By a practitioner from Jilin Province

(Clearwisdom.net) The news that Falun Dafa practitioners Wang Liqiu and Mu Chunhong from Jilin City, Jilin Province were secretly sent to the Changchun Women's Prison a week ago brought heaviness to my heart. We have been trying to rescue them for the last nine months, yet they were still sent away. The local practitioners had various thoughts. Those who participated in the rescue effort and those who sent forth righteous thoughts for them felt discouraged. Some said that we did it in vain. Others said that our righteous thoughts didn't work. Some even accepted the evil's persecution against Dafa practitioners, and felt that we were at our wits' end. They are still treating this as humans persecuting other humans.

What effects do these views have? They deny our own abilities and push down fellow practitioners. They are even adding energy to the evil, which is on its last breath. Aren't we bringing suffering to ourselves, because of our human notions and the lack of cultivation of speech? However, some practitioners are still wondering why things turned out the way they did despite our rescue efforts, and in what areas we could do better, as well as how to treat these things with righteous thoughts. I'd like to share some of my understandings on this matter.

1. Attached to Rescuing the Practitioners, Attached to Results

Did we do it in vain? Of course the answer is no. How could that be possible? For nine months, we went to the Public Security Bureau, Procuratorate office, and the judicial branch non-stop, to clarify the facts and send righteous thoughts. So many people learned the truth and changed their negative attitudes towards Falun Dafa. At the same time, we also shocked the evil. In other dimensions, so much evil was eliminated. Then why do so many practitioners feel that we did this in vain? It is because they are only focusing on the results and not the process. They become disappointed and discouraged, and even complain when their expectations are not met. Why are our hearts so easily moved by the surface manifestation of things? It shows that we lack firm faith in Master and the Fa! If most of us are attached to the successful rescue of fellow practitioners, isn't that also a great attachment that would cause strong interference? Isn't it a huge omission for us as a group? The evil factors can take advantage of this and persecute us. Haven't we aggravated the tribulations other practitioners are going through? Our loss has already been tremendous. Fellow practitioners, we need to truly watch our every thought!

Why do we rescue fellow practitioners? On the surface, it may look like we are preventing the evil from persecuting them. But our real goal is to also save those who work for the public security system, the procuratorate, and the judicial branch, as well as all the people with predestined relationships. We can use rescuing fellow practitioners as an opportunity to clarify the facts, while disintegrating all evil beings and factors in other dimensions that are controlling bad people to persecute Dafa disciples. We must rectify the entire situation. Our true goal is assisting the Master in Fa rectification, as well as saving people. From this perspective, was everything we did in the last nine months in vain? No. It was not only valuable, but has also created a glorious history. Every turn of events was a battle between the righteous and the evil. Why did it take so long for the two practitioners to be transfered? Didn't it provide us with opportunities to do well in saving people?

Why did it take so long? Perhaps we have not cooperated well as a group, and have not met the requirement of the Fa. We must diligently look inward, and eliminate all attachments and separations in order to form one body that is indestructible. We have to elevate ourselves as a whole. Until the day when our fellow practitioners are released, we have to keep clarifying the facts. Wherever our fellow practitioners are, it shows us where we need to do better. Every particle needs to be rectified and we need to do well during this process. We shouldn't have any pursuits. That is how we will gain naturally. When all the sentient beings who we should save are saved, all evil is disintegrated, and the environment is rectified, our fellow practitioners will naturally be released.

Perhaps we have walked the first 99 steps of a 100-step journey. Even though we only have one step left, we become weary and don't want to continue any longer. It is like hiking up a mountain. Only when we come through the most difficult path can we understand the beauty and inspiration of reaching the peak. As long as we walk a path arranged by Master, what do we have to fear? There is no question about our destination. In Zhuan Falun, Master said,

"Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master."

Master has repeatedly told us to look inward in every situation. Searching for our own shortcomings is key to our improvement. When the rescue efforts are not going smoothly, we should not become flustered or passive, and neither should we look for outside reasons. This is exactly when we should calm down and look inward. I am not talking about searching for problems related to the practitioners who have been persecuted, or any other practitioner. Instead, every practitioner involved should look at him or herself. During the entire rescue process, have I treated things with righteous thoughts? How was my heart moved? Have I truly done what I am supposed to do? How much have I clarified the facts to government staff? How many letters did I mail? How many phone calls did I make? Have I let go of my attachment to fear? Have I truly considered others first and acted without selfishness? Have I kept sentient beings in mind? When group cooperation is required, did I let go of myself and harmonize the group? If we can answer yes to all of these questions, the situation will certainly be different. We haven't done well ourselves, and when problems surfaced, we didn't rectify ourselves. Instead we became disappointed and pessimistic, and even blamed each other, which resulted in a messy situation. Doesn't this mean that we haven't matured? Doesn't this show our lack of faith in Master and the Fa? We have been on the path of assisting Master in the Fa-rectification for over eight years. When can Master stop worrying about us? Even if we do not fully meet the standard, we should at least treat things with rationality and wisdom. We should solemnly look inside, be tolerant of other practitioners, and save sentient beings with compassion.

We should truly look inward unconditionally, dig deep for our fundamental attachments, not slack off, not accept the evil persecution, and strengthen our efforts to clarify the facts and send forth righteous thoughts. If we can also cooperate with each other to eliminate the evil more broadly and more deeply, disintegrate the evil's den, and clarify the facts, then for practitioners, any bad things will turn good. No matter what happens, it is all a great opportunity to establish even greater mighty virtue. So why do we feel frustrated and sigh? The only thing we need to do is to progress diligently to be worthy of Master's great mercy! Fellow practitioners, let's hold each others' hands, do well together, and return to Master with our best efforts!

These are some thoughts of mine based on recent events. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Posting date: 12/9/2007
Original article date: 12/9/2007
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/11/25/167140.html

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