(Clearwisdom.net) In recent years, the cultivation environment in our area has consistently been undesirable. We have constantly had interference and persecution has often taken place. Practitioners have been very anxious about the situation. We looked within ourselves and found all sorts of loopholes that caused the interference. We exposed the persecution, however there was no significant improvement in our cultivation environment.

I would like to share some of my observations. Every time a practitioner was persecuted, we used various techniques to make the local public aware, as well. We sent righteous thoughts as one body. We even persisted in these efforts for long periods of time. Why then, were the effects minimal? I personally think the fundamental cause of this problem was our different understandings of exposing the evil and the persecution. Our thoughts were not righteous and were not in accordance with the characteristics of the universe. Hence there were loopholes for the evil to take advantage of.

For example, when a practitioner was persecuted, we discussed how to rescue him or her. There were two kinds of opinions from practitioners. On the one hand, some practitioners thought we should widen the exposure of the persecution. Besides promptly reporting this on our website, we should also distribute many brochures and post them in our area, thereby forming a strong force that will frighten the evil. Furthermore, the evil will have no chance for a respite. We can thus thoroughly eliminate the evil in one big blow. In the process of exposing the persecution, we will also achieve our objective of saving sentient beings. Moreover, those who participated in persecuting practitioners will be prevented from committing further sins against Dafa. Consequently, even more sentient beings will be saved. On the other hand, some practitioners felt that we should be "compassionate" when exposing the evildoers and avoid putting up signs revealing the names of the persecutors. We should not provoke the evil. Some practitioners even said that party officials in the area were newly appointed and probably did not know the truth yet. Therefore we needed to give them a good impression of Dafa disciples.

In recent years, the number of things we have posted to expose the persecution and reveal the truth about Falun Dafa have decreased. Yet slogans and pictures vilifying and defaming Dafa have appeared on roadsides and in schools. Worse still, reports of local party officials persecuting Falun Gong have appeared on TV stations. Recently, several practitioners were abducted and detained in brainwashing centers. Some were illegally detained in labor camps. Many practitioners from villages were forced to sign guarantee statements promising to give up the practice. Such interference and persecution had a great impact on our cultivation environment. It also led to great losses in our truth clarification efforts to save sentient beings. Many practitioners have also felt that this environment is not righteous. They realized that we need to rectify this situation as soon as possible.

I also had the unrighteous understanding that the evil should not be provoked. Through the process of constant self reflection, I now have a clear understanding that such thoughts are not righteous. I also discovered why I had such thoughts.

We all know that every life on earth today is created from the principles of the old universe. Consequently, the greatest characteristic of these is selfishness. This is the fundamental characteristic of beings in the old universe. It is also the same for Dafa disciples. Our lives were also created by the principles of the old universe, and therefore we have these similar characteristics. This means that we may still have egotism and selfishness in our nature. Unconsciously, we put ourselves first when we encounter situations. Then what is behind our fear of provoking the evil? Doesn't it come from our basic nature that is based on egotism and selfishness? It is a manifestation of our vague understanding of the principles of the Fa. This is not a righteous thought.

I think this fear of provoking the evil is not being afraid of the evil. This is a fear of losing one's reputation among everyday people and of losing one's personal benefits. Therefore we are afraid to provoke the evil. Hence we find excuses to cover up the real human attachment hiding behind this fear. In reality, we are protecting our human side.

In fact, we are fortunate to be Dafa disciples. Master has taught us the Fa that creates life in the new universe and bestowed upon us powers and wisdom that enable us to become beings in the new universe. He also constantly strengthens our righteous thoughts and compassionately protects us as we move forward on our cultivation path. As long as we believe in Master and the Fa and face tribulations with righteous thoughts, we shouldn't be afraid of anything.

Master had already taught us:

"The fact is, those who can't step forward, regardless of the excuse, are concealing fear. Yet for cultivators, fear or lack thereof proves [one's] humanity or divinity, and it is what differentiates cultivators from ordinary people. It is something that a cultivator must face, and the biggest human attachment that a cultivator must remove."

("Study the Fa Well, and Getting Rid of Attachments is Not Hard"-- Master's comment on a student's article)

Master also reminded us:

"The students in regions that have been severely persecuted, or in places that have been seriously damaged, should really think about it: what's really going on?

("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")

Fear of provoking the evil is not a righteous thought. It comes from our egotistic and selfish nature. Therefore we should let go of this fear as well as all other fears we might have.

I have no intention of reprimanding any particular practitioner in this article. I only wanted to express my understandings on such phenomena. Other practitioners can share their thoughts on the matter. If there is anything inappropriate, please kindly point it out.