(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, there have been several articles on the Clearwisdom.net website about hunger strikes. As a practitioner in Mainland China, I also want to share my understanding on this issue.
In the book Zhuan Falun, Chapter Seven, in the section "Hospital Treatments and Qigong Treatments," Teacher says,
"Let's talk about how hospital treatments and qigong treatments are related. Some doctors of Western medicine don't believe in qigong, and you could say that's true for most of them. Their version of the story goes, 'If qigong can heal people, what do we need hospitals for? Why don't you just replace hospitals! Your qigong can heal people with bare hands and without injections, medication, or hospital stays, so why don't you just come take over our hospitals?' There are also some qigong masters who say that hospitals can't heal people, and they go off about the effectiveness of hospital treatments today."
In my opinion, whether one goes on hunger strike or not is analogous to hospital treatments and qigong treatments. It is not wrong for practitioners to go on hunger strike to protest torture. However, just like hospital treatments, it can only target the superficial dimension and thus only have a limited effect.
In 1999 and 2000, many police officers in China still had kind natures. During that time, when practitioners went on hunger strike, it truly shocked them. They were amazed to see that practitioners were still energetic after being on hunger strike for several days. They believed that Dafa is truly miraculous. At that time, hunger striking achieved the goal of suppressing evil and validating Dafa.
The staged Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation incident deceived many police. In addition, the evil beings in other dimensions have become more and more deteriorated and evil. As a result, hunger strike often results in even more severe torture. One practitioner who I know of got out of a detention center twice with her righteous thoughts. It took her only one day the first time and twenty-three days the second time (Clearwisdom report on October 25, 2003, "Walking My Path Righteously in Difficulties and Hardships" http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/25/41619.html). When she shared her experience, she said she would keep her mind busy. She sent forth righteous thoughts continuously and kept clarifying the truth with a calm and rational mind to all the people she encountered. She was not moved when the evil created illusions that her righteous thoughts did not seem to have an effect; she firmly believed in the power of righteous thoughts. Once the evil beings in other dimensions are eliminated, the situation will change in this dimension. I think that her way is like qigong treatments. It targets directly the root of a disease in other dimensions that is the fundamental cause. Therefore, it works quickly and effectively.
More importantly, in denying the arrangement of the old forces, maintaining high xinxing (mind nature) is crucial. Teacher said, "However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is." ("Also in a Few Words") Upon encountering hardships, practitioners' xinxing should meet the requirement of Fa-rectification. No matter which way one takes, Teacher will help him. Therefore, he may have more than one hundred ways to suppress evil. Otherwise, if one's xinxing is not high the effect will be minimal.
