(Minghui.org) I have some thoughts after reading the article “Pay Attention to the Way We Clarify the Facts.”
Years ago my daughter was so inspired by articles on Minghui.org about practitioners clarifying the facts at popular events, such as markets or fairs that she often said that she wanted to go to the big fairs, too. “It must be so wonderful to clarify the facts at a big fair!” she exclaimed. “One visit there and our efforts would help dozens of people quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”
She was still in school at the time. We lived in a large city, and she had never been to a big fair.
My daughter had not thought that those practitioners who could easily help dozens of people quit the Party by walking around the fair had to have a solid foundation in cultivation.
There is another important component. Some of the practitioners are local, and some are buyers or vendors at the fair, so they are familiar with the people there. Therefore, talking to people at the fair comes naturally to them.
There is a saying, “Do as the locals do.” When talking to people about Falun Dafa, one must be in line with the customs in that area, as different regions have different customs, and that would include the clothes they wear, topics of interest, and behaviors.
For an urban girl like my daughter with little social experience, it would be difficult to even have conversations with people at a big fair, not to mention persuade them to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
Society is divided not only by region but also by class. People of different classes travel in different social circles and have different habits. For example, people from the lower class have straightforward relationships and will stand and chat for ages. They have no problem striking up a conversation with a stranger.
However, those from the upper class pay attention to etiquette and value personal space. They don’t like to disturb others and likewise don’t want to be disturbed.
Dafa practitioners come from all walks of life, and saving sentient beings who have predestined relationships with you and who belong to your social class will be easier, because you know them. If you take things for granted, regardless of the occasion, you may not be that helpful when it comes to saving them.
I often read examples on the Minghui website of practitioners’ successful encounters when clarifying the facts. Practitioners write about how they talk to certain people and especially how they can find the right words that hit the target. Whenever I see such articles, I always admire them: the words they use are so good, clear, and appropriate. Why can’t I think of such words to say?
The right words to clarify the truth come from the wisdom Master has bestowed on practitioners from the Fa. In other words, understand the people you are talking to and know what to say and how to say it in a way they can accept.
Only by clarifying the facts this way can we tell the truth clearly and help to save them. That is, in different environments, and to different people, we must speak according to their roles in society and follow the logic of their attachments.
However, I have also read in many Minghui articles that when it comes to face-to-face truth clarification, some practitioners basically just strike up a conversation, briefly say a sentence or two, and then rush to ask the person to quit the CCP.
When the other party agrees, they’d hand them an informational pamphlet and maybe give them an amulet and that's it. This is seen frequently in many sharing articles, and they almost always say how many people they have persuaded to quit the Party in one day.
The point here is not that this cannot be done, but that if this approach takes up a significant amount of sharing articles, it may become a universally adopted pattern and routine. As a result, it can drive more practitioners to only go through the motions and ignore the content of truth clarification that should be told clearly.
It may also encourage practitioners to develop a competitive mentality and focus more on quantity rather than quality. That way. practitioners may not really be able to help save people.
Clarifying the facts and helping Master to save people is the sacred mission Dafa practitioners have and is one of the three things that Master asks us to do.
To what extent we put our hearts into it will fully reflect our xinxing standard and cultivation state.
Some of the inappropriate behaviors mentioned in the article, caused by being unclear on the Fa principles or by following the crowd, are very worrying. This is not only a problem in the way we talk to people but also a problem of not being able to soberly and rationally assume the responsibilities of Dafa practitioners.
The mentality of being eager for quick success, imposing on others, and simply fooling around, making do, and competing for merit and fame, has strong elements of CCP culture and is something we should completely abandon.
This is my personal understanding. Please correct me if there is anything inappropriate.
[Editor's note: Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions, for which the author is solely responsible. Readers should evaluate the article's merits on their own.]