More Comments on Hunger Strikes

By Dafa practitioner Xiao Fan in Mainland China

(Clearwisdom.net) I have recently read some sharing about the issue of holding hunger strikes. Here I would like to share some of my thoughts.

When looking at certain issues during the Fa-rectification period, we often pay attention to the form, but fail to view issues with our heart. To go on a hunger strike or not, or to use a certain form to validate the Fa is not the essence of the matter, and what is the most important is the heart behind the form. When feeling hesitant inside, one should check one's heart. There is a Dafa practitioner in our area who has been on a hunger strike for over 400 days, and fellow practitioners have been talking about whether he should have been on hunger strike or not all this time. A hunger strike is not the only way to resist the evil, but it is one way "to not cooperate" with the evil. It is easy to say these words "to not cooperate," but some people find it difficult to put into practice. In fact, whether it is difficult or not depends on one's heart.

Hunger strike is one way to deny the persecution, to resist cooperation with the evil and to eliminate the evil. However, we should not let this form restrict our wisdom. It is righteous in principle, and when this is how far one's wisdom has reached and when this is where one's realm is, one can adopt this form. Of course as one's wisdom grows, one will naturally know what to do from the Fa.

Although a hunger strike has its limitations, it is not wrong. However, during this process one constantly rectifies one's state of mind. If we say that the reason one goes on a hunger strike is because he is afraid of being persecuted, then can we also say that the reason one does not go on a hunger strike is because he is afraid of the pain he would suffer as a result of a hunger strike? This is also fear, but manifested in a different way. They are both attachments to be relinquished.

Some practitioners say that a hunger strike would cause the evil to persecute us, and they think that if one goes on a hunger strike he would be force-fed and would suffer pain, and he would be tortured and lose his life, and this is being persecuted, etc. Aren't we defining the matter with our attachments? Aren't we acknowledging the arrangements of the old forces and mechanically applying other peoples' way of doing things? It is us who are eliminating the evil, and we should not endure the persecution passively. The evil is what we are eliminating, and we should not be persecuted.

The practitioner who has been on hunger strike for over 400 days does not feel the pain, because he has gone beyond the realm of suffering, and everything he is doing is for validating the Fa and for saving sentient beings. I think when what he does has a righteous basis, he could use any form he wishes. Whether he goes on a hunger strike or not, as long as he has a righteous foundation, he is participating in Fa-rectification. It is the same the other way around, and if one does things with human notions, then no matter what he does, he is not participating in the Fa- rectification. One implication of the Fa-rectification is that it is not essential what one has done, how many flyers one has distributed or what mighty actions one has taken on the surface, what does matter is how much one's heart has been rectified and how many lives in one's corresponding system have become assimilated to the Fa.

When facing any issues or tribulations, we should first of all clearly recognize the essence of the arrangements of the old forces, be aware of our attachments that the evil is targeting, and check what fundamental attachments we still have that are taken advantage of by the evil. We should turn around and use the arrangements of the old forces to check our hearts and when we recognize our fundamental attachments we get rid of them through cultivation. Our loopholes have been used as excuses by the evil for their persecution. Isn't this fact bad enough to draw our attention? We should look inward at our xinxing. We must check our hearts whenever we come across any problems during the hunger strike and see if it is the hunger strike that is wrong or if our heart is not righteous. If there is nothing wrong with the hunger strike itself and it is a way to resist the evil, then we should improve our xinxing at all times and check if we still have some fundamental attachments being used by those behind the scenes to damage Fa-rectification. When we find our fundamental attachments, we should get rid of them. Only by doing so, can we keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification?

Everything during the Fa-rectification follows the same principle: paying attention to the process, not the results. Going on a hunger strike is not to achieve some personal goal, and nothing can be done well if we set out to attain a goal. When we do it with our heart, we will do it well naturally. Besides, the yardstick by which we measure if something is done well is not if the goal of our human mind has been achieved. For example, some think that the goal of a hunger strike is to get out, and if we fail to get out then the hunger strike must not be right, if we suffer during the hunger strike, then the hunger strike must not be good, and if practitioners died from force-feeding, then the hunger strike must be wrong, etc. Is it the hunger strike that has caused the loss of lives or is it our heart? Dafa practitioners should be clear about what is right and what is wrong. If the old forces did not use force-feeding to persecute Dafa disciples, as long as our heart is not righteous, they would use other forms to persecute Dafa disciples. "Foolishly absorbed in what unfolds in the play, the grotesque scenes seem beautiful." ("The Big Stage") As long as there are omissions in our heart and we are not diligently getting rid of them through cultivation, the evil will persecute us using a variety of forms. Some Dafa disciples were tortured to death because they practiced the Falun Gong exercises in prison. How could there be anything wrong with doing the exercises? It is not that there is anything wrong with doing the exercises itself, but the state of mind of Dafa practitioners when doing the exercises and when facing the frenzied persecution by the vicious police.

The above is my recent understanding. Please kindly point out anything improper.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/2/61621.html

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