PureInsight | June 17, 2002
After reading an article on Zhengjian.net dated May 4, 2002, about the introspection regarding practitioners going to Germany during the head of the evil's visit to the country, I would like to share a few observations with fellow practitioners.
The first sentence of "Introspection of a German Journey" is, "Zhao Ming's supernormal endurance will bring a bright future for Irish government and people."
Master Li said in his article 'The Effect of Righteous Thoughts', "I have asked disciples to send forth righteous thoughts, because those so-called evil beings are in fact nothing. Yet because the old forces have taken advantage of Dafa disciples' mercy, the evil beings that are protected by the old forces have been deliberately persecuting, so what Dafa disciples are enduring is no longer just their own karma, but something they should not endure under the evil beings' persecution. Yet these evil beings are extremely base and filthy, and are not worthy of playing any role in the Fa-rectification."
From that we know:
1. Dafa disciples bear sufferings during the evil's persecution that should not be suffered.
2. Those evil beings are not worthy of playing any role in the Fa-rectification.
Is it therefore right to think it is Zhao Ming's "supernormal endurance" that will bring a bright future for the Irish people? This cause and effect correlation does not exist, which recognizes arrangements of old evil forces. Can we say torture and murder that Dafa disciples in Mainland China endured made it possible to spread Dafa to people all over the world? Of course it is not. If there was no persecution, Dafa can spread in a better way. The Irish government and the people's choices will benefit from benevolent solutions from Master, Irish disciples' untiring efforts and also from Dafa disciples around the globe who have done truth-clarification and sent forth righteous thoughts. Without those efforts, even being murdered would not have any active effect, not to mention supernormal endurance. That is to say, enduring persecution has nothing to do with the fact that Dafa spread all over the world. Even from the angle of enduring persecution itself, endurance is not the whole point. Our Dafa disciples' compassion and kindness while enduring persecution have shown the greatness of Dafa to human beings. But the greatness of Dafa could be exhibited not only by benevolence while enduring persecution. The manifestations of the greatness of Dafa from enduring persecution definitely carries out the old forces' arrangements.
What is behind the "supernormal endurance"? It is "extreme persecution," which is "not worthy of playing any role in the Fa-rectification". Master wants to give benevolent solutions to all beings, but the old forces are attached to their arrangements. That is why the persecution and enduring of persecution took place, which should not be suffered by Dafa practitioners and was imposed by the old forces. The persecution is not worthy of playing any role in the Fa-rectification, so how can we say that the endurance, which originated in the persecution, played any role? I don't think so.
The article says, "This is the function and meaning of the leading role in the drama." Who is playing the "leading role" in the "supernormal endurance?" Zhao Ming? No. In the "supernormal endurance," the leading role is the old forces that arranged the persecution and the endurance.
The old force arranged the persecution and thus the endurance of the persecution by disciples. The evil old forces all determined the degree of persecution and endurance. So, the leading role is the old forces, as Master Li has told us many times.
How could Zhao Ming break all these arrangements and come out? Master's benevolent solutions solved all of these dilemmas. Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts eliminated the arrangements made by the old forces. Dafa disciples clarified the truth that let people position themselves. Since we started to send righteous thoughts, we sent righteous thoughts for Zhao Ming every time, from at least four to five times a day, to more than a dozen per day. That was the beginning of sending righteous thoughts when many disciples still doubted the effects of righteous thoughts. After that, we sent righteous thoughts over a dozen times a day. And every time we sent righteous thoughts for Zhao Ming to eliminate the evil factors that persecuted him.
Zhao Ming finally came out from the evil's den. He got attention from the world. Dafa spread in Ireland, and different parties have different views about what he went through.
Some overseas practitioners think it is Zhao Ming's supernormal endurance that touched and awakened the Irish government and the people who asked the Chinese government to release Zhao Ming. This view attributes Zhao Ming's release to human help, but ignores Master's benevolent solutions, Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts and Dafa disciples clarifying the truth to the people to eradicate the arrangements of the old forces.
The old forces think: if we did not arrange Zhao Ming's arrest and torture, how could Ireland choose its bright future? We tried our best, and we made contributions.
I think Zhao Ming and the people of Ireland were actually the beneficiaries of Master's benevolent solutions. During the entire course of his persecution, Zhao Ming's determination, truth-clarification of Dafa disciples all over the world, and sending righteous thoughts together made it possible for him to be released.
Which of these views is closest to the truth?
Can we say that, in order to bring a bright future to Ireland, Zhao Ming had to be folded in half, squeezed in a washbasin and pushed under a bed while more than ten people sitting on it? Can we say that, in order to bring a bright future to Ireland, Zhao Ming had to be jointly attacked by more than ten thugs? Can we say that, in order to bring a bright future to Ireland, Zhao Ming had to be forced to not to sleep, had to be kicked, beaten, given electric shock, humiliated and threatened? Is there a principle like this? No. Is there a cause and effect correlation like this? No.
Zhao Ming's "supernormal endurance" should not have even happened. If he had just clarified the truth in Ireland as usual and spread Dafa, there would have been more and more people being offered salvation. Maybe not just the Irish; the people of all of Europe would perhaps have a positive understanding of Dafa. Can we say that Dafa has to be spread by persecuting its disciples? Isn't the saying, "the blood of people who die for morality and justice is the seed of religion," an example of the old forces' principles? In fact, when Zhao Ming just went back China, there were disciples who asked him to go back to Ireland immediately. "Don't stay even one more minute in China."
I have learned that, during the course of clarifying the truth and eliminating the evil, we should understand and acknowledge Master's benevolent solutions and make efforts to achieve those that conform to the wish of heaven. We should profoundly appreciate the great effect and the great meaning of righteous thoughts, and sending forth righteous thoughts based on the Fa, so that not even one thought or one idea can be taken advantage of by the old forces.
What is sending righteous thoughts then? Master said,"In order to lessen the persecution of Dafa and Dafa disciples, I have asked disciples to send forth righteous thoughts to clear away the damage these beings deliberately do to the Fa-rectification, thereby lessening what Dafa disciples should not endure during the persecution and, at the same time, saving all sentient beings and consummating Dafa disciples' paradises." (From "The Effect of Righteous Thoughts" in Essentials for Further Advancement Two)
But if we carry the thought that "supernormal endurance brings a bright future" in our hearts, can our righteous thoughts have their intended effect? Can the evil forces behind the chief puppet of evil be eliminated in Germany?
Not long ago I read an article written by an overseas disciple saying that one time, when he sent forth righteous thoughts, he saw evil forces in the sky over Mainland China. But he thought that it was not his duty to eradicate that evil and that it was supposed to be the responsibility of Mainland China disciples to take care of it. So he did not eliminate the evil then. He was afraid that he would grab the opportunity of establishing mighty virtue away from the disciples in Mainland China. Later he realized this was wrong. His seeing the evil was not accidental. So whenever he saw evil forces afterwards, he eliminated them right away. But he kept one thought in mind: the mighty virtue so established goes to all disciples who were responsible for eliminating the evil. Whenever we send righteous thoughts, we should not consider whether the evil is yours or mine, nor should we think about establishing mighty virtue. We should just think: the more the evil is eliminated, the better. Do not let them do harm to Dafa, Dafa disciples or ordinary people. We are responsible for Fa-rectification, for Master's hope of benevolent solutions for all living beings by doing this, not for your or my mighty virtue.
It bothers me that overseas disciples acknowledge the old force's arrangement accidentally. They think that Zhao Ming's persecution is a manifestation of "Dafa's power," which brings a bright future to Ireland and that Zhao Ming played a leading role in doing that. Master has deeply analyzed the cause and effect of the old forces' arrangements. Master's actual intention and the effect of sending righteous thoughts are what are really at play here. Some practitioners still think this way. Then, it is not at all surprising that someone who thinks like that wants to keep the head puppet of the evil in place to the end when they had the chance to eliminate the evil forces that hold him up in Germany. I think one of the important reasons that Jiang's evil support wasn't eliminated in Germany was exactly because of these confused ingrained ideas and from obeying the old forces' arrangements.
From experience sharing with overseas disciples, I think a common problem is that they do not have a good understanding of the evil and the persecution on the Mainland and do not have deep understanding about the difficult conditions of disciples on the Mainland. But this is just the surface. The fundamental problem is that they do not have a clear knowledge of the evil. If one cannot recognize evil clearly, eliminating the evil completely is out of the question.
It is not enough to only recognize the appearance of persecution, e.g., how many people died, how many people were tortured, and so on. This is only the appearance. As disciples of Fa-rectification, we must have a deep knowledge of the way of thinking and the ideas of the old forces, and recognize what on earth they want to do. We should not only engage and eliminate them when the old forces make trouble for us, but also eliminate all the arrangements they have made for during Fa-rectification, as long as they exist. Master said, "Of course, many of them didn't necessarily obstruct it on purpose. Their existence was itself a problem that had to be addressed, and their existence was as old elements, immense cosmic bodies that needed to be rectified, and immense beings that needed to be saved. They're dealt with through Fa-rectification by being eliminated in Fa-rectification, being repositioned, or being assimilated where they are. So all of this requires a process, and this process takes time." (Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.)
So, if endurance that comes about as a result of the persecution is acclaimed and the actual arrangements behind the outward appearances are unacknowledged, how can we eliminate the evil that has arranged the persecution and the endurance?
For example, I don't know how many disciples in Mainland China would agree with ideas like keeping the chief puppet of the evil in place to the end. Also, I wonder whether, if the disciples who have this idea were in Mainland China with no money, no place to live, no identification, being tracked down and arrested again and again, and their names, photographs, descriptions and facial features posted on the Internet on the "Most Wanted" list, they would still maintain that idea.
All of us talk about eliminating "the evil this and that." But if the evil swaggered in front of you brazenly, who of you would not regard it as evil? How could you eliminate that evil?
I know a female practitioner who was arrested at a shelter after she was forced to become homeless. She refused to open the door but the evil persons broke down the door and the window. Finally they pried the window open and caught her. If this fact was reported, it would be only one or two lines. But can overseas disciples realize the tension a person would experience when they broke down the door with a deafening noise? Can you imagine the situation when the window was pried up and finally opened, and the evil police crowed and broke in?
The words 'supernormal endurance" should not be tossed around casually. When I saw practitioners talk with high praise about Zhao Ming's "supernormal endurance", I sighed in my heart. The feelings when they talked about "supernormal endurance" and when I heard those words were quite different. Because it has the intention of destroying Dafa, this persecution absolutely can't be acknowledged and can't be consented to. Accepting the idea of "supernormal endurance" gave the old forces a chance to take advantage of a loophole of ours and that's why evil forces holding up the evil leader were not eliminated in Germany and can keep him propped up on his last leg.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/5/9/15961.html
