(Clearwisdom.net) While practicing the exercises this morning, I suddenly thought of the Fa that Teacher taught us: "Remove your human thoughts and evil will naturally die out." ("Don't Be Sad", Hong Yin II). I recalled the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in my hometown this year, and the tension I experienced recently in an area in Shaanxi Province. I understood that all these were caused by human notions. I immediately wrote down my understanding after I finished the exercises to remind fellow practitioners in my hometown and in Shaanxi Province.
Persecution in My Hometown
Practitioners in my hometown did the three things very well as Teacher has asked of us all these years. The Fa study groups were well organized. A coordinator in the local area suggested that all the coordinators of Fa-study groups take one day every week to come together and share experiences for the whole county. This had a good impact on practitioners in my hometown to cultivate as one body. Everybody considered this particular coordinator as the backbone of the local group. The coordinator's home became a communications site for the coordinators and also a gathering place for many practitioners to study the Fa and share experiences as a group. It became one of the major group Fa-study sites in the county. During the past few years, no practitioners were persecuted in our area.
The reason that many practitioners liked to gather at the coordinator's home for group Fa-study was because this practitioner was a high level official in the community and had many personal connections. Some practitioners, considering things with human notions, believed that the authorities would not dare to persecute this coordinator and so felt safe to study the Fa at the coordinator's home.
But then why were local practitioners persecuted this year? First, a few practitioners were arrested while clarifying the truth at a market. Later, two of them were sent directly to a prison in Hebei Province, which specialized in the persecution of female Falun Dafa practitioners. Based on my personal understandings, on the one hand, it was the evil's last ditch effort before disintegrating, and on the other hand, it was related to some practitioners' human notions that were probably obvious but no one pointed them out. On the surface, the authorities would not persecute a practitioner who had power and many connections in the community. But in order to figure out why some practitioners were persecuted, we should look beyond the surface factors, which are the human notions we still harbor.
If our safety did not come from our righteous belief in Dafa, but from relying on the practitioner's power and connections to everyday people, then we used this to cover our lack of righteous belief, our fear, and all kinds of human notions.
The evil constantly watches our human notions from other dimensions and can clearly see them. When we went to the coordinator's home with such human notions, the evil would focus on us.
Even if the coordinator did not have these kinds of human notions, the evil took advantage of other practitioners' human notions and persecuted them. The persecution may not start immediately, but when the evil found practitioners lacking in their righteous thoughts, they would start to persecute them.
How can Dafa practitioners be safe? The safest environment for for us comes about when we have righteous thoughts. Any human notions we have will be taken advantage of by the evil.
Persecution in Shaanxi Province
This year, I made contact with practitioners in an area of Shaanxi Province. I learned that, a while ago, the authorities in this area released information that a few practitioners were on a watch list, which made everyone very anxious. Everyone looked inward to see if they had any omissions that were being taken advantage of by the evil. On the surface, the practitioners who were watched by the authorities did not do anything. Most of them were busy with their businesses and making money, and paid very little attention to validating the Fa. But why were they being watched by the authorities? Actually, this was a similar situation to what was occurring in my hometown.
The coordinator in this local area also had power in the community and had strong righteous thoughts. He often went out to clarify the truth but was never persecuted because of it. Therefore, some practitioners in the local area thought it was safe at his home and wanted to study the Fa there. Other coordinators also used his home as the communication site. Actually, this alone caused safety concerns, and the coordinator became a major target in the local area.
Some practitioners realized this and pointed out long ago that practitioners should try to not use this practitioner's home for group Fa study because of the obvious safety concerns. But for some practitioners, their safety was dependent on this practitioner's power within the community. This practitioner's family also ran many big businesses, and using his home for group Fa study was not taking into consideration the practitioner's family, either.
The practitioners who were watched by the authorities were busy doing business and making money. They seldom paid attention to saving sentient beings. I am not opposed to practitioners running a business, however, we should be concerned with the type of business we conduct. I understand that, for Dafa practitioners in the Fa-Rectification period, the most important thing to do is to put saving sentient beings first at all times. Some practitioners also wanted to make more money to use for Fa validation. But when they chose the type of business to do, they were frustrated again.
Why do the authorities interfere with those practitioners and persecute them? It is because the evil saw the practitioners' human notions.
So, if we do not want to be interfered with and persecuted and want to do the three things well, the best way is to study the Fa well, look inward more frequently, find our attachments and no longer hide them, and send forth righteous thoughts to get rid of them.
