Despite the Ups and Downs Falun Gong Practitioners Still Stand Firm After Their Twelve Year Journey of Safeguarding Dafa

May 13, marks the twelfth anniversary of Falun Gong practitioners' journey of safeguarding Dafa. During the past twelve years Falun Gong practitioners have never wavered no matter what kind of obstacles they encountered, be it misunderstanding and hidden suppression before the persecution began, or the blatant lies and brutal persecution orchestrated by Jiang's regime. Falun Gong practitioners have survived and prospered during the persecution, drawing worldwide attention. In addition, numerous Falun Gong practitioners have courageously stepped forward to safeguard Dafa.

Clarifying the truth and safeguarding Dafa is of utmost importance to practitioners, as is safeguarding one's own right of practising cultivation and maintaining a normal cultivation environment.

For monks and Taoists, temples and monasteries are their cultivation environments. If their temples and monasteries are destroyed, they have to return to the secular world. Monks are no longer monks and Taoists are no longer Taoists.

Falun Gong is a not a religion, but a Buddha school cultivation method practised in everyday society. It is different from traditional religions. Falun Gong does not have temples, nor does it follow any religious formalities. Cultivators need not go to temples. They simply cultivate and improve themselves in the complex environment of everyday people. What is more important is that Falun Gong is not just taught only to certain people, but to millions of predestined people all around the world.

To Falun Gong practitioners, the everyday society is their cultivation environment. Falun Gong practice can help people improve their health and elevate their moral character. It is beneficial to society and does no harm whatsoever.

Therefore, a free environment is required for Falun Gong practice, so practitioners can go to parks to practice in the morning, and study the Fa in the evening. Moreover, they often share experiences with each other, and Falun Gong books must be published freely. All they need is such an environment without official propaganda that instigates hatred. It is not a high requirement because practitioners do not require the government to spend any money or human resources. Instead, they only request the government not spread hate propaganda.

If we consider the social environment required by Falun Gong practitioners as a big temple, then the persecution of Falun Gong is equivalent to destroying the temple, and causing Falun Gong practitioners to lose their normal place of cultivation. But practitioners don't want to hide at home, being like "monks who have returned to the secular world." They don't want to be forced to say things against Dafa that they do not want to say. The persecution intends to have practitioners deviate from Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, until they fail in cultivation. Furthermore, Jiang's regime attempts to transform practitioners' thoughts, and destroy their bodies and souls.

Then is it right for practitioners who follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance to come forward to safeguard the cultivation environment' Of course it is right. "Tolerance" is not passive endurance of slander and suppression, but validation of and persistence in the truth and the basic human rights bestowed on Chinese citizens by the Chinese Constitution. A person who follows "Truthfulness" can endure the loss of personal interests, and step forward to safeguard Dafa when people with ill intentions slander Dafa. A person who follows "Compassion" will clarify the truth to people who live in delusion and are deceived by the lies. People who follow Truthfulness and Compassion are also displaying their Tolerance.

When a wall is going to collapse, those who run away without thinking of others' safety are not people who practice "Tolerance." They are cowards. Those who support the wall with their own bodies so as to save others are people who truly practice "Tolerance." Their tolerance is the manifestation of their indestructible willpower.

For the past several years, when faced with violence, propaganda, and brainwashing by Jiang's regime, Falun Gong practitioners have used their tolerant hearts to clarify the truth to people, expose the lies and violent actions, and call for an end to the persecution.

In China, practitioners appeal by going to Tiananmen Square to unfurl banners, and distribute truth-clarification flyers and CDs around the country. Outside of China, practitioners go to the Chinese embassies or consulates almost 365 days a year to call for an end to the persecution. In China, practitioners intercept TV signals to broadcast the truth of Falun Gong. Outside of China, overseas practitioners make phone calls and send emails to China to expose the evil lies of Jiang's regime, and inform people of the lawsuits against Jiang and his accomplices in overseas courts.

Everything practitioners do is practising Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.

Having gone through the past twelve years of ups and downs, Falun Gong practitioners have become more and more mature amidst the persecution. Falun Dafa is bound to spread to more countries and benefit more people in the world. No matter how rampant the evil becomes, when confronted with peaceful, rational, and compassionate practitioners, it will become fragile. Jiang's regime will most certainly be brought to justice.