Recently practitioners in my hometown stepped forward to clarify the truth to local residents. The effects were very good. As a result, though, the County Party Secretary said, "Falun Gong is out of control. We need to deal with them." The Police Chief, the Criminal Investigation Director and others planned to intensify the persecution of Dafa practitioners.

Practitioners in that area were largely isolated until obtaining Teacher's new articles in August of 2004. After studying Teacher's articles, they were able to gradually catch up. However, they had only stepped forward for about one year. Facing the new campaign by local government officials, many practitioners started to develop the attachment of fear. Many practitioners stopped clarifying the truth, and instead kept asking around to see if there was any new "trend." The situation suddenly became tense. At that moment, I and several fellow practitioners from Beijing traveled there. Through Fa-study and sharing understandings, we realized:

1. Clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings are things that Teacher asked us to do. We need to continue doing them, since they are part of practitioners' great mission. Doing so also completely opposes the old force arrangements. Anything that stops us from doing so is severe interference. We must be clear on this.
2. The evil elements are using people to do bad things against practitioners. That is an excellent opportunity to completely eradicate the evil. This is a manifestation of practitioners' taking initiative to eliminate the evil in other dimensions, not passive endurance.
3. The key thing is that as Dafa practitioners confront such interference, our first thought should be whether we can consider things from the perspective of Fa-rectification. We need to use righteous thoughts and power from the Fa to completely eliminate all the elements hindering the salvation of sentient beings, as well as the evil factors interfering with Fa-rectification. In this process, we should not think of things from a personal perspective.

Through the sharing, local practitioners cleared up their understandings. On the basis of Fa-rectification, they had better understandings of eliminating evil and saving sentient beings. They agreed that in addition to sending forth righteous thoughts four times a day, local practitioners would also send forth righteous thoughts together at 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. to eliminate evil elements affecting the local area.

A week after we returned to Beijing, we called the practitioners we had visited. They said happily, "Several days after you left, there were some big changes. Both the Police Chief and the Criminal Investigation Director were arrested for torturing inmates to death. The county Party Secretary was originally planned to be promoted to Deputy Mayor, but now is being disciplined because of corruption. The environment in that region suddenly became relaxed. Practitioners strengthened their righteous thoughts because of this."

In April 2005, several Dafa practitioners were arrested and were scheduled for a show trial. Some local practitioners asked more practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts to help detained practitioners. During the sharing, some practitioners said, "We can send forth righteous thoughts focusing on the detained practitioners doing well in court, and the persecutors doing poorly. In this way, Dafa practitioners may not be sentenced." Some other practitioners, however, thought that we should not just plan to do well during the evil arrangements and tribulations, but should oppose the old forces themselves and what they do. How can these people be qualified to sentence Dafa practitioners? How can we acknowledge it even if they have scheduled a certain date for the show trial? The key thing is that we Dafa practitioners should not have even one thought of passiveness or acceptance. We should not let the show trial take place. We need to disintegrate it in all dimensions so that Dafa practitioners can be unconditionally released.

Since then, practitioners send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the persecution. With righteous thoughts, practitioners also became more and more clearheaded.

As a result, on the day of the scheduled show trial, nothing happened. Later, the detained practitioners opposed the persecution, and fellow practitioners also helped to rescue them. Eventually, all of them regained their freedom.

In August 2005, through talking with some practitioners, I learned that a practitioner had passed away because of old force interference in the form of sickness karma. Before he died, many practitioners went to see him and sent forth righteous thoughts. He was also involved in sending forth righteous thoughts. However, his situation became worse and worse, and eventually he passed away. Some practitioners were puzzled, "He has been doing all of the 'three things.' Even during 'sickness' he sent forth righteous thoughts. Why could he not eliminate the old force arrangements?" I said, "A practitioner's true xinxing level may not be easily perceived through superficial manifestations." One practitioner who knew the details said, "Before his death, he once said, 'I have been doing all of the three things. Why is my physical health still like this?'"

Through this, many practitioners realized that cultivation is serious, and it is unconditional. The reason that a Dafa practitioner should do the three things well is not to use it to exchange for something. We have witnessed similar things many times. Here I just want to remind fellow practitioners that validating the Fa and saving sentient beings is a Dafa disciple's mission, and it is unconditional.

I think that in all three stories above, there is an issue of "completely opposing the old forces." One needs to be clear on Fa-rectification cultivation and how it is different from personal cultivation. We should not foster the evil, but should instead maximally let go of attachments. With selfless compassion, one can save sentient beings, and this is what it means to completely oppose the old forces. This is because the difference between selfishness and selflessness is the fundamental distinction between the old cosmos and new cosmos.

September 11, 2005