(Clearwisdom.net) When Falun Gong practitioners have clarified the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong and the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" to the public, some people have asked whether Falun Gong participates in politics. This is a major obstacle for people to correctly understand Falun Gong and to see clearly the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party. How to eliminate this obstacle depends on each individual person. I feel that clearly stating the following five points below is quite important.

Plainly speaking, participating in politics means to compete for power and material gain. According to conventional reasoning, politics is the concentrated manifestation of economic interest. The core issue of politics is the state's power, so participating in politics means participating in the fight for economic interest and the power of the state. Falun Gong practitioners strive to live according to Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and are disinterested in worldly fame, self-interest, and sentiment. Falun Gong is not a political organization. Its practitioners wish to be kind people. They don't have any political agendas or aspirations They are not interested in power, fame, or material gain. They have nothing in common with politics.

Practitioners' purpose in clarifying the truth about CCP's persecution of Falun Dafa and introducing the "Nine Commentaries about the CCP" is fivefold:

1. To expose the CCP's deception and help the world's people know the truth. Since the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, the CCP has adopted various despicable means to distort the facts, to fabricate lies, to plot incidents and to frame Falun Gong on charges of self-immolation, homicide, etc. 'The practitioners' objective is to clarify the facts of the persecution' and counteract the falsehoods spread by the CCP.

2. To enable the world's people to recognize the evil nature of the Party and the brutality with which this self-claimed "great, glorious, and correct" Party has persecuted Falun Gong. The white terror and brainwashing of the last half century has instilled such fear in many people that they dare not think independently, blindly obey the party culture, and believe in the deceptive propaganda. The commentaries help to crystallize the Party's true nature, so that people can have the best information to make up their minds on where they stand.

3. To restrain the CCP's evil deeds. The CCP is actually very fearful of being exposed and of people knowing the truth of the persecution. It is afraid that this knowledge will cause people to oppose the CCP. In dealing with this exposure by Falun Gong practitioners, the Party has, on the one hand, desperately tried to hide the truth. On the other hand, it has curtailed its rampant persecution of Falun Gong.

4. To wake up and save the sentient beings that have been poisoned. In the overwhelmingly one-sided CCP propaganda, many sentient beings have been deceived. "In today's history, human beings must choose a path for the future of their existence." ("Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World") Practitioners are clarifying the truth to eliminate the poison instilled in sentient beings by the CCP. Only those who have learned the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong and have eliminated their bad thoughts about Falun Gong will be saved after the Fa-rectification arrives in the human world. Thus, the practitioners' efforts to clarify the truth is a form of compassion towards sentient beings and an attempt to save them.

5. To create a peaceful environment where people can practice without fear of being persecuted. If the CCP had not persecuted Falun Gong and had not fabricated lies to poison its people's minds about Falun Gong, its practitioners would have no need to clarify the truth to the world's people. The goal of the practitioners' truth-clarification and their opposition to the persecution is to take a stand in society and to call for an environment in which people will not be persecuted for practicing Falun Gong.

The above is just my shallow understanding. I ask my fellow practitioners to point out any shortcomings in my understanding.

March 30, 2005