PureInsight | March 7, 2005
Teacher has published quite a few new articles since the beginning of this year. A few Falun Gong practitioners outside of China and I exchanged our respective understandings of Teacher's new articles. We all agreed that at present our highest priority should be to promote the "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party" [1] among the people in order to save them from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s lies about Falun Gong and urge them to withdraw from the CCP. However, many of us did not realize that we had an inadequate understanding of Teacher's meaning until Teacher published his statement about withdrawing from the Communist Party Youth League on the Epoch Times [2]
Since the Epoch Times published the "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party," people inside and outside of China have started to withdraw from the CCP one after another. Some Falun Gong practitioners thought, "We Falun Gong practitioners need not make statements to withdraw from the CCP or its various other organizations. That is only intended for non-Falun Gong practitioners." Many Falun Gong practitioners thought it would be sufficient enough for them to draw a line between the CCP and themselves in their hearts. They failed to think about making the resignation statement from the perspective of saving the world's people associated with the CCP, and reaching their own Consummations as cultivators. As for me, it was not until I read Teacher's statement in the Epoch Times that I started to wonder why Teacher made the statement.
This is my humble understanding: The majority of the practitioners currently reside in China. Out of 100 million practitioners, at least 10 million of them are or used to be members of the CCP or its affiliated organizations. However, it has been months since we started to urge people to resign from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. How come these Falun Gong practitioners have not made a statement to withdraw from the CCP and its organizations?
Teacher said, "You cannot always rely on me to bring you up to a higher level while you, yourself do not move. Only after the Fa is explicitly stated do you make a move. If it is not taught clearly, you do not move, or move backward. I cannot recognize such behavior as cultivation practice." (From: "Digging Out the Roots" in Essentials for Further Advancement I.)
Who has been persecuting Falun Gong since July 20, 1999? How can a Falun Gong practitioner not remove the mark on him of the evil Chinese Communist Party? Why did we sit idle until Teacher taught us clearly what we should do? Moreover, how could we sit and watch how the majority of the people respond before we decide to follow Teacher's teaching?
Teacher has been immensely compassionate towards us despite our poor enlightenment qualities. First he published "We Are Not 'Getting Political'" and then "New Year's Greetings." While I read these two new articles, I felt Teacher's boundless tolerance and kind expectations. I felt Teacher's anxious anticipation of each and every Falun Gong practitioner to step out and join the cause. Now that I tried to put myself in the shoes of my fellow practitioners in China, I realized that making a public statement to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations is a like a matter of life or death for practitioners in China. It was another major test on godhood. In fact, for many practitioners in China, it is just as difficult to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliations now as it was to stand up for Falun Gong right after Jiang Zemin announced the ban on July 20, 1999. For people in China, withdrawing from the CCP can mean immediate loss of their jobs and pressure from their families and society. It is truly a test of life and death! In face of this critical test, we must not wait until the majority of the people have already withdrawn from the CCP, and before we feel "safe" to follow. We must not doubt Teacher. We must not snobbishly think it's too formal or theatrical to declare our withdrawals from the CCP. We must not think that it is a political statement to withdraw from the CCP. We must not be led by our human notions and think that it's a radical action.
If every Falun Gong practitioner would have stepped up and defended Falun Gong when Jiang Zemin announced the ban on July 20, 1999, Jiang would not have been able to launch this persecution that has lasted five years. Five years have passed, the force of Fa-rectification has made the environment worldwide completely different from when the persecution started five years ago. The persecution against Falun Gong may have been arranged before the history of mankind by the old forces, but now everything in the human realm is within Teacher's arrangement. Then why hasn't Teacher ended the persecution yet? What is Teacher waiting for? It is my humble opinion, Teacher is waiting for all Falun Gong practitioners to make the most critical step to godhood.
Withdrawing from the CCP and its affiliated organizations is not an act or a show. It is part of a cultivator's solemn journey of cultivation practice. It is a critical test during the critical moment, before the advent of the Fa-rectification in the human realm, for Falun Gong practitioners inside of China on whether they can take the final step towards godhood. I believe that withdrawing from the CCP and its organizations is the most tangible action that a Falun Gong disciple, during the Fa-rectification, can take to safeguard Falun Gong. I believe that it is the most compassionate action that we can take to lead the world's people towards Teacher's salvation.
In New Tang Dynasty's [3] "New Tang Dynasty TV's Chinese New Year Global Gala 2005" in New York [4], there was a dance program called, "Turning the Iron Rod into a Needle," that was performed by Falun Gong practitioners and Tysan Dance. The story has a Taoist asked his disciple to jump off a cliff at the end of his cultivation practice. The disciple showed fear for his life at first, but he decided to believe in his teacher. So, he followed his teacher and jumped off the cliff. At the very moment he jumped off the cliff, two divine cranes caught both him and his teacher, soared them into the sky, and took them to heaven.
When I read Teacher's statement in the Epoch Times, the image of the Taoist disciple jumping off the cliff came to my mind. My dear fellow Falun Gong cultivators please ask yourself a question: Do you believe in Teacher and Falun Gong at the final moment? Do you still have time to hesitate? If you think about Teacher's anticipations and him waiting for us for the past five years, is there anything you cannot let go of? We must not keep missing the chances Teacher has been giving us. The majority of the Falun Gong practitioners reside in China. I hope that each day thousands of practitioners in China will publish their statements in the Epoch Times to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I hope that withdrawing from the CPP will become a hot trend in China as soon as possible. We must live up to the honorable title of Falun Gong practitioners in the Fa-rectification period.
References:
[1] Epoch Times: Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party: http://english.epochtimes.com/jiuping.asp
[2] Epoch Times: Falun Gong Leader Explains Importance of Resigning from CCP: http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-2-19/26511.html
[3] New Tang Dynasty TV: http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/eng/aMain_e.htm
[4] New Tang Dynasty TV's Chinese New Year Global Gala 2005: http://newyeargala.ntdtv.com/2005/en/index.htm
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/2/17/31162.html
