The Lesson Learned from the UN Human Rights Convention

Master said “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!” (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.) (Official Translation)

After listening to this part of Master’s lecture, my immediate response is that I did not sense this problem in the past. Before this, I roughly knew that Master is rectifying the Fa, that the disciples of the Fa-rectification period will assist in it, and that the ordinary people are positioning themselves by supporting Dafa or denouncing the persecution. In practice, however, a lot of attachments have formed without me noticing. Especially when we obtain support from ordinary people’s society, an attachment has formed so easily: can we get more support from them? It looks as though the support from the ordinary people is the key factor that will restrain the persecution, and obtaining support from ordinary people becomes the goal for clarifying the truth.

For example, in the case of a lawsuit, the lawyer was very supportive, and very good in interacting with the media. My attachment of relying on the lawyer to facilitate a positive coverage in the media, and to rectify the incorrect usage of wording in the coverage was subsequently formed. However, the old forces never care about rescuing sentient beings with the righteous Fa at all. They persist in making interference, using Dafa disciples’ attachments as an excuse. Therefore, the disciples’ attachments always lead to the total opposite of desired results. When the attachment of anticipation crashes to the ground, I suddenly realise that I have failed to fulfill Master’s requirement: “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!” (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.) (Official Translation)

Long time before the UN Human Rights Convention was held this year, Dafa disciples from various countries had started clarifying the truth. However, there was huge interference in Geneva in March. On the surface, it was due to the war in Iraq. The war happened to begin in the same week as the Convention commenced, making every country busy with the warfare. The number of attendees to the Convention was greatly reduced. Some of the foreign ministers who originally intended to make speeches in the Convention were not able to attend. There were very few participants at the NGO symposium organised by practitioners. At that moment, my immediate feeling was that the situation we had been longing for did not occur. I did not clearly recognise my own attachment. Not until listening to Master’s Fa lecture in Chicago did I understand that the outcome of the UN Human Rights Convention was a loss caused by our attachment. Before the UN Human Rights Convention, I also thought that we should not rely on what the ordinary society could do for us. When I looked back, I found we wanted to avoid attachment in our actions, but at the root, we still hoped the UN Human Rights Convention would make a proposal to stop the persecution. We were still trapped in the attachment that the ordinary society would do something for us. Master’s lecture in Philadelphia is very clear. Moreover, we should have awakened and learned a lesson from the fact that the US was driven out of the UN Human Rights Commission. But I did not realise the problem because the situation of my Fa-study and the degree of searching inside were not sufficient.

I received a letter from a member of parliament. Along with the letter was a negative reply from a government minister about Falun Gong. This type of negative reply has been received several times. I searched inside with great disappointment, and I did find problems. The purpose of my letters to the members of parliament were very straightforward — making them do something to rescue the persecuted Dafa disciples as though the MP’s were the pivoting factor for the release of the disciples. The hidden attachment was very strong. On the other hand, my intention to make them understand the truth of persecution so as to save them was weak and uncertain. Even in the process of writing the letters, I did not write it from the standpoint of saving them. The whole thing became merely like work of ordinary people.

In the recent Fa lecture in Vancouver, Master said, “That’s why for Dafa disciples it’s significant, and a serious thing, to start from an ordinary person and be able to completely transcend ordinary people during this process, and on top of that, you’re cultivating in the ordinary society, and you have to meet higher standards—standards that transcend human society—and accomplish things that all cultivators throughout history have wanted to but never could accomplish. So things like your validating the Fa and saving sentient beings encompass how you improve yourselves, how you eliminate your omissions, things you’re still attached to, and all types of shortcomings. This way, no matter what forms from the ordinary society you use in validating the Fa, you’re cultivating, no matter what you do you’re improving, and no matter what you do you should do it with a cultivator’s state and not from the base point of an ordinary person. It’s clear what our starting point is. The essence of what you are doing as a cultivator is improving yourself and cultivating yourself, and, during this persecution, exposing the evil, bringing the persecution to an end, and rejecting the old forces’ arrangements. So a lot of the things you do look like what ordinary people do, but their very nature is different. The fundamental difference is that our ultimate goal and our starting point are different from theirs. We’re only utilizing some ordinary means in the ordinary society.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Conference in Vancouver, Canada) (Official translation). I feel what Master said has pointed out the problem of my mentality when writing the letters to the MP’s.

Master said, “Wherever there’s a problem, that is where you need to clarify the truth and save people.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Washington, D.C. Fa Conference) (official translation). However, in the actual process, I have treated receiving support from the ordinary people’s society as the goal, and clarifying the truth as the means. Under such logic, obtaining the support from MP’s is needed to save Dafa disciples, and clarifying the truth is needed before obtaining MP’s support. Neither did we firmly stand on the base point of saving sentient beings, nor did we securely place our own positions as Dafa disciples. So what can ordinary people do for us? Regardless of their rank, can they send forth righteous thoughts? Can they eliminate the evil beings that have caused the persecution, or the old forces that are manipulating? If ordinary people could resolve the problem, would Master have to rectify the Fa?

I personally believe this is also a problem as a whole. After Master taught the related Fa, Dafa disciples, as a whole, did not mutually discuss the problem, to establish a deeper understanding so as to resolve it. There were relatively fewer articles on the Internet published by the overseas Dafa disciples about searching inside and purifying themselves when doing Fa-rectification work. Some articles on the Internet published by disciples in China have described the situations of how some information stations in China were seriously destroyed. When the Chinese disciples searched inside, they found the state of Fa-study of the disciples participating in these information stations was not good. They were all busy doing things, leading to a lot of impure hearts, which in turn became an excuse for persecution of the old forces. Outside of China, our attachment will not incur persecution, such as loss of freedom, or being dragged to brainwashing. However, the attachment has provided an excuse for the old forces to make interference such as the case of the Human Rights convention. This is also a serious loss in terms of saving sentient beings. Just like our fellow practitioners in China who may lose freedom at any time, we have to solemnly treat our own Fa study and cultivation among Dafa work.

Master made the following statement in the Lantern Festival Fa conference this year.
Question: Will any Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple be left behind?

Teacher: No. If I left you behind you’d be destroyed, truly destroyed. That’s because if a person isn’t going forward, he’s going backward. Once you suddenly reach that state in this environment, then in this environment if you’re among humans and you are mixed in with humans to do things, your level will drop and you’ll gradually be polluted by humans. Haven’t I said that the Buddhas in the heavens and the Buddhas, Taos, and Gods in certain dimensions need to be replaced at set intervals? That’s because it’s easy for them to get polluted by the Three Realms, and so they need to be replaced.” (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference) (official translation)

I was shocked when I read this paragraph. I sensed the solemnity of cultivation and the danger of the ordinary world. What we discussed in the above also reflects the fact that it is very easy to generate attachment and then get polluted when we do things among humans. The attachment can be generated very easily especially when we achieve success in Dafa work or when we receive support from ordinary society. This paragraph of Fa makes me comprehend the importance of studying the Fa. Only if we continue to study the Fa, can we make ourselves sublime instead of being polluted.

My recent comprehension is that we should not indulge ourselves in doing things. We should remain capable of putting down Dafa’s work so that our mind and body are in a good cultivation state. Every time when my Fa study is insufficient, I can distinctly feel my body becomes heavy, lazy, short of energy, and gets tired very easily. As soon as I calm down and study a lecture of Zhuan Falun, I will feel my body is full of dense energy, and my mind becomes awakened. Furthermore, when I studied the Fa in the past, my sitting posture used to be quite relaxed. It could be cross-legged, lying on the desk or sitting deep into the sofa – whichever made me comfortable. However, I got sleepy very easily. Recently, I saw a westerner disciple studying the Fa with upright back and one hand holding the book, while the other set on the leg. I followed the posture, and found a good efficacy in Fa study. My mind remained awakened, and did not get sleepy as easily. I think only upright posture can match up the sacredness of Fa study.

The above is my personal understanding. Please compassionately correct me if anything inappropriate should exist.

Translated from Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200307/22060.html