5/22/2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
Practitioner J: The Federal District Court in Chicago will make a decision during the next few weeks how to proceed with the lawsuit that Falun Gong practitioners lodged against Jiang Zemin and others.
The Chinese government has by now gone all out to lobby the American government to ask the court to cancel this case. When Chinese officials from various levels have met with American officials recently, they all exerted pressure on the American government, requesting that this case be cancelled. In addition, Chinese officials are purposely absent from some formal official exchanges between China and the US, with the excuse that they "fear being prosecuted in the US." They utilized this to coerce the Bush Administration to pressure the court to cancel this case. From this we can see that this lawsuit has had a great effect, and the evil has been frightened to death.
Practitioner S: If we can make full use of the opportunity of suing Jiang to spread the truth about Falun Gong to various places of the world and send Jiang to trial, it will be very important for Fa-rectification. If Jiang is therefore detained, then the evil will lose its reason for existence and the old forces will not allow it to exist anymore. As a result, the suppression of Falun Gong will stop and Dafa practitioners in China will be freed at an early date. Bringing Jiang to justice resembles "the relationship between skin and hair" - when the skin (Jiang) does not exist anymore, the hair (the evil persecution of Falun Gong and other people/groups) will die also. This will prohibit the evil that the old forces pressed into the human world to take any more advantage of Jiang, to survive and to harm humanity. With the current situation of the US lawsuit against Jiang, fellow practitioners' understanding and participation with righteous thoughts are becoming more and more critical from the perspective of Fa-rectification.
Practitioner G: Perhaps it is because this matter is of supreme importance. The old forces have severely restricted ordinary people from knowing about it. Although we first sued Jiang over half a year ago, people in society and the media has not said too much about this issue. We need to let people from all walks of life know about this matter and get them to talk about it to heighten public awareness. It has been suggested that all Dafa disciples pay special attention to this lawsuit against Jiang. We can invite experts, scholars and VIPs in various fields, as well as government representatives, to come together to talk about the lawsuit against Jiang. We can also hold various kinds of symposiums or public forums in which VIPs can speak and discuss this issue. All in all, we need to make a big fanfare around the issue of suing Jiang and help all in society discuss the meanings of the case. We need to keep up with reporting on the progress of the lawsuit against Jiang and ensure immediate release and circulation of relevant information. This requires global coordination, comprehensive coverage and action to facilitate worldwide reaction to the case.
Practitioner F: The "importance" here does not just mean the importance from the perspective of legal procedures or actions. As I perceive this, the correct understanding of this lawsuit should be from the perspective of "the requirements of Fa-rectification" rather than from the standpoint of ordinary people's pursuit. The only purpose of all of our activities clarifying the truth about Falun Gong is to offer salvation to sentient beings. The lawsuit has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to governments and their various departments in all countries, on all levels and to the greatest extent throughout the rest of human society -- to lawyers, experts and scholars in various fields, to non-governmental organizations and to various media, to various groups and individuals who care about the human rights situation in China, who are interested in the fate and future of China, and who are concerned about the economic and political situation in China as well as their business interests in China. Legal procedures have provided us with a tool and form to clarify the truth, but we should not put aside our mission of "offering salvation to sentient beings," and treat the tools and forms as our mission.
Practitioner B: To tell the truth about Falun Gong at "the highest level and the greatest extent of the human world" has imposed a very high requirement on us. Oftentimes, we find that even if we would like help to do something, we do not know whom we should ask for advice or instructions. I have also read reports saying that many truth-clarifying tasks are being performed, but it seems to be hard to find coordinators for these projects. I am also afraid that if I fail to do the work well, our Dafa work might create a negative effect. As a result, I dare not take any bold actions. I have also heard other practitioners say that this thing needs consultation with a lawyer and that things need to be checked with practitioners who have worked on government truth-clarifying projects. This indicates that practitioners who are in a similar situation to me have not yet truly understood the lawsuit. My usual action in the past was to click the mouse and email out the materials other practitioners prepared without my own thinking about the work I was doing. Although I have participated in the work, I do not really have a clear understanding of the matter. How then can my righteous thoughts be infused into the work I have done?
When every single Dafa practitioner can truly understand the requirements of the Fa-rectification process through Fa study without consultation with others about their understanding, the state of our whole body would then be correct and mature.
Practitioner C: I have the same feeling. I am an assistant. Some issues related to this lawsuit and some interpersonal conflicts that are apparently unrelated to me always get to me somehow. First, I tried my best to help solve it justly and objectively with no pre-set notions, and I would hope that both parties involved in the conflict could happily participate. Later, I found that I didn't place myself within the issue, and didn't apply my understandings truly obtained through cultivation. Therefore, although the conflicts seemed unrelated to me, they actually happened to me because of my lack of righteous thoughts and deep understandings. In the end, I knew how to coordinate this work from the standpoint of Fa-rectification instead of organizing and solving interpersonal conflicts, and the troubles suddenly stopped coming to me.
Practitioner D: The attitude of the US Department of Justice reflects our state. The current situation is caused by a lack of pure righteous thoughts on our part, and we didn't do well in truth clarification. We lack righteous thoughts on many aspects. For example, a) We treated the case of suing Jiang simply as a legal case, or we were afraid of and dared not participate, thinking that as laymen, we would mess up the work; b) We focused all of our attention on whether we could win this case, which is only a small part of the picture; and c) Do we have the mentality of relying on outsiders in hope they can influence the outcome?
Practitioner E: The Department of Justice and the State Department both have a clear-minded side and a sense of justice. Why would they take the side of the defendant? We were not very righteous! We didn't clarify the truth as thoroughly and deeply as we should have. As a whole body and many individual groups, we still have many omissions including those we realize and those we don't realize. Our omissions led to this situation in the everyday society, so we can't complain about everday people. If we truly do well, we can help them.
Practitioner F: Obviously, the US administrative departments are taking a political stand instead of making a legal argument according to the law; they are not discussing immunity. In fact, many more arguments and the case law benefit us more than them. This is only another example. Lawsuits and legal arguments are used to reach political goals. We practitioners should not simply talk about it as a legal lawsuit, saying we don't know anything about the law; we weren't trained in the law, etc. The defendant, the Department of Justice and we all know that this is not just a lawsuit. At least, neither the defendant nor the Department of Justice treats it as a lawsuit, so why would we do so? Thinking this case as a lawsuit doesn't give us any benefits to continue this act of justice, and instead we fall into the old force's trap.
Practitioner G: Master clearly told us in "Lecturing on and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,"
"But you often emphasize the results, instead of fully explaining to them the facts that you should explain during that process. Only when all people know the truth that they should know are you really validating the Fa and clarifying the facts. Wherever a problem surfaces, go tell people the facts, and you shouldn't be doing it just to push the lawsuit forward but to tell them the facts. And if the lawsuit is stuck somewhere, then that must be where it needs you to clarify the facts, and then maybe the lawsuit will naturally go forward."
Right now, the administrative departments don't know about the truth, so we should clarify the truth to them. Do we have the mentality of asking Congress and the media to do something for us, so the administrative departments have to change their thinking under pressure? If we do, we would be pursuing it and asking for help from ordinary people. We can clarify the truth to Congress, the media and anyone else. They might do something. What they might do is their own decision after they have learned the truth; it's a natural result and it's them choosing their own future. For us, it's most crucial to have a pure heart and firm righteous thoughts.
Practitioner C: Even until yesterday, I was hesitating and thinking about what questions I should ask the government officials in charge if I meet them. I don't want them to repeat the wrong things they said in the documents they delivered to the court and repeatedly place themselves in a wrong position. However, I wasn't sure what kind of questions I should raise to them to make a breakthrough and correct their mistakes. After I read more than two lectures of Zhuan Falun, a very righteous thought became clear. My problem was that I didn't believe in the Fa firmly enough. I was doubting whether I could get a good answer from them. As Dafa practitioners, if we firmly believe that Dafa is "In control of Heaven and Earth, rectifying the human realm," ("The Foretelling") we should be confident: Yes, they will change with our righteous thoughts; The US will have a bright future and we have to be responsible for a bright future for the US.
Practitioner T: Right. With righteous thoughts, good inquiries aren't a problem. The influence comes from the inquiries that we bring up out of our righteous thoughts, not the so-called answers that others give.
Practitioner L: Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,"
"With a Dafa like this, how could so many magnificent future Gods, magnificent Dafa disciples, who've been forged through Dafa cultivation put their hope in some ordinary person? Aren't we insulting ourselves?"
In the lawsuits that involve Dafa practitioners, whether it's our lawsuits prosecuting the evil or the evil persecuting us through their trials, who is the true ruler? Who is the true judge? In the lawsuits of ordinary society, the judges make decisions based on the human laws. The prosecutors and defendants also look for reasons based on the human laws in order to find justice. However, as far as the lawsuits related to the Fa-rectification are concerned, the human laws were originally part of the old forces' arrangement. In China, the Jiang's regime arbitrarily makes up laws to persecute Dafa and practitioners. Overseas, there are laws "protecting the freedom of speech and press" so that vicious lies could be easily propagated. Therefore, Dafa practitioners should have a clear understanding about our lawsuits. We do not depend on the courts to make a "fair" decision or the human laws to uphold justice. However, the human laws' making a fair judgment based on the facts would be the natural result of our deeply clarifying the truth.
Practitioner W: Human society changes with the progress of our clarifying the truth. As we make progress, society will change accordingly. Where we have broadly clarified the truth to all levels of society, many legal experts have indicated their support. Therefore, we should let go of our attachments and pursuits. We should put our hearts into how to clarify the truth during this process, fully utilize this lawsuit to save sentient beings, instead of only narrowly focusing on winning the lawsuit. Actually, if Dafa practitioners do not clarify the truth to the judges and the legal departments in the human society, they would be easily interfered with, and it would be very difficult for them to make a truly fair judgment.
Practitioner N: Some people believe that if we practitioners, as a party to the lawsuit, clarify the truth to the judges and the judiciary, that it somehow compromises justice? This is because in Western countries, there are some rules keeping the parties involved in a lawsuit from communicating with the judiciary. All difficulties and disturbances that happen during the Fa-rectification are actually caused by Dafa practitioners' hearts. Therefore whenever we are doing things, we should check ourselves for loopholes. I remember that during the Hong Kong "street obstruction" case, many Dafa practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts, hoping the judge would return a fair verdict. The result was not ideal. When practitioners improved based on the Fa and started to clarify the truth to society, the situation immediately changed.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,"
"As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts. Even though the old forces do exist, if you don't have those thoughts they can't do anything. When your righteous thoughts are strong enough the old forces can't do a thing. If someone in ordinary society really did restore our Dafa's name, think about it, maybe human beings will do this, but have you thought about this: how high would I have to position that person? Isn't that right? You're cultivators, and all changes come from your cultivation and the Fa-rectification; everything that you yourselves validate and enlighten to, and everything that you'll receive, all this comes from what you have done on your path. Absolutely don't think about any favors the old forces might do for us, or about how the ordinary society might help us. You are the ones saving the ordinary people's society, and you are the ones saving sentient beings!"
We are Dafa disciples. How could we rely on judges to make the difference? Maybe it was this mentality of pursuit that provided a loophole for the old forces.
Practitioner M: The lawsuit against Jiang itself has already surmounted the level of what human laws could handle. In history, the old forces did not arrange a precedent of a lawsuit in which a head of state was prosecuted. When clarifying the truth using this lawsuit, Dafa practitioners really should not hold on to any human notions. On the contrary, if we do our best to clarify the truth to the people of the world that what Jiang is doing is in fact a genocide of Falun Gong practitioners, and relate how the persecution of Falun Gong is in fact a persecution of whole human race, when we have helped everyone in the world to learn the truth, there will be no more need for the lawsuit. The true judge of any lawsuit during the Fa-rectification is actually Dafa practitioners. When our understanding as a whole body reaches the requirement of the Fa; when our whole body forms an indestructible, powerful field of righteous thoughts; when our truth clarification comes into people's hearts; when we thoroughly expose the evil, isn't it clear what the outcome of the trial will be?
Practitioner QJ: In fact people in the ordinary society are all anxiously waiting for Dafa practitioners to clarify the truth to them. I have heard people say, "Jiang has committed so many crimes; he should have been brought to justice long ago." When some congressional aides learned that Jiang was sued in US federal court for genocide, they were shocked. The charge of genocide woke up many people, and also frightened many evildoers. What the evil fears most is what we need to do most.
Practitioner Y: Master said in "Lecturing on and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,"
"What you expose is the evil, the evilness of that political gang of hooligans, and the purpose is to suppress the evil, to eliminate the evil, and to eliminate the persecution of Dafa disciples and Dafa (applause). It isn't about getting ordinary people's things in the ordinary world. So when you do things, you have to do them on the basis of Dafa disciples. You need to have ordinary people understand the things you do. Don't make ordinary people think we're after some ordinary thing--absolutely not!"
Practitioner J: People in some countries have put forth the suggestion to prosecute the president of the United States, which has worried certain people. The reason Jiang is sued is because he has committed genocide against Falun Gong practitioners, their family members, relatives and friends. Therefore, it is improper to suggest that we can't sue Jiang just because some people may want to sue the US president. This makes obvious the need and importance for us to clarify the truth and expose the evil nature of Jiang's regime, and help people in the world understand that Jiang's crimes are really evil. How to clearly explain the nature of this persecution to society and governments is still something we need to break through. If we don't have a deep understanding ourselves, we will have a hard time explaining it clearly, and the old forces will make everyday people confused. We urgently need to further thoroughly clarify these issues.
Practitioner P: There is another trend that warrants our attention. Even though we are no longer goaded to "put out fires" one after another, we are still displaying the "putting out fires" mindset. The intention of suing Jiang is to disrupt the evil's offensive, causing them to rush around busying themselves with "putting out fires." However, some practitioners' righteous understanding and participation with righteous thoughts in this matter seem to be restrained unless it is a matter of urgency. They have treated this matter passively. Through Fa-study I realize that only when we understand from the Fa the display of the overall progress of Fa-rectification in the human world, can we actively eliminate the evil and not be led by the old forces to "put out fires" here and there.
Practitioner T: Since the overall state of mind of practitioners hasn't met the requirement of the Fa-rectification, it is not very easy for the practitioners directly involved in the lawsuit to go each step forward. When practitioners who realize the importance of the lawsuit share their understanding with others and propose certain activities, they often encounter considerable resistance. Sometimes they seem to be going it alone, and there is seemingly not a team to provide support and coordination. If all practitioners who have understood this critical issue can step forward to share their understanding from the Fa with others, take the initiative to coordinate this matter and form a stronger voice, we will have more practitioners understand and the support the "Bring Jiang to Justice" initiative.
Practitioner Q: Each truth-clarification team should respond to the lawsuit issue swiftly according to the needs and characteristics of the team. For example, we could prepare certain talking points according to the facts and help the media spread the news; we could tell the Chinese people about the lawsuit against Jiang; we could let the professors and scholars of politics, history, law, philosophy and other disciplines know about the crimes committed by Jiang. In addition, we should also put together the issues of rescuing Charles Li, rescuing family members, and international investigations while clarifying the truth about the lawsuit. Every fact to clarify is an indictment against Jiang, and every thing we do reflects the necessity and urgency of our rescue effort. We shouldn't miss any detail, and whatever we do, it should now be centered on the theme of "Bring Jiang to Justice."
Practitioner D: We should not blame everyday people, instead we should use our compassion to clarify the truth, and help them understand what they should do and what their responsibilities and obligations are towards society and the world, and help them see through the evil and oppose the persecution.
The above are the personal understandings of some Dafa practitioners at their current levels. Please mercifully point out any thing inappropriate.