By a Falun Dafa Practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) In China, those who have been "transformed" by the authorities have spread rumors that the Minghui website (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom) "fabricates" stories. The Communist Party (CCP) has spread these lies to confuse and deter practitioners. As practitioners though, we should always look inward whenever something like this happens. I would like to share my understanding of this matter with fellow practitioners.

The following are how the rumors may originate:

1. Special agents working for the Chinese government started a rumor when I was detained in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. I heard that the Minghui website published an article based on false information, about a practitioner who was persecuted in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. This incident rattled many practitioners' faith in Falun Dafa.

Destroying the credibility of the Minghui website has been one of the Chinese government's top priorities in its persecution of Falun Gong. Many practitioners risk being arrested, tortured, imprisoned, and even killed just for downloading and passing on Minghui articles or for writing an article for the Minghui website. Due to the information blockage, it is impossible for Minghui to verify every article that gets published. The Minghui website publishes certain articles based on their trust in the volunteer reporter/practitioner.

Some national security agents and public security agents deliberately fabricate stories and submit them to Minghui. If their article gets published, they use it to discredit Minghui. Most of the time, Minghui is able to tell if the stories are reliable and true. The Minghui staff follows strict procedural guidelines to ensure the credibility of its website. However, should we discredit Minghui simply because one or two articles written by these special agents slips through and gets published? No. The fact that Minghui is the target of special agents, the 610 Office, and the evil at the forced labor camps, speaks volumes for Minghui's righteousness and credibility, its power in shocking the evil and its ability to bring the truth to those who have no other means to obtain it.

According to those who work on Minghui, the evil has never stopped sending fabricated stories. For example, in the daily posting of "Solemn Declarations" where practitioners declare that what they said and did under forced brainwashing is null and void, Minghui receives numerous declarations that are false and that smear Falun Dafa and Teacher. Therefore, in the past few years, all solemn declarations, usually two hundred a day have been screened very carefully to identify and remove the fake ones.

2. There are also times when a reporter, out of inexperience, provides incorrect information that is based on hearsay. For example, when some practitioners hear rumors spread by the special agents and collaborators, they are eager to write about them, and even add in their own interpretations, which can cause misunderstandings. At other times, the writer/reporter may be led by his/her sentimentality and write with flowery or emotional words, which causes the article to lose its objectivity. There have also been times when the editors have caused some errors in the article because they did not try to understand them.

However evil the persecution is, we cannot exaggerate the facts due to our emotions or go into details about things that have little to do with the persecution. This only makes it sound like we are personally attacking someone rather than doing objective reporting. As practitioners, we cannot mix in our emotions with the things we do. Instead, we should use "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" to guide our actions and treat everything with compassion and selflessness, especially the articles that expose the evil. This shows our compassion to fellow practitioners and sentient beings and gives due respect to the victims and to the facts.

As practitioners, we should be strict with ourselves. We cannot expect readers or people who know about Falun Dafa but do not practice to be rational and objective. It's not easy to clarify the truth. In fact, one untrue word will render thousands of words from our heart useless.

Therefore, the Minghui reporters and those who provide the information in China should always maintain a calm mind. Although the report may be written by the victims themselves, we should still verify the facts and the details, as required in professional news reporting. Also, before submitting the article, we should remove subjective comments and unnecessary descriptions.

We write to expose the evil. Doing this is truth clarification and it is saving sentient beings. When we are soliciting or writing articles, we should do it according to the basic requirements of news reporting, to collect essential information regarding the incidents. At the same time, we need to combine the overall picture with details in our reporting.

Some practitioners have been writing for Minghui for a long time, without realizing that they have been doing news reporting. Yet, they have not paid enough attention to improving their writing skills and therefore their stories fail to effectively convey the message.

What I have enlightened from the above:

1. How to look at the errors made by Minghui with a perspective

Teacher once said, "It is not that Minghui Net does not make mistakes; however, on important matters, practitioners must pay attention to the attitude of Minghui Net." My personal understanding is that the Minghui's direction is righteous. If there are errors, the reasons may be in part because of the evil's interference, or in part because of practitioners' unresolved cultivation issues. However, we cannot minimize Minghui's role because of such mistakes. Those who believe that Minghui fabricates stories should think about these issues and give serious consideration to this conclusion.

2. We should take the Fa as our guide in our cultivation, not Minghui

Many practitioners while they were detained, failed to remember that they should take the Fa as Teacher. I often heard that practitioners quoted Minghui for direction in their cultivation. This type of attachment is similar to practitioners who are attached to those who are perceived to cultivate well. Any attachment will potentially affect your faith in Dafa. If one is attached to the information provided by Minghui, then when some incorrect information is given, it may cause one to waver.

It is also the same with the fabricated news on TV. Some practitioners try to distinguish which news stories are fabricated and which are real. When they find out a story was indeed fabricated, they will continue to practice. But when they cannot verify that it was wrong, they waver. Whether a news story is true or false is irrelevant. Even though it may be true, it may be from a practitioner who has gone astray and no longer has anything to do with Dafa. If however, the story is fabricated, it is our responsibility to clarify the truth and it becomes an opportunity for us to talk to people. Firmly believing in the Fa should not depend on whether the news is true or false.

3. The mentality of worship

The Minghui website plays an important role in the Fa-rectification and Teacher has acknowledged this. We remind ourselves not to be attached to practitioners who cultivate well. Yet, have we reminded ourselves not to look up to the practitioners who work for Minghui? In China, some practitioners have a mentality that those who work for Minghui are like practitioners who used to be close to Teacher. They perceive that those who work for Minghui are like those at a command center. They even envy the work of the Minghui staff. No matter what we do, it is part of cultivation, and it is what we should be doing. Practitioners who worship Minghui have an attachment that can result in problems and causes difficulties for Minghui.

I would like to emphasize that cultivation is a serious matter and we cannot mix our emotions with cultivation, especially the frontline reporters. This is also doing what we can to support Minghui.

Posting date: 2/24/2005
Original article date: 2/24/2005
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/2/1/94638.html

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