On Hunger Strikes

(Clearwisdom.net) Over the years, practitioners have often mentioned hunger strikes, and I would like to share my understandings on this issue.

A hunger strike is one of the most common forms of resistance against the persecution Mainland Chinese practitioners have used since the persecution started on July 20, 1999. In the past few years, different views have been expressed on this issue. First, there are those who approve of and will stage one when possible and necessary. Second, there are those who disapprove and believe doing so is wrong or inappropriate. Third, there are those who think it is one of the ways to resist the persecution. They think it is not wrong or right to stage a hunger strike; it depends on the individual’s understanding and circumstances. Fourth, there are those who believe that Dafa disciples have supernormal abilities, so in our efforts to resist the persecution, we should pay more attention to using the ways Master mentioned, such as sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, subduing the wicked persons with righteous thoughts, and exposing the evil by clarifying the facts, etc., and that we should use fewer ordinary people’s methods such as hunger strikes.

In reality, many things of ordinary people have both advantages and disadvantages. A hunger strike, a method used by ordinary people, is no exception. So it is all right for our Dafa disciples to use it in resisting the persecution. As to the result, it all depends on the mindset of the person involved. It is like an object among ordinary people: everyone can make use of it. But what we use it for, what it can do, and the advantages and disadvantages of using it all depend on the individual who uses it. The way of thinking that believes something is either absolutely good and right or absolutely bad and wrong is not the right mentality in the culture Gods imparted to humans. Instead, it arose from the Party culture, in which the wicked Communist Party used all kinds of means to incite people to go to extremes and to encourage fanaticism for political purposes.

Take hunger strikes, for example. After some practitioners staged hunger strikes, they suffered serious problems, such as intensification of the persecution. As a result, their lives were in critical condition or even lost. Especially in the beginning, a significant number of practitioners staged hunger strikes for impure reasons in varying degrees.

One practitioner, however, witnessed the following. In the detention center where she was being held, one of the two cell heads was a former Party secretary. She had been responsible for persecuting Falun Gong before she was arrested on unrelated criminal charges. In prison she was asked to watch over a practitioner in her 60s who was on a hunger strike. She read Zhuan Falun to the practitioner. During the ten days they were together, the practitioner, radiant in complexion and high in spirits, rejected everything the evil had arranged by "clarifying the facts," and she was released on the tenth day. Seeing this, this cell head was shaken, moved, and changed. She then joined in the cultivation practice of the Great Law and studied the Fa and copied Zhuan Falun everyday. As a result, two dozen or so prisoners all came to know that Dafa is good, and some among them said that they would practice Falun Gong when they were released.

Dafa cultivation means that we have to constantly move forward while continuously rectifying ourselves. We should continuously improve our minds and actions in the context of the Fa. Thus, our understanding of ourselves as well as of our own problems will become increasingly purer and clearer. Gradually we will depart from the crooked road and embark on a straight path.

We have come this far after more than seven stormy years, and Master is increasingly explicit in the Fa. We don’t believe that everyone should have the same understanding and do things the same way. Practitioners’ characters are different, their enlightenment levels are different, their actions are different, and the results are different. A hunger strike is absolutely not the only way to resist the persecution, and one should not get attached to it. Sending out righteous thoughts and subduing the evil with righteous thoughts are things that everyone should do well in our fight against the persecution, regardless of whether or not you stage a hunger strike. Practitioners are all maturing in the Fa and using various ways to fight the persecution and validate the Fa. Let us keep Master’s teachings in mind and walk well the road ahead in a mature and steady fashion.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/10/1/139095.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version