(Clearwisdom.net) “Giving up eating for fear of choking” is an ancient Chinese proverb that refers to someone who has gone to extremes and is too cautious to engage in important things. This is clearly wrong. However, such an understanding has influenced many people, including some practitioners.

In one area, some practitioners go to a busy marketplace and do the exercises there. With good intentions, some other practitioners disagree with this, saying there are not many practitioners in the local area and about half of them have yet to step forward to “clarify the truth.” With limited truth-clarification materials distribution, a large number of everyday people do not yet know the truth, which makes a group exercise in a marketplace irrational. However, practitioners who plan to go also have their reasons. It seems the different opinions are based on whether practitioners would be arrested for going to the marketplace for group practice. In fact, planning to go does not necessarily mean all practitioners will go, since some need to stay to maintain the truth-clarification material site, and some need to gather and distribute materials. Some practitioners need to clarify the truth face- to-face, and some need to expose the vicious persecution in the local area, and so on. We need to do well all of the things we are supposed to do and cannot be negligent. To go and do the exercises does not necessarily mean one will be arrested, since every practitioner’s cultivation status and mentality is different. Planning not to go does not guarantee one's safety either. For example, if one chooses not to go due to an attachment to fear, problems may arise when doing other things, since the attachment is still present. Or if, out of fear, one does not grasp opportunities to clarify the truth, the consequences can be very severe, although we may not be able to perceive it at the time. Therefore, the key point is one's mentality and the basis for doing things, rather than the format on the surface. Plus, regardless of whether one is doing Dafa work or in everyday society, we should not “give up eating for fear of choking.” That is, when something does not go well, we should learn from the lesson and make proper adjustments so as to turn things around and make things go in a positive direction.

Since the persecution started in 1999, many practitioners have been arrested for appealing or clarifying the truth. Most of them refuse to give their names, both to protect their relatives and local practitioners and to avoid being sent back to their hometown for further persecution. However, many such practitioners have been severely persecuted. Some practitioners think we should not encourage refusing to give one's name since giving one's name can alleviate a tense situation and reduce the severity of persecution. In past years, many practitioners went to Tiananmen Square to do the exercises and hold banners, but many were arrested and detained. Therefore, quite a few practitioners think we should no longer go to Tiananmen Square, thinking we should take more effective approaches. For such issues, it seems we may have paid too much attention to the formality, similar to “giving up eating for fear of choking.”

There are also discussions over conducting hunger strikes. That is, numerous opinions exist on whether we should or should not conduct hunger strikes. Recently, many practitioners who went to send forth righteous thoughts close to labor camps or prisons were arrested, so there are discussions on whether it is worthwhile to do this. In fact, among the numerous arguments we have discussed in the past eight years, although they vary from one situation to another, the pattern is similar. Such arguments not only weaken us as one body, but also enlarge the gaps between practitioners. For the practitioners who have disagreements or strong objections, they appear to be considering things with good intentions—at least from the perspective of ordinary society. On the other hand, practitioners who take those actions (hunger strike, etc.) often do better in cultivation and truth-clarification, and they have suffered significant losses in human society. All this has made such arguments even more complicated.

As practitioners, we should cultivate our hearts and see through the phenomena on the surface in order to make judgments. When considering whether to take the action or not, the formality is actually not the essence of the conflict. That is why we should avoid basing our decisions on human notions and fear. Even when doing the same thing, different mentalities will lead to different outcomes in this human world, as well as different manifestations in other dimensions.

Let’s take an example of going to Tiananmen Square to unfurl banners. Some practitioners have attachments of fear, pursuing consummation, showing-off, taking an easy ride, etc. Some believe that appealing will lead to arrest and that being persecuted can make one upgrade quicker, or that getting into the police car means “stepping on the Fa boat,” etc. With thoughts such as these that deviate from the Fa, many practitioners have been persecuted severely or for a lengthy period of time. Some practitioners went to appeal fearlessly, just hoping to validate the Fa, and they returned safely to continue doing truth-clarification. There are also practitioners who were arrested several times. After they found their omissions and corrected them, they were able to improve and are no longer harassed. Therefore, we cannot simply look at whether a practitioner chooses to take the action or not.

If some practitioners go to Tiananmen Square and return safely, they will recommend such actions. If they consider this the most important thing and ignore other forms of truth-clarification, they may easily go to extremes and forget that our opposing the persecution and truth-clarification are fundamentally to validate the Fa. On the other hand, if some practitioners go to Tiananmen Square and are persecuted because of it, they may develop the notion of “give up eating for fear of choking.”

In terms of manifestation, it could be dramatically different in various dimensions. A practitioner may go to Tiananmen Square to unfurl a banner and call aloud “Falun Dafa is good” out of a pure and righteous heart; that is, to oppose the persecution, validate the Fa and save sentient beings. Doing so, he has transcended the worldly maze and appears as golden, shining, powerful, and earth-shattering. If those vicious thugs dare to persecute such a practitioner, they would be immediately punished by heaven. This practitioner will have special honor bestowed by the Fa. What this practitioner has received is far beyond his suffering. Meanwhile, such a selfless action is very beneficial to sentient beings due to its great power in eliminating the evil. Therefore, we cannot judge things from the surface phenomena in this human world. It is an issue of whether we are looking at things with human notions or from the perspective of the Fa.

Another example is sending forth righteous thoughts close to prisons or labor camps, which started in October of last year. If we simply go because other practitioners go, or we are afraid we might fall behind for not doing so, it is difficult for us to do it with rationality and wisdom. The old forces also easily take advantage of this. Some practitioners may have seldom stepped forward to validate the Fa, or they may have made some mistakes. Although they have faith in Teacher and want to completely eliminate the evil, they are still being arrested. It is very hard for a practitioner to do everything perfectly during his or her cultivation. The key point, when something comes up, is whether we measure ourselves against the requirements of Dafa. We need to examine ourselves to see where we have omissions, so that we can correct them and improve. We cannot take things for granted and assume our own understanding is one hundred percent correct; otherwise, it is not a process of cultivation. If, because of sending forth righteous thoughts close to prisons or labor camps, we neglect safety or wisdom, we may act irrationally. If, on the other hand, we totally disagree with going, rather than examining ourselves to improve, it is like “giving up eating for fear of choking.”

That is to say, no matter what a practitioner does, the format itself may not be that important. The critical thing is our mindset and motivation. Is it to selflessly validate the Fa and assist in the Fa-rectification, or are we holding onto our own notions to validate ourselves and show off? As a practitioner, doing well in one aspect does not necessarily mean one can do well in another aspect, or do well in all aspects. As practitioners, when something comes up, we need to examine ourselves so that we can assimilate to the Fa and validate the Fa.

Another issue is that, even if we do well on the larger picture, we still need to pay attention to the details. For example, we all know we should produce truth-clarification materials, but we still need to make an effort to think about how to use our wisdom to maximize the effect so that more people can learn the truth. Otherwise, we may not be as efficient as we should be, and sometimes may even cause losses. We should eliminate the influence of the CCP’s party culture, and stop thinking about things in such a rigid way. We should not go extremes or “give up eating for fear of choking,” and neither should we do things blindly without thinking.

I sincerely hope we can all join together to be more diligent and mature.