‘The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces,’ by Falun Gong Founder Mr. Li Hongzhi

Ordeals have been wrought upon our practice since 1999, when they began in China, and have never ceased, be it in the United States or elsewhere in the world. When you try to save beings, the karma they made over their past lives gets triggered, and demonic entities will likely make use of it to cause disruptions and do harm anywhere, anytime. While Dafa practitioners follow their teacher and strive to save lives, they are working towards their own spiritual liberation and working off their own karma. Demonic entities try to exploit Dafa practitioners’ karma, however, and to block their efforts to save lives. Since those who are being saved cannot atone by themselves for all of their sins and karma from the past, divine beings have to compassionately absolve them of a portion of these, while leaving a portion for them to bear for themselves. I have to bear a portion of it for them, too. And so the more lives that are saved, the more I have to endure. You yourselves will meet with adversity if you are even just a little bit careless as you work to end the persecution.

The trouble that the practitioner-founded media company is now facing mainly owes to practitioners not doing well, though factors from other dimensions are also at work behind the scenes. You were thinking that it’s hard to fight the CCP’s persecution without funds, and wanted to make money for this cause; and that the U.S. government would be understanding if something wasn’t handled quite right. But that was your own thinking. You thought that it would be justifiable since you were using that money not for other ends but to fight the persecution, given that live organ harvesting is happening and people are dying from the persecution every single day. But you mustn’t forget that Dafa practitioners need to always act with integrity, or there will be problems.

I know that in fact fifteen percent of the karma still remains to be dealt with as we go about saving lives. That is what’s left after twenty-some years of working to save lives. It is a huge amount, I know. And for this reason things that spell enormous pressure for me, as well as burdens for me, will keep coming, one after another. Saving lives is difficult; it’s not as simple as it sounds. And that is why we are even seeing those saints in Shen Yun Performing Arts who are saving lives being plotted against.

Our Dafa practitioners have been up against the CCP’s evil, enormous, and fierce propaganda machine, and they have seen it use the force of an entire nation to attack them in every aspect of their lives. The Dafa practitioners outside of China are few in number, so those who are parents have found ways for their children to help combat the persecution. To effectively support this cause, Fei Tian Academy of the Arts and Fei Tian College have seen to it that their students not only do well at academics, but also develop into artists who counter the persecution in non-violent ways. They have shown the world what China was like before communism, helped people to see the CCP for what it is, exposed the persecution, and conveyed the message that the Divine is saving lives in the end times. During the performances, positive energy is used to dispel the adversity that people have in store for them, and this has benefited Americans along with the rest of the world. So each member of the Dafa community has been engaged in countering the persecution.

In China, all practitioners, children and adults alike, have been subjected to ordeals. Even young children have been imprisoned or died as a result of the persecution. Shen Yun gives some students a chance to perform with the company through a practicum arrangement. Their parents had hoped that they might be able to help combat the persecution while getting their education, and that was why they sent them to Fei Tian. During the admissions process students have always been asked by the school why they wish to attend Fei Tian, and they have invariably responded that they wanted to help their teacher in the cause of saving lives. They yearn to one day perform with Shen Yun, expose the CCP’s persecution, and help rescue their brethren in China. All of us, young or old, feel a sense of responsibility for saving lives and countering the persecution. Some of the younger students are remarkably determined, in spite of their age. Working against the persecution is what we strive to do in our spiritual community. There is no government or corporation doing this alongside us. Be that as it may, there are still people trying to incite others to go after Shen Yun by claiming that young students who are minors are being used as performers, when they are in fact just participating in their practicum studies. It is only natural that all members of our community have felt compelled to do their part to counteract the persecution, given its unprecedented nature. If those are grounds for going after Shen Yun, then what has America come to?

The truth is, we shouldn’t expect to not face ordeals as a spiritual discipline just because we are in a certain location; it’s just that they assume different forms. And during these ordeals, lives are being chosen to either remain or be sifted out in the end, and just as much is at stake for our Dafa practitioners.

Your Teacher, Hongzhi Li

June 5, 2024