Realize What Fa Rectification Requires – While Not Getting Involved in Politics

(Minghui.org) Maybe I’ve waited for too long, but I would like to point out the obvious: as Dafa disciples, we want to offer everyone salvation while not getting bogged down in world affairs in and of themselves.

Keeping the Distinction Clear

In the past couple of years, many practitioners have come to an understanding that a certain country’s new government, though somewhat controversial, is on the right side of history, supports us or would support us, and opposes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and communism, whereas they think the other party is, for the most part, the opposite.

I don’t support or object to that analysis, nor do I think it’s even necessary. I think every practitioner can judge things based on the Fa.

If certain people in power have relatively righteous thoughts toward Dafa and understand communism is bad, that’s great for them and probably good news for the people of their country.

But there’s a world of difference between that and actively promoting specific politicians among practitioners and towards society and publicly supporting everything they do. We should consider that there are also many people around the world, whom we want to save, who hold negative opinions of these leaders. Some other practitioners just as publicly oppose this new government or certain people within it.

In my understanding, to help people be saved, we don’t need to promote good things or good people in society. Just like for atheists to be saved, we don’t need to convince them that the divine exists—it’s enough that they understand that Falun Gong is good and the CCP’s persecution is bad. We should not add unnecessary elements that could become obstacles for their salvation by provoking their attachments.

Master said in “Fa Teaching at the New York Fa Conference on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Dafa’s Introduction to the Public:”

“Actually that is not the case, whether or not they believe in Gods has nothing to do with their quitting the Party. It’s not that if they believe in Gods they will quit the Party. […] As for whether or not they believe in Gods, that is in fact not the biggest obstacle. […]”

On a deeper level, when a large number of Dafa disciples start getting involved in politics, support certain people in power (or oppose them), and even start to rely on them, this is a gap that’s easy for the old forces to use to turn these good people bad. Hypothetically, if those leaders start making deals with the CCP, would you turn around and criticize them instead of looking within for the cause?

Master said in “Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting:”

“As for how a certain government or so-and-so is doing, a cultivator doesn’t have to give this any thought whatsoever. Don’t give it any thought or concern. Just think, “I came to save sentient beings, and that’s that.” Someone might be in power today, and tomorrow it might be someone else, but whoever wants to be in power, so be it. It is arranged by gods, so it is what it is. If you focus your attention on this, it means that your thinking has gone off track. The moment you think like that, it’s a deviation. Don’t concern yourself with such things, and just do what you should. What usually happens is that the more attached to something you become, the greater the likelihood that problems will follow and form into something like a test of your xinxing. The more you ignore such things, the better. You have your path, while human beings have their affairs. You have things that you need to do. Don’t give any concern or attention to political things or what happens between parties.”

I understand there is a difference between exposing the evils of communism in the West and expressing overt support for or objection to politicians or political parties. If these evils are well laid out, people can draw their own conclusions.

Exposing the Evils of Communism in the West

The Epoch Times recently published a few books on the control and destruction communism has wreaked on the world at large. Actually, Master has mentioned this a long time ago.

Master wrote:

“As to the sentence “before and after Mars reigns,” it means to say that [Karl] Marx is ruling the world before and after the year 1999. Actually, not only those societies ruled by the vile communist party are now practicing Marxism. The social welfare system and its kin adopted by the developed countries of the world are also wicked communist things within capitalism. Those appear to be free societies, yet it seems that the whole world is in fact practicing communism. People who come to the developed countries in the West from countries ruled by the evil communists share one impression: “It feels like communism here, except they don’t advocate violent revolution.”” (“In Reference to a Prophecy” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

Master also said in “Fa Teaching at the New York Fa Conference on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Dafa’s Introduction to the Public:”

“Disciple: The communist evil specter tries to control Western society. How should we deal with this?

Master: Actually it has been in control for a long time. I just said negative elements have already occupied the world. (Master laughs) You cannot understand this so profoundly. Human beings see different manifestations on the surface, and those are only mutual conflicts created by different human thinking and social forms. The negative elements are all brought by the red demon. I’ll talk about it in the future, as it involves things of the future on the surface regarding human beings when the Fa rectifies the human world.”

In my very limited understanding, Fa-rectification is again undergoing a change in the cosmic climate, and perhaps now is the time to help those in the Western world who find it hard to accept Dafa because of notions that align with communism.

I believe the basic tenets of truth-clarification have not changed. When someone truly realizes Falun Gong is good and the persecution is bad, he has chosen his path well. Thus, I don’t think this perceived change in Fa-rectification changes the basic way we clarify the truth in the west.

However, perhaps the publication of these books, like the publication of the Nine Commentaries back in late 2004, serves the same function for people outside of China.

Master said in “Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago:”

“Having been ruled by the CCP for decades, today's Chinese people have been thoroughly brainwashed. The words that Mainland Chinese people use, the way they think, and how they look at things are all brimming with what the CCP has instilled in them... So when the wicked CCP says something, they basically don't even think about it, [saying to themselves,] "Whatever it says is good must be good, and whatever it says is bad must be bad, so when it says that Falun Gong is bad, then you Falun Gong people most likely really are that way." They don't listen when you try to clarify the facts to them. Given this situation, what should we do? Dafa disciples have a mission to save them. So we will expose the wicked Party's ignoble nature, from past to present, and thereby help the world's people see it for what it is and decide if they still want to believe what it says. Experience has shown that once people come to know these things, upon our telling them the facts again they understand everything, and they are willing to listen. That is what the Nine Commentaries is doing.”

My understanding is that, aside from what our media is doing, if in our other truth-clarification activities, including directly as practitioners, we encounter people who have obstacles in their minds coming from communism, we should–as always–help them exactly where they are stuck and expose the fallacies and evils communism has brought to the rest of the world.

I have personally observed quite a few such people who were much more open to discussing these things in the past year or so than before.

Media Coverage

While our media outlets do have to report on politics, and they want to do a better job at it than most mainstream media, my understanding is that this does not extend to all practitioners.

It may also be the case that our media could be even more effective by focusing on reporting the news that’s important for people’s present and future vital interests, so they can make informed decisions in their lives (including the most important one). In my understanding, this is the basic job of news media. Our media can let people realize things for themselves, with less overt bias toward certain views or writing opinion pieces.

In the same paragraph I quoted from “Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting,” Master said:

“Of course, our media don’t really have a choice about reporting on it, since those are probably things that ordinary people are interested in. In that case you can just report as others do, and not write opinion pieces. You can just carry others’ reports. And we don’t write opinion pieces on inter-party squabbles. So that’s the approach you can take to news that’s of interest to people, until the persecution has ended and the media run by Dafa disciples have fully become a regular part of society.”

I would like to conclude with what Master said in “Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference:”

“Disciple: Is the current state of affairs in Taiwan something that Dafa disciples’ attachments brought about, or is it an old force arrangement?

Master: Here’s how I’d put it. The old forces indeed have their arrangements at work there, but if Dafa disciples fail to do well, then it becomes an issue of cultivation for you as individuals. And if a region’s Dafa disciples fail to do well, then that region will experience problems that were brought about by human attachments—problems born from the attachments found among our students. So, if still more Taiwanese Dafa disciples haven’t done well in regards to a certain issue, then it will indeed impact the state of affairs in that place. Of course, I’m not saying that Taiwan’s Dafa disciples haven’t done well; some things are old force interference. For example, if our Dafa disciples didn’t previously have human attachments that caused them to think divisively along Blue-Green political party lines, the situation would be better today. I brought this up repeatedly, right from the start, since I saw what the consequences would be. But, some students give more weight to political affiliations than to cultivation. Human attachments are indeed hard to remove.”

There have been too many bitter lessons in the decades since the Fa has been imparted. I think there is a narrow line between understanding what Fa-rectification demands of us and getting involved in ordinary people’s things. Maybe as we get closer to the end, and as we make more inroads into society, the line is finer and the requirement is higher. As we near the end, we should be rational and play the leading role well. We should not allow our human attachments to form obstacles for the salvation of sentient beings.