Looking at Article 23 from the Perspective of Fa-Rectification By a Dafa practitioner abroad
(Clearwisdom.net) It has been a while since the "consultation exercise" for Article
23 of Hong Kong's Basic Law began on September 25, and the consultation period will end on December
24. Since we have all been busy with other Fa-rectification work, practitioners outside Hong Kong
didn't have the time to learn much about Article 23. Recently, some practitioners in my area had the
opportunity to learn about Article 23 in a relatively thorough way. We exchanged opinions from the
perspective of the Fa, which enabled all of us to gain a deeper and thorough understanding on this
issue. Below is the summary of some important points we made, to share with fellow practitioners. 1. Article 23 is Directed at Dafa In "Enlightenment" of Essential For Further Advancement, Master told us to
"distinguish the righteous from the evil." Faced with the current situation, we must look
through the trivial and the illusions on the surface of human dimensions and recognize the nature
and motives of the Hong Kong government for establishing Article 23, the anti-subversion law. Looking at the surface, I understand the direct cause for the Hong Kong government to enact
Article 23 is the arrest and sentencing of 16 Dafa practitioners earlier this year. The Hong Kong
police applied laws governing merchants and vendors against Dafa practitioners' peaceful appeal,
which made the Hong Kong government and police seem ridiculous before the governments and people of
the world. Therefore, the Hong Kong government and police needed a new "law" to deal with
peaceful appeals. A major official from the Jiang's government also publicly requested the Hong Kong
government to make a law against Falun Gong. This is very similar to the situation in Mainland
China, when Jiang urged the People's Congress to create laws to justify the persecution against
Falun Gong, after the persecution had already begun on July 20, 1999. The passage of Article 23 will immediately enable the Hong Kong government and police to ban,
strike and persecute Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong. It appears, then, the
nature and motive for the enactment of Article 23 is to persecute Falun Gong. On the surface, the Hong Kong government claims that Article 23 is not directed against any
single organization, although this is only an attempt to deceive people. Of course, aside from Falun
Gong, other democratic, free, human rights and religious organizations in Hong Kong will also become
targets, and every citizen of Hong Kong will become a potential target. Looking at it from another
perspective, in order to extend the anti-Falun Gong political movement into Hong Kong, Jiang's
regime is willing sacrifice the fundamental interests of six million Hong Kong citizens. We can see
how crazy and hysterical the evil is in persecuting Dafa. When we have a clear understanding of the motives and nature of Article 23, we will see that
opposing and resisting Article 23 is a process and opportunity to thoroughly and comprehensively
clarify the truth. Through clarification, we will let more people learn about the truth so they
won't side with the evil. 2. A Good Starting Point for Truth Clarification Article 23 involves many aspects and is aimed against many different people. Any individual or
group organizations involving democracy, freedom, human rights, religions and beliefs are direct or
potential targets for persecution. Since Hong Kong is an international city, this incident involves
governments, businesses and people of many countries in the world. Since it's easy for ordinary people to understand the consequences of Article 23, it is at the
same time a great starting point to clarify the truth to them. Here are some suggestions: 3. What Facts Are We Going to Clarify? Since the current situation is much different from previous times, we also touched upon a
practical issue during discussion: what facts should we clarify as Falun Gong practitioners? Through
exchanging opinions, we realized that the content and emphasis of truth clarification should be
different in different environments, situations and with different people. According to people's
different ability to accept the truth, we summarized several main points: 4. Eliminate the Evil Substances and Offer Salvation to People with Powerful Righteous Thoughts Master does not at all acknowledge the old forces' arrangements in Fa-rectification. Dafa
practitioners must break away from the old forces' arrangements. Since the old forces want to extend
the persecution against Dafa into Hong Kong, Dafa practitioners can eliminate it with powerful
righteous thoughts and not allow the old forces to further interfere with Fa-rectification. Dafa
practitioners can also use pure and powerful righteous thoughts to completely eliminate all evil
elements manipulating and controlling people's minds, so people can see the nature of the evil.
Although the evil elements are already extremely sparse and weak, only when Dafa practitioners
completely eliminate them with righteous thoughts will the world's people be able to easily become
clear-headed. Prior to December 24, people can express opposing views on Article 23 by accessing http://www.article23.org.hk/english/main.htm
(there is detailed background information on this website. People can voice their opinions). We
should express our opinions in a timely manner but this should not limit us. We are Dafa
practitioners; in Fa-rectification we offer salvation to people. 5. Remember We Are Dafa Practitioners Offering Salvation to People Some fellow practitioners said, "When I first read the content of Article 23, I was very
angry, but since anger is the manifestation of demon nature, I calmed down and read Master's
scripture 'Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Experience Sharing Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,' and
afterwards I realized the evil beings have again used the evil thugs to do this, and they are
staging this farce using the attachments some practitioners still have." Master said, "As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the
result of Dafa disciples' attachments. Even though the old forces do exist, if you don't have those
attachments, they can't do anything. When your righteous thoughts are strong enough the old forces
can do nothing." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Experience Sharing Conference in
Philadelphia, U.S.A.") If, starting from now, we do well in studying the Fa, clarify the truth and sending forth
righteous thoughts, which are required of us by Fa-rectification; if we do our best to eliminate the
degenerated material elements and our omitted human notions outside and inside our dimensional
field; if we do not leave any gaps for the evil and remember the lesson we learned from the
Sixteenth Party's Congress, and stop treating this issue with an ordinary person's mentality, we
will surely do better. "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!" "But when you're among ordinary people and you face these issues, although you've had
different thoughts, and we might even have more people who have different understandings and who
display some human attachments, it's not all that surprising. That's because while you're improving
yourself in cultivation, your path of validating Dafa, of saving sentient beings, and of moving
towards the final Consummation is going to be a bumpy one. What's key is that you take every
step well after you come to realize something." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Experience
Sharing Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") Posting date: 12/14/2002 |