(Minghui.org) I have just come out of prison after being wrongfully jailed for practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong).

While I was held there, I kept asking myself: “Fa-rectification is approaching the end. What am I doing here? This is not a place for cultivation, much less a place where Dafa disciples should be. This is a center of evil. So, I must be here to rectify the Fa and bring an end to the persecution!”

At the same time, Dafa disciples shoulder the mission of assisting Master in saving people and opposing the persecution. Although I realized how difficult this would be, I had to take this first step, because the circumstances we face today are different from those of practitioners in the past when practicing was about self-cultivation.

After understanding this, a vivid image suddenly came to mind. When the persecution began, I happened to watch a religious film about searching for the Holy Grail. The male protagonist endured countless hardships and escaped pursuit by all kinds of enemies before finally reaching the place where the Holy Grail was hidden. But there was no way forward. Before him stood a sheer cliff, with a deep abyss plunging below. What was he supposed to do?

With his true faith in Jesus, he recalled Jesus’ words and firmly believed a way forward must exist. So, he resolutely took a step into the abyss. Miraculously, a path appeared beneath his feet, extending further and further ahead with each step he walked.

This scene reminded me that, as a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period, I am following Master on a path that is paving the way for the future. Only by having unwavering faith in Master and the Fa, letting go of life and death, and staying on the path of the divine, can we truly assist Master in saving people.

In this way, with the Fa as my teacher, and by following the principles of the Fa, I took one step at a time in opposing the persecution and overcoming one hurdle after another, dispelling my imagined fears about the severity of the persecution. What awaited me were many surprises, and each day brought new insights and gains through studying the Fa.

I saw that all sentient beings were waiting to be saved. Yet they had all been brainwashed and deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), leaving them unable to distinguish good from evil. They were waiting for Dafa disciples to help them break through the many layers of obstacles created by the devil, including the distorted notions that prevent people from understanding the truth, and to awaken their true nature with compassion and love.

However, I didn’t know where to start, and the task ahead seemed daunting. But Master stepped in to help me again and again. I sensed that many divine beings were quietly helping Dafa practitioners. I also found that the people inside the prison genuinely wanted to hear the truth about Dafa and the persecution.

Here, at this final moment, I am deeply grateful to Master for helping me gain a new understanding of the deeper meaning of being a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period. I was rather slow to comprehend, and only now have I finally come to realize this.

When I saw sentient beings turn around and walk toward me, I couldn’t help but reflect on how precious this final period of time to help save people truly is! We are Dafa disciples, entrusted with the sacred mission of leading sentient beings back to their true homes.

After coming out of prison, I noticed what seemed to be a widespread problem among practitioners in my local area. Many regard the tribulations they experience as the result of having fallen in their cultivation levels or not having cultivated well enough. They judge others’ cultivation based on whether or not that person has suffered tribulations, rather than being guided by the Fa to break through their confusion. As a result, this mindset has become an obstacle, holding these practitioners back and preventing them from stepping forward to save people.

Some practitioners, when arrested, renounced their belief due to attachments or fear. Others used the excuse of protecting themselves from persecution as a reason for not stepping forward to save people. These two extremes are precisely the excuses the old forces have seized upon to intensify the persecution. They cause practitioners to restrain themselves and hold back from doing what they should be doing to save people. As a result, the effort to save people is greatly diminished, which is truly regrettable.

My understanding is that, under the current circumstances, we should prioritize our safety and take each step steadily and cautiously. However, if we are arrested, we should not be afraid. Instead, we should intensify our efforts to resist the persecution and view it as an opportunity to clarify the truth and help save people.

Now that Master’s Fa-rectification has reached the surface of the human world, the energy of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance has begun to take the lead in the human world. Isn’t the center of evil precisely where Fa-rectification takes place, the persecution is opposed, and people are saved? In fact, this is indeed the case. The evil forces are already showing signs of defeat. The righteous thoughts of Dafa disciples can restrain these forces and even help those who have been poisoned by the CCP’s lies to understand the truth immediately.

Of course, the human world has always been a place of delusion, and the persecution may still appear rampant. But doesn’t this present us with precisely the right opportunity to eliminate our attachments to fear, human notions, and sentimentality?

Master said:

“… “Now that I’ve done things righteously and done them well, there can’t be any more tribulations at all from now on.” Maybe that thought of yours will lead them to create tribulations for you, since the old forces believe that’s another form of acknowledging them. “Ah, he wants it not to exist, and he wants to be carefree. That doesn’t work. That thought of his needs to be removed.” Then isn’t that having your gaps exploited? …” (Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003)

My understanding is that we should not hold back from doing what we need to do simply to avoid tribulations. Instead, we should maintain righteous thoughts, take Fa-rectification as our point of reference, and do everything that Dafa disciples are supposed to do.

Master also said:

“… When I tried to stop the persecution, the old forces and the gods of the cosmos all said: “You have to be firm on matters of principle when rectifying the Fa. What Fa are you rectifying? Are you going to take unrighteous things and regard them as the righteous Fa? Is that your disciple over there? Look at him does he consider you his master?” The more seriously the person was persecuted, the more his human attachments grew, instead of him becoming more steadfast as the persecution went on and having stronger and stronger righteous thoughts to resist the persecution. You tell me, what could be done? All the way until the time he was killed by the persecution, he never regarded himself as a Dafa disciple...” (“Teachings at the 2005 Conference in San Francisco”)

My understanding is that fear of persecution, passively enduring it, and deliberately avoiding it are all signs that one has not passed the test of life and death. This is also a question of the distinction between a cultivator and an ordinary person.

Wouldn’t it be better to let go of our attachment to life and death and actively stand up against the persecution? Rather than passively enduring the persecution or allowing it to hold us back. It might be: “… “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!” ...” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

As time is limited, I will just write these thoughts for now and share them with fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything that may be incorrect.