(Minghui.org)
As the coronavirus spreads in China, professionals are warning people to wear face masks, drink more water and wash their hands frequently. There are signs in many public places that say, “No entry without a face mask.” Incidentally, face masks were this year’s “must-have” for the Chinese New Year.
My wife and I are both practitioners. When we left the house, our son warned us to put our masks on. I told him, “As practitioners, our bodies have energy, so if the virus comes into contact with us, it will be destroyed. So there is no need for us to wear a face mask.”
Because he does not cultivate, he just rolled his eyes since he could not understand where we were coming from. He told us that he had a friend who works at a pharmaceutical factory in Wuhan. Over the past few days, they have been working overtime to produce face masks. One of the managers who practices Falun Dafa insisted on not wearing a mask, and he ended up with fever symptoms.
This reminded me of something Master said,
“In our school of cultivation, those who cultivate among everyday people are required to cultivate precisely in ordinary human society and to fit in among everyday people as much as possible.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
As Dafa practitioners, we are very clear about the fundamental reason why people fall ill. Getting sick has nothing to do with wearing a face mask or not; we should treat ourselves as practitioners. Perhaps there’s the thought that wearing a face mask is being disrespectful of Master and showing a lack of faith in Dafa.
In fact, in the current circumstance, if we do not wear face masks, non-practitioners may avoid us and we will not have any chances to clarify the truth to people. We should not tell our family members things they’d find hard to comprehend.
Master also said,
“If that attachment is relinquished, that material itself does not have any effect. What really interferes with a person is the attachment.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
Therefore, wearing a face mask or not should not be that much of a concern for us.
Many people now prefer to stay at home so there are very few pedestrians on the street. I think we can wear a face mask and distribute truth-clarifying materials in the neighborhood. We can tell people that quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations and reciting “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” will truly save them, give them peace and harmony, and help them avoid the virus. We can make ample use of this unique opportunity to save sentient beings using this method.
By a practitioner in Wuhan, China
The Wuhan coronavirus has made everyone worry about their own safety, with many people now wearing face masks. Some practitioners think that, since we cultivate Dafa, we do not need to wear face masks. Actually, there is no problem even if you wear a mask, as long as you do not get attached to it. If you do not wear a mask, people will think that you are weird and will not understand why you don’t. They will stay away from you and avoid practitioners. How, then, are we going to get near enough to clarify the truth to them?
According to one practitioner, there was an incident when another practitioner did not wear a face mask. The people she tried to talk to asked her if she was trying to spread the virus to them! They even went to far as to call her an extraterrestrial who was immune and didn’t need to wear a face mask.
Of course there is no hard and fast rule; we all have our own understandings about this matter. For myself, I do wear a face mask when I leave the house.