(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher made the following comment on a practitioner's article, "Expose the Evil Happening Locally to the Local People:"
"Exposing the wicked policemen and bad persons and publicizing their evil deeds is extremely effective at shocking and restraining those irrational, wicked people. At the same time, by clarifying the facts to the people on a local level it most directly exposes, and generates public awareness of, the wicked persecution. It is also a great way to save the people who have been poisoned and deceived by the lies. I hope all Dafa disciples and new students in Mainland China will do this well."
As to how to expose the evil happening locally to the local people, there have been many articles published on the Clearwisdom/Minghui websites. I would like to share my experience of exposing the evil in my area, to illustrate the importance of doing so. Let's encourage and prompt each other to do well in this regard.
Since 1999, our county has been the focus of persecution in the province. For over three years, there were always Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned in the county detention center. There have been over 200 practitioners in our area incarcerated in the detention center. Local practitioners were continually sentenced to serve time in the forced labor camp and were fined numerous times [because they refused to give up practicing Falun Gong or because they clarified important facts about Falun Gong to local people.] On the surface, the evil was prevailing over us. At the time, I firmly believed that we could subdue the evil and turn the tide in our area if we could expose the evil's atrocious crimes to the local people. However, I procrastinated for a long time due to my attachment of fear. One year later, Teacher published His comment on the article, "Expose the Evil Happening Locally to the Local People." I felt very ashamed that I had not acted sooner. I realized that Teacher must be encouraging me and reinforcing my righteous thoughts. That was when I decided to work on exposing the evil.
During the process, we collected facts about the persecution in our county, as well as the organizations and people participating in the persecution. We selected those cases that would draw more attention from the public. For all the selected cases, we made sure to find the organizations and leaders responsible for the persecution. We exposed those people from the political and legal committee, the 610 Office, the State Security Team, the detention center and the police stations who are most active in the persecution. In the articles exposing the persecution happening locally, I added important facts about the "April 25" Appeal to the State Appeals Office in Beijing, about the staged "Self-Immolation" incident at Tiananmen Square, about people who suffered from karmic retribution for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, etc.
During the editing process, I repeatedly thought of the persecution I had been subjected to for the past few years. Fear of being arrested again weighed heavily on my mind. When that happened, I adjusted my mentality according to the Fa. I thought, "Fear originates from selfishness. I am exposing the evil to save sentient beings. I am exposing the wicked people persecuting Falun Gong in order to make them stop and to save them, not to vent my hatred. I have the responsibility to expose the evil. I must fulfill my mission!" Then I found my body and mind enveloped in compassion and my face flooded with tears. I had no fear or hatred. Each word in the articles contained my compassion and kind thoughts. Finally, I spent an entire night making a booklet. Looking at and caressing the booklet, which contained facts about the local persecution, the first booklet like this that I had made, I was excited and speechless.
Two local coordinators read and approved of the booklet. They suggested that all the practitioners in our county help distribute the booklet. They decided that the booklet would be an encouragement to the local practitioners and prompt more practitioners to step out and clarify the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution of Falun Gong. The two coordinators encouraged me once more with calm and pure minds. At the time, the cultivation state of the entire county's practitioners was very good. Many practitioners participated in distributing the booklets. In two days all the booklets were distributed. The coordinators gave each practitioner a different number of booklets according to what they thought they could manage. Some took one, some took seven, some took 200. A nine-year-old young practitioner distributed nearly 100 booklets to her neighbors in one evening.
Afterwards, this booklet made a huge impact on the entire county's government and business organizations. It became the most talked about topic among government and private business employees. People condemned the crimes committed by those who participated in the persecution of Falun Gong. Those who had a misunderstanding about Falun Gong were unable to refute the truth when they were presented with facts of the persecution happening locally. Next we heard more feedback from the area. After reading the booklet, an older retired woman took the booklet to her neighbor, who is the mother of the warden of the county detention center. She has been a good friend with the warden's mother, but on that day she confronted her good friend about the crimes her son had committed. "Look at these immoral deeds your son has done! Read the booklet! He uses violence on Falun Gong practitioners. He force-feeds Falun Gong practitioners [not as a means to nourish them, but to torture them!]" The warden's mother was enraged. She went to her son's home and reproached him, "This is a small county. Everyone knows everyone else. How could you do so such things?"
The captain of the State Security Team has a relative who is a Falun Gong practitioner. The practitioner gave him a booklet and took the opportunity to advise him in a kind manner not to continue his crimes. The practitioner told the captain that she was trying to save him and said that this might be his last chance for salvation.
The secretary of the local 610 Office ran into a former colleague on the street. Because they have known each other for a long time, the former colleague could afford to make fun of him. "Look at what you have done. You call this a job? You can choose any career you want, but you chose to do this. What you have done has been compiled into a book." Next he produced a booklet. The secretary was extremely embarrassed.
Some people with the Public Security Bureau were anxious to find out who produced the booklets, but on the surface they did not say a word. Soon, a major personnel change was announced. The captain and the deputy captain of the State Security Team, as well as the warden of the county detention center, were replaced. On the surface it was the county government's response to appease the public's outrage, but Falun Gong practitioners knew the true reason. A lot of participants of the persecution now look ashamed. Some of them hang their heads in shame when they run into Falun Gong practitioners. Some claim they have never lifted a finger against any Falun Gong practitioners, as though they are trying to win Falun Gong practitioners' approval. Since that time, the county detention center has almost never imprisoned any practitioners. After a Dafa practitioner explained important facts about Falun Gong face to face to the secretary of the county's Political and Legal Committee, the secretary revealed some previously unknown facts of the persecution. After the secretary retired, he privately provided Falun Gong practitioners with legal consultation and help. Since then, the environment in our county has truly improved. The overall state of Falun Gong practitioners has become much better. More and more practitioners have started to step out and spread the facts about Falun Gong.
This is a local practitioners' experience of exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to the local people. Judging from the improvement in the local environment, it is really important to systematically expose the persecution happening locally to the local people, especially in those areas where the persecution is rampant. Actually, we all know the significance of exposing the persecution to the local people, but why have some areas been procrastinating?
Now I have realized that the biggest obstacle is fear. When we are overcome with fear, we find excuses not to do it, which reinforces our fear. It is horrible to have fear, but it is important to face and suppress your fear. It is like we are soaked in the sentimentality (qing) saturating the Three Realms, but we can transcend sentimentality and be free of its restraints through our cultivation practice. Based on my own cultivation experiences, it is not about who has more fear or who has less fear. When we are attached to notions, we can be bound by fear at any time. But when our hearts are on the Fa and when our hearts are filled with compassion and kind thoughts of saving sentient beings, our bodies and minds are dominated by our righteous thoughts at that moment and no interference will have power over us. When we step out and expose the persecution, we are denying the interference. The process of exposing the persecution is a process of completely eradicating the evil that is orchestrating the persecution.
Falun Gong practitioners rely on righteous thoughts instead of everyday people's valor when we do Dafa work. Teacher said,
"The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")
The evil persecution is not over yet. Hopefully, fellow practitioners will continue to do well in terms of systematically exposing the evil happening locally to the local people. Those fellow practitioners with editing skills especially, who are few in number, should take up this responsibility.
Please kindly point out anything erroneous in my understanding.
