(Clearwisdom.net) After reading "Waist Drum Performance and Traditional Chinese Dancing Are Secondary Forms for Truth Clarification" I had a feeling similar to that of the author. Cultural elements such as waist drum and dancing performances can indirectly reflect Falun Dafa practitioners' spirit and demeanor. However, opposing the persecution and informing people of the truth about Falun Dafa are the core issues and goals of Fa-rectification period Falun Dafa disciples' organizing and participating in different public parades.
When clarifying the truth outside China, some practitioners show the tendency to use the reactions and preferences of the people as a measuring stick to dictate the form and extent of our truth-clarification efforts. For example, our exercise performances have been playing a supporting role in important parades recently. Some parades' preparation even involved a lot of time, resources and manpower, yet the parades don't include exercise demonstrations. Also, the bike ride by young practitioners to inform people of the persecution against young teenagers and children in China used the word "peace" to name the trip, which in my understanding fails to highlight its purpose.
Some articles and reports have used language and notions that confused the basic difference between practitioners' opposing the persecution of Falun Gong and that of ordinary people opposing persecution in general. Here, I'm not saying that we shouldn't clarify the truth along with people's attachments, the key is that our own minds should not be attached to ordinary people's things and we should not fall for them. If, instead of guiding people to understand Falun Dafa's purity and uprightness we focus on something else in Falun Dafa practitioners' activities, then we are really putting the cart before the horse.
In "To the Fa Conference in Montreal, Canada" Teacher says,
"While validating the Fa and putting into action how Dafa disciples should cultivate, you still have some shortcomings. Fully utilize the good things you've learned and strengthen your righteous thoughts, and doing so will allow you to do even better with Dafa disciples' things."
This greeting message was published as a new article from Teacher on the Clearwisdom Website to guide every Fa-rectification period Falun Dafa disciple. Every one of us should take it seriously, so that the overall direction of our validating the Fa and explaining the truth can better conform to Falun Dafa's requirements. It will also allow us to maintain an even more pure and upright state while building on good past experience.
The public's reactions are important because it reflects the effect of our truth-clarification efforts. However, this is only a measuring stick in one aspect, and it is not the most fundamental because it does not have a bit of Falun Dafa's profound and pure content. It is totally composed of ordinary people's things. Explaining the truth of the persecution and Falun Dafa's positive information may be difficult and some people may find it hard to accept for the time being, or even resist it. That does not mean we should change what we tell people. It only means that the things we are supposed to do have a certain degree of difficulty and they require us to make more concerted efforts. As in a play, the supporting roles are supporting the leading roles. If the script and the efforts all focus on the supporting roles and ignore or even remove the leading roles, the play is then changed completely. Therefore, we must clearly specify the leading roles and the supporting roles and highlight the key issues. Everything we do should revolve around the core issue and never deviate from it.