(Clearwisdom.net) I enlightened to an issue when I went out for a walk just now and I am writing it down to share with fellow practitioners. It is the issue of responsibility and the persecution. Dafa practitioners have the responsibility of saving sentient beings. But in the process of doing so, they run the risk of being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. By putting oneself in between this responsibility and the persecution, one will find that it is difficult to move either forward or backward, since in front is the persecution, and behind is the responsibility.
Since we are cultivating to become Buddhas, we need to use a Buddha's or an immortal's standard. An immortal will not be carried away by any external factors. Everything he does is all out of his own benevolent will. He gives without any conditions or expecting any payback. He does not ask for anything. If an immortal is faced with situations such as in today's China, there would only be one thought in his heart--saving sentient beings. An immortal would not hesitate because of the persecution. Teacher saved us because He is benevolent to us. Why can't we learn from Teacher and treat sentient beings with a benevolent heart, and save them with no conditions or considerations. This is true benevolence.
If one treats saving sentient beings as fulfilling a responsibility, then this is a passive action, or a reaction to a request. It is not the thought of ones' own original will. He would sway once encountering persecution, because his looking at things is still based on his own interests. He needs to change the basis of how he looks at things. Only when he can truly look at things from the point of view of sentient beings, and look at things from the perspective of how to best achieve what Teacher wants, can he let go of himself and not be afraid of the persecution. He can undauntedly go forward and save sentient beings and fulfill his wishes from prehistory. In this way, with strong righteous thoughts, the evil will not dare to persecute him anymore.
