(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensified its transnational repression against Falun Dafa last year. Unlike previous tactics, which primarily targeted smaller countries, this time the main target was the U.S.
The attack included a series of slanderous articles about Shen Yun, published in The New York Times. Although that newspaper has a strong voice, and what it publishes has a great impact, I initially thought this mainly concerned practitioners in the U.S. I didn’t read the articles and didn’t think we needed to pay much attention to the CCP’s propaganda.
Master was also attacked—a few former Shen Yun members accused him in a complaint that was more than 50 pages long. The Falun Dafa Association and many practitioners felt this was a very serious matter that required an immediate response.
Even then, however, I didn’t see how practitioners in the Balkans could help.
As time passed, it turned out that the consequences of this round of repression were quite serious. Some practitioners fell for the lies and started to doubt Master and Dafa. Some stopped cultivating and even changed sides, fueling the slanderous propaganda. Some were prominent practitioners. I thought that in our region everything would be fine as long as I, as a coordinator, did the three things, and I helped local practitioners do the same. And we did. Everything seemed under control. However, earlier this year, I had a disturbing dream:
About a hundred practitioners from all over the world were gathered in a room. Everyone was standing, and Master was there. But no one was paying attention to that “master.” Practitioners were arguing, and one was even shouting, gesturing aggressively. I was surprised that a practitioner would behave like that, and I looked at Master, perhaps to check his reaction.
The one I considered Master just stood there looking at the floor. He was thin and dressed in an oversized suit that hung off him. His shoes were old and dirty.
I thought, “How come Master has dirty shoes?” I wondered whether I should bend down and clean them for him. As I thought about this, I woke up.
When I later mentioned this dream to other practitioners, one asked: “Do you have doubts about Master?”
I’ve practiced Falun Dafa for more than 20 years; there have been ups and downs, but I’ve never lost faith in him, not even for a moment. Yet I couldn’t explain why in the dream I would call Master someone whose appearance or behavior has nothing to do with our Master’s? How could I consider those people who were shouting and arguing like mad, true practitioners of Dafa? Master answered a question in a lecture in Sidney, 1996, about how to distinguish the real from the fake Master in a dream or vision.
Master said,
“If it is me, you will be able to sense that, and your mind will be at ease; if it’s not me, you will have a question mark in your mind.” (Lecture Given at the Conference in Sydney)
And I sensed that Master was someone who wasn’t him. Today, I realize that all this was a massive attack by the old forces, hopefully the final one. It manifested differently in different environments, but I believe no Dafa practitioner could have avoided it. The fact that it caught me off guard and gave the old forces justification to persecute me indicates my poor cultivation state at that moment. But a practitioner can usually see their own cultivation state—how come I couldn’t? Master mentioned that a block of ice doesn’t form overnight. And that’s why, in my looking inside and quest for an answer, I must go back a few months.
In reply to a question about social-political engagement, in Teachings given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003, Master said,
“The Falun Dafa Association has no political opinion regarding any party’s election, and it doesn’t get involved. As individual practitioners you can support whoever you would like.” (Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003)
I never supported the ruling party in my country, especially because it is close to the CCP and repeatedly interfered with our activities—it even arrested practitioners. So when massive student protests against the government broke out last November, I was all for it. There were several extra reasons for me to identify with them and give support in the months that followed.
First, protests were non-violent, just like Dafa activities in or outside China; second, after every gathering (and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people participated), the students would clean up the trash left on the streets, just like Dafa practitioners did after the appeal at Zhongnanhai; and third, every day at 11:53 a.m., the students had 15 minutes of silence, so wherever they gathered, everything would stop, similar to when practitioners send forth righteous thoughts.
I felt close to those young people, and I wished to reach them. So I organized a screening of a documentary about Dafa at one of the blocked faculties. Soon, we received calls from other faculties, and it all seemed like a great opportunity to spread the truth on a mass scale. However, the situation changed abruptly—the students took to the streets, and there was no longer any possibility for film screenings.
I continued to follow and support them, hoping for another chance. To stay in touch with events, I regularly checked online media. Maybe it was too often, and maybe it took up time, but the country was burning, and some people got killed; didn’t Master say in Zhuan Falun, Lecture 9: “If you do not help stop a murder or arson, what will you get involved with?”
In the months that followed, there was an emotional outburst among my fellow countrymen: joy, sadness, pride, anger, complacency. But smiles, selflessness, kindness, tolerance, and peacefulness prevailed—all super good things. It was hard to stay immune to things like that. People were crying non-stop; those were tears of joy, and I couldn’t restrain myself. As I understood from the Fa, even the gods in charge of the Three Realms must be changed every ten years or else they would be overcome by qing. So how could a simple practitioner, with a molecular body and lots of attachments, not fall under the influence of such a flood of emotions?
Naturally, it started to suck me in. Winter passed, and spring came, and the ice was getting thicker. The events were daily, and although I personally participated only a few times, I was becoming more and more like an ordinary person—I did the three things that Dafa practitioners should do, but not with the heart I had before. I started to feel it physically, through lack of concentration, forgetfulness, and loss of focus. I was sinking deeper and deeper into qing, until finally a thought flashed in my mind: “These young people are wonderful; it’s as if they’ve already gone through Fa-rectification; you can see from them how the people of the future will be like. The future is amazing. I’d like to stay here and experience it with them!”
Today, this reminds me of a story in the Fa, about a Brahmanist monk and the wounded deer. The monk became so attached to the poor deer that he completely sank into qing and neglected his cultivation. In the end, he reincarnated as a deer.
I don’t know if the dream came after that fatal thought, or before. No wonder I couldn’t recognize the fake Master in the dream. I was under the control of the old forces and actually dreaming this dream day after day—both asleep and awake.
I can’t say what exactly woke me up, but suddenly I realized I had to strengthen my sending forth righteous thoughts. The timing coincided with the suppression of old force elements by Dafa practitioners globally and the weakening of the transnational repression. At that time, the efforts by U.S. practitioners finally bore fruit—many congressmen and other VIPs saw through the transnational repression and condemned the CCP. And once again, I understand from the Fa that whatever the CCP does, it turns against it.
In my country, with the beginning of summer, the police started using violent methods, and arrests and beatings of students, including underage high schoolers, became regular. As a parent, I would readily stand between those kids and the police, but as a Dafa practitioner, I must view the situation from a higher perspective. Dafa practitioners must remain unaffected no matter what happens in this world. Whether it’s the war in Ukraine, the famine in Gaza, the bombing of Iran, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, typhoons, floods—we must view everything calmly and not allow ourselves to be controlled by qing. Instead of qing, compassion should prevail.
Of course, it’s hard, but we just need to think about how hard it is for the Lord Buddha, watching people repaying their karma at each moment of their lives. The mercy of the Lord Buddha is immeasurable, and his example should be the only one to follow.
But if instead of compassion we develop qing, as in the story of the deer, the consequences won’t be fatal only for us, but also for countless beings that each Dafa practitioner represents, as well as those waiting to be saved during this period of Fa-rectification. Therefore, we must be vigilant.
Thank you, Master, for guiding me once more through rough waters. Thank you, fellow practitioners.
[Articles in which cultivators share their understandings typically reflect an individual’s perception at a point in time based on their cultivation state, and they are offered in the spirit of enabling mutual elevation.]
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Category: Cultivation Insights
