(Clearwisdom.net) The persecution of Falun Gong has been going on for nearly four and a half years, since July 20, 1999. During this time, I have been very anxious every day, hoping that there would be "a completely safe plan," which would allow all the practitioners in China to continue to cultivate peacefully. I have cried a flood of tears, as I helplessly watched many fellow practitioners in China become enveloped in the lies, pressure, and severe persecution. Many of them move forward with steady steps, but some are very confused. Others are at the limits of their forbearance, and still others have ruined all their expectations and lost the good fortune for which they have been waiting for tens of thousands of years. I had a dependent, "wait-and-see" mentality for a very long time, worrying that I could not clarify the truth well enough or that I might overdo things. As a result, I was always expecting Master to point out the cultivation problems of our practitioners in China directly or at least more directly. I did not understand until today that this dependent mentality is also a manifestation of my failure to follow Dafa requirements to become more mature. I am actually shirking responsibilities that I myself should have shouldered. I should speak my innermost thoughts and allow the cultivated side to play its role and the imperfect part to be corrected, improved and completed by fellow practitioners.
The issue that I want to bring up is that if we really understand the truth of Dafa's requirement to "look inward," we will never fail to find our own problems, and we will not feel that our ability is falling short of our wishes in facing the tribulations and conflicts. It will not be that we will never admit that we make mistakes or that our thoughts and behavior are always correct or that we will be good at thinking from the others' perspectives after we seemed to "look inward." If we had truly cultivated ourselves with as much determination as we could imagine and reached the requirements for Dafa disciples, the "July 20" event would never have happened. If we really followed what Master requires us to do in completely denying the evil persecution of Dafa practitioners, this persecution would not have lasted for over four years. So many fellow practitioners would not have been tortured physically and spiritually in the dark and dirty labor camps and jails. It is time for us to break through our bonds, completely breaking through the bonds of our hearts, the human cages arranged by the evils. At this last, most important moment, let all our Dafa practitioners spend every single minute clarifying the truth and truly saving the sentient beings as Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners.
Master told us in July 2001 at the Washington Fa-conference: "Cherish the present time and make the best use of it--this time is meant for the disciples. While you cultivate, do Fa-rectification, and move yourselves towards Consummation, you also need to save sentient beings; you are creating everything for the future." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference") I understand that this period of time is left as the final chance for Dafa practitioners to save sentient beings. For our path in the future, only the part that is completed well can be left for the future generation to be their reference. So if we are imprisoned for long periods of time by the evil, how can we get in touch with all the sentient beings that we are supposed to save, to help them understand the truth, and to open the road for their future? Those practitioners who have been imprisoned for so long in the labor camps and jails are suppressed by the evil forces. They lose their power and their motivation to exhibit their divine power and wisdom. Nevertheless, their sentient beings are waiting at this moment to be saved after waiting for tens of thousands of years. But these practitioners remain imprisoned all these years in the evil prisons. The bars on the windows and the walls stop their eyesight. The cruel torture and labor waste their bodies, minds and time -- the time that is so precious and of vital importance, every single second and minute.
After Master repeatedly explained to us, we all understood that this persecution is by no means one of ordinary people persecuting human beings. It is the destruction of Fa-rectification and Dafa practitioners arranged by the old forces in the universe. If there were no evil forces or rotten demons in the other dimensions that control the bad people in the human world (there are also those who are possessed by spirits directly in this dimension), no matter how bad the ruffians' thoughts were, they would dare not do anything against Dafa practitioners. Humans all have their side that understands, and the cultivated part of Dafa practitioners is shining like gold, dignified and sacred. How dare the ordinary people even think of offending Dafa disciples?
For all of us Dafa practitioners, if we truly understand this point, the evil will not dare to abduct us. Even if we still have ordinary people's attachments and we have omissions and we are arrested, if we can correct ourselves immediately, the evil will not dare detain us. At the same time, fellow practitioners who hear the information should take immediate action to expose the evil to the local people and clarify the truth. When we clarify the truth, we can eliminate the evil. When we clarify the truth, we can save the sentient beings. When the evils have been eliminated, the persecution of the local practitioner will naturally come to an end.
Of course it is easier said than done. Actually, the key issue is whether we can step away from our chain of thoughts and not look at things superficially, whether we can break through the mental obstacles brought to us by the old universe and human society. Dafa cultivates the standards of the new universe. We should thoroughly re-mould and cultivate ourselves outside of the old universe. We should also build our own mighty virtue as protectors of the new universe in saving the sentient beings. How can we do it? We should not think about whether it is difficult or not. We should choose what to do according to Master's Fa-rectification standards to clear away all the obstacles. If we use our human minds to look at the persecution, if we use human ways to resist the persecution, if we use our human hearts and depend on external forces to eliminate the persecution, no matter to what degree these issues exist, as long as they are not completely eliminated, they will bind us up with the persecution.
Master pointed it out very clearly on December 29, 2001 in the lecture he gave in Florida: "Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. No matter whether you think you have the ability or not, you should do it. What you eliminate from your own mind are ones which have an effect within the expanse of your own body; at the same time, you need to eliminate the external ones, which are directly related to the dimensions you're in. If you don't eliminate them, then they not only persecute you and restrain you, but also persecute other students, other Dafa disciples. " ("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")
Everyone understands the meaning of these sentences. It is very obvious that, two years later in some areas where the truth-clarification has been done very well, large numbers of fellow practitioners have been released, and the local public strongly opposes the persecution. They all know that Dafa is good and the Dafa practitioners are good. But as a whole group, some areas are far behind Master's requirements. They are still enduring the persecution, partly or even completely passively. Where does the attachment of fear come from? We are not criminals, why should we allow the persecution to continue? The issue is whether we genuinely believe in Master, whether we want to upgrade ourselves according to Master's Fa with no conditions. Besides, from the date when we obtained the Fa until today, do we really understand what cultivation is, how to cultivate ourselves, what is Fa-rectification and what are Fa-rectification Dafa disciples? Do our own choices really follow the requirements of the Fa-rectification? Or are we just like the old forces that only want what we like from the Fa, and, for the other parts, are we just following our own standards to pursue what we wish to obtain?
Let's assume that if today there were no more time left for us to become enlightened by ourselves, and if Master told us directly that all Dafa practitioners who are illegally imprisoned, no matter whether they believe their power is big or small, should keep on sending forth more righteous thoughts every day, that they should all clarify the truth to everyone (including other prisoners and guards) in a rational, clear-minded and reasonable way-- are we going to wake up immediately and follow what Master tells us to do without any conditions and without being moved by the ordinary society's phenomena and the evil interference? If every one of us does it in this way, especially in those labor camps where thousands of Dafa practitioners are being imprisoned, could those evil ruffians still bear it? They would surely be quick to find an excuse to release the practitioners as soon as possible, because all the evils that support them know that would be the end for them. The clear side of those evils is also afraid that they might die when they lose the support from the evils in the other dimensions.
Actually Master told us early in 2001: "No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won't be this way." ("Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful")
"I suggest that all students who they are trying to forcefully reform (this excludes those who haven't been taken away for reform) expose the evil and clarify the truth to those people who are doing the reform work, and tell them about the cause and effect relationship of "good and evil always have consequences." ("A Suggestion")
There is a Minghui article entitled "Cooperating with the Fellow Practitioners in the Jails to Clarify the Truth, Expose the Evil and Save the Sentient Beings," which tells how the local practitioners cooperate with their illegally imprisoned fellow practitioners in the labor camps to clarify the errors in their understanding of the Fa, expose the persecution actively and completely, and clarify the truth to the local public and the persecutors' families. As a result, the world's people are saved, and the jailed practitioners are soon released. Since they all, as a group, have joined together to expose the persecution, some of the local people are unwilling to participate in the persecution anymore, and the police can hardly run rampant anymore. Recently, many articles similar to this have been published on Clearwisdom. I feel that the Fa-rectification has really come to such a stage, and we cannot wait any longer. Every single minute and second are created by Master for us. We should not allow the evil police to convict us, to jail us or to extend the imprisonment terms as they like. We are Fa-rectification Dafa practitioners. It is we who should be active, not these vicious thugs that follow Jiang Zemin in persecuting Dafa practitioners and the world's people.