"Can We Face the Persecution with a Smile, No Matter the Circumstances?" is an article published on the Minghui website (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/6/1/107909.html). After reading through the article, I think the author missed a very important point, which is "......use righteous thoughts to turn the tables on the bad people and stop the persecution." ( "Stop the Evil Acts with Righteous Thoughts"). Strictly speaking, "facing the persecution with a smile" is not an appropriate thing to do for a practitioner.
Teacher said in "Stop the Evil Acts with Righteous Thoughts":
"These righteous thoughts are to stop wicked people from doing evil, to warn other bad people, and to prevent the world's people from committing sins, and their purpose is still to save all beings."
My understanding is that while facing the persecution, we should never forget to use righteous thoughts to turn the tables on the people carrying out the persecution. We all know that during the Fa rectification period, the persecution of practitioners is far beyond the persecution of each individual. It is an insult and desecration of Dafa. We cannot endure the persecution passively or acknowledge it in any form. Instead, we should use strong righteous thoughts to stop the persecution and evildoers, and safeguard Dafa's dignity.
Teacher told us what to do while facing the persecution,
"But the premise is that you have strong righteous thoughts, no fear, and no human attachments, apprehension, or hatred; only when you're in that state will it be effective, and it will take effect as soon as your thoughts emerge." ("Stop the Evil Acts with Righteous Thoughts")
By sending righteous thoughts with the right state as Teacher said, we can stop the evil and safeguard Dafa. Regarding our facial expression under such circumstances, I feel that instead of smiling, we should keep a compassionate, calm, dignified and serious expression. At the same time, "face the evil people with righteous thoughts at all times" ("Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful", Essentials for Further Advancement II).
If our righteous thoughts don't achieve the expected result in regards to the persecution, we should look inward based on what Teacher said: are our righteous thoughts strong? do we have any fear or attachment? do we have apprehension or hatred? Then we should adjust our xinxing (character) if we are falling short.
Why should we not smile while facing the persecution? We know from many practitioners' articles that recall Teacher giving lectures in China during the early years. When evil interference occurred during Teacher's lectures on the Fa, Teacher eliminated it with a serious facial expression. A smile sometimes means an easy or satisfied attitude, but most times, a smile indicates happiness, delight, or sarcasm. I think we should not smile while enduring persecution, instead we should be compassionate, calm and dignified, with righteous thoughts.
The analogical description on how practitioners dealt with persecutors, "wearing away the rock with water", is not appropriate either. First of all, the persecutors are not "rocks", they are no more than a bunch of mad, wicked and despicable beings. The way practitioners handle the persecution is not about softening or wearing something away. They firmly send forth strong righteous thoughts in a compassionate and calm state, using the powerful Buddha Fa's divine power to not only stop the evildoers and the persecution, but also to warn and save those policemen.
In conclusion, I would like to humbly recommend practitioners memorize Teacher's article "Stop the Evil Acts with Righteous Thoughts", and keep it in mind all the time.
The above is my understanding, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
* * *
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.
more ...