(Clearwisdom.net) A while ago, some practitioners in our region encountered severe persecution. One time, over 60 fellow practitioners were illegally arrested. Over 40 were sentenced to forced labor. Everyone was in danger at the time, it seemed, and fellow practitioners did not trust each other.
In addition, no truth-clarification materials were distributed for over a year. The situation was closely related to a mindset shared by many veteran practitioners. I believe this mindset was not limited to just a small region. It existed in many regions throughout China. If this kind of mindset is not done away with, it becomes very difficult to find ways to break through it and for practitioners to improve and save sentient beings.
Back in 2000, many of us who stepped forward first possessed an incorrect understanding: to use the evil environment imposed by the old forces to cultivate ourselves. We thought that only by going to jail, forced labor camp, or other evil places, could we establish our mighty virtue. Many fellow practitioners who did not step forward also agreed, thinking that was the only way would people think they were great. In fact, that kind of notion acknowledged the persecution. It accepted and condoned old force arrangements. Those of us who came out of jails and forced labor camps did not realize that our intention to use the evil environments to cultivate ourselves was the real reason that we were persecuted. Teacher said:
"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.")
These notions made practitioners unable to recognize persecution. It also led to some telling others that they should not miss these kinds of "opportunities." Hearing that fellow practitioners were arrested and sentenced to forced labor camps, they felt he or she was fortunate. They also did not try to stop the persecution.
Moreover, in our region there was a very serious issue. When coordinators who had been persecuted met practitioners from other regions, they would first ask them whether they had ever been sentenced to a forced labor camp. If not, the coordinator's first response was that, since they had not experienced such tests, they would not be provided with truth-clarification materials. There seemed to be nothing wrong with this kind of response. In fact, we did not realize that deep in our hearts we were admitting the arrangements of the old forces. When we heard about practitioners' homes being ransacked, many people would ask whether the police had found any truth-clarification materials. If the answer was yes, and the police found a lot of materials, their first response might be, "That's it. He will be sentenced to at least x years." Thus, their thoughts had a negative effect on the situation.
Where did that thought come from? Was it because of the constant pressure of the persecution? Many practitioners thought "as long as they clarify the truth and validate Dafa, they will for sure encounter some problems sooner or later." Why did some of us have such ingrained notions? Weren't these long ago instilled by the old forces? Aren't such notions among the factors encouraging the old forces, allowing them to persecute practitioners?
If practitioners did not acknowledge this notion and if we firmly denied the persecution in both our thoughts and actions, the old forces would not dare to commit such atrocities. On the contrary, if our first thought when hearing about practitioners being arrested is that our fellow practitioner is doing a very great and divine job and that nobody should persecute him or her for any reason; that whoever persecutes that practitioner is committing a crime; that they should release that practitioner unconditionally; and in the meantime, we send righteous thoughts to eliminate all evil factors behind that fellow practitioner, then we would see different results.
In the process of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings, the way some practitioners spoke, how they behaved and how they looked was intimidating. They formed a kind of restraining field, hindering us from validating Dafa. We thought we might have to escape at a moment's notice and were without any righteous thoughts. So, when other people saw that, would they still believe us? They might think we did not have any good intentions. Teacher asked practitioners to do such a great and divine job. However, it turned out to be a totally different situation. It is not others that should be validating Dafa. It is practitioners. We should do this from deep in our hearts, but we cannot do so without proper righteous thoughts.
When we realized all the above issues, we spent quite some time exchanging our thoughts with other practitioners. We exchanged ideas with one another. Fellow practitioners were very surprised and changed those erroneous thoughts. In the meantime, we set up specific local times to send forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate evil interference in our local area. In our district, we now send forth righteous thoughts at nine o'clock in the evening, for as long as we think necessary. We told every practitioner to do this. Not long after, all local fellow practitioners knew of this and got rid of the erroneous thoughts formed under the horrifying and intense pressure of the persecution. The environment in our local district has changed a lot.
We now all pay more attention to sending forth righteous thoughts towards local evil factors. It has now been two years without any large scale local persecution. However, we will not slack off and will continue to do what practitioners should do.
The above is my personal experience sharing. Please point out anything inappropriate.
January 29, 2008
