(Minghui.org) Editor's note: The Minghui website has received a lot of correspondence from practitioners in and outside of China since the publishing of “Notice” in early November. Many have taken the issues mentioned the notice seriously.
These communications fall into six general categories: those asking the Minghui editorial board to clarify further, those wanting to check if a person's specific action is a “disruption of the Fa” as stated in the notice, those sharing different opinions and arguments about the notice in their locales, those discussing personal understandings and responses, those listing local chaotic situations, and those criticizing the notice.
To resolve some of these concerns, we are publishing the below email reply written by one of the Minghui editors in response to one of the above messages. We hope that this email offers some further guidance regarding the situation.
Dear fellow practitioner,
Master had already talked about the issues listed in the “Notice” at the recent Fa Conference in San Francisco. To my understanding, it is just a reminder of the important issues that Master had talked about.
The purpose was to provide a more detailed set of guidelines for practitioners to follow, so that nobody damages Dafa unintentionally. However, after its publication, it is not appropriate for the editorial board to then respond to specific situations raised by practitioners from various locales with explanations, additional notations, judgment calls, or validation.
As a matter of fact, if one looks at the issues mentioned in the notice based on the Fa, one can easily see the principles. If one can look at these problems without the intention to defend oneself or validate one's own behavior, it is easy to understand the meaning of the notice.
Below are some examples.
1. Mixing the Fa and other content in digital or print media and naming it after Falun Dafa
Considering people of the future who have not lived through the Fa-Rectification period, do you think they can distinguish your content from the Fa? If they can't tell the difference, doesn't it mean that your media has caused confusion and disrupted the Fa?
2. Copyright issues
Copyright infringement is rampant in communist China. But we are Falun Dafa practitioners who have a higher moral standard – and as Dafa practitioners, we must respect the copyrights of Falun Dafa, Shen Yun and Minghui.
3. Shall we stop using content from Minghui to make truth-clarification materials because of its copyright?
The answer is no. It is a great virtue to save sentient beings by using content from Minghui. However, when using the content, please provide proper citation crediting Minghui, and please do not change the meaning of the articles. These are basic requirements based on morality and common sense.
In these past few years, we have seen many wrongdoings in this area. People would quote materials from Minghui, but then leave out the source deliberately. They would add new titles, or attribute it to a different project. Some people would alter the meaning of an article for their own reasons but state that it was from Minghui in order to give themselves credibility. Others would cite Minghui as the source, but mix in content from other websites.
Many of our original materials on the Minghui website were gathered at the cost of practitioners' lives. Please pay due respect to their work and give credit where credit is due.
4. Converting Falun Dafa Books into e-books and distributing them freely online
So far Master Li has not specifically forbidden the converting of Dafa books into e-books; however, Master has also never encouraged anyone to make free e-books for casual distribution online. Personally, I believe there are a lot of factors in play with this issue that we need to think deeply about and enlighten to.
5. Content on digital media players
We have used digital media players in many situations before to play truth-clarification materials, listen to Fa-teaching, hear experience sharing from other practitioners, and so on. I think if we can store different content in different players, that will resolve the confusion.
My understanding is that we should not only consider things based upon our own convenience and become careless in safeguarding the integrity of the Fa. Basically, it all boils down to what we value more: the integrity of the Fa, or our personal convenience.
6. I wanted to destroy some digital or paper media loaded with improper content, but some practitioners said that destroying anything with the Fa inside will create bad karma. What can I do now?
Throughout history, especially in ancient times, people took re-printing sages' works seriously. However, some practitioners made bad decisions without considering the consequences.
Just because one doesn't think of the consequences doesn't mean that there are no consequences. It is true that destroying Fa content stored in any medium will create bad karma. But you should have thought of this dilemma when you were choosing to take the improper content in the first place.
Now, this becomes your problem to solve. By making that bad choice, you had taken ownership of these consequences and this problem. I'm afraid that seeking an easy answer from someone else won't help you at this point.
No one can cultivate for you – your cultivation is your own responsibility. I just want to remind those who are still trying to avoid this consequence to take the responsibility seriously. Study the Fa without the intention to defend yourself and look for the answers within the Fa. Don't carelessly react and make more mistakes.
The above sharing includes my personal understandings for your reference only. Fellow practitioners, please make your respective judgments based on Fa.
Category: Improving Oneself
