January 2000
The Chinese government made a big fuss at the April 25 Zhong-nan-hai sit-in petition. It was not surprising that so many ordinary people did not understand and thought that Falun Gong cultivators would not be capable of acting, accordingly, with regard to forbearance. We have discovered to our dismay, that even among our fellow practitioners, many held the opinion that we did not do well with forbearance.
It is our firm belief that the April 25 Falun Gong non-violent petition was an act, at its most glorious form, of human spiritual endeavor that has ever been shown.
Violence has been used throughout human history. However, the use of force as such cannot determine its nature as a cause of good or evil, because weapons and force have been equally used by both.
Nevertheless, the non-violence movements were uniquely used by the righteous. Simply, Mr. He Zhuo-xiu would not present a non-violence petition in front of the Falun Dafa Research Association. President Jiang would not choose the means of a hunger strike at The People's Great Hall so as to stop Falun Dafa cultivators from practicing. Moreover, all large-scale non-violent movements have been renowned in history as the most glorified form of human spiritual endeavor. For example, politicians and historians have all placed a high value on the non co-operative movement led by the spiritual hero Mahatma Gandhi, as well as Martin Luther King Jr's democratic movement. The picture showing Mr. Wang Wei-lin standing in front of a tank (in the 1989democratic movement) was regarded as one of the greatest influential pictures of human spirituality. One of the important reasons for being so highly regarded is that not only did these non-violent movements require great forbearance, but they also required a tremendous spirit of sacrifice. That is to say, the spirit of non-violence itself represents the greatest forbearance at its best.
Falun Gong's petition was peaceful and the act itself was already a demonstration of the greatest forbearance. Where was the charge of intolerance coming from? The peaceful Falun Dafa demonstration carried two major characteristics compared with the above-mentioned democratic movements. First, strictly speaking, those non-violent democratic movements were aimed at equality; it was about a group versus another group on an injustice issue, and it was an action of a group. For example, Mr. Gandhi thought that the English were unjust against the Indian; Martin Luther King Jr. thought that the whites were unjust against the blacks, while the focus of the 1989 democratic movement was against the special rights and corruption of a privileged stratum. The petitions of these democratic movements implicated the requests that the privileged should give up certain rights and interests. If these requests were met, it would be beneficial to the whole society. In contrast, Falun Gong practitioners made their petition only for a right to practice freely. It was also an action of individuals, but this action did not affect any rights and interests of any social strata. Even if the petition had been granted, each individual practitioner still had to continue to practice, without any benefit from the privileged. The nature of the petition required each individual practitioner to have a heart of great forbearance, without caring for any material gain. Secondly, there had been voices of using force from within the above-mentioned non-violent democratic movements, while there never were any within Falun Gong's peaceful demonstration.
Master Li had confirmed his approval in his articles and lectures on the subject of the April 25 movement. Practitioners taking part in this demonstration not only had to suffer from the government's physical abuse, but also had to tolerate the finger pointing of ordinary people, and they even had to forebear some misunderstandings from some of their fellow practitioners. If this is not an act of great forbearance, what is it?
As a Falun Dafa cultivator, I have a simple way to evaluate the April25 movement. Just ask yourself, what if the outcome of the peaceful petition was that the government affirmed the legal status of Falun Gong. In that case, would we think that the April 25 movement was a great achievement? The answer must be positive. However, simply because of the government's crackdown on Falun Gong, you changed your view. Ask yourself, was the change based on the eternal principal of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance," or did it only reflect the mentality of an ordinary person?
One last word, remember that it was the government that sabotaged our environment for practicing, and not us, the peaceful Falun Dafa petitioners.
Category: Perspective
