(Clearwisdom.net) On October 2, Clearwisdom Daily published a piece of news that Ms. Zhong Fangqiong, the author of Sturdy Grass Withstands High Winds, is being severely persecuted and her body was disfigured. Zhong Fangqiong was arrested by the police in Chendu on August 1, 2007, and no one knows her whereabouts.
Recently, by contacting practitioners from various areas, we found many practitioners were puzzled, asking, "How could Zhong Fangqiong be arrested?"
Behind the attachment of admiring her, we feel that these practitioners are not clear on the Fa. We never imagined that there would be so many practitioners feeling puzzled. We need to realize the seriousness of this matter. It is all right for one or two people think that way, but when a lot of practitioners treat our fellow practitioner who is being persecuted with human thoughts, then it will create a huge wave, and this will undoubtedly create more tribulations for our fellow practitioner, and the evil forces would use that as an excuse to persecute her
We had contact with Ms. Zhong and are relatively clear about her situation before being persecuted. We feel that it is our responsibility to share what we know with fellow practitioners. The purpose of this sharing is to help those practitioners who have doubts to become more clear on the Fa, to get rid of our human thinking, treat our fellow practitioner righteously, and support her with pure righteous thoughts.
In our local area, we noticed that there are two incorrect understandings towards Ms. Zhong amongst practitioners. Those who do not personally know her highly admire her because of the fact that Master commented on her book Sturdy Grass Withstands High Wind; those who were in frequent contact with her discovered quite a lot of shortcomings with her and felt that she was not very clear on the Fa. Thus, some were jealous of her, or even looked down upon her.
We have all forgotten a critical point; our fellow practitioner is still walking on her path of cultivation--she is still a cultivator. How can a cultivator be perfect, and without faults? When a cultivator does well in a certain aspect or on a particular thing, this does not mean that this person has no problems in other areas. Thus, neither those who admire her or those who are jealous of her are clear on the Fa.
Practitioner Zhong showed a relatively strong attachment to self before she was arrested. She was not willing to listen to different opinions. But is this merely her problem? Let us not criticize our fellow practitioner any more. Just think, when so many practitioners treat her with human attachments and give her so many dirty and bad substances, wouldn't her true self be covered and isolated by those bad substances? At the same time, the evil was trying every possible way to enlarge her attachment and to use the persecution towards her to "test" other practitioners who have attachments and by doing that, "help them to get rid of the attachment." Isn't this what is happening now? What a difficult situation our fellow practitioner is in! The cultivation status of our fellow practitioner is related to everyone around her. We are all responsible for that.
Let's together go over what Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students":
"Our students--remember this--some of our students have done well, but she is still cultivating. So if we do those things, won't it lead students to form new attachments? And won't it make the students a little too pleased with themselves? So I think you still need to be careful. Yes, when a student has cultivated well in some regard, we should learn from him. But the student is still cultivating and still has human attachments that haven't been removed yet, so you still need to use the Fa as your standard. (Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students)
These past few years, we have seen many "famous" practitioners get in serious trouble and we have paid a lot for our lessons. We can't only look at others and criticize what they didn't do well. We should look within and find our own attachments in these matters. When something happened to a fellow practitioner, what were my thoughts? How did I treat a "famous" practitioner before things happened to him or her? Were my thoughts on the Fa? Did I protect or exclude him/her with human attachments? Is it our thoughts that caused this tribulation to our fellow practitioner? When this fellow practitioner was not in a good cultivation state, when she/he showed her attachments, did I treat her/him as an authoritative person and thus choose not to correct her in order to save face? Even if I chose to point it out, did I give up after one or two attempts? Did we treat her/him as a precious fellow practitioner with great compassion and wisdom?
The relationships among Dafa disciples are like those of enlightened beings. After we can manage this relationship well, then we can treat our fellow practitioners--the future great Lords of various cosmos's--properly, and look at the good and not so good parts of them with a correct mentality. We realize the reason Master arranged for different practitioners to be together is because of our predestined relationships and the responsibilities we have toward each other. We have the responsibility to treat our fellow practitioners according to the Fa, help each other and harmonize with each other. When a fellow practitioner doesn't do that well, we need to compassionately and patiently point it out. When fellow practitioners are in trouble, we need to unconditionally support them with righteous thoughts. We should not look at the their social status, extraordinary experiences, special skills, or their authority in certain areas at all because every disciple is equal in front of Dafa. We can't take anything at this human level to our original homes.
When some practitioners see a well known practitioner in a serious tribulation, they think to themselves, "He has done so well, how come he is being persecuted?" Are these kinds of thoughts from the Fa? Aren't we looking outwards at others? Did I doubt the Fa Master taught and let my heart be moved? We should truly dig out the root of our thoughts: After so many years of cultivation, do we fundamentally believe in Master and the Fa? Do we regard doing things as cultivation? Do we judge whether a practitioner is diligent and has a good cultivation state by looking superficially at whether the things this practitioner does have created a "significant" effect?
Master didn't arrange this persecution for any Dafa disciple. Practitioner Zhong was illegally arrested thirty times (including this time). This may be related to complex reasons in history as well as the evil arrangement of the old forces. Master tried many times to give her hints and also arrange other practitioners to help. If our fellow practitioners calm down and study the Fa, and cultivate with solid steps and righteous thoughts, then there is nothing that we cannot overcome. Unfortunately, we have been treating our fellow practitioner with human attachments for a long period time. We didn't do our duty to help her to become clear-minded and overcome the obstacles. We need to find our omission and learn from this lesson and to do better in the future.
This incident is also a reminder to all "famous" practitioners in China and abroad that Fa-rectification period cultivation is extremely serious. All of our abilities and skills in this world, including our achievements and fame, are all given by Master because of our wish to validate the Fa. What we are doing now is merely fulfilling our vows from the past. It is Master that is doing everything, we are merely "assisting Master as he journeys this human world." Without Mater's compassionate salvation, our beings would have disintegrated with the old universe. There is nothing to be complacent about, nor should we consider ourselves as exceptional beings. Every single thought of being above fellow practitioners is not clear-headed, and it will become the excuse for the evil to destroy you.
As true cultivators, we seek nothing in this world. What we should focus on is the level of our xinxing. There are no short-cuts, no back door, and no special treatment in cultivation. What we should do is to unconditionally cultivate according to the Fa that Master taught and do our best, according to the Fa-rectification requirements.
Fellow practitioners, let us quickly get rid of our human attachments, make judgments according to the Fa at all times, be responsible to our fellow practitioners, and be responsible to sentient beings. Let us get rid of the gaps among practitioners and eliminate all evil elements. Then our fellow practitioners will no longer be persecuted and more sentient beings can be saved.
