My Understanding of the Persecution

My name is Betty Hunter-Beatty. I have been a cultivator for over two years. When I began the practice my understanding of the persecution was that of an everyday person and it remained in that state for sometime. As an African-American I was very opposed to writing letters, passing out flyers and clarifying the truth about a persecution that I felt had nothing to do with my people and me. In addition, I thought only a few thousand people are being jailed or sent to labor camps and less than a hundred were known dead at the time. In my mind I was unable to see how I could condemn the persecution and actively campaign against it when so many of my own people had been and still were being persecuted and killed, in many instances, in even more brutal ways and in larger numbers than those in the persecution in China.

It took a year of Fa-study, sharing with other practitioners and asking questions before coming to the conclusion that there was a connection between the persecution and me. Before, I had looked at myself as belonging to one race and the people, the Chinese, who were physically experiencing the persecution, as another race separate and apart from me. In my mind it was not just about me being overseas while the persecution was in China, it was more about me being a member of one race and they, the Chinese, being members of another race and culture and we had no connection at all. As you can see I was looking at all of the things that had no real connection to the persecution. They were illusions created in my mind over a few lifetimes, especially this lifetime.

Although I would read daily about the deaths and other types of abuses the cultivators were experiencing in China, for some reason, I still did not feel as if it had anything to do with me. I was studying the Fa, but my level of understanding was still that of an everyday person when it came to the persecution. I would say things like "look at how many Black people were killed during slavery." What is so different about what is happening in China?" "People are being persecuted everyday in some part of the world." Teacher writes in the article "Position," June 13, 1999, "Human beings are just human beings. At critical moments it is hard for them to let go of their human notions, but they always try to find an excuse to convince themselves. A magnificent cultivator, on the other hand, is able to let go of his self and even all of his ordinary human thoughts amidst crucial trials."

Finally, during one of our reading group discussions, we were discussing the persecution when suddenly I understood that it was not just another persecution, it more than that. I also begin to understand that I was so caught up in my own notions about what race I was a member of and what had happened in the past that I was only able to accept the Fa principles on a superficial level. I was mixing the Fa with the notions that I had been carrying around for many lifetimes. These notions were making decisions for me and I was going along with them, unaware that I was being manipulated by a force that would continue to feed me these notions long as I held such thoughts in my mind.

The Fa has no personal connection to race, color or creed. It is the principle and law of the universe. It is available to everyone that is willing to conform to the universal principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.
I needed to correct my thoughts about who I really was and let go of the deep-seated notions about race and the need to have an emotional identity to a group of people that, I had been told, I should never forget were part of me. In Chapter Six of Zhuan Falun, Teacher says, "Who is your real mother? Who is your son or daughter? No one knows it after one passes away." "Human beings live in delusion and just cannot give up these things." After reading this paragraph for the tenth or twelfth time I was able to see how the persecution in China was related to me. We are all one body and what affects one part of the body affects the other body parts. Therefore, what we do overseas to clarify the truth and safeguard the Fa helps to relieve pressure on the practitioners in China.

Race and nationality may appear to be part of the persecution. But, it is my understanding this is not true. It has been well documented that the central or main reason for the persecution of Falun Gong in China was because there were so many people practicing. In July of 1999, the number of people practicing Falun Gong in China alone was seventy million people, which was greater than the membership in the Communist Party.

On another level, humankind's warped thoughts and actions contributed to the persecution also. Man's morals had dropped to such a low level that his understanding of what he believes to be good is bad and what he thinks is bad may be good. Evil is using this weakness or unrighteousness within man to have him commit evil acts such as the persecution in China. During this persecution, the evil forces are using humans to commit the worst kind of abuses against Falun Gong and Falun Gong disciples.

When man goes astray in his thinking and moral values he will began to mistreat his fellow man. This is what has happened in China. A few people, led by Jiang Zemin, have allowed evil to control them to the extent that they take evil for good and have taken evil actions to the lowest level of destruction in the name of good and stability. But we, as practitioners, must not be deceived by their actions, instead let us look to Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance as the guiding principle for our lives.

Do not be deceived by the evil. As Dafa disciples, treasure the Fa, let go of attachments and step forward to rectify the Fa and eliminate the evil.