Collecting Petition Signatures Appropriately

(Minghui.org) Recently some of our local practitioners in Chongqing were collecting petition signatures among practitioners. They first prepared some materials, including an open letter to Xi Jinping, and appeal documents regarding Zhou Qiang, the CCP's top judge, concerning denigrating Falun Dafa. They showed these materials to local practitioners and asked for their signatures before mailing them to the Supreme People's Court and four other CCP institutions.

Recent legal interpretations given by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate deepened people's misunderstanding about Falun Dafa and made it more difficult for us to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to judicial officials.

Mailing out materials clarifying the truth is a good thing, but promoting petitions among practitioners might be an issue.

New Trend Pushed by Coordinators

Some coordinators gave a brief explanation about the open letter to Xi and the materials when collecting petition signatures. Most practitioners who were contacted immediately agreed to sign the petition.

Some coordinators viewed this activity as an important event to promote among local practitioners.

When practitioners hesitated to sign the petition, some coordinators persuaded them by quoting Master's Fa in “Digging Out the Roots” and “Huge Exposure” from Essentials for Further Advancement suggested that it was an opportunity to break away from humanness.

Views on the subject varied, with some practitioners saying that Master would not give an opinion on this new trend, while others did not comment on the matter.

I believe it to be improper to promote this new trend among practitioners on a large scale. Everyone should continue to do what they are best at, and not what is being pushed by a few practitioners.

One's Mentality Affects Decisions

Each practitioner has his or her own way of validating the Fa, based on their xinxing level, Fa understanding, attachments, abilities and personal situation.

If a practitioner believes that mailing out appeal materials to judicial institutions is a good idea, he or she can make the suggestion to fellow practitioners to do so. But in this case, some practitioners just signed the letter without reading it. Was their thinking pure and on safeguarding the Fa? Or was it focused on showing that they were unafraid, or just following what the coordinator said blindly?

When trying to convince practitioners, some coordinators claimed that a certain practitioner, who had suffered from serious illness karma, recovered soon after signing the petition.

Unpredictable Outcome

It's also necessary to discuss the content of the materials. For instance, it lists Xi Jinping's eight merits. This goes against Master's requirement regarding Dafa principles. Master said,

“We do not praise or criticize the current leadership, and this is the principle.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)

If materials that go against Master's requirements were mailed out, with the signatures of many practitioners, won't the old forces interfere and manipulate people to persecute Dafa practitioners?

Many practitioners from the Shapingba District and Jiangbei District have participated in the petition, and two practitioners have been harassed by police.

Some coordinators signed on the appeal documents as “All Dafa practitioners from Jiangbei District.” Could one or a handful of practitioners represent all practitioners from a district in a matter like this?

All-in-all, the outcome of such an undertaking is unpredictable. Therefore, it is important that every practitioner clearly understands the ramifications before participating.

Suggestions to Coordinators

I have a few suggestions to coordinators who are promoting the petition.

1. Do you have an ambition for a great achievement?2. Are you in pursuit of some dynamic outcome?3. Would the great time and effort spent on this not prevent you and fellow practitioners from doing the three things well?4. Have you considered each practitioner's state of cultivation as you are persuading him or her to follow this course of action?

Practitioners who are participating in this effort, please look inside to see if your mentality is aligned with the Fa while you are involved with the project.

Master said,

“Cultivation is your own affair, and nobody else can do it for you. The teacher can only tell you the laws and principles on the surface. It is your own responsibility to cultivate your heart and mind, let go of your desires, attain wisdom, and eliminate confusion.” (“Determination” from Essentials for Further Advancement”)