PureInsight | February 3, 2003
[PureInsight.org] After I heard that the Chinese government had arrested Charles Li without any proof of criminal charges, I immediately contacted the American Embassies in Beijing and Shanghai before they closed their offices for Chinese New Year, requesting immediate action to rescue Charles Li. I have also contacted my congressman as a taxpayer and a voter in his district, reminding him that the unlawful detention of an American Falun Gong practitioner is a direct violation of Concurrent Resolution 188, and urging him to take immediate action to rescue Charles Li. In addition, I helped host a local press conference to raise the awareness of the Chinese government's persecution against Charles Li, and to demand his immediate release.
At that point, I had tried everything to help rescue Charles Li, everything except sending forth righteous thoughts.
What a horrible loophole! Why didn't I think of sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil elements that directed this foul play?
I gave serious thought to how I truly regarded righteous thoughts, and I decided the root cause was "lack of faith."
Yes, I believe in Dafa. And yes, I believe in the effect of sending forth righteous thoughts. But then how strong, how adamant is my faith?
Could it be that somewhere in my heart I believe I am capable of eliminating only low-level evils, or those evils that cause small interferences in my daily life, such as minor physical discomfort, small interference on my or fellow practitioners' computers, and karmic thought interferences by my nonpractitioner family members?
The answer may be yes, I fear.
I am a relatively new practitioner. When I acquired the Fa, everyone else seemed to have been sending forth righteous thoughts for a long time and to have become an expert at the task. I must admit that I have always felt that my righteous thoughts might be the weakest among all practitioners. That's why I am more confident in the power of my righteous thoughts when it comes to eliminating smaller interferences. As for larger interferences in the human dimension, I don't seem to have as much confidence in my righteous thoughts and tend to rely on the efforts of my veteran fellow practitioners.
Now that I have seen the loophole in my thoughts, or more specifically, what the old forces wanted me to think, I thought of that thunder stormy afternoon in Houston when I sent forth righteous thoughts with two veteran practitioners from Toronto for several hours. One of the veteran practitioners, after sending forth righteous thoughts for some time, began to doubt her ability. She later wrote in an article published on PureInsight.org, "I felt that the ultimate test for me at the moment was being unsure if I had done anything useful or even if I had sent out my Gong when sending forth righteous thoughts. However, this thought helped me persevere: "I cannot see anything with my Celestial Eye. I have nothing to rely on but one word, 'Faith.' Because I have adamantine faith in Falun Dafa, no being of any level can hurt me. Because I have adamantine faith in Falun Dafa, I will most certainly eliminate all the evils in the universe." Toward the end, I felt myself become supremely confident in sending forth righteous thoughts" ("Reflections On My Fa-Rectification Trip to Houston" at http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/articles/2002/11/25/1237.html).
I realized that I believed in the power of my righteous thoughts to some extent, but apparently not strongly enough. How do I reinforce my faith in righteous thoughts, I asked myself? Then I immediately remembered that Teacher has published an article, titled "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful." If I truly have a faith in Teacher and Dafa that is as strong as diamond, I will surely have no doubt in the power of my righteous thoughts. How can I not see a law that is so simple and obvious?
Now that I have realized the root cause of my problem, I think to myself really hard in the first five minutes of righteous thoughts, "I believe in Teacher and I believe in Dafa," every time I have the slightest doubt on whether I can truly rescue Charles Li by eliminating the responsible evils with my righteous thoughts.
Teacher said, "Some students are in the exact same state as when they do the meditation […] so they can't achieve a very good effect" ("Righteous Thoughts"). Teacher also said, "The disciples who for the time being aren't able to see other dimensions can focus powerful thoughts in saying the word Mie after they finish saying the formula(s)" ("Righteous Thoughts"). From these words I realized that, instead of keeping our minds blank, we must focus on powerful thoughts for eliminating the target evils.
Actually I remember a seven-year-old practitioner, Yuan Yuan, eliminating evils in a fashion that echoes Teacher's words in "Righteous Thoughts." It says in a PureInsight article, "I asked Yuan Yuan if she had any difficulty in eliminating a particular kind of gigantic demon. She said, "I am capable of eliminating all kinds of demons. I simply think. I will eliminate you. I will eliminate you. I will eliminate you. Then all demons will be eliminated" ("Yuan Yuan's Story" at http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/articles/2002/7/22/468.html).
I can speak from my own experiences that my righteous thoughts appeared to be stronger and more effective when I focused on my powerful thoughts on the target evils, such as eliminating the evils directing the staged play of Charles Li's arrest. Although I cannot see other dimensions for the time being, I have faith in Teacher and Dafa. Hence, I believe that my righteous thoughts are powerful, and I will not let the old forces tell me otherwise.
I hope my personal experience would inspire you in some way. More importantly, I would like to say one thing to my fellow practitioners:
We will think of sending forth righteous thoughts for Charles Li and continue to send forth righteous thoughts for him until he is released, only if we have strong enough faith in Teacher, Dafa and in our righteous thoughts. Often times we don't think of sending forth righteous thoughts for our fellow practitioners, or stop half way, because we have doubts, or our faith is not strong enough. Teacher said, "Even if it's going to end tomorrow, today that evil will still do evil just the same" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A."). Please do not stop sending forth righteous thoughts for Charles Li until he is released! Remember that the evil police intensified the physical and mental torture on Zhao Min a week prior to his release? It follows that the representation of evil in the human realm is not likely to appear any weaker even one day before Charles Li's release, so please don't be discouraged or confused by the demonic illusions. Continue to send forth righteous thoughts for Charles Li. Actually, I know you don't need any reminder from anyone because I know you have strong faith in righteous thoughts.
Allow me to conclude my experience-sharing paper with an inspirational story as an encouragement to us all.
"On 2 o'clock of February 2, 1997, 500 people from all over Japan, upon the invitation of Dr. Emoto, sent kind thoughts toward a bottle of tap water from Tokyo on Dr. Emoto's office desk. Everyone was asked to think the same thought, "The water is now purified. Thank you." This affectionate message was sent at the same time from 500 people all over Japan." "The water was purified quickly" ("Another World Underneath a Drop of Water: (Part 3) Physicist Comments on Finding that Water Crystal Formation Reflects Thoughts" at http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/articles/2003/2/3/1405.html).
Teacher said, "Typically, when an everyday person thinks about something, what he or she generates is something in the form of the brain. Because it does not have energy, it will disperse shortly afterwards. A practitioner's energy, on the other hand, can be preserved much longer" ("Consecration," Chapter Five, Zhuan Falun). If everyday people's thoughts can purify water from remote locations, think of what the entire community of Dafa practitioners will do if we all send forth righteous thoughts to rescue Charles Li? Think of how long our righteous thoughts will remain active in their work after we finish sending righteous thoughts? Then think of how much longer our righteous thoughts will remain active at their work if the entire community of Dafa practitioners continues to send forth righteous thoughts to rescue Charles Li?
