(Clearwisdom.net)

One day, a few practitioners and I held a small experience sharing discussion inside the police van on our way to being transferred to another detention center. The policeman in the driver's seat prohibited us from talking and turned up the radio's volume, but we still managed to exchange some insights.

One practitioner recounted her story. A few practitioners in her prison cell decided to study the Fa and practice the exercises together one day. A guard interrupted and wanted to punish them. This practitioner had never been beaten before, and as the guard cursed and approached to hit her, her fear immediately cropped up. But the instant the guard laid his hands on her, the fear suddenly subsided, and she said to the guard, "We are Falun Dafa practitioners, and we're all kind people. You shouldn't hit us." The guard immediately stopped and didn't dare to hit her again.

I believe what she did was right, because we should always employ compassionate and peaceful measures in preventing the evil's persecution. If a guard is hitting me, or if I see a guard beating a fellow practitioner, I know I should always try to stop the violence, but I couldn't fully understand the outcome of such measures until I read Master's lecture, Touring North America to Teach the Fa.

Master said:

"Some students in China haven't conducted themselves too well at times. When they were arrested and persecuted, when those vicious policemen beat them, they beat them horribly. But at that moment, some students' righteous thoughts weren't adequate, and so the persecution that they suffered became even more severe. When the evil was beating them they forgot that they were Dafa disciples, and they didn't think, 'I'll ask Master to help me.' Or, when some people did ask Master for help, they had a strong attachment of fear. When they were beaten and in a lot of pain, many of them cried out, 'Oww! Mom!' They completely treated this persecution as a persecution of ordinary human beings against other human beings. Then if I tried to protect them at that time, those old forces wouldn't stand for it, because they're upholding the principles of the old cosmos; they think those are the only principles of the cosmos, and they can't see the new cosmos. They would say: 'This is your disciple? Do you think he sees you as his Master? Has he regarded himself as a cultivator? Does he have righteous thoughts? Has he put aside the thought of life and death? Has he remained solid and unshakable, like diamond?' At those moments, Master really couldn't respond to them in the face of their criticism. Of course, you can't say he isn't my disciple just because of his behavior in one or two instances or during one lifetime. They know this, too, so they say: 'The reason we beat him is to bring out his righteous thoughts. See, he doesn't even acknowledge you as his Master. And he doesn't regard himself as a Dafa disciple, either'" (Touring North America to Teach the Fa).

Not only was this practitioner unafraid, but she affirmed that she was a Falun Dafa practitioner, a disciple of Master. So how could the evil dare to hit her then? Master also stated, "There are two circumstances in which they can't touch a Dafa disciple. One is that he is rock-solid. They don't dare touch him, because they know at that time that if this disciple has taken a righteous path and conducted himself well and someone still dares to persecute him, it doesn't matter that they're the old forces or what the old principles are--I absolutely won't spare them" (Touring North America to Teach the Fa).

I have been kept at a few different detention centers and prisons, and I've encountered countless policemen and imprisoned criminals. Whenever prison guards or inmates under their influence wanted to hit me, I always thought to myself, "I cannot let these uninformed sentient beings commit the unpardonable sin of persecuting a Dafa disciple. I must prevent their persecution, and therefore prevent them from being weeded out." I was always able to curb their persecution in a peaceful manner whenever I held these thoughts. That is why during the few years of my illegal imprisonment, no guard or criminal was able to put their hands on me. Master said, "My roots are all deeply planted in the universe, and if someone could affect you, he could affect me, and to put it directly, he'd be able to affect the universe" (Zhuan Falun, The First Talk).

At the persecution's inception, a few practitioners even thanked the police for beating them when they went to appeal the persecution, thinking that this eliminated their karma and increased their virtue. I don't believe such conduct is correct. Master has said, "...There's a problem with your character if you don't do anything when you see something awful like murder or arson" (Zhuan Falun, The Ninth Talk). If we understand the Fa from within the Fa, we can see that when a policeman beats a Dafa practitioner, he has committed the sin of persecuting Dafa. Not only will this being be completely eliminated in the future, but the countless beings in his corresponding cosmic system will also be weeded out. Now that is much more serious than committing murder or arson. So how can we see that and not do anything about it? By thanking them, aren't we condoning the persecution?

Whether it's in mainland China or abroad, when we validate the Fa and come across those who would damage Dafa, practitioners should always try to curb them. If our righteous thoughts are strong we can send forth righteous thoughts to restrain them. Stopping evil individuals from persecuting Dafa practitioners is an act of compassion that can save sentient beings.