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Preventing Individuals from Persecuting Dafa is Also Saving Them By a practitioner from China
(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.
Posting date: 9/4/2003 |