(Minghui.org) At least 50 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested for asking government departments at various levels to publicly acknowledge the policy to persecute Falun Gong. The arrests have occurred throughout China since February of this year.

The practitioners arrested had participated repeatedly in online Fa study and experience sharing together. Together, they signed a joint letter asking various levels of China’s government that information about the persecution be publicly released. They apparently did so at the behest of a practitioner living in the United States. Despite the risk, they signed the letter using their true identities, rather than using pseudonyms as is often done, because revealing one’s true identity can be dangerous.

Those who were arrested were located in Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, Heilongjiang Province, Chongqing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Guangdong Province, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shijiazhuang. and so on.

Here are several examples:

- On February 16, 2017, police arrested Mr. Zhang Shuyong of Huiren County, Suzhou City, Shanxi Province, in his home. He was released on April 3 near death.

- On March 31, 2017, practitioner Li Yanqin of Datong, Shanxi Province, was arrested and has been detained ever since.

- On April 5, 2017, Shuipoci Police Substation officers arrested Mr. Liu Yuhong of Datong, Shanxi Province, outside of his apartment building and detained him for 15 days.

- On May 12, 2017, Ms. Meng Lixia of Yuanqu County, Shanxi Province, was taken to Xia County Detention Center. The police attempted to charge Ms. Meng, who was several months pregnant, with “subversion.” She has been detained since then.

- On May 19, 2017, Ms. Wang Qiaolan of Pingding County, Shanxi Province, was arrested. She was sentenced to six years of imprisonment.

- On May 24, 2017, Ms. Ren Wenman of Beijing was arrested. She has been detained since then.

- On May 3, 2017, Ms. Liu Shufang of Datong, Shanxi Province, was arrested. She was detained for 15 days.

- In May 2017, Mr. Di Baowang of Lingqiu County, Datong, Shanxi Province, was arrested. He was detained for 15 days.

- On May 31, 2017, Ms. Li Hongye of Datong, Shanxi Province, was arrested and held in a detention center. She has been released.

- On May 31, 2017, Ms. Dai Xiurong of Datong, Shanxi Province, was arrested. She was released due to a sudden heart attack.

- On June 1, 2017, Ms. Zhang Chunlei and her sister of Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, were detained. Zhang Chunlei has been detained since then. Her sister was released.

- On June 6, 2017, Zhang Liangfang of Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, was arrested and has been detained since then.

- On June 6, 2017, practitioner Wang Xianghui of Li County, Hebei Province was arrested and has been detained since then.

- On July 2, 2017, more than 20 police officers arrested Mr. Cheng Hao of Wenshui, Shanxi Province. Mr. Cheng was a new practitioner who began the practice while trying to rescue his parents. He frequently joined the online session. After signing the joint letter, he was arrested and tortured. He was forced to reveal information about other practitioners as he could not endure the torture.

- On July 26, 2017, five practitioners including Liu Min and Chai Yuehua of Huiren, Shanxi Province, went to Ying County Postal Office to mail a joint letter and were arrested. They were detained for five days.

- In the second half of September, 25 practitioners were arrested in Chongqing. All of them but one signed the joint petition. Among them was a family of three including a non-practitioner father.

- Recently, 11 practitioners in Lingqiu County, Datong, Shanxi Province, who participated in the petition were arrested. Some of them participated in a “Legal Training Session” online. All participants were practitioners in China. Most were from Shanxi and Chongqing.

The practitioners mentioned above represent only a small portion of the participants in the online meetings. A practitioner in the United States and another in China shared their understandings based on what they claimed to have heard in a small group gathering with Master Li, apparently stating that “Master gave directions for this project.” It is claimed that the practitioner in the United States lives close to Master.

They organized group study online every day and conducted sharing in an unorthodox way (studying the same passage three times: reading straight through the first time, and encouraging questions and answers during the following two rounds. The practitioner in the United States generally would not listen to opinions that differed from his own. His opinions dominated. Some practitioners with different views were pushed away.)

The practitioner in the U.S. provided the so-called legal training about protesting the persecution. The practitioners on the call in China then asked others in various locations to jointly sign the letter requesting the government to release information about the persecution to the public. Those who signed the letter also wrote down their addresses, identification numbers, cell phone numbers, and true names. They apparently did not judge for themselves whether the whole issue was in accordance with their understandings of the Fa but chose instead to follow others.

Those involved are reminded to take necessary precautions to protect their safety and reduce further loss. At the same time, they should correct themselves, study the Fa well, send righteous thoughts and raise awareness to the public.

Each life is precious. There have been many painful lessons of following human notions instead of the Fa. We should not incur more such losses. Conducting a large scale project in China must be approved by Master and meet the requirement of saving sentient beings during the Fa-rectification.

Master pointed out in “Abandon Human Attachments and Continue True Cultivation” in 1997,

“Do not bring the human concepts of caste or hierarchy into Dafa. Both veteran and new students must be mindful of this matter. Anyone who comes to study the Fa—no matter how learned he is, how big his business, how high his rank, what special skills he has, or what supernormal abilities he possesses—must actually practice cultivation. Cultivation practice is magnificent and solemn. Whether you can abandon your particular human notions is a major test that you will have difficulty passing, yet you must pass.” (from Falun Dafa Essentials for Further Advancement)

Look within when facing conflicts rather than looking outward for solutions. Each of those involved should ask themselves why they became involved in this, what positive or negative role they played, and what attachments led to this. Each should fix their loophole and cultivate well to reduce further loss.