Keep in Mind the Salvation of Sentient Beings

My elder sister, also a practitioner, recently had problems with getting an identification card (ID), which is required to receive her retirement pay. She first had to provide a permanent address. Because she practices Falun Gong, she was detained in a forced labour camp in 2002, and the local police removed her name from the permanent address list. She also needs to be on a household register before applying for an ID card.

Cancellation of a household register is another type of persecution used against Falun Gong practitioners in China. Names of steadfast practitioners are removed from the household register. This is illegal, but under communist rule its minions have the upper hand and anything they say goes.

When the local police asked my sister for proof of release from the forced labour camp, she was at a loss. She consulted practitioners, who were of differing opinions. Some thought that she should explain the facts about Falun Gong to the police. Maybe once the police understood the facts, she could register without any trumped up condition. Others suggested not giving the release notice to the police, nor paying 50 yuan for a photo. They believe that this would be cooperating with the evil. Some said that the former head of state sent out a directive that called for the cancellation of practitioners from the household register.

I disagreed, as practitioners have to return to a normal life and earn wages. It is normal to show the release notice, take photos, and pay handling charges. This is not cooperating with the evil, but an opportunity to clear up misconceptions, expose the evil persecution, and save sentient beings. If the police don't demand that the practitioners sign a guarantee statement renouncing the practice, or threaten practitioners, then we should do what is required of us. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established many unreasonable policies, which control every aspect of Chinese life, work, study, employment, income, etc. We can't regard all of these as cooperating with the evil. We also can't wait for the disintegration of the CCP to register and claim our wages. We should not cooperate on matters of principle.

My elder sister was at a loss, so she did not register. However her husband and relatives are not practitioners. They repeatedly urged her to register, so she could claim her past wages. She insisted on her interpretation, which was that registering is to acknowledge the persecution and cooperate with the evil. As they were in disagreement, when my sister was reading Zhuan Falun, her husband grabbed the book and tore it up. He then hit her, threw her out of the house and asked for a divorce. He said he could neither understand Falun Dafa, nor my sister's stubbornness. He then came to my home and asked me why a practitioner could be so stubborn.

I said, "Your feelings aside, you should not hit people, nor destroy a Falun Dafa book. You are in your sixties, so why don't you use your wisdom and consider the matter calmly. Remember that my sister always thinks first about how things affect you and the child. Falun Dafa is good and teaches people to be kind. My sister cooperates well and thinks of others first at all times, because Dafa teaches people to be good. However such a good person was imprisoned in a forced labour camp. My sister and the other practitioners in the camp were ruthlessly tortured so they would give up practicing Dafa. They cancelled her household register, so isn't the CCP violating human rights? Isn't it clear who is in the wrong and who is in the right? Which regulation says that persisting in one's belief is illegal, and causes the cancellation of ones household registration? Who is enforcing the law and who is breaking the law? Every level of government is following the CCP instead of abiding by existing laws."

This gave me a chance to talk a little more about the issue, "We are practitioners and not gods, so we also make mistakes. However we still look within during times of problems and don't blame others. We should follow the procedure of registering for a permanent address and ID card. The issue at hand is that she didn't lose these cards, they were cancelled illegally. This is not only the persecution of my sister, but of all practitioners as a group. This may, in itself, result in a legal liability. Many attorneys have made a legitimate defense for practitioners suffering persecution. Soon this brutal persecution of Falun Gong and its practitioners will end and the people who persecute practitioners won't be able to escape justice. They will have to face an international tribunal." He replied, "I also hope this day arrives sooner than later. Your words open in me the wish to practice Falun Dafa as well. Falun Dafa is good. But, your sister holds a different understanding than you."

Recently my understanding after studying the Fa changed when I was reading lecture seven of Zhuan Falun, "The Issue of Killing." I suddenly understood many Fa principles. During this time period, we should indeed consider any issue from the perspective of saving sentient beings. Teacher used the example of Sakyamuni, who asked a disciple to clean the bathtub. That disciple didn't have enough faith in his teacher and the Fa, so he repeatedly didn't do what his teacher asked him to do. How does this compare to practitioners today?

Teacher told us to save sentient beings, but we find reasons not to do so, or to get around it. We always regard our own feelings as more important than others. Isn't that example a reflection on us?

Because of enlightening to new Fa truths, I had a relatively clear understanding of my sister's dilemma. The process of registering a permanent address, and getting an ID card for receiving wages to maintain a normal life is the process of validating Dafa, exposing the evil, and saving sentient beings. Everyone we meet probably has a predestined relationship with us. This is our chance to clarify the truth to them. When we follow the normal procedure of registering we are also conforming to human principles.

The old forces arrange the CCP's household register control system and it is meant to rule, deceive and persecute Chinese people and practitioners, but we can't abandon the system because it isn't good. It signifies that no one will be able to go to school, obtain a job, or receive wages without being on the household register and having an ID card. If we don't have a certain amount of income or social security pay, our lives will become difficult. How can we validate the Fa and save people?

What we must do is save people and not regard every opportunity to save people as cooperating with the evil. We are already living in the worst environment. Which place is good, which place is clean, and which system, policy, and law is righteous and legitimate? Aren't the old forces using the CCP to persecute practitioners and interfere with the salvation of sentient beings using unreasonable policies, laws and management systems? Isn't registering for a permanent address, getting an ID card, and denying wages an old forces arrangement?

When we view this process as a chance to clean people's poisoned minds and save them, is it exposing the evil and saving people, or cooperating with the evil?

"We should not have to stop taking baths because there are insects, and neither should we have to find another place to live because there are mosquitoes. We also should not have to tie up our necks and stop eating or drinking because both grains and vegetables are lives. It should not be this way. We should cope with this relationship properly and practice cultivation in a dignified way. It will be fine as long as we do not harm any life intentionally. Meanwhile, people also must have a human living space and living conditions, and these should also be maintained. Human beings still need to maintain their lives and live normally." (Zhuan Falun)

Teacher has already clearly explained the relationship of personal cultivation and Fa-rectification period cultivation. From the angle of personal cultivation, the insects and mosquitoes are killed. Eating vegetables is also an issue of killing. However from the angle of protecting Dafa and Teacher, and saving sentient beings, these insects and mosquitoes are interfering with Fa-rectification period cultivation, so they should be eliminated. We eat grain and vegetables to maintain our lives, and we exist to assist
Teacher in the Fa-rectification and save people.

Seeing it from the above viewpoint, the grain and vegetables also participate in Fa-rectification, and hence will have wonderful futures. What's the essential difference of my sister's registering for a permanent address, getting an ID card and claiming wages?

We should look at things from within the Fa and place ourselves correctly. When we look at issues from the angle of saving people, we can see in our thoughts of "not cooperating with the evil," there is the notion of validating oneself and selfishness. These are the basic reasons that hinder us in our Fa-rectification period cultivation and saving of sentient beings.