(Clearwisdom.net)
On November 6, 2004, the Clearwisdom website published an article entitled "Let Go of Ordinary People's Mentality and Do Not Be Swayed by Shifts in Ordinary Society." The article was from a Clearwisdom commentator. After I read it, I asked myself what I would do if the day of "clearing Falun Gong's name" really occurs? Will my heart be unaffected? Will I be able to face the new environment established by the Fa?
I had previously thought about the possibility of "Falun Gong's name being cleared" before the Fa rectifies the human world. We discussed how, if this really happens, we should handle our local truth-clarification materials distribution center. We also focused on how we should be careful to avoid being taken advantage of by malicious factors and to avoid any possible losses.
This time, however, when I read the article, my first thought was, "This is a new approach. This is good." We might have better opportunities to save more people, since we could clarify the truth publicly and more easily. We could practice Falun Gong exercises freely. When I talked about my thoughts with my non-practitioner friends, their immediate response was, "It's impossible." Based on their understanding of the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) over the past fifty years, there hasn't been any other group that has suffered such a brutal persecution by the Party. Therefore, they could tell the Chinese Communist Party was extremely afraid of Falun Gong. This is an ordinary person's opinion. How should we, Falun Dafa practitioners, view this?
Jiang Zemin, the dark-souled perpetrator, at the beginning of this persecution haughtily stated, "I just don't believe that the Party can't defeat Falun Gong." He used the Chinese Communist Party to launch and carry out the persecution. Jiang has inescapable culpability. Meanwhile, the Party also has inescapable culpability. Therefore, these leading perpetrators, both those individuals and the Party, don't have any merit to clear Falun Gong's name.
Based on our understanding of Fa principles and the changes in our environment, we know there are fewer and fewer malevolent elements in all dimensions. Those that remain have been acting frantically during their final days. But we believe the time is coming that the Fa will rectify the human world. However, when we examine our hearts, we might find we either don't truly believe Falun Gong's name will be cleared soon, or we become too excited about it.
Those who don't believe that it will happen think that Jiang Zemin is too malicious to stop the persecution himself, especially because he personally launched the persecution. Many people who know the Party's history hold this opinion. However, why do some of our fellow practitioners think this also? Isn't this because they haven't yet realized that Fa-rectification is already taking place? The Chinese Communist Party is nothing more than a mere skeleton, because the CCP members don't even believe in Communism anymore. In this situation, it's quite natural for someone or some group to help clear Falun Gong's name in order to solve the current crisis, and to lay a positive foundation for their future. Actually, it makes sense that someone would like to do this.
If some of us feel excited about this prospect, we should understand that it is also a human emotion, since it is selfish. We think, "We've been suffering the persecution for so long and finally somebody is going to stop it." They don't realize that saving sentient beings is the most urgent task for practitioners. It is inevitable that the persecution will come to an end. We knew that the persecution was bound to fail from the day it started. Any kind of persecution of righteous beliefs in history failed. However, it is a huge loss to sentient beings who participated in the persecution.
In the latest three articles, Teacher repeatedly reminds us that our thoughts must be righteous, not human. Teacher is trying to give us a form of "stick wake-up" to dig out our deep and persistent attachments. However, some of us are still waiting eagerly for the day that "clearing Falun Gong's name" will occur. Some have high hopes for external forces to make a change to the environment instead of firmly believing in the Fa. Some grow complacent and are ready to regard themselves as heroes after Falun Gong's name is cleared. Some have the pursuit of getting compensated after years' of suffering. It's hard for practitioners not to get excited if they have the above thoughts.
After reading the article from the Clearwisdom commentator, we should seriously think about how to get prepared for the days to come.
Before this article was published, had we ever thought about this from the perspective of the Fa? Were our thoughts righteous? Would we be able to reach the Fa's requirements as one body? Would we be able to keep our hearts unaffected, regardless of whether it happens or not?
All practitioners should understand that the Fa-rectification process hasn't ended. It's our top priority to save as many sentient beings as possible. If the persecution stops, people might get to know the truth and be saved. However, clearing Falun Gong's name might also be an arrangement by the old forces. Therefore, there might be some other issues that would make truth-clarification difficult.
Since the malevolent elements haven't been completely eradicated, those that remain will be more relentless. They will continue with their so-called "tests" to get rid of the sentient beings that they don't want.
How are we going to adjust our truth-clarification efforts following such a change? During the "April 5th Incident," in 1999, we made three requests: release the jailed practitioners, allow Falun Gong books to be published for public distribution, and allow people to freely practice Falun Gong. What will our request be now?
We should request that Falun Gong and Teacher's names cleared, the release of all imprisoned practitioners, restore a peaceful environment for people to practice Falun Gong, clear Falun Gong practitioners and their families' names, compensate practitioners and their families who suffered economic losses because of the persecution, to investigate people who maliciously persecuted practitioners and to bring them to justice, and to completely disclose all persecution acts done by anybody.
In the article, the Clearwisdom commentator pointed out that according to Heaven's principles, from a human perspective, from a legal perspective, and from a cultivation perspective that, "From the perspective of clearing Falun Gong's name, this should both end the persecution and rectify the principles in ordinary society--rewarding goodness and punishing evil, bringing all of the criminals to justice; promoting the good and suppressing the evil, and encouraging people to understand Truth-Compassion-Tolerance and Falun Gong positively. Only then will clearing Falun Gong's name have any true significance." The author also pointed out, "Even if the persecution is completely stopped, we still cannot let up, as we must help the world's people clearly distinguish between good and evil through exposing this persecution that Falun Gong has endured. Practitioners should help them clearly understand the compounding moral pollution and damage that the persecution brought upon Chinese society and the whole world, so that everyone will remember and learn from this harsh lesson in history."
If we recognize the Communist Party's action to clear Falun Gong's name, how would ordinary people think of it? The Party would still have total control of the media. How can it not impose any restrictions on our truth-clarification efforts? The Party would try to use "clearing Falun Gong's name" as a positive example of the Party's "perpetual righteousness," the Party's courage to admit its own mistakes, and of the Party's great
"Tolerance." It would continue to deceive the public. We need to consider what we should do to be prepared, so we won't become confused in order to facilitate saving more sentient beings.
Some practitioners haven't stepped forward to clarify the truth because of various kinds of attachments. They might not have an opportunity to do so after Falun Gong's name is cleared. Even if they do, it might not be easy for them to establish mighty virtue since it won't be that difficult to clarify the truth then.
Last but not least, we need to clearly remember that we shouldn't let our hearts be swayed by shifts in ordinary society. We should continuously validate the Fa and save sentient beings. No matter whether Falun Gong's name is cleared or not, we should keep communicating with each other and distributing truth-clarification materials. Having our heart unaffected means under any circumstances, the hearts of individual practitioners and of all the practitioners as one body should be one and should be solid.
We should restore our study groups so we can share experiences more frequently. There will probably be more practitioners stepping forward to clarify the truth. We should ask them to join group study and read experience-sharing papers from the First Written Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China. We need to remind them of the issues of security. We should accompany them when doing truth-clarification in the beginning. The purpose is to help them catch up with the Fa-rectification process, while we work on the three matters that Teacher asked us to do. For those people who are interested in learning Falun Gong, we should provide them with books and the help they need.
Meanwhile, we should not publicize contact information of truth-clarification materials distribution centers. We need to establish more small-sized distribution centers. As cultivators, we should constantly keep righteous thoughts and do well the three matters that Teacher asked us to do.
We need to continue to rescue our imprisoned fellow practitioners. It's important for us to collect evidence about the leading perpetrators as well as those malicious people who have been actively involved in persecuting Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners. We should bring them to justice. We need to call for people's conscience. Practitioners and their families that suffered losses should be compensated.
Teacher told us,
"Dafa disciples are walking a divine path. Don't be affected by shifts in the ordinary world, seize the day to clarify the truth, save the world's people, clean out the rotten demons, and keep your thoughts and actions righteous. The Dafa disciples in Mainland China, more than anyone, should step up their efforts and do well the things they are supposed to do, staying always diligent."
(Greetings)
In order to achieve this, we need to better cooperate with each other. We need to adjust our approaches to more effectively validate the Fa.
In a word, we need to have righteous thoughts, not human thoughts.
