Opinions About "Virtual Friends"

By Zhang Yafang from Taiwan

(Clearwisdom.net) For Falun Dafa practitioners overseas, the Internet can be a very useful tool to explain the truth about Falun Gong, and also to make friends. A year ago, when I first started taking advantage of this, I met an undergraduate with whom I had a very pleasant chat online. Apart from talking about Falun Gong, we also chatted about some other school-related topics online when he was available on the weekend. We ended up calling each other "sister" and "brother."

Gradually however, our friendship nearly developed into a long-distance romance. I didn't realize what a serious mistake this was until Teacher reminded me. Unintentionally, I had brought affection into my truth clarification work. Since this incident, I have become more careful when talking to friends that I meet on the Internet. In addition to the usual greetings and telling them the facts about Falun Gong, I chat about little else with them.

During the last two years of clarifying the truth over the Internet, I have made all kinds of friends. Some of them claim that they don't believe the truth, although in their hearts, they really know. They are just reluctant to lose face, because they think it would be shameful to allow a Taiwanese person to expose crimes committed by Chinese authorities. Others claim that they are Falun Gong supporters or sympathizers, but then turn around and ask for money or for help to immigrate to Taiwan. From these experiences, I came to learn that it is important to stick to my principles when I am in a chat room. It doesn't really matter what they say superficially, and I don't get involved in their private lives apart from truth clarification. I simply try to ignore whether or not they know the truth or whether they support Falun Gong, and I no longer allow attachments like "virtual affection" or "virtual romance" to develop.

As Falun Dafa practitioners, we need to use our wisdom and rationality to make good use of the Internet for truth clarification work, and to keep from falling into ordinary peoples' patterns.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/6/6/103428.html

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