(Clearwisdom.net) I strongly agree with the viewpoints expressed in a recent article published on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net). I would like to add to the issues that were brought up in this article.
Since May, I have also encountered the same situation that was mentioned in the article. Every few days, party officials knocked at my door or called, attempting to force me to sign a statement promising to give up the practice of Falun Gong. This went on endlessly, and I told them, "Even if you harass me one hundred times, I will not sign anything! Stop helping the evil!" I later stopped answering their phone calls and opening the door.
They did not give up, however, and said that I must write something. They said if I didn't, they would harass me every day. I told them they would suffer retribution for doing bad deeds. They said that they only cared about their rice bowls (getting paid). They even suggested that I write a false statement, and they also threatened to harass my family. Thus, I was stuck in this tribulation.
Since April, there was talk of the regime's intention to launch another round of persecution. I recalled Master's teachings and wondered if I had any human attachments of which the evil could take advantage. I examined myself and discovered that whenever I heard the phone ring or someone knock at my door, my heart beat faster. This showed me that despite having practiced cultivation for 13 years, I still had fear of the Chinese Communist Party. Furthermore, I had previously, in 2003, signed a statement renouncing my faith in Dafa. People at my workplace had collaborated with officials of the 610 Office, threatening that they would take away my bonus if I didn't stop practicing Dafa. Because I had insufficient faith in Master and was afraid of being sent to a brainwashing center, I gave in. I deeply regretted leaving this stain on my cultivation. Even though I subsequently published a solemn statement declaring that my previous renunciation was void, the pain of this incident was deeply imprinted in my heart. Through studying Master's conference lectures, I came to understand that Master was giving me opportunities to make up for my wrongdoings. I am now going through a similar tribulation again, because I had not eliminated my fear of the evil party. This is the evil's plot to destroy me, so I can't allow them to succeed!
Rationally, I understood the cause of my tribulation but it was not easy to deal with it. The fear was buried deep in my human mindset. In my cultivation, I diligently broke through its hold on me in accordance with Master's teachings. However, after I eliminated a layer of this fear, it re-surfaced again on another layer. This time, I resolved to completely eliminate the attachment. It put up a desperate struggle before its death, torturing me physically and mentally, but I maintained my righteous thoughts, "I will follow Master right to the end of my cultivation. I must eradicate this fear!" Then all of a sudden, I had a revelation, "I am Master's disciple. Master is the king of all kings. Yet I am afraid of the Communist regime, which is merely a very small demon! This shows that I don't have faith in Master. I am discounting my understanding of Master's teachings."
My true nature had awakened, and I suddenly had only one thought in my mind, which was to save beings with compassion. I then reread Master's lecture at the 2004 Chicago conference, about the principle of thoroughly denying the old forces and not cultivating amidst the tribulation they arranged. I should have eliminated my attachment to fear in accordance with Master's requirements. This had nothing to do with the old forces. I also felt that if those at the end of the chain of persecution understood the truth, then the regime would not be able to enforce this persecution. At the same time, I read a few articles on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, which pointed out that the persecution of Dafa is against the Chinese constitution. I also exchanged understandings with several practitioners, and this helped me tremendously. In late June, another practitioner and I went to the police department and the local 610 Office. We told the officers face to face why we could not give them what they wanted: because practicing Falun Gong is legal and the persecution is illegal. We put our hearts into saving them with compassion and abandoned any thoughts of overcoming this tribulation or relying on the help of everyday people. We took this opportunity to clarify the truth to everyone involved in this matter, hoping that they would have a bright future. We took a step further and clarified the truth to the head of my workplace. Finally, in late July, my superiors intervened and the police department stopped this illegal harassment. As Master wrote in his poem "Stirred by reflection,"
"True thoughts dissolve all,
the whole sky is clear."
Through the above experience, I also enlightened to the deeper meaning of the principle, "the appearance stems from the mind," which was taught by Master. Soon thereafter I studied Master's new lecture "Be More Diligent." In which Master taught,
"...the number of lives to be saved before the final moment arrives has not reached the amount it should; and that there is still a portion of Dafa disciples that hasn't kept up. That is the key reason why the end of this undertaking still hasn't been enacted."
I therefore decided to share my experience in eliminating my fear of the evil party, thus exposing it and keeping up with the progress of Fa rectification. We should let go of our attachments to life and death and become selfless. Since the evil party exists for us, if we no longer fear it, then won't its existence be meaningless? The regime has been able to persecute us for 11 years without any legal basis, only because our fear is still nurturing it.
Master said in "Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting,"
"If all Dafa disciples could grasp this, and all sincerely achieve a state of having their righteous thoughts be at their most powerful point, then one day would be enough to resolve things."
Because we don't have strong righteous thoughts and have fear, we have not cultivated well in some areas, thus the period of Fa rectification has been extended. Practitioners from China should attach importance to clarifying the truth to people in their workplace, especially the leaders. This will disintegrate the key and last chain in the system of persecution.