PureInsight | October 14, 2002
1. To rectify others' understandings of Dafa during Fa-rectification, one must first understand the Fa by studying it. Only when one understands the Fa from within it will one be able to practice cultivation and do Fa-rectification work as a true Fa-rectification disciple.
Before July 1999, my understanding of the Fa was mainly based on how I felt physically and emotionally. I simply decided that Dafa was good, but I had not truly understood the true meaning of Dafa. Consequently I did not place any importance on Fa study, or genuinely learn, read or, memorize Zhuan Falun. Because I did not truly understand what Teacher had taught in the Fa lectures, I could only discuss with fellow practitioners and everyday people my physical reactions to the exercise practices. I was unable to discuss the Fa from within the Fa. But the way that the body of a cultivator feels is something that everyday people can not experience or feel. They do not share the same experience, so they cannot relate to what was conveyed to them as I tried to clarify the facts to them. They think any practice will do, why must I insist on practicing Falun Gong? A "helper" (someone who tried to force practitioners to give up their beliefs in Falun Gong) told me that during a meeting among the leaders at work, they discussed my practice of Falun Gong. According to many leaders, I have an excellent educational background, and I am an outstanding; therefore, there must be something special about Falun Gong that made me unwilling to give up practicing Falun Gong in the face of losing everything else. I realized that I had not quite understood and grasped what Teacher had taught about the principles of the Fa. When I introduced Falun Gong to others, I was able to neither clearly explain Dafa based on the Fa nor help them in understanding Falun Dafa. Once I realized that, I began to reinforce my Fa study. Later on, when I met the people I knew, they tried to use newspaper reports or television propaganda to convince me to renounce Falun Gong. But I could clarify the truth by quoting Teacher's words, "This is what our Master said [...] and this is my understanding [...]" In hindsight, it was like an examination. Even in conversations with everyday people, Dafa practitioners were tested on their knowledge and understanding of the Fa. Though the conversations with me, many everyday people had learned that apparently the newspaper and television reports were clearly opposite to what our Teacher had taught us. Gradually the opposition in the work unit began to diminish. Some of the leaders and employees at the administration of justice section supported Falun Gong [to the extent that they could afford], "If you think Falun Dafa is good, then practice it at home."
2. Start clarifying the truth to people around us, and reach people far and near to maximize the effectiveness of the Fa-rectification work.
In July, 2,000, in order to let more people know about Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners, I wrote an article about my personal cultivation experience. There were two major points in the article. First, I used real-life examples to illustrate how I utilized my understanding of the Buddha Fa to successfully resolve conflicts in my workplace and among people. All of the examples cited were well-known ones that people around me either witnessed or were familiar with. I wanted to let people know that I was able to perform well at work because I cultivate in Dafa. Second, I answered frequently asked questions about Falun Dafa with Teacher's words, as well as my own understandings of the Fa. I spoke of how a Dafa practitioner is able to always conduct himself in accordance with the principles of Dafa, in order to elevate his mind nature and moral virtue. I spoke of how the Chinese government was wrong to persecute Falun Gong. The article caused quite a stir among its readers in my area. The "610" Office photocopied the article and distributed it to government officials of different ranks within the "610" Office and to many relevant departments. One day, a colleague asked me, "What was your article about? In the last few days, I have attended several meetings and noticed that all the leaders at various departments were reading a copy of your article." When I asked the colleague how they knew I was the author of the article, he said that he saw my name printed on the last page of the article.
Later, I was arrested by the Public Security Bureau outside my hometown. Even after my arrest, a local government official still telephoned my family and said, "The Falun Gong practitioners are truly good people!"
In the detention center, I shared my experience with other practitioners. We all agreed that the only cultivation forms that Teacher left with us were Fa study and the practice of Falun Gong exercises and therefore we must persist in studying the Fa and practicing the Falun Gong exercises in jail openly. We must also continue to spread the Fa. At first, the investigators from the police station and the policemen at the detention center often attacked Dafa, and slandered Teacher in front of us. Yet we always spoke out sternly, forcefully, and loudly in the cause of justice, exposed the evil's deeds and told the truth. Even when the policemen threatened to silence us by beating our feet severely, locking us in the water dungeon, and placing us in solitary confinement, we did not succumb to the evil and we showed no fear. Each of us openly declared that we would persist in the cultivation practice to the end. As long as we do not lose our temper, speaking aloud during truth clarification efforts is not in violation of compassion. Instead, it would frighten and suppress the evil elements that drove the policemen to attack Dafa, and thus prevent the policemen from creating more karma. Besides, when we clarified the truth aloud, the inmates around us could hear our words clearly. We would be spreading the Fa, as well as clarifying the truth. When they stopped attacking Dafa or defaming Teacher, we would talk with them peacefully. Eventually, the policemen and the inmates in the same jail cell no longer attacked Dafa and Master. After a period of time, the practitioners' words and behaviors in daily life gave them the impression that Dafa practitioners are truly different, stand out, and are indeed virtuous people. They could feel that Dafa is good from the bottoms of their hearts. Meanwhile, we gained a more thorough understanding of the principles of the Buddha Fa when we spread the Fa to the inmates and the policemen.
Whenever we saw that newspapers or TV programs (in the jail cell, we collected money and bought a TV, some inmates subscribed to newspapers) reported fabricated news to slander Dafa, all inmates in the same jail cell snapped, "That is not true! Falun Gong practitioners don't even kill mosquitoes, how can they kill people! To practice Falun Gong is to become Buddhas, Taos and gods and to achieve longevity. How can they commit suicide?" "Dafa practitioners never quarrel, or fight with anyone, how can they possibly go to Beijing to create a riot? They simply just went to appeal." Some inmates started to express remorse, "If I had known Falun Gong earlier, I would not have committed any crime." Some covertly learned the Falun Gong exercises. Some of them became brave enough to say "Falun Is Good" when caught by the policemen practicing Falun Gong exercises. However, some inmates knew that Falun Dafa was good, but were afraid to disobey the police and did not dare to learn the exercises.
At first, the policemen in the detention center interfered when we practice Falun Gong and studied the Fa openly. But they soon realized that Falun Gong practitioners never created any trouble, and even all the inmates had agreed that Falun Gong practitioners were good people. Besides the policemen knew that the Falun Gong practitioners were not detained because they had committed crime, but simply for practicing Falun Gong. Whenever there was an opportunity, each practitioner would clarify the truth and expose the evil deeds of policemen during the persecution of them. Slowly those policemen came to understand and accept the facts about Falun Gong. As a result, they no longer interfered with us in practicing Falun Gong, and they even declared many times, "We will not interfere when you practice Falun Gong. But please stop your practice and help us with the chores when there is a need of help in our unit." The leader of the detention center even ordered his people, "Do not treat Falun Gong practitioners as real criminals." I can still recall that one night we recited Teacher's articles during a sudden power outage. The whole detention center was silent, but the voices of Dafa practitioners reciting the Fa. Because we had improved as a whole body, every practitioner was able to step forward to safeguard the Fa. Two months after our detention we had successfully created an environment in jail where we could openly study Fa and practice Falun Gong.
When I was in the detention center, a policeman questioned, "If practicing Falun Gong is good for you, why is your family opposed to it?" Everyday people strive to protect their own interests. Although my family has a positive understanding of Dafa, and know that we conduct ourselves with high moral standards, they, as everyday people, are opposed to the idea that I would risk my job and risk being put into jail by insisting on practicing Falun Gong. In fact, their tacit acceptance of this brutal persecution launched by Jiang's regime has offset the effect of practitioners' clarifying the facts. As soon as I was released from the detention center, I concentrated more on clarifying the truth to my family members to expose the evil's deeds. Here, I'd like to talk about the transformation of my younger brother.
My younger brother is a Chinese Communist Party member who has grown up and been educated in an atheistic society throughout his life. He took it as given that one should absolutely obey the Chinese government's decision. According to my brother, that Dafa practitioners continued to practice Falun Gong when the Chinese government had forbidden its people to, was a statement against the government. According to my brother, putting Dafa practitioners in jail had justified the "crime" of stubbornly practicing the forbidden Falun Gong exercises. In hindsight, I had somewhat contributed to his attitude toward Falun Gong when I spread the Fa to him in an irrational way. I had talked to him conceptually about my feelings and about some cultivation issues of very high levels, thus creating the obstacles for him to know the Fa.
Once my family members were talking about my Dafa cultivation after I was released from jail, and I replied that I had done nothing wrong to practice Falun Gong and that I was trying to be a good person. My brother snapped, "You cultivate in Falun Gong to be good person! Do you mean that we don't want to be good people because we don't cultivate in Falun Gong? Sure, you're a good person! You have gotten us into trouble!" I replied, "The trouble was created by the government when it started the persecution, and you have aggravated the persecution with your participation." My brother flew into a rage and barked, "How did I ever persecute you?"
Solemnly and rationally, I said to him, "You knew very well that I've been practicing Falun Gong and I've never done anything bad. You have witnessed the improvement of my health since I started to practice Falun Gong. Our teacher taught us to be good people, but the central government slandered and framed him for falsified crimes. I followed his teachings to be a good person and be strict with myself at all times, but the police arrested me as if I were a criminal. You knew that Falun Gong is good, but all of you have given your consent to have me arrested and helped the police when they tried to brainwash me. Because you didn't tell the truth, the police observed your response and thought that Falun Dafa cultivation was wrong. The police believed that if Falun Dafa cultivation was good, my family would not have any reason to oppose to it. Weren't you assisting the persecution against me in this regard? You call it a kind thing to silently assist in the persecution? You call yourself a good person? If all of you had told the truth about Falun Gong and reported to the police the truth of our cultivation, the police would have understood the truth of our cultivation through you. They would have realized that the cultivation was good because my family provided testimony that it was good cultivation, and because all of my family supported Falun Gong. If every practitioner's family members had stepped forward, all the policemen would have known the truth of Falun Gong. There would have been no arrest or detention of Falun Gong practitioners. I have been detained in jail for such a long time because of you failed to step out and tell the truth."
Silence fell. My brother sat there quietly for a long time and then finally whispered, "You have never talked about Falun Gong like this before." From then on, whenever he had a question about Falun Gong, he never hesitated to discuss it with me, especially after he had watched the DVD movie that clarified the truth about Falun Gong. My whole family recognized clearly the truth about the evil persecution and was willing to clarify the truth about Dafa. Once, the party general secretary at my brother's work unit asked him about my Dafa cultivation. My brother, who was always obedient to the management, suddenly said to the secretary, "Just how far do you plan to persecute my brother?" Then he walked away from the party general secretary. My brother was truly awakened from the government's deceitful propaganda.
Every Dafa practitioner is a Dafa particle in the universe. If those people around Dafa practitioners nationwide begin to have a correct understanding of Dafa, and if more and more Chinese people learn the truth through the truth clarifying materials mailed, handed out and posted by Dafa practitioners, they would set off a nationwide tide that would stop the persecution.
3. Pay attention to the approaches and content of Fa-rectification efforts to attain to the goal of Fa-rectification
Among all approaches of truth clarification that I have tried, I found that clarifying the truth among friends and acquaintances was most effective. Because our friends and acquaintances trust us, therefore they will find our words more credible and accept the truth about Falun Gong. As for the truth clarification content, it may be better to provide real cases as examples, detailed addresses, and names because some people will double check and spread what they had learned. During the truth clarification work, everyday people's feedback would help us perfect our Fa-rectification work. For example, my family and friends thought that the print on the banners was so small that it could easily be overlooked. As for the content, if the flyer says nothing but "Falun Dafa is Good, Falun Dafa is righteous Fa", how would everyday people confirm these facts when they had never read any Dafa book?
Here's what I think. The content of the banners should be attention getting, tailored to counter the slanders and lies circulated by newspapers and TV. Here are some examples: "A person who conducts himself with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is a good person", "Falun Gong is effective in healing illness and improving health" "Cultivating in Falun Dafa aims to eliminate karma, but suicides and killings generate karma", and so on like that. At the same time, we should also consider how to attract attention by selecting brighter colors. Even the smallest words on the banner should be perfectly visible from two meters away.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/9/14/18515.html
