(Minghui.org) Teacher said:

“… because forced persecution that's not acknowledged is a crime, and the cosmos's old laws don't allow it either--irrational persecution absolutely is not allowed, and the old forces don't dare to do it if that is the situation. So you should do things as righteously as you can.” (“Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)

Over the past 20 years of persecution, many practitioners may have had thoughts that acknowledge the persecution. For example: “What if I am caught?” or “What shall I do if I am put in jail?” These thoughts have arisen in our minds as we were about to do Fa-validating activities. Some of my thoughts were even somewhat peculiar. For example, I had thoughts like, “Which trousers are better for jail?” or, “I need to put on a few more clothes so I can wash them in the jail.” These thoughts would occur as I was getting dressed before going out to talk to people about Falun Gong.

Sometimes the thoughts would occur even when I was simply sitting and reciting Master Li's works: “I just need to maintain this stance and recite Dafa when I am in jail.” I understood that the old forces force such thoughts of persecution on us. This was not my own thought.

We fall into the traps set by the old forces when we follow their thread of thinking. It is equivalent to our acknowledging and accepting the persecution they try to force upon us.

Here are two examples of following or negating the thoughts forced on us by the old forces:

Once, a fellow practitioner and I went to the Domestic Security Division of a police department to talk to them about Falun Gong. The thought, “What if I am arrested?” occurred to me right before we departed. I did not negate and get rid of the thought immediately. Rather, I followed the thought and acted on it. I put away the few dozen currency bills with Dafa information written on them and hid my MP3. It turned out that I was indeed arrested later on, and detained for a few months.

Another time, I went to a prison to bring a fellow practitioner home. “What if I am detained by agents from the 610 Office?” That thought occurred to me as I left home. I rejected the thought right away: “This is not my thought. No one is qualified to persecute me.” Later on, I was indeed detained, but this time I was released within an hour.

Whether a practitioner can stop the persecution of the old forces depends on each and every thought. As long as we can distinguish the bad thoughts that the old forces put on us and reject them with our righteous thoughts, the persecution of the old forces cannot be extended to the real world, and they will be dissolved before we know it.