(Clearwisdom.net) For some time, there have been many cases of severe persecution of practitioners, some of which are outrageous. I would like to share my thoughts on this, in hopes that they can be helpful to those who are going through similar tribulations. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
The mission of Fa-rectification disciples is to save people. Even though we are in a difficult period, we should not inadvertently replace "saving people during the Fa-rectification period" with "personal liberation." If we do, we will deviate from our starting point. Such loopholes in our moral character manifest themselves in the following: when doing things for Falun Dafa, we have our attachments to "pursuit" and "self." The point is whether we treat it as personal cultivation or Fa-rectification cultivation. (Some practitioners believe that as long as they do work to validate Falun Dafa, they consider it Fa-rectification cultivation.) Do we do it for ourselves or are we not thinking about ourselves at all? Are we validating ourselves or validating Falun Dafa?
The manifestation of our deviations from our starting point in this dimension is very complicated. For example, those who are jailed may take certain actions such as going on a hunger strike, exposing the facts of the persecution, and holding the perpetrators responsible. With pursuit of and expectation for the desired outcome and focusing on the action itself, the action may not be motivated by understanding of the Fa principles and compassion for sentient beings; rather they may be based on self and pursuit. If the goal is not reached within a certain time frame, they can become depressed. Instead of spending more time studying the Fa, cultivating their character and rectifying themselves, they focus on the technical issues. They may be disappointed in the outcome and complain about external factors. (In fact, they are questioning Dafa. Without a clear understanding of Dafa and by just following the formalities, they will be even more trapped in their plight.)
Some practitioners have been persecuted severely, yet they are still focusing on "self," thinking of how to get out faster, what to do after being released, and what will happen if the persecution is intensified. They ignore all the opportunities to clarify the truth and to save people selflessly.
Due to this fundamental problem, they are in fear in front of the evil. Behind fear is self and a manifestation of personal cultivation; even in the human world, we acknowledge the principle: "Fearlessness comes from selflessness." As a Dafa disciple, we are immersed in Dafa. In all circumstances, we should be responsible for the Fa and the sentient beings. All we should have in our minds should be Dafa and to save sentient beings, not the consideration of self-interest.
Another example is exposing the evil on the Internet. What matters are your motives that are sometimes hidden so well that you have to keep digging until you find the root. If you just say, "Master Li said to expose the evil, so we will expose the evil," it may sound right, but the hidden selfish thought is, "If we do as Master Li instructs, our environment will be better." Due to deep-rooted selfishness, the purpose of exposing the evil is far removed from the purpose of saving people. With a selfish purpose, some choose to understand exposing the evil without giving it much thought, which will cause safety issues.
What Master Li says has deep inner meanings; they are not simple orders. After cultivators have purified their own minds and positioned themselves correctly, because Dafa cultivation is formless, no matter how you do it, your path will be cleared.
Because the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners takes place in dark jails and forced labor camps, other than the perpetrators, only a very limited number of practitioners and their family members know about it. If practitioners can use all available opportunities to clarify the truth to everyone rationally and wisely, explaining how they have been abused and exposing the atrocities, and at the same time demonstrating the tolerance, kindness, rationality and peacefulness of Falun Dafa practitioners, that will be the real, direct, living truth of Falun Gong. We will also be negating the arrangements of the old forces and turning around the persecution to eliminate evil, save people and walk our paths righteously. This will also be helpful to the sentient beings and our families.
This is only possible after Fa-rectification cultivators enlighten to the Fa and the Fa principles and let go of self. It is also the manifestation of the selfless, compassionate and dignified state of Fa-rectification cultivators.
Let us study a section from Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students:
"Question: When we don't have any [preconceived] notions or preset plans, the effect of validating the Fa is excellent, and when the opposite is true the effect is poor.
Teacher: Yes, with a lot of things you do, when you are free of human notions your own attachments won't get mixed in. If, beyond being responsible to the Fa, you have no human attachments, none of your own things, and none of your personal factors mixed in, then you are sure to do that thing well. Whereas once you've mixed in your own factors, then you can't do that thing well.
There's something you must pay attention to: you are validating the Fa, not validating yourselves. A Dafa disciple's responsibility is to validate the Fa. Validating the Fa is cultivation, and what you remove in the cultivation process is none other than the attachment to self; you can't, instead, go and exacerbate the problem of validating oneself, even if you do it unwittingly. When you're validating the Fa and cultivating, that is a process of removing self, and only when you do that are you really validating yourself. That's because ultimately you have to let go of all your human things, and only after you've let go of all your human attachments can you step out from the throngs of everyday people."
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