(Clearwisdom.net)
Dear fellow practitioners,
I am a practitioner from France who has been cultivating for approximately two and a half years, and this is the first time I have written an experience sharing article.
I don't think I can consider myself a diligent practitioner as I have shortcomings in many areas. I practice at home with my wife, who is also a practitioner. Even though I try to clarify the truth in my job using my “skills” (I am an artist), I have never clarified the truth face to face and sometimes forget to send righteous thoughts at the scheduled time. I have a lot of attachments: ego, fame, gain, lust, comfort, wanting to have the final say, not being kind and compassionate enough, not cultivating my speech enough, having a tendency to "crush" people with my rationality...
As a result I know that I bear a huge responsibility in the situation I have observed while trying to clarify the truth on a French Internet discussion forum recently.
The website hosting the chat room is dealing with information from China, so a wide range of people are members of the forum: Caucasians, Chinese, people who have been poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lies and propaganda, people who are interested in Chinese culture, and people who have a strong interest in human rights issues.
The specific forum I happened on was arguing about the fact that local practitioners have obtained authorization to practice in front of the Chinese Embassy in Paris. Both Chinese and Western forum participants were saying that this was a shame, repeating the false propaganda so effectively spread around the world by the CCP that “Falun Gong is a cult.”
Considering that I am not very experienced in clarifying the facts, but thanks to the fact that I read Clearwisdom.net every day and The Epoch Times quite regularly, I think I did okay, even though I am aware that I sometimes lacked compassion. Reading the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party has also been of great help in the process of helping others see their preconceived notions inherited from the CCP culture and propaganda.
I encountered difficulty while clarifying the truth perhaps largely due to my own lack of compassion. People tended not to be very receptive to my reasoning, and kept focusing on their own notions and preconceived ideas they had formed about Dafa.
If I were able to be more patient, tolerant and understanding with people, I am sure that the process would have gone more smoothly. I must not look for excuses and continue to improve myself in this regard. Nevertheless, I did observe that their negative, preconceived notions appeared to have two origins:
1- One source is the CCP propaganda, much of which has been repeated in the French media and online forums.
2- The second source was from the negative impressions people claimed to have gotten from personal interactions with Dafa practitioners. Common themes expressed were that practitioners came across as “weird” or “intolerant.”
This second source of interference concerns me and made me write this article.
“The Fa can shatter all lies” and preconceived notions. However, in order to get the best results, we must all work as one body and remember that we are always responsible for behaving in a dignified manner and not going to extremes. Only in this way can we effectively clarify the truth and safeguard the Fa.
I think the process of clarifying the truth is quite different for Chinese practitioners in China and for those of us outside China. I believe that we ought to adjust our behaviors and approaches in accordance with the local standards.
So I would like to remind fellow practitioners, both Western and Chinese, what Teacher has taught us:
"Right now when you clarify the truth you only need to talk about the persecution of Dafa disciples, how the evil party has been violating the human rights and the freedom of belief of the Chinese people, how historically the evil party has persecuted the Chinese people and the people of the countries belonging to the wicked Communist bloc, and how it is persecuting Dafa disciples today in the same way. And that's enough. As for high-level cultivation and gods, you shouldn't talk about those things. It's very hard for ordinary people to understand them. You can understand these things, but remember that you too started out as an ordinary person and have come to understand and accept high-level Fa principles after cultivating step by step up through to today. In teaching the Fa, Master likewise started from the simple and progressed to the profound. If I had told you these things right at the beginning, if I had taught you these things right away six or seven, or seven or eight, years ago, you wouldn't have been able to accept them. And even if you could accept them, you wouldn't have understood clearly what I was talking about. That being the case, you not only need to clarify the truth, you also need to be wise while doing so. You should do it with wisdom and not talk about things at too high of a level." (“Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005”)
As a result, I would just like to remind fellow practitioners to pay extra attention to some points:
- Always behave in an upright and dignified manner.
- Never go to extremes when discussing Falun Dafa with non-practitioners. In particular, we should remember to not talk at too high a level.
- Clarify the truth with rationality, in keeping with the local people's attachments and understandings. Keep things at a level they can understand. To do otherwise may backfire and push people away instead of save them. I believe that when it comes to clarifying the truth on the Internet, the key point is to be rational, to use your own words (not copy and paste), and to focus only on the issues that the particular party you're engaging has trouble with. A sense of humor can help a lot, as of course can having ample righteous thoughts.
- Be extra cautious if people try to make you talk about high level things that Teacher has addressed in various lectures. Take the discussion back to the basics, explaining how Falun Gong is good, brings people many benefits, and is brutally persecuted in China. Don't be drawn into a discussion debating or needing to justify your beliefs, or get sidetracked into a discussion about supernatural powers.
Especially now that Clearwisdom has asked practitioners to write about "divine occurrences in the human world," Western practitioners should be very cautious about their state of mind when they deal with ordinary people and when ordinary people try to make practitioners talk about this kind of thing. Teacher said:
"Supernatural skills are but petty means,
The Great Fa must be the basis of everything.”
(“Seeking the Righteous Fa” from Hong Yin)
I know that my level is limited and that my article might sound very straightforward, but I believe we must all remain down to earth in order to safeguard the Fa properly.
I know that if I were more diligent, more involved locally, and had stepped forward, I perhaps could have helped fellow practitioners to do better in clarifying the truth to French people. I am now in the process of moving to a foreign country, but I will definitely do my best in my new country, convinced that Teacher will guide me toward fellow practitioners in order to help create a good environment locally.
This is my understanding at my current level. Please point out anything improper.
Heshi.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Clarifying the Truth
