By Shanguo, a practitioner in the U.S.

(Clearwisdom.net) After learning of the incidents that happened in France, many overseas practitioners had lots of discussions. Our local practitioners have summarized the major points we have discussed. I would like to share them with fellow practitioners. I hope that more people can join the discussion.

Each and every one of us should view the incidents from the perspective of the Fa, instead of from human notions. As a Dafa disciple, we should keep in mind our mission to save sentient beings at all times. It is not wise to complain about others and feel indignant.

People in various government departments of France are the audience we can clarify the truth to, not the criminals who instigated such incidents. During the past several years of persecution, we have come to understand that Jiang and his accomplices are the real criminals. We cannot equate Jiang with the Chinese government. With regard to the recent incidents, we should also remain clearheaded.

It is absolutely wrong for the French plainclothes police, anti-riot police and police in uniform to treat Dafa disciples like this. It is possible that the police may have misunderstood something during the whole process. However, given the fact that Falun Gong practitioners are being severely persecuted in China, the police's actions have certainly helped the evil extend their persecution overseas, and also aided the evil in their attempts to keep slandering Falun Gong and escalating the persecution of practitioners in China, no matter what the police's initial intentions of taking such actions may have been.

Having said this, I think what we should do first is to let more people know the truth. Complaints, chagrins and grudges are not what cultivators should have. We should adjust our mindset and truly think from the standpoint of saving sentient beings with compassion. We can take advantage of such incidents and let more people know the truth and reduce the loss.

Nothing happens accidentally. With such a big thing happening at this stage of the Fa-rectification process, we should all look inward and see if there is anything we haven't done well. If we know where we fall short in the three things required by Teacher, we should hurry to double our efforts and make up for the loss.

(1) Even though the evil interference has caused trouble for us, I think it still provides us some good opportunities. Isn't it a good chance for us to clarify the truth? Isn't it a good chance for us to make up for the loss and save more people? If we believe that Dafa is harmonious and follow the Fa, we can turn bad things into good things. For cultivators, everything can be benevolently resolved.

(2) In addition to going after responsible parties for such incidents, we should grab this opportunity and clarify the truth to French government officials, police departments, intelligence departments and the media.

Speaking of clarifying the truth, Dafa disciples should understand the truth in the first place. Only by doing this can we clarify the truth clearly when using such incidents as talking points. We should know the details of such incidents, for instance, the unfair treatment disciples received, the actions of the police, etc. These details are very important. Mover, we should find out what role the Chinese authorities have played in such incidents. Other details that also deserve attention include what the French media have done in such incidents.

However, as Dafa disciples, we should be clear that the abovementioned facts are only part of the truth we should clarify. If we only talk about the details of such incidents, we are in fact forgetting who the main actors of the big play are and can only act as if we are putting out fires set by the old forces and their behind-the-scene helpers. Therefore, we cannot achieve the effect of improving the level of individual practitioners and the whole body of practitioners.

We can never forget what Teacher tells us about looking inward. Even when we encounter interference, we still need to look inward while resisting the evil with righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth with compassion. We should find out the attachments and human notions that have left loopholes for the evil to exploit and remove them. Only when we jump out of the details of such incidents, look at the whole thing from the standpoint of the Fa, and realize what attachments of ours have caused the old forces' behind-the-scene helpers to make trouble, can we make up the loss with reason and wisdom, and better offer salvation to sentient beings and truly achieve the effect of turning bad things into good ones.

In order to clarify the truth and save people on a large scale, it is very important to organize some events that draw wide attention and have great influence on the society. However, whether or not such events can achieve good effects depends on whether or not we do a good job clarifying the truth in a comprehensive manner.

The Fa-rectification has been going on for four years. Back in late 1999 and early 2000, many of us were simply participating in activities organized by Dafa volunteer assistants. For example, we did not really think about questions such as: what are the key and fundamental issues of our collective activities; what are things that must be done well in the collective activities; as a Dafa disciple, how we should cooperate with and complement each other. At that time, we didn't think about these questions because we were not mature enough. Now four years have passed. We should really think about whether or not we have truly improved our level, whether or not we have gained clear understanding of the Fa, whether or not we have put our heart in the Fa, and whether or not we have met the requirements of the Fa-rectification. All these questions are things that every Dafa disciple who has participated in, heard or seen such incidents in France should think about. Coordination is not limited to simply participating in truth-clarification activities. If we truly put our heart in the truth-clarification, we can manifest the reason, harmony, righteous thoughts, clear mind, and wisdom that goes beyond ordinary people.

Dafa disciples are one body. Such incidents are not just issues of France or Europe. Even though we are in the U.S., through such incidents we have seen problems that exist in our local area with regard to the issue of clarifying the truth. We have done a lot to clarify the truth, but have we clarified the truth clearly? As we understand, there is an issue of how serious we are about clarifying the truth. Moreover, among practitioners detained in France, some are from the U.S. and Taiwan. Therefore, we must look inward and find the deficiencies and not so righteous notions in our minds, in order to do well in the future.

For practitioners in the U.S., in addition to clarifying the truth to the French government and people using various means, we should also take this opportunity to clarify the truth in a deeper manner to the people and the government of the United States. Many U.S. government departments, such as foreign affairs department, intelligence departments, police departments, social organizations, and research institutions are all entities we can clarify the truth too. We can also help push resolution 304 forward. What we want to do is to let people in the world see the true nature of Jiang's evil gang. Since such incidents have already happened, it is best that we take advantage of them and expose the evil and save sentient beings.

At this time, we shall also pay attention to the big picture of clarifying the truth using various means. We should do well all the things we are supposed to do and do not overdo certain things at the expense of other things. We cannot affect other Dafa work. When new plots are added to the big play, we cannot forget the main theme of the big play. The added plots can only serve to strengthen the theme of the big play.

2004-2-1

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/2/66452.html