Looking at Human Rights Activists Properly

 

(Clearwisdom.net) Over the past few years many of us have looked at some human rights attorney in China with great admiration.

 

He is indeed a hero, and he has shown tremendous courage in defending Falun Gong practitioners' rights. But reading his recent letter posted on the Epoch Times website, where he says that he does not plan to fight further for human rights, reminds me of things that Master has taught in the Fa with regard to how we should look at the efforts made by non-practitioners to stop the persecution.

 

Master warned us in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa" about the negative consequences that can come about when we put our hopes in everyday people, by giving an example of how many practitioners used to look at China's premier:

 

"Do you remember how before April 25^th of 1999 that Premier of China said positive things about Dafa? When our students went to appeal on April 25^th, he met with some Dafa disciples and said good things. After the persecution started, this caused some of our students to develop a lot of ordinary human thoughts, thinking: 'I hope the chief of the evil in Mainland China dies soon. I hope he falls from power so the premier can take his place. And if the premier is in power, won't our name be restored?' Didn't it cross your mind: this is the Fa of the cosmos, so if humans want to attack it, you think they can just attack it? And if human beings want to restore our name, you think they can just restore our name? Humans aren't worthy of that! How could you pin your hopes on an ordinary person? You are Dafa disciples! Each one of you Dafa disciples represents a large, gigantic dimension. What does mankind amount to? It's only that the old forces are using it and have sealed off your greater abilities. How could you think that way about things? If all of you think that way, the old forces will see it and think: 'How can they all have those thoughts? Those thoughts have to be removed, so let's make that premier turn bad.' They would rather make him turn bad in order to get rid of your ordinary human thoughts. Isn't that right? The old forces have no regard for human life--if they want to kill, they'll just kill. Amidst the Fa-rectification they're only attached to their own arrangements."

 

On many other occasions in the Fa, Teacher has made clear that we cannot put our hopes in non-practitioners to end the persecution. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference", Teacher said:

 

"Yesterday a student asked me, 'Master, why has the United Nations Human Rights Commission turned into what it has? The U.S. brought up China's human rights problems several times but each time its efforts were voted down, and in the end nobody would even bring up the topic. Later on, even the chair position was assumed by a government that seriously violates human rights.' We should think things over calmly, and sometimes we really can end up seeing things clearly. It's not that the righteous elements have stopped working. It's that sometimes it's easy for the old forces to take advantage of the gaps in what we do. For example, when we do things a lot of us use human thinking to come up with ideas, and you've been trying everything you can to end this persecution and you want to have ordinary people end it. Some people think, 'Why doesn't the U.S. use force to get rid of the evil scoundrel regime? Why doesn't it go to war?' And some think, 'There are so many democratic countries in the world. Why don't they raise their voices? What's the United Nations doing now?' And that's how things look on the surface. But actually, I can tell you what that reflects: We're too dependent on human beings. If human beings were to end the persecution, what a disgrace that would be to Dafa disciples! We wouldn't have validated the Fa, we wouldn't have established mighty virtue in the persecution, and our Dafa disciples wouldn't have blazed their own path. I've said that this path is to be left for the future. Then isn't this matter critical? That's how the old forces have been able to take advantage of the gaps. You placed your hopes in ordinary people, so the old forces had the resolution that they sponsored voted down. And as you kept putting your hopes in ordinary people they made it so that your resolution couldn't even be raised and so that the U.S. was kicked out of the Human Rights Commission. You still placed your hopes in ordinary people, so they made a country that violates human rights the chair. We should become more rational by learning from these lessons. We've gone through so much, and through these lessons we should gradually get clearheaded."

 

This is fundamentally an issue of whether we regard this persecution as human beings fighting against human beings or gods fighting against gods. We as Falun Dafa disciples should be clear about this point: The persecution is one of a cosmic scale, it is a cosmic battle of gods against gods. One of the evil forces' goals in all this is to test Dafa disciples. Human beings are not capable of doing all that the evil forces have done to Dafa and Dafa practitioners.

 

If we forget this, and put our hopes in ordinary people such human rights activists, we may in fact bring about their downfall. Evil factors may see our human thoughts and all the hopes we put in those people, and therefore test us by harming them.

 

I hope that after so many years of persecution and so many teachings by Master about how we should look at this persecution, we can look at everyday people who fight for human rights in the proper way, with proper thoughts. There have been too many unfortunate lessons in this regard.

 

People who do good things for Dafa are positioning themselves wonderfully for the future. They will likely become divine beings in the future. But let's remember--Dafa disciples are the main figures in all that is happening today. It is Dafa disciples who will ultimately bring about an end to the persecution, by cultivating ourselves, clarifying the truth, sending forth righteous thoughts, and saving sentient beings.