(Minghui.org) Master said: “These software programs cannot be used among practitioners. Whoever alters the exercise music is causing damage.” (Recorded by the Minghui Editorial Board on July 13, 2021)
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I am a Falun Dafa practitioner in China. Recently, an online Fa study software program has spread to local practitioners in my region. It was said that this software had been used by practitioners in mainland China for 7 or 8 years. The software was initially used to build small online platforms for those involved in rescuing practitioners detained for upholding their faith. The software users claimed that the software worked well and they had “never had any problems" [meaning being targeted by police]. Therefore the early users of the software are now actively promoting it among practitioners on a large scale. Whoever wants to join the platforms is registered.
Several people in my local area were also trying to get buy-ins from practitioners. They even visited practitioners one by one, asking them to take out their cell phones or iPads to install the software immediately. For those who had no clue about the software or those who were unwilling to install the software, they said it didn’t hurt to install it and just listen in on the platforms first before making a final decision, as if they were trying to finish an assignment or meet a certain quota. When some coordinators stopped them, some quarreled with the coordinators on the street without any consideration of possible consequences. These actions have already deviated from what practitioners should do.
When many practitioners refused to give these people an audience, they did not look within, but instead labeled those who tried to stop them as “sabotaging the Fa from within.” They are divisive and cling to their small groups to defend what they’re doing. To deceive others, they also took Master’s Fa out of context and were even successful at getting some practitioners to install the software.
But, for practitioners who have been promoting the software and those who have installed the software, have you regarded the Fa as teacher to carefully evaluate and recognize the absurdity of the whole thing?
First, the software was said to have originated overseas. Even if it is safe to use outside of China, is it necessarily safe in China? The situations inside and outside of China are different. “No problems have ever happened” does not necessarily mean it is safe. It was said that some of the online platforms using the software have hundreds of users, with the most boasting thousands of people, including practitioners from different provinces and even outside of China. Is such large-scale coordination of the various online groups the one-body collaboration required by Master? It is not.
Some people blindly follow the crowd, acknowledging and promoting the software. What kinds of human notions are behind the move? The platforms can be accessed through Wi-Fi at home with essentially no security measures. After easily logging in, one can see every practitioner’s user name, messages posted and can hear voices spoken. The sound waves from practitioners are not processed and they are authentic voices. Because everyone is using a pseudonym, some consider the software absolutely safe, and they speak in detail of situations in local areas.
But, have these practitioners thought further? Suppose the evil has already been monitoring the platforms, then isn’t everyone unwittingly working as an undercover agent? Plus, the evil could well identify and locate the users by analyzing the voices recorded on the platforms and the Wi-Fi addresses used. If so, everything posted and spoken on the platforms would become “evidence” that the evil may use to charge practitioners with “organizing activities.” Even if just one practitioner (or a spy) says something not consistent with the Fa, all participating practitioners could be held accountable. If what someone says leads to a practitioner being persecuted, all participating practitioners could become targets. Have the software users thought about this? Besides endangering fellow practitioners, such large-scale online gatherings could bring huge negative impact and losses to Dafa. Have the users thought about this?
Second, we heard that some platform groups have routine sharings every night from 9 p.m. to midnight with no exception. Were these few hours to be spent on calming down and studying Master’s Fa, a lot would have been learned this way. However, some practitioners are obsessed with following those whom they deem “enlightened to high levels,” thinking that listening to those “high-level” practitioners’ sharings would help them improve faster. They never miss a night’s sharing, believing that regularly attending the sharing is a sign of their being diligent and “on the Fa.” They have forgotten that there is no shortcut in cultivation.
With such a large crowd to discuss understandings of the Fa every day in a club-like setting, the organizers themselves could be suspected of undermining the Fa in the form of giving lectures. This is disrupting the cultivation path that Master has arranged for each disciple, and is preventing practitioners from spending more time doing the three things. The effect is the same as what the old forces aim for.
Moreover, the organizers and participants give their interpretations of Master’s lectures in the groups, while others raised voices defending how important the groups were. They claimed some “provincial-level” and “national-level” practitioners had done heroic things clarifying the facts, opposing the persecution, and rescuing detained practitioners. When some practitioners questioned this in the group, a large crowd immediately ganged up, defending the claim and attacking the doubters. This is similar to the vicious Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which only allows positive voices and tolerates no different opinions.
Dear fellow practitioners, we can only understand the Fa based on the Fa, not on certain practitioners’ enlightenment. When we calm down and study the Fa, Master will point out to us the Fa principles we should be enlightened to at our level. Similarly, by doing the three things and looking within, we can also improve ourselves. Some left messages in the groups saying that what’s learned in the groups in a single day was more than what had been learned from the Fa in 20 years. Some said listening to the sharing for a short while was better than studying three lectures of Fa at home. They have placed people in the groups higher than Master and higher than Dafa. Distracted by attachments, they have forgotten who they are. Isn’t this dangerous?
The time spent lingering in those groups could have been used to read more sharing articles from Minghui or listen to more experience sharing conference (Fahui) articles on Minghui Radio. The contents on Minghui have been reviewed and checked. There are many great cultivation stories and grand cultivation experiences, which read like magnificent epics. Every one of them could strengthen our righteous thoughts, help us to do the three things better, and walk steadily on the path guided by Master. Why spend so much time listening to speeches of certain practitioners in the online groups?
Some sharing articles on Minghui were published in a series and they each target specific human notions. Reading them will help us catch up with the Fa-rectification momentum. Behind those articles are tremendous sacrifices from Master for us to improve collectively. If a practitioner does not pay attention to the Minghui website, he or she may not realize this.
Also, for those practitioners who enjoy giving speeches in online groups, their talk has never been reviewed. What if what they say is not on the Fa and leads the crowd to go astray? What if the speaker did not cultivate their xinxing, Master did not take care of him, and he had something behind him that controlled him to say things for others to believe? What if the speaker had been going down an evil path but managed to deceive the audience into believing what he said? These are phenomena that are inconsistent with the Fa. Why are some practitioners blindly, fervently promoting the software and participating in those platforms instead of regarding the Fa as teacher and opposing the use of the software? If something negative happens, the sins of the followers could be the same as those organizers who undermine the Fa. The negative impact on people, especially on new practitioners, is very serious.
Third, some promoters of the software have also been promoting an edited version of the sitting meditation exercise music, which they changed from the original one hour to two hours by adding the music at the beginning of the one hour (without Master’s words) to the end of the one-hour to make it a total of two hours. The exercise music is from Master himself and the format, time, and content are as sacred as Dafa. Isn’t altering it casually the same as undermining the Fa? For such an obvious wrongdoing, why accept and promote it instead of regarding the Fa as teacher to oppose it?
Fourth, some platform groups have edited the contents of sending forth righteous thoughts and asked all practitioners in the groups to follow without missing a single word. Some added five extra minutes to the set 15 minutes, some sent forth righteous thoughts in one afternoon for two hours without a break, some sent forth righteous thoughts in a relay for 24 hours or longer. The contents in their sending forth righteous thoughts are the unified, edited phrases done by the groups. They said that doing so was more specific and better targeted certain evil elements.
Dear fellow practitioners, the Minghui Editorial Board has explicitly stated the guidelines for sending forth righteous thoughts. Is editing the content and doing it for a long time on a large scale something based on the Fa? Some organizers said one of the goals of building the groups and getting people to participate was to provide legal assistance in practitioners’ efforts to oppose the persecution. There has been plenty of related content on the Minghui website already; why are we attached to such an unreliable platform?
Opposing the persecution alone is not our focus when doing the three things. We are actually saving sentient beings in the process of opposing the persecution. Otherwise, we could end up fighting like everyday people and the result would not be good. Plus, some coordinators in the groups speak loudly and fervently, with an obvious mentality of contention, resentment, and hatred. There is no compassion on the part of practitioners at all. By failing to differentiate everyday people from the vicious elements behind them, they equate everyday people with the vicious.
Some passionate and cynical sharing in the groups could easily stir up attachments and human notions in other participants. The entire sharing lacks the mechanism of looking within and eliminating attachments, nor was there a cultivation field of compassion and peace. Instead of helping everyone to improve on the Fa, such sharing could only accommodate those who have strong human notions. Therefore, some who have been deeply involved like it very much and are unwilling to uninstall the software. They even criticized intervening practitioners as undermining the Fa, all the while failing to realize that they themselves have been falling instead of improving.
Fifth, practitioners who promoted and participated in the groups said many practitioners had been arrested in mainland China for doing in-person group Fa study. They say that this software could help with group Fa study and prevent practitioners from being persecuted. They claim it is useful for practitioners who cultivate alone, or for new practitioners. They said the sharing in the groups is “high level” and is thus helpful for practitioners who have not been able to pass tests for a long time. There are many seemingly good pretexts like this, and they are alluring to those who do not study the Fa well.
Stepping forward to join in-person group Fa study is a process for a practitioner to overcome himself (or herself) and build faith in Master as well as the Fa. It is also a process of strengthening one’s main consciousness and righteous thoughts. It is a process of stepping forward and making progress. As long as there is no show-off mentality or reckless actions related to having unrealistically large-scale gatherings, there should be no problem with in-person group Fa study.
One, two, or three practitioners are also a group. Reports about some practitioners being arrested for group Fa study are not a legitimate reason for us to disobey the group Fa study format left by Master; nor should it be an excuse for trying to find a new, special way. With that logic, just because practitioners were arrested for distributing materials, then should we stop going out to save people? Doing so is actually falling into the traps of the old forces, when we should negate the old forces’ arrangement. With this software, some practitioners may stop coming out for in-person group Fa study because of convenience or fear. Isn’t this damaging the format of face-to-face group Fa study and the sharing format left by Master? Isn’t it disrupting the one-body effort of practitioners? The end result of the online activities is opposite to what was claimed.
Last, when some practitioners said that using the software was inconsistent with the Fa, one organizer said that Master had acknowledged in a recent lecture that everyone was listening from different individual rooms. The organizer said the groups are like individual rooms and thus have no problem. The organizer in one group has the pseudonym of “Sand.”
Master has said,
“Cultivation practice is like great waves sifting the sand: What remains is gold.” (“For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Master also said,
“If someone turned out to be sand instead of gold, he would definitely be sifted out.” (“Path” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Genuine practitioners like to compare themselves to gold and are willing to cultivate themselves to be like diamond. For those who consider themselves sand, where are they placing themselves?
When the participants follow “Sand,” instead of Master, what awaits them? Some practitioners who promoted or participated in it even said that they could do it since Minghui had not prohibited it. Isn’t that taking advantage of loopholes?
Dear fellow practitioners, if we do not stop doing things unless they are explicitly prohibited, isn’t it to “take the precepts as your teacher” (Explaining the Fa for Falun Dafa Assistants in Changchun)? We should regard the Fa as teacher and use the Fa to evaluate everything. We cannot do things that are slightly inconsistent with the Fa. Situations in this world are complex and complicated; how could practitioners on the Minghui Editorial Board point out everything that we cannot do or every software program that we cannot use? We can only regard the Fa as teacher.
Because most participants agree with the use of the software and those clear-headed practitioners are not deeply involved in the software, not much information about the software and its platforms are known to the outside. Some information we hear about may not be exact and the real situation could be much worse. Still, the few points mentioned above already prove that it is undermining the Fa. The situation in other areas remains unclear. Above is a brief summary of the situation we have heard about in my area.
For all practitioners who have participated in this, please visit Minghui and search articles with the keywords “undermining the Fa.” There are warnings from the Minghui Editorial Board as well as all kinds of situations practitioners have described in their articles. Please read them in detail and think about them.
Moreover, Master has also talked about this many times in lectures. They include Zhuan Falun, Essentials for Further Advancement, various other lectures, and articles with comments from Master. Master has spoken about it seriously. We practitioners have to find them and study them attentively. The sin of undermining the Fa is tremendous and it is beyond what any being could bear. It does not matter how diligent you were, how many great things you might have accomplished, how many people you have saved, and how many things you have done for Dafa. As long as a practitioner has undermined the Fa, there will be dire consequences.
Having cultivated to this day, diligent practitioners would know that every single thought and action of ours is important, and it has to be on the Fa. Every steady step from us will be left for history and for the future. We do not want to become negative examples. There is no trivial matter when it comes to cultivation. Even for something we may not consider major, there could be complicated issues behind it. It is something we might not see or understand completely.
Dear fellow practitioners, please cherish the cultivation path Master has arranged for us and cherish Master’s salvation. If, due to an impure thought, we have capsized the boat into the stinking ditch, it would be the most painful thing. Our mission is to cultivate ourselves well and save sentient beings. Cultivating ourselves only happens when we understand the Fa based on the Fa, and saving sentient beings is possible only with the protection of Master. For any coordination that deviates from the Fa principles, we need to think twice. Any irrational action not on the Fa is risky. We hope that practitioners who promote and participate in using this software will become responsible for themselves and responsible for Dafa. By thinking clearly and each of us taking action, we can oppose any behavior that undermines the Fa.
Above are the collected understandings from several practitioners in my area. Please point out anything inappropriate.
