(Minghui.org) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been conducting the so-called “zero-out” harassment campaign since last year. The campaign aims to force all Falun Dafa practitioners on the government's blacklist to renounce their faith. As I see it, it is a part of the CCP's doomed struggle. In the meantime, it is also another test for Dafa practitioners. For those who have not done well on their cultivation path, this is an opportunity to take corrective actions.
During the “zero-out” campaign, police departments, workplaces, and street residential committees have resorted to various tactics to try to deceive Dafa practitioners into renouncing their faith. Due to different levels of cultivation states of the practitioners, the ways of handling this turned out to be different as well.
There have been a few different types of responses by our local practitioners:
The first type was reluctant obedience. When the police came to talk to a 76-year-old retired male practitioner last April and ordered him to attend the brainwashing class, he initially pushed them away, but later on he relented and signed up for the class under pressure and threats. Fortunately due to the resistance of other practitioners, the class was never held.
This practitioner shared his understanding with others later. He said he realized that although he didn’t attend the brainwashing class, his behavior showed that he was compromised in terms of believing in Master and the Fa. He decided to study the Fa more in the future and eliminate his attachments.
The second type of response was resistance. A retired 83-year-old male practitioner was visited by two people from his residential committee in October last year. They asked if he still practiced Falun Dafa. He became angry and yelled at them, “I practice Falun Dafa to stay healthy and be a good person. It is only beneficial to society. Why do you always do things that disturb people!” The visitors left feeling dejected.
Later, he realized that although his righteous thoughts resisted the harassment, his lack of compassion somewhat affected the image of Dafa disciples. He decided to stay calm going forward and follow the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, so as to cultivate true compassion from the bottom of his heart and save more sentient beings.
The third type of response was deceit. A retired 64-year-old female professor hasn't done much of the three things and has always harbored strong attachment to fear. A staff member from the Party Branch in her workplace asked her in June last year if she still practiced Falun Dafa. She replied, “Didn’t I tell you before? I stopped practicing a long time ago.”
On the surface, she fooled others. In fact, she fooled herself. This reflects that she did not treat cultivation seriously, let alone using this opportunity to improve or pass the test.
The fourth type of response was truth-clarification with strong righteous thoughts. A retired 72-year-old female practitioner was approached by three people from her workplace in January this year. They asked her to sign on a paper to claim that she would stop practice Falun Dafa. She rejected this request and also kindly clarified the truth to them about the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa and how Dafa has spread to over 100 nations. She told them that treating Falun Dafa well would bring them blessings. Everybody was listening attentively. In the end, they said they would report back to their leadership all the facts and left.
At present, Falun Dafa practitioners in many areas are facing harassment, home ransacking, arrest, and even sentencing due to the “zero-out” campaign. I believe we should pay attention to a few things:
1) Do not view the visitors in the so-called “zero-out” campaign as bad people and resist them as such.
Master said,
“Cultivators have no enemies, ...” (“Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
We should view them as people to clarify the truth to so that they would have the opportunity to be saved. With practitioners’ compassion and peaceful truth-clarification efforts, great tribulations would be resolved.
2) Do not have the attachment to fear. Continue to send forth righteous thoughts and correct our human notions. We should view this as an opportunity for them to come and listen to the truth. They are merely carrying out their responsibilities at work. They might have been sentient beings in our world. We should not let them control us.
3) It is critical to firmly believe in Master and the Fa. We often talk about this, but during the critical moments, we do not know what to do. When having conversations with the visitors, we should adjust our mindset accordingly. If the conversation becomes tense, we should remember to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil beings behind them. Master is right by us. Master controls everything. When facing tribulations, we should calmly ask for Master’s strengthening. When we view things using the Fa’s standard, we will be able to reach our goals.
Master said,
“The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it is an expression of tremendous energy. It can disintegrate all that is not right.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
We should clarify the truth and save sentient beings with great compassion. Sending forth strong righteous thoughts anytime anywhere will eliminate the negative impact of the “zero-out” campaign.
In fact, those who participate in the so-called “zero-out” campaign know that it is merely going through the motions. It will turn out to be a failure. However, as cultivators, we should view it as another opportunity for us to improve our character and pass the test.