(Minghui.org) Recently I read a Minghui article “Thoughts on Why Some Practitioners Are Repeatedly Persecuted” and exchanged my thoughts with a fellow practitioner.
In our area, there are also quite a few practitioners who have been arrested over ten times, and a fifth of them have been imprisoned more than twice, some four to five times. Some practitioners, including me, have been imprisoned for a total of up to over ten or even 20 years.
Most of the time these practitioners were arrested soon after they were released. There are many reasons for this. In my opinion, it is mostly due to their inability to calm down and stay focused during Fa study and their inability to look within and eliminate the attachment that resulted in their arrests. I’d like to share how we were persecuted and my thoughts on what happened beneath the surface.
Inability to Calm Down and Study the Fa
After they were released, many practitioners had many human notions. The old forces exploited their attachments to prevent them from staying focused when studying the Fa and looking within. Some practitioners mechanically read a few chapters each day, and some dozed off while they studied the Fa.
Here are a few reasons that prohibited them from staying focused while studying the Fa: Some jumped right into truth clarification after their release, especially those who helped with technical issues, making materials, or coordination. Some had to quickly find a job to make a living, and some had to fight for their lost pensions. Some were so traumatized by the persecution that they feared the authorities would find out that they were still studying the Fa. And there were those who became entangled in family affairs or money issues.
Master said,
“What Dafa disciples need to do is to deliver to people the hope of salvation and lead lives that can be saved onto the path of return. Thus, you must study the Fa well and become a true cultivator; only then can you take on this task and fulfill this sacred and magnificent responsibility.” (“To the Dafa Disciples Attending the Fa Conference in Taiwan”)
We must take Fa study seriously if we want to keep up with the Fa rectification progress, and do the three things well. One year I went to a prison to pick up a practitioner who had been arrested many times and incarcerated for 17 years in total. She agreed to stay home and focus on studying the Fa for a while, but she soon began to visit other practitioners. She was later arrested after being seen with other practitioners and sentenced to four years. She has spent over 20 years in prison during the persecution.
Attached to Showing Off and Not Being Rational
Some practitioners suffered terribly while incarcerated, yet they remained steadfast and were respected by other prisoners and guards. After they were released, as other practitioners praised them, they felt heroic and were proud of themselves. As a result, they failed to pay attention when studying the Fa and to reflect on why they were arrested in the first place. They became irrational and soon were exploited by the old forces.
A practitioner was released from a forced labor camp after being tortured for three years. Soon after, she was arrested again and given five years in prison. After five years, she was released but seemed to believe that she’d suffered a lot for Falun Dafa and had done Falun Dafa a great favor. She would not listen to other practitioners’ reminders and could not focus on studying the teachings, saying that it made her sleepy.
She began to do the exercises and read Zhuan Falun in public and put a “Falun Dafa is good” sticker on her car. Her reasons for these irrational behaviors were that she had strong righteous thoughts and no fear. She was soon arrested and detained. She became really ill and was released on bail. She was later given a prison sentence, yet she continued to act irrationally. Her bail was cancelled, her sentence extended, and she was taken to prison.
Master said,
“Everything you do, including what you do in clarifying the truth as well as the persecution you endure, is a process of cultivation and something that must be done, and being forcibly persecuted by the old forces is also caused by the karma you have. None of this is done for Dafa, nor is it done for Master, but rather, it’s because you have a karmic debt that the old forces have something to grab onto.” (“Stay Far Away From Peril”)
Many who were incarcerated multiple times believed that they had done something great. We should know that this record isn’t something to be proud of because Master protects us.
Going to Extremes
Practitioners who are incarcerated for a long time often become narrowminded and are more likely to do things in an extreme manner. This is because, in prison, they could not study the Fa systemically and talk to other practitioners regularly. They were surrounded by CCP culture and subjected to brainwashing. It is unavoidable that they would become less considerate and more likely to go to extremes.
I once talked to a practitioner who’d just been released from prison. She’d been imprisoned five times. She told me that one day when she meditated, a guard told her, “Cover your legs with a blanket so the surveillance camera will not capture you meditating. It’ll get both of us in trouble if my superiors find out.” She told me she didn’t care: “Not only did I not cover my legs, I pushed the blanket away.”
I told her that we should be considerate of others and bear in mind that we are here to save people, including the guard. She disagreed with me and continued to do things her way. A while ago I read online that she’d been arrested and detained.
Obsessed with Making Up for Their Mistakes
Some practitioners signed statements to renounce their faith under extreme pressure and regretted it after they were released. They always try to find ways to make up for their mistakes. Instead of learning a lesson, studying the Fa, and improving themselves, they spend a lot of time clarifying the truth and helping people quit the Chinese Communist Party—and end up being arrested again.
A practitioner in her 70s quit the practice when she was in a forced labor camp. With other practitioners’ help, she resumed the practice. To make up for her mistake, she frequently went out to clarify the truth and was later arrested. Worrying that her pension would be suspended, she compromised and renounced her faith again and was released. She continued to clarify the truth and was soon arrested and sentenced to prison. She worried that her family would be upset about her practicing. After her release, someone reported her to the police and she was arrested. This time, she learned her lesson and refused to show up in court to admit any wrongdoing, no matter how hard the police and her family tried to persuade her.
Developing Resentment after Being Tortured
After being tortured in prison, many practitioners resented those who persecuted them and did not see them as lives that needed to be saved. These practitioners treated their coworkers and the community officials as evil ones and even sued them.
Regular people participate in the persecution because they want to keep their jobs and make a living. The old forces want to eliminate them by forcing them to participate in the persecution. If we don’t treat them with compassion and clarify the truth to them, they will have no future.
Master said,
“I told you a long time ago that a Dafa disciple, or a cultivator, has no enemies. The only thing you have a role in is saving people, and you have no role in using human means and human principles to punish or pronounce judgment on people. This is a fundamental issue!” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume VII)
Instead of seeking revenge, we should expose and disintegrate the evil in order to save people and cultivate ourselves.
The practitioners who hold on to their resentment are often arrested after their release. For a while, dozens of practitioners were being arrested, many of them multiple times, and some were just released a while ago. In my view, holding onto resentment was one of the main reasons for their arrests.
Hidden Complacency
Many practitioners who have been incarcerated multiple times, including me, belong to this category of people Master talked about,
“As the persecution has taken place, I’ve been watching closely. Some practitioners really don’t learn their lessons. Soon after the person is released from a labor camp, his attachment to showing off and his human thinking spring right back up.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XII )
Every time I was released, I would go right back to making Falun Dafa informational materials. Practitioners came to my home almost every day to “share experiences” with me and praise me. Although I knew that was problematic, I still believed that I was helping them cultivate by talking to them. In fact, I was indulging in their compliments. This kept me busy all day, and I didn’t have time to study the Fa and do the exercises.
The first three times I returned home from prison, practitioners came to me and told me to look within. I did not agree with their views and failed to study the Fa and look for my attachments. As a result, I was arrested again in less than a year every time after I was released. I spent most of my time in prison after the persecution started.
After I returned home from prison the fourth time, I realized that I had failed to study the Fa systematically for over ten years. So I made a drastic change and calmed down to study the Fa.
Every morning I studied, copied, and memorized the Fa. Over the past five years, I have copied Zhuan Falun and Master’s other lectures seven times. I focused on studying the Fa and improving my character. I stopped being impetuous and felt calm most of the time. As a result, fewer practitioners came to visit me at home, and I was able to work more efficiently.
Strong Human Notions
Master said,
“Why have the old forces been so harsh toward Dafa disciples? On the one hand, they are jealous of you. On the other, they look down on certain Dafa disciples who have too many and too strong of human thoughts, who are not grounded in the Fa in different situations, and who look at things in human ways. That is why tribulations are great for those who don’t do well, and if it goes on like that it is downright dangerous!” (“Dafa Spiritual Practice Is Serious”)
Some local practitioners were persecuted and even passed away because they did not let go of lust, personal gain, and emotions.
Some male and female practitioners who worked closely together ended up behaving inappropriately. This led to conflicts between practitioners and even everyday people. Another practitioner used Dafa resources to trade in gold futures with the excuse of making money for Dafa projects. This practitioner passed away. Two other practitioners were arrested and sentenced to prison.
Quite a few practitioners got into buying financial products, saying that those were investments for their children and grandchildren. Many of them were arrested and sentenced, and the one who started it passed away.
One practitioner often told me how she worried about her sons and granddaughters. She was twice arrested and sentenced. Her granddaughter worked in a procuratorate and did not want her grandmother to be a negative influence on her job, so she ordered her grandmother to stop interacting with other practitioners Her grandmother agreed. I hadn’t seen that practitioner for over a year and heard from other practitioners that she passed away.
The key to letting go of attachments is to calm down and study the Fa. The path we walk on is narrow and the old forces will make trouble for us if we deviate from that path.
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Category: Perspectives
