Don't Unknowingly Side with the Old Forces When They Persecute Us

(Minghui.org) I was deeply touched after I read the Minghui article “Thoughts that Surfaced after a Fellow Practitioner Was Arrested.” Just like the article mentioned, I expected practitioners to be persecuted if I felt they didn’t do well in certain regards or had some loopholes in cultivation. Sure enough, practitioners I knew who were like that did run into trouble. They were either arrested or had sickness karma. 

For a long time, that was my thinking, and the reality just seemed to reinforce it. I did not realize that I was wrong—I acknowledged the old forces’ persecution as if it had nothing to do with me. I did nothing to negate the persecution.

Many local practitioners have been arrested or passed away from sickness karma over the years. Every time something like this occurred, I would think that the person must have had a loophole. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have happened. Some practitioners were stuck in long-term sickness. If they did not find their loopholes or refused to rectify their shortcomings, I usually thought that the old forces wouldn’t let them go so easily. Sure enough, some practitioners indeed passed away shortly after.

Here are a few examples.

When practitioners filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin (the former Chinese Communist Party leader) in 2015 for ordering the persecution, some local practitioners did not participate and opposed it, making sarcastic remarks. My heart sank: “You oppose something that Master acknowledges? How will the old forces ever let you go?” Within a year, three of them had serious sickness karma and one was arrested.

Another practitioner wanted to change the formula to send righteous thoughts. I was shocked, “Such a huge loophole! How could he do that?” He was arrested and detained within a few months. 

Master did not arrange the persecution. We shouldn’t acknowledge any of the old forces’ arrangements—we should negate it entirely.

Master said:

“Dafa disciples and I don’t even acknowledge the manifestations of their last-ditch efforts.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)

Master asked us to negate the old forces. As Dafa disciples, how should we help fellow practitioners when they fall into the old forces’ traps? How should we kindly remind them to let go of their fundamental attachments? How should we seize the time to turn the tribulation into an opportunity to elevate our xinxing? Of course, we can only kindly remind them, not force them to accept our ideas. We need to stay calm when they refuse our ideas and be kind. As long as we can view it as part of our cultivation, we can handle ourselves well in any conflict. 

When fellow practitioners are arrested or have sickness karma, we should use the Fa teachings—and nothing else—to evaluate things. We should absolutely not think this way: “Now that I’ve found my loopholes and corrected them, maybe the old forces will let me go.” Whenever we run into a tribulation, we should immediately rectify ourselves with the Fa and the situation will change. Everything has to be on the basis of the Fa, nothing else.

Master told us:

“We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they’ve arranged; we don’t even acknowledge their existence.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)

Whatever the old forces do, we should see it as an opportunity to improve our xinxing, use the Fa to evaluate ourselves, and rectify ourselves with the Fa. This change in thinking is not instantaneous, but the more we study the Fa, the more rational our minds will be and the easier it will be for us to eliminate our human hearts and attachments.

When a fellow practitioner is going through sickness karma or is arrested, we should be compassionate and remind him from the perspective of cultivation to do better. When we send forth righteous thoughts, we should not resent or blame fellow practitioners. We should stay unmoved and not be affected by the situation. That is also something for us to cultivate.

This is my understanding at my level. Please kindly point out anything inadequate.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)