultivating Dafa." ("The Knowing Heart," Essentials for Further Advances II) As Dafa practitioners, we all have this wish, and we carry out our vows with determination. Since we do not study the Fa enough, however, many times when we examine our own consciences it is with human notions and human hearts; we are not understanding the Fa from the perspective of the Fa, and so we often feel that we cannot keep up with the Fa-rectification process, and we often fail.
As an example of the evil forces using degenerated lives to persecute Dafa practitioners, for a long period of time, I was not rational and clear-minded and did not have very clear understandings. Whenever the evil persecution was mentioned, my first thought was, "Has the practitioner been beaten?" "How severely?" I paid attention only to the physical persecution. Isn't the mental torture a kind of persecution? The economic punishment, being arrested, detained, and sentenced to a labor camp, aren't these also persecution? Being forbidden to contact or meet with other practitioners, being prevented from doing this or that, and all the other restrictions on a citizen's rights and behavior--aren't these different methods of persecution? In late May of 2001, the Fa-rectification process had arrived at the great moment for Dafa disciples to participate in the Fa-rectification by eliminating the evil elements in the three realms through sending forth righteous thoughts. But I was still not clear about many things that confronted me. When some ruffians discovered that I was doing Fa-rectification jobs, I did not immediately send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil elements behind them, because I did not realize that they were acting as the evil's accomplices and that it was their purpose to arrest Dafa disciples. I still limited myself by just trying to clarify the truth to them and to save their lives (although if we really wanted to save their lives, we would eliminate the evils behind them and stop them from committing crimes); thus I did not find the chance to run away and was sent to the police substation. The next day, I was transferred to the detention center.
Because of the force of the Fa-rectification and the righteous thoughts and righteous behavior of fellow practitioners, many people in the labor camp (including the guards, others illegally detained, and the criminals) had positive understandings of Dafa and Dafa disciples, and to some extent our environment improved. We were able to promote the Fa and explain the facts to the prisoners in the cells. Some of them started to learn Falun Gong, and some of them said that, after they were released, they would read Zhuan Falun. Day by day, new Dafa practitioners arrived as other Dafa practitioners were released. There were also people who got to know the truth of Dafa. I feel that Master is so compassionate. The Buddha light illuminated even the darkest corners, so I did not endure too many tribulations. If I were to be released like this, it seemed to be too ordinary. At that time, I understood that the greatness of Dafa practitioners was revealed not just in their faithfulness and determination in cultivation when facing the evil's persecution and the cruel torture, but also in their tremendous benevolence to clarify the truth to the world's people to save the sentient beings regardless of their own insecurities. Their heroism was manifested not only in mighty deeds, but also most often in quiet actions.
I did not realize that illegal detention itself is a persecution of Dafa practitioners, and we should not countenance it at all. On the contrary, I was looking for tribulations. With this thought in mind, the tribulations definitely arrived. At the end of 2001, after I was forbidden to practice the exercises, I had scabies all over my body. Even though it was only me and none of the others who had the scabies, I still did not enlighten to what was wrong with myself. In April 2002, I started to feel that the upper part of my head was under great pressure, my chin and lips were numb, and my tongue was thick and sluggish. While I declined physically, the environment also changed. I heard that new places to detain Dafa practitioners had been established. All the criminal prisoners who had committed lighter crimes had been released, and only the worst prisoners remained. They moved from veiled criticisms and impertinent remarks, to cursing and then beating me up. They attacked my head, face, chest, back, and feet. To face these tribulations, I kept sending forth righteous thoughts and reciting Master's Fa-rectification formulas to eliminate the evil elements in the other dimensions. I gradually realized that a detention center is a place for the dark and evil forces to gather. It is a place with no compassion or righteous thoughts. And it is not a good place for cultivation. I had a thought that I should escape and leave this place. At the same time, I thought that, since I still had attachments and was not cultivating well enough, I had to endure it. These thoughts fell into the traps set up by and in conformity with the evil forces and their arrangements. "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces." ("Dafa is Indestructible") I enlightened to the fact that when the evil forces used the degenerated lives to persecute us, it was based on the excuse that we still had karma, attachments, and fears, and since we still thought that we did not cultivate well enough or do well enough, we should endure this persecution. Actually, no matter how we cultivate ourselves, first of all we should understand that it is because we cultivate Dafa that we are persecuted, so we should be very clear-minded, we should eliminate our own bad thoughts, and we should use our righteous thoughts to eliminate all of the evil elements that persecute Dafa practitioners. You may feel it is contradictory, but that was my state of cultivation at that time. It is the result of not studying the Fa solidly and not being clear-minded.
What was even worse, when we heard that the evil ones were using the degenerated lives to persecute Dafa practitioners using nasal feedings and forced injections, we did not send forth strong righteous thoughts to eliminate the evils and stop all this from happening. We thought we would use all we had, including our very lives, to endure everything. We did not warn them to stop persecuting Dafa practitioners, an effort that would have lessened other practitioners' persecutions. Buddha has attained the realm in which he can sacrifice everything for his sentient beings, but this is not the same as dying. To be clear, not being afraid of dying does not necessarily mean to die. We should not confuse these two concepts. This was not out of compassion, but a mixture of human emotions and individual heroism. As a result, the evils subjected me to forced injections for three days until I was unable to stand up. Then they hurriedly transferred me to my family's care.
These hard lessons had severe results. After studying the Fa and sharing experiences I have gradually come to be clear-minded. I have come to realize the nature of the persecution and the various methods of persecution. The purpose for my writing this article is for my fellow practitioners to achieve mutual improvement by learning from my experiences and foregoing detours so that we may advance together in Master's Fa-rectification process.
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