(Minghui.org) Our local government officials have been recently taking part in the “Zero-out” campaign targeting Falun Gong practitioners. They’ve especially targeted practitioners who filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
The authorities used two tactics to get practitioners to renounce their faith in the Zero-out campaign. The first was to threaten the practitioners themselves, or through their immediate family members, relatives, or workplaces. The end goal here was to get practitioners or their family to write statements renouncing Falun Gong.
The second tactic was to hire so-called “experts” from other provinces to speak to the practitioners. Many of these experts used to practice Falun Gong and can recite Fa-teachings to deceive practitioners. They prepared courses and video materials designed to brainwash practitioners.
As cultivators, we all know that the persecution is ongoing because we still have human attachments to remove. And one of the authorities’ first tactics tests the attachment to our ordinary jobs. Once a practitioner takes one wrong step and capitulates, the evil forces will move forward and push him into more and more traps.
When I was faced with pressure from my workplace to renounce Falun Dafa, my family members—also practitioners—suggested to me that it wouldn’t matter if I lost my job. As a veteran practitioner for over 20 years, nothing was more important than Dafa. I would rather lose my job than leave a stain on my cultivation.
I told the management that I could give up my job if I had to. However, things turned around immediately. Management told me that they had no intention of letting me go and that I would be no longer required to write any statements. I once again experienced the power of righteous determination.
We have to pay special attention to the second tactic, as it involves former practitioners. I had spoken with two people.
One of them suffered from chronic illnesses many years ago and recovered after practicing Dafa. He had been imprisoned a few times, but eventually gave up Dafa and went to the opposite side. I tried to persuade him to stop doing things that harm Dafa, but he wasn’t able to turn around.
The other person is very stubborn. He denied Dafa and his mind had gone astray. During the two days that I interacted with him, my family and I resisted him with righteous thoughts.
Avoid Interaction with “Experts” and Do Not Watch Their Videos
Even though you think that you have a clear understanding of the Fa, we should still avoid interacting with these “experts” or watching their prepared videos. They did not directly attack Dafa and even went to Minghui for information. But their analysis was distorted. They would try to explain very simple things with convoluted logic in order to confuse others.
For example, they would put a piece of ham and a brick in front of a practitioner and asked the practitioner which one is edible, even though the answer is obvious. But after obfuscating the matter through an analysis of organic and inorganic matter, the practitioner may end up not knowing which is edible.
They also showed some videos of people levitating to demonstrate to practitioners that people from other practices have supernormal abilities, too, in an attempt to discredit Dafa.
Look Inward During the Tribulation
Master told us, “Remove your human thoughts and evil will naturally die out” (“Don’t be Sad,” Hong Yin II). The more severe the tribulation is, the more must we look inward, which is the key to resolving the tribulation. Any attachments, be it to lust or to comfort, should be immediately corrected.
During this tribulation, I let go of my attachment to my job even more. When I was threatened with my children’s future, I realized my sentimentality towards my children and reached new understandings about the principle that everyone has his own fate.
Get Help from Other Practitioners
Many practitioners reacted quickly to my situation by sending forth righteous thoughts, which was of great help to me. The timing of when the arrogant CCP officials suddenly lost their haughty attitude corresponded to when practitioners started sending forth righteous thoughts.
Keep Level-headed on Fa Principles
One of the main methods that those “experts” used to confuse practitioners was to convince practitioners that Dafa has flaws. This would shake their faith in Dafa. These so-called experts would usually use the concept of light years and Buddhist scriptures to show how Dafa teachings are inconsistent with science or Buddhism.
Master had talked about light years before. Ordinary people look at everything based on this human dimension, which limits their knowledge. It is difficult for them to understand the concepts of high-level Fa, including the structure of matter and cosmic space, without a total paradigm shift. We can try to briefly explain this to the experts or just ignore them.
Those who used Buddhist scripture to attack Dafa could be refuted with the fact that these scriptures were not Shakyamuni’s original words, but were recorded a few hundred years after Shakyamuni’s time. It’s almost certain that Shakyamuni’s original meaning would be lost in the process. Because of this, there is no way that these scriptures represent the sole truth of the universe.
Do Not Go to Their Offices
We should not visit the offices of CCP officials when they summon us. Going there indicates that we will cooperate with them, which leaves them with gaps to exploit. One small loophole could be seized to take advantage of other attachments. Some practitioners went to the local residential committee every day when they were asked to, and eventually gave in.
Do Not Provoke Party Officials
Many CCP officials like to save face and do many hypocritical acts. There are officials who intend to get a promotion by persecuting practitioners, but some do not intend to do us harm. Some others may even help us under the table. One of the officials in our local 610 Office said that they did not like to force people to do things against their will.
Many times, we don’t need to expose their hypocrisy in front of their subordinates. I openly expressed my gratitude to one official who secretly helped me in front of his colleagues in order to inspire kindness in him and his colleagues. In fact, many CCP officials do know that they will be held responsible for their actions, and some do think things over before doing anything harmful.
Our cultivation doesn’t just require us to be firm in our determination; it also requires us to have a good understanding of the Fa in order to keep up with the progress of Fa rectification.
I suggest that we all study Master’s “Digging Out the Roots” in Essentials for Further Advancement and “Using at Will” in Essentials for Further Advancement II a few more times to refresh our understandings.
Please kindly point out anything that’s not in line with the Fa.
Editor’s Note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)