(Clearwisdom.net) Recently I noticed some practitioners' attachments in the process of rescuing detained practitioners. For example, some practitioners complimented others who had fought the evil perpetrators using various means and did not refrain from hating the perpetrators. My understanding is that we should emphasize righteous thoughts in these actions rather than the particular means used by practitioners to the stop persecution. Some practitioners have unavoidably developed a kind of hatred toward persecutors. However, most of them are still sentient beings who we need to save, even though a few individuals may be among those whom we cannot save. It is crucial that we maintain a compassionate heart when sending forth righteous thoughts. We are cultivators of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance; therefore, in everything we do, we need to do it with our compassion.
On another occasion, a practitioner was illegally arrested without his family being informed. Later when the family went to the police station to demand the release of the practitioner, the police told them they had sent him to a forced labor camp with the excuse that they couldn't get in touch with the family. Regardless of whether the police's words were true or false, we need to look within for the cause of the persecution of that practitioner. For example, we shouldn't have waited so long to start taking action to rescue him or wait for other practitioners to act first. Some practitioners also have depended on overseas practitioners to pressure the perpetrators to release detained practitioners, or have relied on practitioners sending forth righteous thoughts on a larger scale. They tended to overlook the key role of local practitioners.
In terms of practical ways of rescuing arrested practitioners, we can learn from those who have experience, but we should not copy exactly what they did. Their actions were a reflection of what they had enlightened to, and following Dafa is the fundamental rule for us in doing anything. We need to contribute to Dafa projects by applying our strengths to the most urgent needs.
What is our first thought upon hearing of the arrest of a fellow practitioner? Is it protecting oneself or rescuing the practitioner and eliminating evil? I also noticed that some practitioners did not treat their family members with the same compassion as they had for other sentient beings, though our families also need to be saved. The family members of these practitioners were even not aware of the facts about Falun Dafa and had not quit the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. We really need to pay attention to our families. If this arrested practitioner had maintained a proper relationship with his family, the perpetrators might not have been able to send him to the labor camp with the excuse of inaccessibility to this family.
Sometimes, some fellow practitioners and I had seen certain loopholes in the cultivation states of other practitioners before they were persecuted. Although we reminded those practitioners of their loopholes and invited them to study the Fa in a group more frequently, in retrospect, we might not have done it with a genuine heart for the benefit of others or considered fellow practitioners' feelings. Instead, we might have pointed fingers at them and blamed them. There were even times that we criticized these practitioners along with others, which was a poor habit that most of us had developed under the influence of the communist culture. Even after so many years of cultivation, we still have not gotten used to looking within when conflicts arise. When practitioners were pointing out problems to others, they often assumed that they were free of those problems. Therefore, criticizing others became an obstacle to looking within. We urged the practitioners with obvious issues in their cultivation to study the Fa with us in groups because we knew that Dafa has the power of correcting any deviation. However, did we just do it for the sake of doing it, or did we do it with our full compassion?
Our intention of helping fellow practitioners who had problems was to prevent persecution from happening. However, we tended to overlook reminding practitioners of doing the three things well. If our purpose of helping practitioners is merely to avoid persecution, then we are implicitly acknowledging the arrangement of the old forces, which impose persecution on practitioners who are not diligent in their cultivation. It is crucial that we all improve as a whole body in order to help fellow practitioners; however, our motivation must be righteous.
Master wants us to upgrade ourselves and wants no disciple to be left behind. Have we acted according to Master's guidance? Cultivating oneself without paying attention to collective improvement is a manifestation of selfishness. One practitioner was persecuted due to a loophole caused by lust. Some fellow practitioners who were aware of this not only did not point out his mistakes with understanding, but also helped him cover up his mistakes. We have tried to rescue fellow practitioners after they have been arrested, but we also need to improve as a whole body by sincerely helping each other in eliminating attachments, so that we will not be pushed around by the evil. We often say that we do what Master wants, but how much have we really done wholeheartedly?
We are at the last stage of Fa-rectification. However, some practitioners are still attached to lust. They may behave like everyday people in their sexual life, or may be attracted by good-looking people of the opposite sex. We need to work vigorously on getting rid of the attachment of lust. Avoiding or suppressing our attachments will not help us to uproot them from our minds.
The most common effort we have made to paralyze the departments that persecute Dafa practitioners is to send forth righteous thoughts in groups after fellow practitioners have been arrested. In effect, we have reacted passively to persecution instead of actively eliminating evil. It may be better for all of us to regularly send forth righteous thoughts by ourselves aimed at local police stations.
Our coordination in Dafa work is not always the best either, in that several practitioners can be working on one task, which can be wasteful in terms of our resources and manpower. In addition, only practitioners who know the arrested practitioner would send forth righteous thoughts or be involved in the rescue work. Certainly we don't need a lot of practitioners to do the actual work, but collective righteous thoughts and coordination of all practitioners is powerful, and therefore, important. Practitioners need to pay attention to local issues and events that require collaboration and pass time-sensitive information on to concerned individuals on their own initiative in order to stop further persecution.
Master has told us to do the three things well, so we cannot omit any of them. No matter how busy we are with the work of clarifying the truth, we cannot overlook studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. Most of all, we cannot be doing Dafa projects and clarifying the truth just for the sake of doing the work.
