By a Dafa practitioner in Jinan

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently there have been many articles sharing experiences of saving persecuted fellow practitioners on Clearwisdom.net. On June 26, Minghui Editors strongly recommended the article "Critical Discussions with Practitioners in Donggang Concerning Ongoing Problems in the Liaoning-Donggang Area" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/6/29/74936.html) and reminded us that "We should not think that these are other regions' problems that do not have anything to do with ourselves."

I think the issues discussed in this article are critical. The analysis is complete as well. We can almost directly relate this to the ongoing problems in Jinan. "Cooperating as one body to save fellow practitioners" mentioned in the article is something Dafa practitioners in Jinan haven't been doing well for a long time. During the past several years, how many fellow practitioners have been "arrested illegally", sent to brainwashing centers or forced labor camps or been illegally sentenced? How many of them have been saved when we cooperated as one body and were able to walk out with dignity and return to the Fa-rectification?

Usually after fellow practitioners were arrested there were reports on Clearwisdom.net. Afterwards, practitioners made stickers carrying short truth clarification messages or included the information in "Minghui Weekly" (the Jinan Edition). Due to insufficient information, it was often hard to use these for truth-clarification materials. Even if truth-clarification reports were published, the amount of materials was never sufficient because both the practitioners who made the materials and those who distributed them didn't give it enough attention. A week passed. The following week, other tasks came up that kept everyone busy. Then for a long time, there was no news until one day it was reported that the practitioners had already been sent to a forced labor camp. Then everybody expressed regret, sighed, and blamed a fellow practitioner for having loopholes. How many felt ashamed that they didn't try their best to save fellow practitioners? After a while, they gradually forgot about it. Later, news about other practitioners being arrested came out, and this almost became a vicious cycle.

Why has the evil succeeded repeatedly in Jinan? Why, when the Fa-rectification advances and the evil becomes weaker and weaker and many practitioners in other locations have walked a path that terrifies and weakens the evil, why are practitioners in Jinan still passive and unable to use other alternatives! We should really look inward to dig out the root cause.

The issue resides in different areas. Here I would like to discuss my own perspective of letting go of blaming practitioners' loopholes and trying our best to save practitioners and sentient beings.

Let's use an example in our daily life. If we see someone fall into the water and struggling to get out, what should we do? Of course we should extend our hands to pull him out of the water or find people who are good swimmers to save him. We shouldn't stand on the shore and blame him, saying "Why weren't you being careful? I've warned you not to walk by the water. Why didn't you listen? You have to promise me not to walk by the water again before I can save you." If we treat our persecuted practitioners like the person watching others drown--just blaming and complaining about their loopholes--and we lose our best opportunities to save practitioners, then what level is our xinxing at? Aren't we behaving like ordinary people and being interfered with and blocked by the evil without even realizing it?

If the persecuted practitioners strongly believe in Master and believe in the Fa and maintain their righteous thoughts and continue to do the three things well in any environment and if they let Master arrange everything for them, then they can conquer any difficulties. The practitioners outside should completely negate the persecution of their fellow practitioners because no matter how bad the practitioners do, Master continues to give them opportunities and wouldn't arrange for them to suffer in jails. Only the old forces and evil spirits and rotten ghosts would grab onto practitioners loopholes and put them into a deathtrap. If at that time, the practitioners outside still don't let go of their fellow practitioners' loopholes, aren't they unintentionally acting as assistants for the old forces and evil spirits and rotten ghosts? Then are we still walking the path Master arranged for us? When our fellow practitioners face difficulties, if we still talk behind their backs, wouldn't the level of our xinxing and enlightenment level be very low?

Last year, not too long after a lawyer practitioner was detained in a forced labor camp, some practitioners spread the story that he had been "transformed" in the forced labor camp. But in fact, he had been persecuted and locked up in a small cell. When his statement was published on Clearwisdom.net, everyone then realized that he had never given up his belief. After another practitioner was arrested last year, some practitioners immediately thought: "What if he tells them my name?" Another woman practitioner who had been arrested several times got detained again and was persecuted almost to the brink of her death. At that time what other practitioners talked about was not how to save her, how to write, call or distribute truth clarification materials to expose the evil organizations and the evil people, or how to utilize this opportunity to expose the evil to save sentient beings or how to keep doing that until the practitioner was freed. Instead they talked about where her loopholes were and how she didn't pay enough attention to her safety. Another 76-year-old woman practitioner was illegally sentenced to a lengthy prison term early this year. A rumor has been spread that she did not pay enough attention to security, and her family was not in harmony, which was why she got arrested several times. News didn't get out until two weeks after she was sentenced. What's even more heart-breaking is that, even now, there are still people talking irresponsibly and spreading rumors about this practitioner. Recently an elderly woman practitioner was persecuted. There were no efforts to save her before she was sentenced, but some people seemed to be very "clear" on her loopholes.

I myself somewhat cared a great deal about fellow practitioners' loopholes and did not stop other practitioners who had such thoughts about the persecuted practitioners when they were in urgent need of help. Now that I think about it, I feel very ashamed. In recent years, good fellow practitioners were often persecuted by the evil. Although the high walls of the forced labor camps or jails confine a practitioner's body, they can't confine the heart of a genuine practitioner. Regretting the loss of sentient beings being saved due to practitioners being locked in jails, how can the practitioners outside make it up? It's very difficult. If we don't save them in time, the loss is not only for the fellow practitioners, but also for sentient beings, for ourselves, and for our Master, because all Dafa practitioners were Master's family before, and Master hopes to save them all so that they can cultivate to consummation.

As a practitioner in the Fa-rectification period, no matter how good we cultivate ourselves, we are not a stand alone celestial body. We are one body with close connections. When fellow practitioners have shortcomings or loopholes, we should stay clear-minded with our strong righteous thoughts and be benevolent with great tolerance so we can help each other, remind each other, and support each other. We should keep in mind what Master said:

"Your accomplishments reflect mighty virtue gained through sound Fa study and the solidifying of righteous thoughts, and your shortcomings tell of the things that you need to work on along your cultivation path." ("To the Chicago Fa Conference")

If we all follow what Master asked us to do, the situation in Jinan with regard to practitioners validating Dafa will be just like "after passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!"

Posting date: 7/18/2006
Original article date: 7/17/2006
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Translated on 7/6/2006
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/7/1/131836.html

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