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In My Understanding, Selfishness Is the Root Cause of the Persecution By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net) Since a fellow practitioner in the USA shared his
understanding in an article "Let Us End the Persecution Now" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/7/18/87805.html)
there has been quite a big stir among practitioners. Our own lack of
understanding has caused many unnecessary losses and has brought on persecution
for no reason. Some practitioners have suggested that to end the persecution, incidents of
karmic retribution should be publicized, and should happen on a larger scale, as
a warning to the world's people. On this we have also had some in-depth sharing,
and have come to a common understanding on the basis of the Fa, as
it relates to issues of refusing to accept any of the persecution. When we
analyze at a deeper level and take a look at the paths we have walked, we
realize that the fundamental cause of the persecution is our own selfishness.
This is the excuse and the supposed justification that the old forces have used
to carry out and perpetuate the persecution. Master said, "As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society
is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts. Even though the old forces do
exist, if you don't have those thoughts they can't do anything. When your
righteous thoughts are strong enough the old forces can't do a thing. "
("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia,
U.S.A.") Then, we need to search our conscience and ask ourselves: "What kind of
thoughts do I have?" Master pointed this out in "Towards
Consummation" and many other articles. What is the fundamental attachment
that many of us still have? Isn't the fundamental attachment selfishness? Checking against what Master said and reflecting upon ourselves, we have seen
and heard about the following kind of thinking: attachment to consummation;
"the bigger the tribulation, the bigger the virtue"; "the police
van is the Fa boat"; "prisons are unique temples"; "one
cannot reach consummation without going to Beijing to appeal on Tiananmen
Square"; and so on and so forth. Then, isn't it true that the more inflated
our notions of selfishness, the more our thoughts facilitate the persecution?
Even today, some practitioners still boast, "I have done well these last
few days and have persuaded a few people to quit the CCP" and other such
comments. When they notice other practitioners' cultivation status is less than
desirable, they might say, "Your state of mind is not good. Judging by your
own cultivation, if you ask for a position, where do you think Master will place
you?" There are all sorts of such notions. When we think about it we can see that
their mindset is still preoccupied with self. We must be clear-headed at all
times: It is the Fa that is saving people, and it is Master who is saving
sentient beings. For the last eight years we have endured many hardships. Actually, these
hardships were caused to a large extent by the fact that during the stage of
personal cultivation we went to extremes in doing certain things, which caused
some misunderstandings publicly. We focused only on our own cultivation and did
not seem to care much about what other people said, or how they felt. We ignored
what Master had taught us. Master said, "I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually
based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should
consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of
selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you
say, you must consider others--or even future generations--along with Dafa's
eternal stability." ("Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials
for Further Advancement) The manifestation of Buddha-nature should be that of selflessness and
altruism, and considering others first. When evil forces began to persecute us
with the excuse that we are selfish, we should have displayed the proper
demeanor of Dafa disciples and helped others to truly understand Dafa through
our words and actions. Instead however, we ignored the feelings of the people
and were always attached to what we wanted to say, "Dafa is good; Dafa is
righteous." However, when we look at our words and actions, we find them
contrary to our wishes; we did not truly demonstrate the dignity and compassion
of Dafa, nor the demeanor to be expected of Dafa disciples. Some practitioners once said that the way we behave is in effect a very good
way to clarify the facts. We have however greatly neglected this very important
aspect, and put more weight on preaching and explaining things. In particular
when the Fa principle of "immediate retribution in this lifetime" was
raised, there appeared to be much pleasure and excitement in the sharing
articles, but very little sorrow or deep regret for those lives who had taken
the path of no return due to the wrong position they took, although they had
been through untold hardships, and had waited so long for Dafa to save them. When those who have been deceived arrest our fellow practitioners, our first
thought is usually how to rescue practitioners. Even though we later think of
clarifying the facts and exposing the evil, we tend to ignore something else -
the fact that those who have chosen to be on the opposite side of Dafa, due to
deception and their wrong notions, are committing crimes. They face a terrible
end, and we should therefore quickly help them break away from the destructive
situation they are in. Have we fulfilled our duties as Dafa disciples? If we could tell them with
compassion and sincerity the harmful situation they face and save them first, as
soon as they truly understand the facts and realize their mistakes and act
properly, to make up for the crimes they committed, then those who were arrested
would naturally be released. If we try to only resist the persecution and rescue those arrested, then the
underlying reasons for our efforts are not pure enough. We should always take
sentient beings and their safety to our hearts. I remember one incident. A
police officer was cruelly whipping a practitioner in a prison. Another
practitioner stopped him and told him to take his child away from the scene [so
that his child would not form a negative image of his dad]. His action awakened
the conscience of the police officer, and he, the most vicious in the prison,
never beat any Dafa practitioners again. Master explained to us in "Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital" the
real purpose of the existence of the world's people. They are all waiting for us
to awaken their conscience and to be saved by the compassion, mighty virtue and
the power of Dafa. Then we should keep up with the requirements of Dafa and
truly act as Dafa disciples. "Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples"
is not merely a name, but it is a name for honored beings that all sentient
beings in the cosmos admire and respect. Have we reached the standards? Since the persecution began in 1999, Master often starts his lectures by
saying, "Greetings everyone! You have been working very hard."
Whenever I read this, I feel ashamed, and tears run down my face. I feel myself
and practitioners around me have done so poorly: we often fail to send forth
righteous thoughts at the regular times; distribute truth-clarifying materials
only when we have absolutely nothing else to do; always wait for others to
deliver truth-clarifying materials instead of getting them ourselves; are
reluctant to prepare materials ourselves for fear of danger, even though we have
enough equipment to do so. When Master's lectures arrive, I would keep a clean
copy for myself first; keep video and audio materials for myself even though
they are for helping everyone improve together; when the notice of practicing
the exercises came I was immediately able to get up early in the morning and say
this is good; but when there are things that need to be done, though a bit
dangerous, I would send others to do them, with the excuse that I'm the
coordinator. Selfishness is the fundamental excuse the old forces use to coerce and
persecute us. Lives created by Dafa should be that of righteous enlightenment,
of selflessness and altruism. If we do not eliminate our selfishness, but
instead wait for cosmic changes, then we are surely no different from those who
feed on illusions or make fruitless attempts. Seeing clearly the root cause of the persecution, we must truly become
selfless. Only then can we completely eliminate the trammels of the old forces
and dissolve all the evil factors that interfere with the salvation of sentient
beings. Only when we take the calamity of sentient beings to heart and treat
people with great compassion and forbearance can we accomplish the tasks Master
has entrusted us with. The only thing Dafa disciples have a role in is saving
people. The loss of every single life is regret on our part. As I am limited by my level I feel it rather difficult to express clearly
what I have enlightened to. Please kindly point out anything incorrect in my
understanding. Posting date: 10/13/2007 |