(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently escalated its Internet censorship, as experienced by many people in China trying unsuccessfully to access overseas websites.
For five of the six days between December 31, 2014, and January 5, 2015, practitioners in my area couldn't access the Minghui website, no matter which anti-censorship software we tried. Even the latest version of Freegate would not connect to the server.
The CCP has rarely been able to block the Minghui website during the past 15 years since the persecution started, despite pouring a tremendous amount of resources into Internet censorship. So why was it able to block Minghui now, and for so many days? As Falun Dafa practitioners, we believe that everything happens for a reason, which must be related to our cultivation states. The following are my thoughts on the issue.
When the persecution was most rampant, practitioners valued any materials they could download from the Minghui website. Few practitioners could access Minghui at the time. Many truth-clarification materials production sites surrounding Beijing had to rely on Beijing practitioners to download Minghui content and burn it onto CDs for them.
With the development of anti-censorship software, accessing Minghui became easier. Most practitioners have since been able to access the website from home and produce their own truth-clarification materials. But some practitioners no longer treasure the opportunity to access Minghui. When they get online, they instead spend a lot of time reading news about China on overseas websites.
In my opinion, the overall mentality of Dafa practitioners is the fundamental reason for the recent Internet blockade. The old forces, by the same token, manipulated the communist party to destroy Dafa books using the excuse that some practitioners didn't value Dafa books. Our anti-censorship software was developed using a lot of overseas practitioners' hard work and precious time to help us in cultivation and validating the Fa, not for reading the news.
NTD Television is a media meant to offer salvation to sentient beings. However, many practitioners watch the Korean dramas and other entertainment programs on NTD. That is a waste of time and resources.
Master said,
“That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference”)
Why don't we cultivate ourselves like we did when we first started? In my opinion, we don't treasure Dafa and our predestined relationship as much as we once did.
I was deprived of Dafa books for five years when I was imprisoned. When I was finally able to read Dafa ebooks, which a fellow practitioner secretly delivered to me in prison, I read Zhuan Falun a dozen times and read through a dozen other Dafa books each month. I felt so fortunate that I could finally read Dafa books! I seized every minute possible to read them. I read Zhuan Falun 216 times and Master's other teachings over 1000 times during my last couple of years in prison. Some other imprisoned practitioners didn't have the ebooks. They truly treasured hand-copied scriptures.
After being released, some practitioners don't treasure Dafa books enough. I didn't have the same enthusiasm I once did in studying the Fa. I really needed to reflect upon my own cultivation state.
I finally found the reason why I was not cultivating as if I was just starting. I failed to treasure Dafa consistently. I failed to keep the same enthusiasm day after day.
Fellow practitioners, let's treasure Dafa and our cultivation, and never give the old forces any loopholes to exploit.
Above is my limited understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.