(Clearwisdom.net) This April the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime visited Washington, D.C., and Dafa practitioners around the globe took this opportunity to go to D.C. to peacefully protest the persecution. Under the arrangement of our benevolent Master, I was fortunate to be able to participate in this activity. In this article I want to briefly discuss the situations I saw during this trip, and I hope this discussion will trigger more insightful sharing.

During the D.C. activities, we utilized the formats of a parade, a rally, and other ordinary means to appeal to Hu and President Bush. We wanted them to pay attention to the persecution that Falun Gong has experienced during the last seven years and especially to the shocking five- to six-year-long atrocity of harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners. By protesting in this manner, we hoped to bring the persecution to an end as soon as possible. However, what was different from what we had done in the past, was that when we held a parade or a rally, when we sent forth righteous thoughts in front of the Chinese Consulate, when we protested at the hotel where Hu and his delegation members stayed, when Hu's motorcade passed by, or when Hu's welcoming crowd shouted loudly, we practitioners also shouted nonstop. I want to give two examples.

Example One: Protesting at the hotel where Hu and his delegation stayed

It was arranged that Hu's welcoming crowd was to stay in front of the hotel, and these people in the welcome crowd shouted very loudly. We practitioners also shouted loudly. It gave people the impression that the two sides were in a duel. Some practitioners thought that we should not scatter our manpower; that we should, instead, ask the practitioners surrounding the hotel to gather together at the front of the hotel to give greater support. However, the delegation, again using the evil's trick of making a feint to the east but attacking the west, entered the hotel from the back door. So our manpower was indeed scattered.

While the two sides confronted each other, how could practitioners send forth righteous thoughts effectively? As a matter of fact, Dafa practitioners were standing on all sides of the hotel; so the evil was enclosed in a righteous field. The evil could not get out from the front door nor could they escape from the backdoor. So it was important to stay in every section surrounding the hotel.

Example Two: In front of the Chinese Embassy

When Dafa practitioners appealed in front of the Chinese Embassy we did something different from what we had done before. Ninety-nine percent of the practitioners held banners and shouted slogans, and only one percent sent forth righteous thoughts under the trees.

Have we truly achieved the goal of sending forth righteous thoughts at a close proximity to the evil?

Without the evil factors controlling them in other dimensions, what could possibly be done by ordinary persons? Thus, sending forth righteous thoughts in a location close to where the evil has gathered is particularly powerful. During this battle between the evil and the righteous, it is our benevolent Master who has given us again this opportunity to be at a close proximity to eliminate the remnants of the evil in other dimensions. The fact that the human surface situation has become better is the reflection of the evil in other dimensions being massively eliminated.

Did we want to wage a mighty attack against the evil in other dimensions or did we want to win a duel in the human world? Which one was more important? Which one was more powerful? When we spent a lot of time concentrating on shouting our slogans, did we give the evil in other dimensions a chance to re-energize? Have we truly achieved the goal of sending forth righteous thoughts at a close proximity to the evil?

We should return to the state that Dafa cultivators should essentially maintain

My personal understanding is that we have to clearly know that our shouting slogans during the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party parade was done to utilize an ordinary format to draw attention to the information about the big tide of Chinese people who are withdrawing from the CCP and its related organizations. It does not mean that we have to shout slogans in all our other activities, and even less should we treat shouting loudly as the same thing as confronting the evil with righteous thoughts.

Cultivation is a serious matter. We should return to the cultivation essence that Dafa cultivators should maintain, and we should look within ourselves to see if we have unknowingly fallen into ordinary sentimentality (qing). Was it the case that our competitive mentality was easily aroused by the shouting from the welcoming crowd? Had we treated those people as enemies? How could a cultivators' compassion be manifested in shouting?