Fully Utilizing Court Proceedings to Save Sentient Beings

Recently, a local Chinese court, under authority of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), illegally put four Dafa practitioners on trial for the so-called "Crime for Hindering Law Implementation by Using an Illegal Religion." Eight lawyers represented the Falun Gong practitioners, and submitted pleas of "not guilty." Fellow practitioners also took part by sending forth righteous thoughts. The court proceedings took as long as four days, and this battle between good and evil ended with the courts adjournment awaiting a decision. The following are my understandings gained in the process of the defence submitting "not guilty" pleas.

I. The Purpose of Hiring Lawyers to Defend Falun Gong Practitioners

Due to the fact that the local lawyers were afraid of taking a case defending Falun Gong practitioners, it was decided that lawyers from out of the area should be sought. As to whether or not lawyers should be hired, there was much disagreement among practitioners to begin with. Through sharing and discussions, the decision came out of an understanding that human law is a tool that could be used to validate the Fa. Utilizing the judicial system and the defending lawyers' arguments would expose the evil, and would be an opportunity to inform other judicial representatives and people in attendance, in order to help save them. In "Fa Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners," Teacher mentioned using China's "grand and magnificent" law to sue the evil. Therefore, the law can be utilized to prove the unlawfulness of the persecution and restore Falun Gong practitioners' innocence. This goal has already been achieved in the process of defending their rights.

A. Dafa Practitioners were Able to Clarify the Facts in a Dignified Way

The usual procedure in any other courtroom, for the so-called "sentencing" of Dafa practitioners, is nothing more than a formality where practitioners are not allowed to defend themselves. Yet this time the court hearing was entirely different. With the participation of lawyers, legal proceedings were based on proper court procedures. Lawyers fought for the opportunity to allow practitioners time to present arguments for their individual cases. This defence was also a process of clarifying the truth for Falun Gong. The four practitioners clearly told all present about the changes to their physical and mental conditions after practising Falun Gong, and about not wanting to give up their cultivation practice even under the extreme pressure of the persecution. One practitioner tearfully said, "Even though I have been unfairly treated in every aspect, I do not hate the police who persecuted me. As for you [meaning those participating in the illegal proceedings], even though I have only known you for a few hours, for your own sake, I sincerely hope that you understand the facts and that you have a bright future." Her heartfelt, compassionate words shook everyone inside the courtroom, and some in the audience had tears in their eyes.

When the defending practitioners talked about how they were tortured during the CCP's attempt to extort confessions from them, they spoke of unthinkable pain that shocked members of the audience. After listening to these ordeals, one lawyer said, "This kind of torture should only be found in a novel, but it is actually taking place--this is our Chinese shame!"

B. Righteous Lawyers Defending the Rights of Dafa Practitioners Helped the Court to Understand the Facts

By means of the court proceedings, the defence lawyers were able to utilize their knowledge of the law to explain and interpret the rights of freedom of belief, as stated in the Chinese Constitution. They were also able to expose how "the talk" of some leaders in the CCP, as well as the "special report" in the People's Daily, cannot be interpreted as law, and punishments cannot be based on those interpretations. Some department's stipulations are against the Constitution and cannot be used for the purpose of court proceedings.

The lawyers representing Falun Gong practitioners scrutinized every aspect of the files presented by the prosecution. They stated that any written confessions presented by the police, that were extracted by force, cannot be used as evidence for this trial, let alone all the so-called evidence that can be deemed as contradictory. From the start of this case, it was obvious that it was not based on any investigative results, but on fabrications. The police had first labelled and victimized practitioners as "criminals," then began collecting the so-called evidence to sentence them. What the lawyers were contending, or rather explaining, made the prosecutors speechless, and their only response was that there were "errors in writing," or else they parroted the usual outright slander against Dafa.

The lawyers' use of righteous language in court enabled those in attendance to understand that the trial was unreasonable and irrational. The following day, court proceedings lasted only for two hours. One person in the audience shouted, "Go plot at home."

II. The Starring Role of Dafa Practitioners in this Grand Play

In my understand, the lawyers hired for the defence were there to coordinate proceedings for practitioners to clarify the facts. Practitioners initiated the proceedings that were able to touch the people in the court, and disintegrate the evil elements acting in other dimensions.

A. Doing Well at Clarifying the Truth to Lawyers

From the time that no lawyer wanted to defend Falun Gong, to the time that eight lawyers gathered to boldly and vigorously stand up to defend Falun Gong, this unbelievable progress clearly demonstrates that clarifying the truth to lawyers and the process of Fa-rectification are taking effect at an amazing rate. This has actually caused the vicious elements of the old forces in other dimensions, as well as on earth, to become weaker and weaker, helping more people to awaken. The voice of righteousness has begun to resound among people around the world.

Local lawyers didn't have the courage to accept the case to defend Falun Gong practitioners, mainly due to the local government's pressure and their lack of understanding of Falun Gong. So it was deemed necessary to hire lawyers from out of town. This also enabled the lawyers in this area to understand the truth of the persecution.

Before the start of the court trial, fellow practitioners divided into teams to clarify the truth to lawyers from the various local law offices. Even though they still didn't want to take the case, they were willing to attend the trial. When the defending lawyers arrived, local practitioners went to clarify the truth to them and advised them to do the "three withdrawals" [to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations - the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers]. Of these lawyers, one of them withdrew from the Youth League. Throughout the process of truth clarification, Dafa practitioners remained dignified and maintained upright attitudes, greatly impressing the defence lawyers who indicated that they would be more than happy to help if they should be required in the future.

B. Dafa Practitioners Send Forth Righteous Thoughts with Coordinated Efforts to Disintegrate the Evil

At every illegal court trial, the evil gathered lots of rotten ghosts for the job, which proved to be a good opportunity to disintegrate them. So prior to the trial, all practitioners were asked to send forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate all evil and bad elements. During the trial, some practitioners attended the trial and sat among the audience in court to support fellow practitioners, but the majority of practitioners were outside the court quietly sending forth righteous thoughts, just as Teacher said,

"As a matter of fact, during the persecution and as you validate the Fa, what you see in the human world is pretty calm. But in other dimensions the influence is huge, and the impact is huge. Every time you have an event there's a big battle between good and evil in the heavens" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference," Li Hongzhi, June 22, 2003, in Chicago).

Three days into the trial, judges took a go-slow tactic, with the next day's proceedings only lasting two hours, prolonging the original trial to four days. Fellow practitioners were looking within to find if any gaps might be taken advantage of by the evil, while constantly sending forth strong righteous thoughts to eliminate all evil that was acting in other dimensions. One lawyer commented on the prolonged trial, "This is giving us an opportunity to make adjustments, and you guys could promote Falun Gong."

This was exactly right! Every time the evil stages some ugly acts, it presents an opportunity to clarify the facts and eliminate the evil. At the same time, there was no attachment to the trial results. Even though there were righteous lawyers defending Falun Gong in court, the defence was merely a superficial form to assist practitioners in clarifying the truth and to help the judiciary to understand the truth of Falun Gong, so that in the end they could naturally have a good future.