After reading the article, "Let Us End the Persecution Now -- Thoughts Before Another July 20" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/7/18/87805.html), I suddenly realized a number of shortcomings in my understandings of the Fa-rectification, the persecution and the saving of sentient beings. I believe I was unwittingly following the devious arrangements of the old forces. Along with many other practitioners, I have come to see clearly how we have, as one body, "allowed" the persecution to persist, and how, as a consequence, we may have lost the opportunity to save countless precious sentient beings.

I would like to share some of my new understandings here.

We all know that with strong righteous thoughts we can negate and eliminate the old forces and their persecution. However, I have become aware that sometimes our thoughts may appear on the surface to be righteous and in line with the Fa, yet they are in fact in line with the old forces. Such thoughts may exist as second nature to us, making it hard to detect them or to see them for what they truly are. The thoughts themselves operate as a form of persecution.

Many times in discussions or sharing, I often hear practitioners say "When the evil party is eliminated the persecution will come to an end." For a long time, I did not think deeper about this statement and simply accepted it at face value. It did not seem unrighteous. But upon deeper reflection, I have realized how wrong we were.

The persecution was arranged by the old forces. It is not and never will be acknowledged by Master or the Fa. The evil Communist party was created by the old forces to facilitate their plans -- that is its sole purpose for coming into existence. Therefore, once the persecution is ended (and over this Dafa disciples have control and power), naturally the Communist party will no longer exist -- it will have outlived the role that was arranged for it by the old forces.

We must set the relationship right: It is not that "once the evil party is eliminated, the persecution will end," but that "once the persecution ends, so the evil party will be eliminated." It may seem like only a very small shift in thought, but it is a critical one, I feel. How true it is that the difference in just one thought will result in very different outcomes and circumstances.

I also think that the former statement also hides an implicit notion: that some outside force will come along and end the evil party, and thus by that act also end the persecution. It implies a passive role for Dafa disciples. But it is not for us Dafa disciples to await an outside force (be it Master, the force of Fa-rectification or any other factor) to end either the persecution or the existence of the evil party. This goal is completely within our control and authority, and again, it may just be the shift in one thought that makes all the difference.

A couple of weeks ago, I was sharing my new insight with a fellow practitioner, who whilst agreeing with me, then said that she felt that there should be a gap of time between the ending of the persecution and the elimination of the evil party. Otherwise, all those sentient beings who have not yet seen the truth or who have not yet withdrawn from the CCP and its affiliated organizations cannot be saved. I feel that this is an erroneous perception, which again falls in line with the old forces and their persecution.

We are still thinking within the context that sentient beings can only be saved while amidst the persecution; that once the persecution or the evil party ends then these beings will have lost their chance to be saved. However, this persecution was never part of Master's plan for the Fa-rectification and the salvation of sentient beings. Master does not need the persecution or the CCP to rectify and assimilate all beings into the Fa. The CCP is an evil creation of the old forces to facilitate their selfish plans. Master and Dafa practitioners do not acknowledge it.

This persecution is not a process disciples need to go through, nor is it a process by which sentient beings are to be saved. The persecution is destroying numerous sentient beings by causing them to sin against Dafa and the Fa-rectification. The persecution is what causes them to lose their chance to be saved.

In "Dafa is Indestructible" (Essentials for Further Advancement II), Master wrote:

"Master wants to save all sentient beings. But the evil forces are truly committing sins against Dafa by using all sentient beings, with the ultimate purpose of destroying them."

Once the persecution is eliminated, then more sentient beings can be saved. Without the poisonous lies of the old forces and their evil elements, sentient beings will not be afraid to learn the truth about Falun Dafa and can better see the truth and light of Dafa. Their true beings, their knowing sides can thus make a true and conscious choice about their own futures.

There are also many other instances where we disciples often unwittingly acknowledge, to varying degrees, the old forces' arrangements. Often, when things don't go smoothly, we immediately start to think: "Where have I fallen short, where are my loopholes or attachments that have allowed the old forces to interfere with me?" We thus search inwards, and once we have found our attachments, we are then gratified when the interference stops. But isn't this tantamount to acknowledging and accepting that the old forces have a right to persecute us and interfere with our cultivation each time there is a perceived "lack" in our progress and cultivation? Isn't this tantamount to walking the path the old forces arranged, rather than walking the path Master has arranged for us?

Our constant search inward to rid ourselves of our layers and layers of fundamental attachments and post-natal notions should be so that we can assimilate further and deeper into the Fa; and not because we do not want to be interfered with! No life is worthy of testing us. The old forces and its persecution have absolutely no role to play in our improvement and cultivation. I think this is what it means to truly negate the old forces and their evil elements.

After reading our fellow practitioner's sharing article, I have become acutely aware of how critical and urgent it is for us, as individual cultivators and as one body, to constantly be conscious of and to constantly rectify our every thought. It is in this way that the persecution will be eliminated and dissolved.

Master has borne so much for us, given so much to us, and arranged everything so perfectly for us, yet, with regard to ending the persecution, we have fallen far short of what His boundless mercy requires of us. Let us hasten our improvement together as one body so that the evil no longer has any space or time for continued existence.