Another Big Test in the Battle Between Good and Evil

(Minghui.org) As the Fa-rectification of the cosmos nears its end and positive trends emerge in the world after the 2024 U.S. election, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s new campaigns to attack Falun Gong and Master Li Hongzhi have also surfaced.

The persecution that started 25 years ago was forced upon the Fa-rectification by the old forces who perceived themselves as the highest beings in the universe, oblivious to the higher power above them. Although the old forces that hindered Fa-rectification have been eliminated, their meticulous arrangements continue to operate and cause damage. In the human world, the CCP is the general representative of the evil forces that remain in the universe.

While persecuting Dafa practitioners and coercing the public to attack Dafa (such as by desecrating Master’s image), the CCP has also weaponized overseas media, social media influencers, and special agents who disguise themselves as practitioners to divide us and sabotage our efforts. They have now taken advantage of people with bad intentions and the American judicial system to wage unrestricted lawfare against Shen Yun and Master. In some cases, genuine practitioners have been ostracized and attacked by fake ones, leaving some practitioners confused and making the environment among practitioners extremely complicated.

Recent events have led some practitioners to wonder: Why did Master allow the tribulation to take place? Why are bad people allowed to do evil among Dafa practitioners? Why haven’t we exposed the spies hiding among practitioners? Why is the persecution escalating to the point that even Master himself is being sued, rather than slowing down in advance of the Fa-rectification of the human world? Why is it that a significant portion of practitioners outside China have remained indifferent for so many years, and even in front of the ordeals we are facing today, they still cannot take action to safeguard the Fa?

The underlying issues are the same as when the persecution started 25 years ago, because there are new practitioners who have joined over time and those who fell behind but started practicing again.

In my view, spies and bad actors who take advantage of practitioners’ loopholes in cultivation to cause damage are inevitable in Fa-rectification and not surprising. Master uses them to make the CCP reveal its evil nature so that more sentient beings can gain a clear understanding of the CCP, let go of false hope for the regime to improve on its own, and be saved. Meanwhile, the old forces have also been taking advantage of practitioners’ shortcomings to weed out those who aren’t genuinely cultivating themselves. But in this process, it is Master who has been balancing things and bearing most of the karma for us and all sentient beings.

Master taught us,

“A wicked person is born of jealousy.Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself.A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.An enlightened person has no attachments at all.He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.”
(“Realms,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

In Fa-rectification, Master uses the greatest mercy to save all lives that are still kind and savable. For us Dafa practitioners, our level of faith is reflected by whether we devote ourselves to true cultivation or simply treat the practice as a philosophical theory and a “safe” way to live our lives.

For the rest of the article, I’d like to share my understandings about the current “chaos” with genuine disciples and practitioners who sincerely want to cultivate. I will discuss the various manifestations of the evil persecution today and how we should understand and respond to them.

The Battle Between Good and Evil Has Never Stopped

After the persecution began in 1999, the CCP engaged in all-out smear campaigns against Master and practitioners in China. Countless practitioners were arrested, sentenced, tortured, and some even had their vital organs harvested while they were still alive.

Master endured for us the overwhelming and devastating tribulation brought by the old forces, while we had to endure only the small portion left on the surface. But even this portion was strong enough to poison countless sentient beings, mostly Chinese people. To clear out these negative thoughts about Dafa in people’s minds and allow them to be saved in the Fa-rectification, we practitioners started to clarify the facts to the world and expose the evil nature of the CCP.

Although the persecution is extremely evil, most Dafa disciples outside of China haven’t experienced it directly, as the most brutal torture and coercion is confined to mainland China.

Outside of China, the CCP adopted a different approach of infiltrating Western media, politicians, Wall Street, universities, Chinese communities, major institutions, and big companies, as well as promoting “red carpet tourism,” “friendship diplomacy,” and Confucius Institutes. The CCP also established and co-opted other Chinese media outlets to smear Falun Gong outside of China and spread CCP propaganda. It’s shocking to see how people have tolerated the billboard of a CCP mouthpiece high above Times Square for so long.

The CCP’s infiltration can be likened to boiling a frog in warm water. It takes advantage of the free world and democratic system to make people treat the CCP and its members as normal people “just like them.” People gradually get used to their existence, unknowingly absorb the CCP’s propaganda throughout their lives, and no longer find it strange. All of this is the groundwork the CCP has laid in preparation for the final attack.

For many practitioners outside of China, because they have not internalized the Fa or grasped the true meaning of cultivation even after practicing for a long time, they remain unaware of the fierce battle between good and evil, its intensity and duration, and the suffocating terror of the CCP’s tyrannical rule.

Many have forgotten that the battle between good and evil has never ended since the persecution began in July 1999. The CCP’s long-term infiltration of Western media and society is essentially the same as the strategy it used when preparing to launch the persecution in China.

At a time when some practitioners outside of China were “enjoying life” and failing to elevate themselves to the level required by the Fa-rectification, Master not only led practitioners to cultivate diligently but also enabled Shen Yun performances to use traditional art forms, the most righteous energy, and the utmost beauty and compassion to rid audience members of the hatred and prejudice that the CCP had instilled in them through its propaganda.

Nevertheless, the CCP’s nature remains evil, and over the years it has tried constantly to divide the practitioner community from within, as detailed below.

After Dafa was introduced to the public in 1992, the CCP began to place spies among practitioners to collect so-called intelligence. However, some of those who came with “special tasks” were inspired by Dafa’s great compassion and became true practitioners themselves.

When practitioners outside of China established media projects to counteract the persecution, the CCP arranged its special agents to join the management of those projects. Some practitioners found it hard to tell from their behavior whether they were CCP agents or simply practitioners who were not cultivating diligently. Some of these agents did take up Dafa eventually, and some abandoned the CCP after taking the funds it provided for their spy work. However, most others continued to work for the CCP, and they manipulated and mobilized practitioners with strong attachments. They have become even more unscrupulous in sabotaging Dafa as the persecution intensified in the U.S. in recent times.

Put simply, the initial persecution was carried out by the CCP’s state apparatus from outside the practitioner community, while the current ordeal we face includes “collaboration from within” through those who have turned against Dafa, as well as CCP spies. On the other hand, I believe this is the CCP’s last gasp before its final collapse.

Beating the Evil at Its Own Game

On the surface, it seems that the evil has achieved its goal in attacking Dafa in the Western world, but my understanding is that Master is still taking advantage of the situation to enable more Dafa disciples to grow in our cultivation and fulfill our mission.

Master published three articles in the past few years related to the Fa-rectification of the human world, including “ How Humankind Came To Be,” “Why Save Sentient Beings,” and “Why This World Is a Realm of Unknowing.” But for us Dafa disciples, Master has not published any new articles to guide our cultivation in the face of the new attacks. Some practitioners are still waiting to see what Master will say, but they have forgotten that this is another major test after July 20, 1999.

A recent article on Minghui.org mentioned that Master didn’t speak publicly for about a year after July 20, 1999, but just compassionately watched how we handled the situation and how the world’s people responded to it. Now, 25 years later, if Master continues to tell us specifically what to do, wouldn’t it be because we have cultivated too poorly?

We understand that practitioners should make good use of this situation to see how strong our righteous faith is. In what ways have we not yet broken away from the thought patterns of the old forces? Can we put ourselves in a correct relationship with Master and the Fa-rectification? Who is gold and who is sand? Which Dafa disciples can’t meet the standard? All will be revealed by this test.

Master taught us,

“The Dharma’s tribulation was a tribulation for humans and religions, rather than a tribulation for Buddhas.” (“ For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?” Essentials for Further Advancement)

When the persecution began, Master took on the enormous karma that would have destroyed the entire universe, in order to enable disciples to come forward and enable the world’s people to be saved. The old forces regarded Master as a machine for eliminating karma. As disciples, have we cherished Master’s sacrifice and suffering? Or do we only seek benefits for ourselves?

Master also said,

“And for this reason things that spell enormous pressure for me, as well as burdens for me, will keep coming, one after another. Saving lives is difficult; it’s not as simple as it sounds.” (“ The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces”)

Master is once again shouldering this tremendous pressure and burden for us.

In recent years, many practitioners outside of China felt confused about certain disruptive events in some regions or projects. I’d like to offer some of my understandings.

First, in order to save all lives, including members of the old forces, Master has to resolve relationships between the gods in the heavens and people on earth. Considering the differing xinxing levels of practitioners, true disciples know how difficult and complex it is for Master to rectify the Fa and save people.

In addition, from the perspective of our cultivation, we generated tremendous amounts of karma in higher realms before we came to this world, and we continued to create karma during our two hundred million years of reincarnation in the human realm. So the karma we carry is quite significant. How can this karma be eliminated? Most is borne by Master, but the remaining part is hard to eliminate with just mental and physical suffering.

Master told us,

“China is like Lord Lao’s crucible, smelting Dafa disciples, and the flame has been cranked up. It’s like a severe test, designed to rid you of human thinking and attachments. The torment is hard to bear, of course, but what comes from it is true gold.” (“ Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)

From the Fa, we understand that the physical and mental tribulations caused by the CCP’s persecution have also played a role in eliminating our karma.

If there is no such persecution outside of China that threatens practitioners’ personal freedom or even safety, how can the karma of overseas practitioners be eliminated? Both the confounding conflicts within the practitioner community and the intense xinxing conflicts among some practitioners can be used to improve our xinxing and eliminate our karma. Many practitioners also owe karmic debts to each other, and they cannot all be borne by Master.

Although the problems within the ranks of practitioners were arranged by the old forces, Dafa is taking advantage of the situation and using the evil’s arrangement to temper Dafa disciples and enable us to develop great compassion and forbearance. This results in the best environment for everyone to improve our xinxing and understanding of the Fa. Those who cannot understand these dynamics and use human thoughts to judge Master and Dafa might eventually leave Dafa and lose the opportunity to be saved. Although it is regrettable, this is their choice.

During this process, we have also seen that although some practitioners’ understanding of the Fa have not yet reached the standard, they have made it through with their righteous faith in Dafa. No matter what happens, they would not betray Dafa. This shows the greatness of righteous faith!

The Greatest Mission of Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples

Master has said that Dafa disciples are great. Why is this? My understanding is that although we live amid the delusion of the human world, we are more fortunate than the gods of the old universe because we respect Dafa and follow Master’s teachings, unlike the old forces who are self-righteous and arrogant.

The arrangements of the old forces have now reached their final step—the blatant judicial persecution of Master in a free society. The CCP is using Western media to deceive the public, utilizing spies and bad actors to smear Shen Yun and Master from within the practitioner community, and weaponizing the American judicial system to engage in unrestricted warfare against Master in a fruitless attempt to consume Master’s and Shen Yun’s time, energy, and financial resources.

If we understand the true meaning of Dafa’s salvation of the world’s people, as well as the true purpose of cultivation in Dafa, we would know that the evil will not achieve its goal. In the process, however, many people who don’t understand the truth may be destroyed, including practitioners who are not firm in their cultivation, whose understanding of the Fa have long remained at the superficial level of physical fitness, and who firmly cling to their attachments.

No life in this world is simple; how many people we can save is closely related to our enlightenment to and understanding of the Fa. Therefore, the more our cultivation is hindered, the fewer lives would be saved, and the greater the loss to the universe would occur.

Facing everything that is happening today, with different understandings among practitioners, what should a true cultivator do? Although no one can really disrupt Dafa, it’s still the greatest mission of Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples to safeguard the Fa.

Master has clearly told us,

“Dafa disciples’ magnificence is connected to the Fa-rectification of the cosmos, and your greatest mission is to safeguard the Fa.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume II)

If we cannot safeguard the Fa in the human world, then it would be pointless to talk about cultivation and saving sentient beings here; we would have broken the trust the Creator has placed in us, and we would not be responsible to ourselves.

How can we safeguard the Fa, then? Outside of China, we can’t appeal like practitioners in China did; we have to do it rationally and professionally. But first, our hearts must be in the right place to safeguard Master and the Fa. When we send righteous thoughts as a whole body to target the CCP’s transnational repression, we can form a powerful field of righteous thoughts to suppress and eliminate evil in other dimensions.

Practitioners with strong English skills, rational thinking, logical understanding of world affairs, and, more importantly, a solid foundation in personal cultivation and deep understanding of the Fa, can all play a role in clarifying the facts to the U.S. government, including the incoming administration. The world is forming an alliance to counteract the CCP’s global influence, and it’s even more important right now to suffocate the CCP’s expansion and strategic attacks of Dafa in Western countries.

Master told us long ago,

“Your enlightened, original nature will automatically know what to do.” (“ Expounding on the Fa,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

If we don’t know what to do, it means that our true nature has not yet awakened, or we are blocked by human notions and attachments.

Then how should we deal with spies and bad actors among us? Out of the greatest compassion, Master is trying to save all those who can still be saved.

Master taught us,

“There are some people who are still doing some shameful and filthy things, things that are a disservice to Dafa, and things undeserving of the title of Dafa disciple. I haven’t treated you differently. In the end, when you can’t progress to Consummation, you yourself will have to bear the responsibility! Master isn’t trying to scare anyone. Whoever misses out on this historic opportunity, whoever misses out on this chance, when you realize what you’ve missed out on you won’t even want to live even if you are allowed to! Don’t think that since Master is always merciful you can take Master’s mercy for granted! There are standards for Dafa disciples, and the Fa has standards.”

“Looking at you, Master is so worried! Looking at you, Master is so worried! Master’s words today might have been harsh, but maybe it wouldn’t work if I didn’t use a heavy hammer. If I’m not able to save you it will be my greatest regret. It would be great if you could be as worried as I am.” (“ Fa Teaching Given at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume III)

I hope Master’s Fa can awaken those among practitioners who are currently doing evil or preparing to inflict harm, so that they will stop for their own sake.

Another important point is that we must not forget to look within and purify ourselves in the process of safeguarding Dafa. Master has repeatedly warned us that we must look within unconditionally in all situations. Every individual needs to examine whether some of our thoughts do not conform to the Fa and have been exploited by the old forces, whether we have improper behaviors or loopholes for the evil to seize upon, and how to make up for the losses.

While we may not make big mistakes that go against Dafa’s principles, we may overlook things on seemingly trivial issues and give the old forces excuses to persecute us. Many conflicts between practitioners have happened as a result of human nature—selfishness, conceit, flattery, jealousy, combativeness, laziness, shirking responsibility, shrewdness, and lying. Could the CCP’s destruction of Chinese people’s morality have also affected some of us Dafa disciples?

Closing Remarks

Master told us,

“For a cultivator, all the frustrations he comes across among everyday people are trials, and all the compliments he receives are tests.” (“ A Cultivator is Naturally Part of It,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

The battle between good and evil takes place in all dimensions of the cosmos, including the human realm. It is the final battle between the old forces and the Creator before the Great Judgment. As Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, we should learn from past lessons. Safeguarding Dafa is our greatest mission. We should no longer handle cultivation and our historic mission with human thoughts.

At the final stage of the greatest battle, a historic moment when cultivators are tested and the great cleansing of the evil factors in the world has begun, if we don’t wake up and act today, when will we?