An Understanding Of “Fa-rectification”

The phrase, “Fa-rectification” is often used by Falun Gong practitioners. I think that for non-practitioners, this term is difficult to understand, without some sort of explanation. I wanted to write an explanation of my understanding of what practitioners mean by the term Fa-rectification, to help non-practitioners to understand what this term means, should they encounter it when they read practitioners articles which use this term. Of course, this is only my understanding and cannot represent Falun Gong itself or the deeper meaning of Fa-rectification, which can only be understood through reading the books of Falun Gong for oneself.

The Chinese word Fa means a universal law or principle. According to the teachings of Falun Dafa, the most fundamental law or principle of this universe can be summarised in three words: Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. (Dafa means Great Law - this Great Law is this universal law of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.) So we can see that the phrase, “Fa-rectification” would naturally refer to rectifying what has deviated from this law or principle of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.

I think perhaps for many of us, both practitioners and non-practitioners alike, when we look at the world and society, perhaps we see many aspects which seem to be very deviated from Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. As practitioners, we hope that our kindness and goodness in society may have the natural effect of righting to a certain degree, these distorted things, but at the moment our chief concern and focus is with the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Practitioners hope very much that sometime in the future all these distorted elements and unrighteous aspects in society and the world will be resolved, and that people and society will eventually conform to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. (Who wouldn’t wish for this?) However, we feel that the most important thing for us right now is the persecution of Falun Gong in China. This is something which is so deviated from Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, it is impossible to describe how evil it really is. When practitioners use the term Fa-rectification it usually refers to our actions of exposing the evil persecution in China, and using every means at our disposal to stop the persecution and to restore the right for people to practice Falun Gong in China.

Falun Dafa is a righteous cultivation practice which can enable people to learn to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Therefore it makes sense that something which fundamentally opposes Falun Dafa itself, is something which opposes Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. There cannot be anything more deviated from Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance than something which directly persecutes it, with the sole intention of destroying it. Jiang’s regime has used every possible method of torture and persecution against Falun Gong practitioners, and used all possible means, including all the state controlled media to poison the minds of the Chinese people against Falun Gong with outrageous lies and propaganda. The purpose is to force practitioners to give up Falun Gong, and ultimately to destroy Falun Gong. So as practitioners, we understand that the persecution of Falun Gong is truly fundamentally deviated from the Fa (Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance), and needs to be rectified – it needs to stop. Hence we use the term Fa-rectification in reference to our appeals and actions of upholding the right to practice Falun Gong.

Of course, to truly rectify this, practitioners can only do it through embodying the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. The lies spread by Jiang’s regime have poisoned the minds of so many people against Falun Gong – once they know the truth, they would no longer support the persecution, and those who persecute Falun would have to stop their actions against the practitioners. However, to expose the truth of the persecution to people in China, practitioners must be prepared to overcome immeasurable hardships, hatred and difficulties with only their forbearance, wisdom and compassion.

There are many stories of practitioners in China who go to Tiananmen and appeal for Falun Dafa, displaying great courage for the sake of upholding their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Many are arrested and brutally beaten and tortured by policemen. Of course if practitioners were to return the blows, then they would not be following Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, and this would not be rectifying anything, it would just be causing an ordinary conflict. There are actually no reports at all of practitioners retaliating. There are many stories of how the practitioner’s compassion and forbearance has touched the hearts of those who persecute them, convincing them to stop their violent actions and to let go of their hatred for practitioners, and to respect Falun Dafa. There are stories of the prison guards in detention centres changing their attitude towards the practitioners, after they have seen their kindness in their actions and words and witnessed their selfless nature. There are many stories of practitioners being so righteous in their words and actions, that people no longer dare to persecute them, and begin to respect Falun Dafa. Once many people hear of the truth about Falun Dafa, they are free from the influence of the Jiang regime’s poisonous lies, and no longer wish to harm practitioners. We can see that the practitioners’ commitment to revealing the truth, along with their compassion and forbearance, is able to rectify the bad attitude of those who persecute Falun Gong, and is able to restrain it and stop it. We would certainly call this Fa-rectification.

The appeals that we do here in the west, such as public parades, or peaceful demonstrations outside the Chinese Embassy, we also understand to be an aspect of Fa-rectification. We are upholding the righteous principle that one should be allowed to believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, and we are appealing to people’s kindness to help support the practitioners in China, and to help end the persecution. The means we use are always peaceful, law-abiding, and appeal to people’s kind-nature. We never resort to anger, violence or aggression, and always clarify the truth with patience and compassion. The support and admiration we have gained has been enormous, and this has been done despite the enormous pressure from one of the world’s biggest superpowers with all of the state media under it’s control.

Isn’t all of this resolving something truly bad in nature with something truly good? Isn’t this rectifying something truly deviated from Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.?

There are many other ways to view and understand Fa-rectification. This is just the way I could think of to try to provide some sort of explanation. I hope it is useful, but please do not take it as a definition.

A practitioner in Europe