PureInsight | March 5, 2006
[PureInsight.org] [Los Angeles Fahui 2006] I have steadily worked on the Dafa websites since we had the meeting in Washington DC in 2001. Before, Master had written the jingwen
"To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference" in which he says
"Meanwhile, I hope that the students in Europe can be more like the
students in North America--every student should, in addition to
participating in group activities, in his daily life fully take the
initiative of a Dafa disciple, establish his own mighty virtue in the
process of clarifying the truth, and do well on his own Dafa disciple's
path. So in clarifying the truth, don't wait, don't rely on others, and
don't just hope for changes in external factors. Every one of us is
creating history for the future, that's why everyone is not only
participating in group activities, but also taking the initiative to
look for things to do. As long as something is good for Dafa, you
should take the initiative to do it, take the initiative to work on it.
Every person you come into contact with in society is someone to
clarify the truth to, and what's manifest in clarifying the truth is
Dafa disciples' mercy and their salvation of the world's people. I hope
that every Dafa disciple will fully take initiative and fully play his
role as a Dafa disciple."
Since the publication of that jingwen,
I think I have realized -- like many others also -- that European
disciples had cooperated only a little and also had reached only a
little in terms of saving sentient beings and uncovering the
persecution. As a result, I tried hard to explain the truth to every
person I met by giving them a flyer or talking to them. But still, that
wasn't enough.
In Washington, practitioners were told by Master to do three things to
improve the situation in Europe: Found a European Dafa Association, a
European faluninfo.net website and the European Yuanming/Clearharmony
website. Therefore I was asked on the very same day, if I would like to
join the work on the website. I immediately agreed, because I already
had experiences in translating and polishing articles.
Looking back at the 4 and a half years of working for Clearharmony, our team, both
directly and indirectly involved practitioners, went through many ups
and downs. Practitioners came and left, and I have realized many
of my attachments.
1. Working on a project steadily and soundly
I am glad and grateful that I can take part in this project. By the
daily work in front of the computer, mostly lasting several hours,
Master has given me a very precious cultivation environment.
Before working for Dafa websites, I have mostly participated in
information stalls one after another. That had been very exciting and
had also been an important part of my cultivation. But at that time, I
wasn't able to devote myself and concentrate on only one thing. I had
done everything and nothing. Only by the steady, solid work on a
website I was made ready to dedicate myself fully to one thing.
Suddenly I had to work on the same thing on a daily basis. If I hadn't
polished articles, then there was no one else who could close my gap,
since we weren't that many practitioners working on the website which
is updated daily. All of a sudden there was a deadline. Therefore I had
no more excuse to be somewhat neglectful in that respect. Then there
were my fellow practitioners, who had different opinions as me but I
couldn't simply run away but had to face them and my own attachments.
Again and again I'm tested whether I walk on the way or give it up.
Sometimes I don't know anymore why I do this kind of work. Each day
sitting in front of the computer for hours isn't easy: one doesn't see
any direct results as if one explains the truth to somebody face to
face. How many people are actually visiting and reading our websites
and does the website have the desired effect, namely to explain the
truth, to save sentient beings and to frighten the evil? From time to
time readers give feedback that encourages one to carry on. I think the
criticizing feedback only comes from practitioners. Nevertheless I
still have just this righteous thought that let's me carry on and makes
me believe in Master and the Fa.
I should say that of course one shall not go to extreme -- neither into
this one nor into the other one. Of course we also shall do other Dafa
work and help where we can. The Fa rectification is proceeding fast and
many practitioners shoulder a lot of work. I have realized that my
priority is to work on the website.
2. The role of the European website in Fa rectification
Most criticism comes as I have already mentioned from us practitioners.
Why? I think many of us simply don't have or didn't have a clear
understanding of the work for websites. Some practitioners even thought
it was a waste of time -- what has already changed in the meantime. Of
course, on the one hand it is due to the ones directly involved in the
website work. They aren't informing other practitioners and sharing
their understandings. Maybe that's the case because in the beginning
many things were blocked because of security reasons. On the other hand
the ones criticizing also have their shortcomings. I hope we are able
to regard every project to be important because all of us have
different paths to walk on and I hope we are able to not be informed
about each and everything before we support a project -- be it with our
actions or righteous thoughts. Some things cannot be passed on because
it concerns the safety of Dafa, but also because it isn't absolutely
relevant for our cultivation and that's especially the case for the
websites. For this reason the website is a very good test for all of us
aiming at the confidence, particularly into Master. Although we don't
know who does what for the website etc., can we trust our fellow
practitioners that they come to the right decision? Can we furthermore
write reports and support them with our righteous thoughts? Sometimes
there seems to be no system or logic in what is published and what
isn't; in what is edited and what isn't. But there is always an
understanding of the Fa behind it. We just don't know the bigger
picture. We think that a thing is good, however does that mean that it
is good for the whole body? This is usually only our personal view but
from the perspective of the website we must take the whole European
body into account.
What role does the European website actually play in Fa rectification?
Why is this website so important? It shall explain the truth, save
sentient beings and deter the evil. It is meant to promote the
communication between the European practitioners so that we can better
keep pace in the Fa rectification. It guides us in cultivation and
gives us the direction. For example, if practitioners in one country
are being attacked by officials from the wicked CCP, we can react fast
and turn our common power towards it by protesting in front of
embassies, writing to politicians, making phone calls to China etc.
Therefore we are able to oppose the evil as one body. Isn't it exactly
the same as what has been happening since 2001 -- European
practitioners growing together as one body!
This is the reason, why it is important to publish the European News
quickly on our Clearharmony-Website. It is important that there is not
too much delay publishing the reports. Usually we translate, polish and
edit the articles within one day. If we don't publish the articles in
time, it can cause that our activities to start late. Fa-rectification
goes very fast and at certain times, it is necessary to take immediate
action in different ways. If we are too slow it might have a negative
effect on the truth clarification work and on the saving sentient
beings. When the evil attacks Dafa but we are there to expose the evil
in a timely manner, then the evil will be nipped in the bud. So
according to my understanding, the requirements for practitioners
working with the European News is quite high.
Moreover it is important to mirror what is important in
Fa-rectification and find a good balance. It's important not to
overemphasize anything, which might cause practitioners to get the
impression one thing is prioritized so that they neglect other things,
which also need to be done. So it is important that practitioners
working with the Dafa-Websites are clear about the process of
Fa-rectification.
Why is it important to have many reports from European practitioners?
Our Dafa-Websites are the voice of Falun Gong Practitioners. We can
directly say the truth about Dafa, which is different from other forms
of media, where we write from more neutral viewpoints. We can expose
the evil and clarify the facts. Our personal experiences with Dafa show
how we act and think in our daily lives and how we think and act while
being persecuted. Our righteous voices are like knives that eliminate
the evil. According to my understanding Clearharmony/ Yuanming is the
voice of practitioners in Europe. Our reports will be left for the
future and show the way Dafa disciples walk in the cause of
Fa-rectification. This Website is a chance for European practitioners
to raise and strengthen our voice and since the media are so
influential in today's society, it is very important to strengthen and
improve the website. Because it can save sentient beings, that is also
why we think it is important to have more articles and improve the
quality and make it more interesting for ordinary people to read.
Meanwhile Clearharmony is published in 13 countries. It is a chance,
especially for the people in the countries where there are only a few
practitioners, to learn the truth about Dafa. We also know that in most
countries the governments, the Chinese embassies and so on, they all
read Clearharmony and take it very seriously. Seeing all the articles
being translated in the different languages, I feel the greatness of
Dafa. Yuanming is really like a mechanism or a being, which can
eliminate the evil and save sentient beings. Yuanming/Clearharmony
really has helped us to become one body and eliminate the barriers
among us. Since the time the Chinese version had some problems
and was not online for several days, we realized we needed to
keep up our weekly Fa-Study and sharing. Otherwise the work easily
becomes the work of ordinary people.
3. Righteous thoughts
I have only recently come to the insight that it is important to send
out righteous thoughts specifically when we are translating, editing or
polishing an article. Before, my understanding was that I should have
righteous thoughts towards the author of an article, which isn't always
so simple. One often only sees the author's mistakes with spelling,
grammar, expression, translation etc. This way one forgets the
practitioners behind, who have put their hearts and efforts in the
articles. They have tried to do their best. Though one only works with
the computer and isn't in direct contact with people, one can forget
this easily and compassion and forbearance begin to fade. I have often
gotten irritated or only shook my head. But this really isn't the
attitude of a Dafa practitioner. In addition, this attitude will have a
bad effect on the website: one puts his/her unrighteous thoughts into
the article which one can be seen on the website later on. That mostly
is the time when criticism comes from other practitioners, too. It is
actually only a hint to look inside and to correct ones condition. I
know, many practitioners have difficulties with the news from China,
since these often are linguistically very simple and don't seem logical
sometimes, too. With our logical thinking we cannot understand that and
often find fault with these things. We focus too much on details and
become too set in our thinking, instead of taking into account what
difficult situations the practitioners in China are in, and under what
danger and spiritual and physical conditions they write these articles.
If we take this into consideration, then we will appreciate these
articles and think of our fellow practitioners in China as they have to
suffer. Then we will give our best to edit these articles as well as
possible. All the formalities are then no longer so important. The only
thing important is to publish these reports as fast as possible to
explain the truth and deter the evil.
In the meantime I have come to the insight that we should send out
righteous thoughts specifically while working on the website, so as if
we were explaining the truth to somebody face to face. This way we
remove the malicious elements behind them, too, so that they can be
saved. We just speak to the people indirectly.
