(Clearwisdom.net)
In the last phase of Fa-rectification, the demands on us are very high. Every step of our improvement requires all our thoughts to be in conformance with the Fa and not deviate. Teacher has said: "If you have evil thoughts and go after bad things, they’ll come to help you, and then your cultivation will go down a demonic path." (Zhuan Falun). The evil is watching us. If our thoughts deviate from Dafa, we will be used by the evil and we will bring losses to Dafa.
For instance, practitioners in a small village created a very good local environment and did a good job telling people the facts about Falun Gong. Once, a few practitioners from outside the village went there and made many posters, and hung them on trees all over the place. As a result, six to seven practitioners who were doing exercises together one evening were arrested by the national security police. One of them was sentenced to prison and several others were sent to forced labor camps. These practitioners from outside the village knew that local practitioners had done a good job, but they still went ahead and made those posters. Did they feel that local practitioners were not doing well? Did they consider the local practitioners and people when they did that without any planning or discussion with the local practitioners, or were they acting based on a mentality of competition?
There are other instances. A few months ago, in a moderately sized alley, a practitioner wrote many times: "Falun Dafa is good." The officials thought that the two practitioners living in the alley were responsible and arrested them. The female practitioner was released after a hunger strike. The male practitioner was sent to a forced labor camp and was not released until he went through hunger strikes over a long period of time.
I remember practitioners in a city in Northeastern China making a big splash in their activities of validating Dafa. They hung posters and banners all over the city. A reporter from Beijing wrote a report after he went home, which led to a large-scale persecution of the local practitioners.
There used to be a lot of news like this on the web: The practitioners acted together on a certain day and put up posters and banners overnight all over the city, which caused a great shock to the evil. The next day, the police madly searched for practitioners and arrested many and persecuted them.
Actually, it is not that these activities are inappropriate forms of Fa-validation. Rather, it is our xinxing when carrying them out. We need to look to see as a whole what attachment is still there and what loopholes of ours are being taken advantage of by the evil. This way we can elevate as a whole and do better in the future. Teacher has said: "Amidst tribulations, it is very difficult for a student to see the cause of a matter; but it’s not that it is impossible." ("Rationality" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Dafa is the standard that everything is measured against. Our speech or conduct cannot deviate from Dafa. Whether it’s passing out flyers or putting up posters, it is all to help people see the facts of Dafa and to save every precious sentient being. The external form that we take in doing this is secondary.
Currently, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) is still active. Many people in different government branches have learned the facts about Dafa and are no longer willing to persecute Dafa, and a lot of them have announced their withdrawal from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. However, they still lack the courage to go against the orders that they are given, and they still work for the Communist Party. When slogans like "Heaven will destroy the CCP" appeared, these people were frightened too. With pressure from higher authorities, they needed to organize people to wash off the slogans or to arrest people. Those who went to wash off slogans were mostly people who had been laid off. They were forced to do such things because they needed the money. But they were afraid that they might get punished because they knew that what they were doing was wrong. This created a great burden on them.
The vast majority of Chinese people are intimated by the CCP’s violence. Some listened to and believed their slander and would not listen to the facts about Falun Gong. In this situation, creating a big splash outwardly is not effective. We need to take the middle way and act rationally.
Teacher said:
"Gods are merciful and have the greatest capacity to forgive, and they are truly responsible to beings, instead of focusing on a person's actions at a given time. That's because gods awaken a being at a fundamental level, and enliven a being's Buddha-nature at a fundamental level. So looking at things from this perspective, you still need to step up your clarifying the facts some, and still need to do it in greater depth, do it better, and do it more solidly; you absolutely can't just go through the motions. Only when you do it earnestly can you save that many people." ( "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")
Practitioners follow Teacher’s requirements to tell people the facts of Dafa with great determination and benevolence, so that all people who need to be saved understand the facts. Practitioners talk to their relatives and friends so that they understand the truth. How many people would be saved if every practitioner could make all of their friends, relatives, and classmates understand the facts and quit the CCP organizations? At that time, could the Communist Party still continue to operate?
For example, one village where many practitioners resided was targeted, and practitioners there went through severe persecution. Later in the re-election of the village officials, practitioners supported and helped establish a new leader for the village who was more righteous. The leader made an agreement with the practitioners that as long as they did not put up posters or write slogans in prominent places, he would not care what they actually did and he would deal with the people who would come to do inspections. Practitioners went to each home to tell people the facts about Dafa and gave them DVD’s and pamphlets, and persuaded them to quit the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. Essentially every person in the village was visited, including of course the leader himself. The whole village was clear about the facts and understood the evil nature of the CCP. With the field of the righteous thoughts, the whole atmosphere became different. Occasionally practitioners from outside the village went there and put up some posters. Quite a few times the police went there to arrest people, but were turned away by the chief. The villagers would not cooperate with the police when the police went to their homes for investigations. The village that was targeted was stabilized. In the meantime, many villagers joined Dafa cultivation. What a wonderful job those practitioners of the village did! If practitioners all over the country can earnestly and solidly clarify the facts, wouldn’t that bring hope for people across the country? This did not result from the village leader’s protection of practitioners. It was caused by the practitioners’ righteous thoughts and conduct. They acted according to the Fa and did not go to extremes.
Now more and more people have learned the facts. Many have escaped from the clamps of the CCP and are exposing the evil. The boundless benevolence of practitioners can definitely move people to find their conscience and position themselves well. We need to study the Fa more, as the Fa gives us wisdom and assures the success of our Fa-rectification cultivation. We also need to read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to keep clearing away the residual poison that the CCP culture has left in us, and use this powerful weapon to destroy the CCP’s evil spirits. We have to do things rationally and not follow people blindly or become overly emotional. We need to correct all extreme behaviors that deviate from Dafa and follow Teacher closely, so that we can keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification. Then we can definitely accomplish our historic mission as Dafa practitioners.
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