Those Dafa disciples who haven't lived in Mainland China find it hard to understand what goes on under the rule of the CCP. In particular, when the Dafa disciples from Mainland China and Dafa disciples in Mainland China renounce the various organizations of the CCP, they see that many Dafa disciples were Communist Party members, and they can't come to terms with it and think, "How could Dafa disciples be Communist Party members?" It is especially hard for Dafa disciples in non-Communist countries to understand. The reality is, in Mainland China, before Dafa disciples took up cultivation they, too, were educated in the Party's culture. At that time in Mainland China, the CCP was China, and China's upper-middle class had to be a class of Party members. It had become the way of things in society. When under those circumstances many people joined the Party, it wasn't because they wanted to become a part of it, nor was it because they actually believed in it. Rather, it was the only way for people to make it in that society. It seemed as though Chinese people just had to go that route; to do otherwise would get you branded a heretic and made a target for public denouncement by the CCP. Of course, the Party's truly evil henchmen are a different story. And some people didn't join the Party of their own will--many were pressured to join or joined as their work units collectively joined. Even though Dafa disciples have issued statements publicly withdrawing from the CCP, they in fact stopped being members of the Communist Party or the Communist Youth League long ago, because according to the CCP's regulations, those who don't pay party dues for six months are automatically considered to have withdrawn from the Party. When the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, didn't they say I had joined the Communist Youth League in the past? The truth is, back then there were only two people in my entire work unit who were still not members of the Communist Party or the Communist Youth League, and I was one of them. At that time my work unit stipulated that every single person had to join either the Party or the League. If we still didn't join we would have been considered by the CCP heretics, so it was more like going through the motions.
In the Fa-rectification, Master is actually saving all beings, not just the good ones; evil ones are of course included as well. I have often said that during the Fa-rectification I don't hold the past faults of any sentient being against him, and that I look only at a sentient being's attitude toward Dafa during the Fa-rectification. In other words, no matter which beings they are or how huge the mistakes and sins they committed in history, as long as they do not play a negative role with regard to the Fa-rectification, I can give them benevolent solutions and eliminate their sins and karma. That is the greatest mercy and true salvation. That's because in the universe positive and negative beings co-exist, and that is the principle of yin and yang and their mutual generation. It is the CCP itself that chose to make Dafa its enemy. From the moment it proclaimed that it must defeat Falun Gong, the evil spirit of the CCP and the CCP's wicked, base group that has been persecuting Dafa disciples in the human world were condemned to death by all of the cosmos's gods. Actually, when I spread Dafa it was done in the CCP's society. Had it not persecuted Dafa disciples, it would have ended up making the greatest contribution in all of the cosmos. Besides, my teaching the Fa in that society benefited the society in many, many ways and did not an ounce of harm. When people's health improved, for whom did that reduce medical expenses? When people had healthy bodies, to whose society did those people contribute? That Party has done so many bad things that it is afraid of losing power and thus always stresses "social stability." When Dafa was being widely spread people's morality improved, and due to Dafa's overall situation the society began to truly stabilize. Of course, Dafa wasn't spread for the purpose of stabilizing human society; that was a result of the improvement in morality. Many people, ranging from the CCP's central leadership down to the different classes in society, had recognized that fact. However, the CCP's true nature is, after all, that of a cult which contains all evilness there is. It couldn't stand Dafa despite [the benefits it brought]. Its extremely arrogant and twisted mentality that desires to control heaven, control earth, control people, and control people's minds, couldn't handle even that little bit of irritant. And even though it had benefited from the spreading of Dafa, that made no difference, and it was dead set on eliminating Falun Gong before it could be satisfied. Furthermore, that wretched one in the human world of course was driven out of its mind by jealousy, and stubbornly went ahead with its wishes, refusing to listen to others. It made a perfect partner for the evil spirit of the Communist Party. They not only made Dafa their enemy, but during the persecution they have also exhausted all means of persecution and have persecuted to death or severely injured numerous Dafa disciples who were or are on the path to godhood and who had been chosen ages and ages ago. Tens of millions of people have been persecuted through a variety of means, and the righteous faith of 100 million people has been suppressed. This enormous sin of the ages, this enormous sin whereby the [perpetrators] are brimming with evil and guilty of countless crimes throughout the firmament, has enraged all of the gods in the colossal firmament! Now even the elements of the old forces that had controlled and manipulated it are hurriedly dissolving it and its evil spirit. The evil furor is gone. It's not that those bad people have changed, though, but that the evil spirit that was controlling them has been decimated. In other words, the CCP's demise is not the result of a decision made at the beginning of the Fa-rectification that it would be eliminated. Fa-rectification is to rectify all bad beings, thereby saving all lives. It is the CCP that chose to make Dafa its enemy. Of course, cultivators have no enemies, and nobody is worthy of being Dafa's enemy. The purpose of exposing the evil is to stop it from doing evil. In the past when we clarified the truth we always said that we were not against the Party, but that absolutely didn't mean [we] loved it or recognized it, and it didn't mean we repudiated it either. It meant that cultivators have nothing to do with any organization, political party, or substantive form in human society. In other words, if the CCP hadn't done evil against Dafa, whether a person is a Party member or not would be a non-issue. And if we look at it from this perspective, wasn't my joining the League when I was young giving it an opportunity? Now, however, not only has the Party committed acts of evil, but its sins are unforgivable and its nature is no longer the same. And that naturally imperils CCP members. If a person doesn't withdraw from it, he is a part of it, one of its particles, and a part of its composition, and he will become a target for elimination by all gods. When that chapter of mankind's history starts, there will be no more chances for human beings. Through clarifying the truth, Dafa disciples have given plenty of chances to human beings. In today's historic time, human beings must choose a path for the future of their existence. Whether someone listens [to us] or not is a way in which he chooses his future. Taking into consideration the above situations, [you will see that] although some Dafa disciples were members of the Party or the League at some point, it wasn't their fault, and the fault lies with the Party's head and the Party's evil spirit that chose to do evil. Dafa disciples do not want to leave behind any blemishes; their making a renunciation is not "getting political," and even less is it going through a formality. Rather, it is an attachment that needs to be removed in cultivation. No one can reach Consummation if they remain marked by, or if they acknowledge, the most evil thing in the entire cosmos. In addition, only when Dafa disciples are able to clearly recognize it for what it is, purge it from their minds and no longer let it interfere with their thinking, can they have stronger righteous thoughts and do well what Dafa disciples should do; it is a step in cultivation that you have to take.
Li Hongzhi
February 15, 2005
Editor's note: The translation is subject to further improvement so as to be closer to the original text. Last updated: February 18, 2005.