Saving People vs. Condemning People

By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently I received a copy of truth-clarifying material about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and people withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The name of the brochure is Shengzhou. There is one article in it entitled "Heaven Punishes Evildoers, Believe It or Not," and the subtitle is "More likely truth than fiction." A fellow practitioner told me that the person who edited the brochure wrote this article, and many copies were printed and distributed to people. He also told me that many practitioners at his Fa-study group felt this article was inappropriate, so they did not distribute it.

After reading the article carefully, I came to the conclusion that this article condemns people rather than saves people. Many practitioners at my Fa-study group felt the same way after reading it. We believe that this article can only have negative effects in validating the Fa and saving sentient beings.

The article begins with the claim that the tsunami in South Asia was a warning from gods - "Do not persecute Falun Gong, do not persecute 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance or you will die." The article further connects the tsunami with the CCP's persecuting Falun Gong. It concludes that something will happen in the second half of this year in China as a result of gods punishing the CCP.

When a practitioner asked about the significance of the massive tsunami in South Asia in "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference," Teacher said:

"But from a lot of things you can see that much of what unfolds today and implicates mankind is the doing of old-force factors, and those things do nothing positive for people. When something happens to mankind, it has to help it learn a positive lesson, and only then can it lead people to truly see that it was gods punishing people so as to save more persons. But when the punishment is just for the sake of punishing people, it only weakens people's belief in gods. Those things done by the old-force factors do nothing positive for mankind; when people grow bad they just weed them out."

Teacher clearly pointed out that the tsunami was the doing of old-force factors. It is using evil to deal with evil and cannot serve the purpose of saving people. Teacher wants to save all beings through Fa-rectification with immeasurable mercy. As long as a being does not commit sins against Fa-rectification, it can become good and be saved. When Buddha or gods are trying to save people, they should tell people what is good for them, and they should never use threats. As Dafa disciples, we are here to assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification. We should keep a pure heart when clarifying the truth. Moreover, the persecution of Falun Gong happens mostly in China. For those people who have been poisoned by the CCP's atheism, they may not believe there is a connection between the persecution of Falun Gong and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, so it would backfire.

In the second paragraph of the article, it predicts what would happen in China and Southeast Asia in March of the next year, and even the months of April, August, and September. It says the entire country will be in chaos. The last sentence of the paragraph is, "The CCP party members will have difficulties getting through the years of the dog and the pig (2006 and 2007). They will be punished by heaven." The entire paragraph is filled with phrases and curses from the Cultural Revolution era. Falun Dafa practitioners practice Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Teacher advises us to always keep a compassionate and calm mind so that we can resolve well every issue we encounter. Particularly we should be more compassionate and rational when clarifying the truth to people. The only purpose is to better save sentient beings. None of the ancient prophecies clearly specified what would happen on what date. They all use metaphors to predict that something would happen during a period of time or a year. If an everyday person reads this article, but the prediction fails, what would he think? He may think you are trying to deceive him. Would it not discredit Dafa and also harm the person?

There is a sentence in the article stating, "The CCP stinks like those people who were classified as landlords, wealthy farmers, anti-revolutionaries, the bad, and the right-wingers during the Culture Revolution. The CCP members are being condemned by people, and they feel too ashamed to be in public."

In "Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago," Teacher said,

"I told you a long time ago that a Dafa disciple, or a cultivator, has no enemies. The only thing you have a role in is saving people, and you have nothing to do with using human means and human principles to punish or pronounce judgment on people."

As Dafa disciples, our role is to save people. How are we going to do that? We ought to follow what Teacher told us, "Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy." (From "Rationality")

In "Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference," Teacher said:

"In other words, think about why so many high-level beings dared to take such a perilous risk and come to the Three Realms. They are gods, so how could we not save them? Didn't they come to obtain the Fa? If you look at it from another perspective, wasn't their bravery in coming here a way of validating the Fa-rectification and placing their hope in the Fa-rectification? That's why I have said that we cannot leave them behind, and that we must save them and think of ways to save them! Even though they may be confused at the moment, or they may have lost their capacity to recognize truth or reality, owing to their concepts being warped by the Party culture over time, we still have to find ways to save them."

Teacher also said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago,"

"Think about this, everyone: before you began to cultivate Dafa, many of you present here were also once fooled by that wicked Party into becoming members of it, so do you really want to bring to trial the CCP members who have been fooled by the evil? You should understand that they, too, have been deceived by the wicked CCP, and they are all sentient beings for you to save. You must make a clear distinction here."

We surely cannot use the methods or styles from the CCP's philosophy of struggle. That is not saving people, but condemning people. It is far from spreading the Fa and saving people with mercy. It can only cause misunderstanding and resistance. As a result, people may refuse to accept the truth. Wouldn't that be harming them?

During the Cultural Revolution, some people were classified as landlords, wealthy farmers, anti-revolutionaries, the bad, or the right-wingers. It is not because they were bad people or they did bad deeds. They were innocent people being persecuted by the evil CCP. How can we use such comparisons in our truth-clarifying materials? The evil CCP uses deception, coercion, and struggle to incite people against other people. The purpose is to strengthen its tyrannical rule and protect its own interests. Could we treat the members of CCP the same way?

Moreover, I have noticed recently that some overseas practitioners tended to use the legal system to punish the so-called bad people when there was resistance in clarifying the truth. Instead of looking within and further clarifying the truth to save people, practitioners want to use the quickest ordinary person's way to stop those people who are being used by the evil. These so-called bad people, however, do not really know the truth, and they are waiting for us to save them. I feel this is looking outward and not being compassionate. It is something we need to eliminate during our cultivation.

Regarding the article mentioned earlier, perhaps its author wanted to warn the people in the world that time is pressing, and they should withdraw from the CCP for their own sake. It should be done, however, in a rational manner. Our heads are filled with the CCP's culture after living under its influence for decades. I sincerely recommend that the author of the article calmly study the Fa and other lectures from Teacher in recent Fa conferences, and to carefully read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to eliminate the interference and all the poisonous factors in his/her mind. Then he/she will be able to better clarify the truth and save sentient beings and walk the cultivation path more righteously and steadily. Only then will he/she more effectively help Teacher in the Fa-rectification.

These are my personal understandings, please correct any thing inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/8/27/109236.html

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