(Clearwisdom.net) Lately we have received many practitioners' experience sharing articles on local practitioners being arrested continuously, and we have posted most of these articles. But some of the articles are very similar; it seems the exact same situations are still happening in some regions. Some of the articles are urgent calls to expose the evil, and to rescue fellow practitioners. Others analyze the attachments of those who have been arrested (These kinds of articles are getting fewer. From looking at the files received, practitioners in each region are becoming more and more harmonious and are looking inside themselves when facing conflicts). Some articles, though, are based on the perspective of caring for the arrested practitioners. They remind others about the different states in cultivation, they show concern for the local Fa-rectification process, and they raise the issue of all practitioners needing to upgrade their understanding of the Fa. In particular, these articles warn those who are still not attempting to step out of their human attachments and do the three things. If they continue to remain reluctant on this, then they are putting themselves in a dangerous situation!

As long as Fa-rectification has not ended yet, Master will wait for you, and give you chances, but now the chances left are fewer. The evil and old force factors will not leave you alone and they will eventually give you a destructive test.

In traditional Chinese culture, it is said that after one learns a principle, one should understand it by analogy. This is required at an ordinary person's level. As Falun Dafa practitioners, we have Master's requirement from his poem in Hongyin, "Solid Cultivation" [1]:

"Study Fa, obtain Fa,
Compare in studying, compare in cultivating,..."

As for the problems raised here and in those articles, we hope that regions having similar situations focus on them and upgrade in a timely manner. We should not think that these are other regions' problems that do not have anything to do with ourselves. We cannot wait until the evil severely persecutes those in our own regions or even ourselves, and only then begin look at things and our cultivation from the basis of the Fa. If the evil dares to persecute us, and we still do not know that we are just repeating others' mistakes, then our enlightenment quality is too low, which will inevitably bring damage to ourselves, to our group environment, and to our clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings.

Fa-rectification has reached to this extent. We are trying to reach the goal of the evil not daring to detain any Falun Dafa practitioners in detention centers, labor camps, or prisons. None of us want to see any more damage due to cultivators failing to reach the Fa's basic requirements. To those regions where severe persecution has already taken place, let's work together to turn the persecution into opportunities that break the old force's arrangements, expose the evil, and save sentient beings. Let the evil's destructive test never reach us, and let us diligently advance together in the Fa!

Minghui/Clearwisdom Editors
June 26, 2006

Critical Discussions with Practitioners in Donggang Concerning Ongoing Problems in the Liaoning-Donggang Area

By a practitioner in China

From January 25 to May 23 of 2006, 12 practitioners were illegally arrested in the Donggang area. With the progress of the Fa-rectification accelerating, why can the evil in our area still so recklessly persecute our practitioners? I would like to use these incidents to discuss our problems and inability to do the "three things" Teacher told us to do, and how they relate to the Donggang area. My intention is that we improve as one body, cultivate within the Fa, and not cultivate passively during this persecution.

There are many things I would like to bring up, but I don't want to take too much time, so other practitioners can have their say. I will discuss first how I perceive the situation.

Some of the practitioners rarely study the Fa or don't study the Fa at all. They think they know what is said in Zhuan Falun and no longer need to study. Some of the practitioners study the Fa because they are afraid of the persecution. They think the evil is watching us at all times. If we don't study the Fa, what do we do if the evil discovers our loopholes and persecutes us? It appears their purpose for studying the Fa is not to assimilate within the Fa and fulfill our duty, but for avoiding the persecution. What is the purpose for us to be in this human world today? If you are so afraid of the persecution, aren't you actually asking for persecution? Whether one can eliminate fear, marks the dividing line between being a human or a divine being.

Some practitioners consider studying the Fa as a duty and their thoughts are not quite righteous. They only listen to Teacher's lectures from a CD or MP3 while they are doing other work. Then, they use the rest of the time to live ordinary people's lives. They do not really calm down and use their pure hearts to study the Fa, to accept Teacher's benevolent gift, to use the wisdom and abilities bestowed on us by Dafa, and to better expose the evil and save sentient beings.

Some practitioners still do not understand the reason Teacher told us to do the "three things" well, and just are not doing them well. They say: "Wasn't it said we could be successful by studying Zhuan Falun? Why should we go out to clarify the truth to others?"

I would like to say a few words to the practitioners described above. If we use this kind of thinking in our cultivation, we will not be able to save ourselves, and definitely not save sentient beings. This is the fundamental problem I see in our area. You obtained the Fa but you don't treasure it. You are not a true practitioner. You are still holding on to this understanding, although we have reached this point in the Fa-rectification. Although our Teacher is waiting for you with mercy, the evil will sooner or later use your weakness and give you a "devastating test." You don't have the Fa in your heart at all times. So, can you pass the critical juncture of life and death during the evil persecution? What kind of future are you choosing?

Some practitioners are unable to follow Teacher's requirements for us. When clarifying the truth, validating the Fa, or doing other things, they don't use the Fa to measure if it is right or wrong, or whether it should be done. Instead they look at others. Especially, when it comes to some major issues, they follow whatever other practitioners do, or use human thoughts to determine what we should do during Fa-validation. They don't have righteous thoughts themselves.

In fact, Teacher has talked about this issue in "Path" (Essentials for Further Advancement II) as well as many times during recent lectures. Shouldn't we do whatever Teacher told us? How are we doing that? "Taking the Fa as Teacher" is not just words coming from our mouths, but what we should truly follow. When many practitioners suffer difficulties or share experiences, what's repeated the most is, "We listen to our Teacher. We do whatever Teacher tells us. It is correct to listen to Teacher." But, look back and see what have we done in reality. "Really doing it"-- that's real cultivation.

Cooperation as one body is very important to our truth clarification, Fa-validation, and saving sentient beings. It affects everything we do. I will give a few examples to show the importance and function of cooperating as one body.

Once we shared with some practitioners from an area in Jilin. They have done very well in cooperating as one body. Thus, they have been doing very well in exposing the evil and saving sentient beings.

At one time, a practitioner was abducted. Local practitioners and the coordinator acted immediately. Some investigated who was responsible for the arrest, and who was involved. Others prepared posters for rescuing the practitioner(s) and truth clarification materials. Then, some sent righteous thoughts in close proximity, and some went to the police station with family members of the persecuted practitioner to ask for his/her release. Those who were busy and could not join these efforts sent righteous thoughts during whatever they were doing. At that time, the policeman who was meeting with the family members and practitioners couldn't stop his hands from trembling. As a result, the abducted practitioner was released within a short time from the labor camp.

There are other such stories. After a practitioner was persecuted to death in a forced labor camp, local practitioners used various methods to expose the evil. The local police station called police stations in other regions: "Watch for Falun Gong (practitioners) in your region. Don't allow them to come here." What does this mean? First, the evil is afraid of us. It is not we who are afraid of the evil. We must keep in mind that the evil treats us as one body, and does not view us as individuals.

This is where we haven't done well in our region. In our area, when a practitioner is persecuted, what do we think and do? Many of us, the minute they hear that a practitioner was arrested, think about how to protect themselves. They think, "Oh no, he's abducted. Will they get me too?" When thinking like that, they will be affected. They are frightened, and their righteous thoughts are gone. There are also some people who think that this affects their safety and that it is not their concern. They immediately say coldly: "He had loopholes. He certainly had loopholes."

As mentioned above, we often say we should do whatever Teacher tells us. Teacher does not acknowledge this persecution, why do we? Should practitioners who have loopholes be persecuted? When we said this, did we know what would come of it? Didn't it give the evil more excuse to persecute our fellow practitioners? When practitioners are persecuted, what we think of first should be eliminating the evil factors which persecute practitioners, deny the persecution, and rescue practitioners. I remember an article in "Minghui Weekly" that was published several years ago that said, "Isn't it just a foot away from us when practitioners suffer inside prisons?"

We are one body. The persecution of fellow practitioners' is as if we ourselves are persecuted. Why have we in the Donggang area been unable to rescue a single practitioner who was arrested? What true Falun Dafa practitioner could say this is unrelated to us! Fa-rectification has advanced to today. It needs our practitioners from Donggang area to cooperate as one body, so we can save more sentient beings. We have not been doing well in this regard. It is a disappointment to Teacher's hope and the hopes of sentient beings in us. We hope more practitioners will step forward and cooperate with us. We have to do what we need to do during the limited time we have.

Although it is normal that we still have human thoughts during Fa-validation, if we cultivate well, continue with truth clarification and save sentient beings, we will have less and less human thoughts; instead, we will have more and more righteous thoughts. But if our practitioners who work as coordinators don't pay attention, it could cause significant damage.

For example, after "The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" was published, some coordinators said, "We don't need any more truth clarifying materials, as people in Donggang already know the truth. We only need The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party." As a result, materials did not get distributed, and some places where materials were needed did not get enough materials.

If it is as some coordinators and practitioners claim that people in Donggang already know the truth, why is the evil still abducting and persecuting practitioners? Why do some people who do not know the truth still report practitioners who distribute truth clarification materials to the authorities? If only The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party are needed, and we do not need any other truth clarification materials, why is Minghui Net (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) continuing to publish truth clarification materials?

On May 17, 2006, Minghui republished Teacher's Comments on "Expose the Evil Happening Locally to the Local People" of November 15, 2003. My understanding is: First, this is needed by the progress in the Fa-rectification. Second, we have not done enough in exposing the local evil to local people; we have not exposed the evil thoroughly. This time we should do it without hesitation and thoroughly.

In the beginning one practitioner was very eager to help collect information on the persecution of the practitioners, and was preparing to make it into a booklet. When materials had been collected and were ready to be made into a booklet, the human side of this practitioner came to the forefront. He/she was afraid that those practitioners who suffered from the persecution but were now back home would get persecuted again if the cases were exposed. So he/she decided not to publish the persecution information of these practitioners. Therefore, information exposing the evil in the Donggang area hasn't been printed and distributed.

If we don't expose the evil, isn't it the same as allowing the evil to exist? Compared to practitioners who used their real names to expose the persecution facts, we are far behind, aren't we? Because we did not expose them enough, the evil gets more reckless. Perhaps those practitioners who had been persecuted wanted more than anything else that we expose the evil that persecuted them. Don't we often say "we follow Teacher's arrangement" and "we listen to whatever Teacher says"? Why don't we listen to the Teacher on this issue?

Some of our coordinators are unable to accept differing opinions and suggestions. When other practitioners have a different viewpoint, the coordinators would not let the practitioners finish the sentence. They would not listen and accept the suggestions. The situation like this is not only related to coordinators' cultivation stage, but also related to some of the practitioners who do not "take the Fa as teacher," who learn from people but not from the Fa, who don't have righteous thoughts. They nourish the coordinators' unwillingness to accept others suggestions. I am not telling practitioners not to listen to coordinators. What I hope is that we realize how important the problem is and cooperate better as one body.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/27/131500.html