Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions – Stopping the Evil from Spreading Lies Using Legal Channels
Greetings great compassionate Master!
Greetings fellow practitioners!
I am a Falun Dafa Practitioner from Melbourne, Australia, who obtained the Fa in 1996. Being alive at the time Dafa was introduced to the world, I was fortunate enough to meet great Master and obtain the Fa. This is the greatest honour and happiness of my life.
I have staggered through twenty-two years of cultivation. Thinking of how Master has extended time through his great sufferance, thinking of the mission of being a Dafa disciple during Fa rectification, thinking of how Master is protecting disciples through his great compassion and thinking of how Master has reshaped our new lives, my gratitude is beyond words.
At the beginning of 2016, a two year- old Chinese newspaper with Chinese Consulate backing began to reprint an article written by the CCP’s 610 office. It was planned continuously to slander Dafa and Master. Although fellow Melbourne practitioners went to clarify the truth to the paper, only one was able to directly see the boss and he refused to listen and accept the compassionate advice of practitioners.
This publishing of articles continued on for half a year and caused very negative effects. However, for various reasons, the local Dafa Association decided not to sue the newspaper. During this period of time, practitioners went to the newspaper office to display banners, hand out flyers and clarify the truth. As a result they stopped publishing for a few issues, but then they began to continuously publish the articles again. It was no longer just an ordinary newspaper but a tool for spreading CCP’s lies and poisoning sentient beings. Everyone was very anxious about the situation. Are we just going to let the evil do whatever it wishes in this democratic country of Australia?
Master said: “the evil CCP could save itself some trouble by not doing anything; whenever it does something bad, and particularly to Dafa disciples, it results in a scandal and fiasco for it, and ends up helping Dafa disciples with what they are doing.” (Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference)
“You should remember one thing: Today, mankind’s stage is for Dafa disciples to perform on, and absolutely not for those evil ones! (Applause) As long as you do well and everyone can come to good understandings, cooperate and coordinate with each other, and have strong righteous thoughts, then there is nothing that cannot be accomplished, for your starting point is matched by no one–it is to save all beings! ” (Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference）
At this time, a lawyer friend of a practitioner had found relevant legal provisions for us, and we decided to sue the newspaper in our own names.
After obtaining consent from the president of the Australian Falun Dafa Association for me to be the coordinator; myself and two other practitioners submitted a complaint to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Our small team endured many hardships during this battle between righteousness and evil. Due to our lack of experience, we had a lot of interference and various pressures prior to finding a lawyer. But with our constant righteous thoughts, determination, understanding and tolerance for each other, support from fellow practitioners, and especially with the aid of Master, the newspaper finally stopped publishing the articles.
Now looking back, everything was done by Master. All we had to do was improve our xinxing, cultivate away our negative thoughts, and form a whole body. The results were already predetermined by Master! Here, I sincerely thank Master for his compassionate safeguarding and exquisite arrangements!
Finding Qualified Legal Evidence with Help from Master.
At the end of September 2016, after filing a complaint with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, we had to produce some evidence. The court requested original copies of the newspaper, but what we had collected were all incomplete photocopies or small cuttings. The latest issue of the newspaper that contained slanderous content had also been thrown away.
I tried various channels but was unable to find an original copy of the newspaper. Every day I thought about what I should do until I suddenly found inspiration: look for it at their office! I realized immediately that it was a hint from Master. I asked another practitioner to call the newspaper office and asked if she could have copies of several old editions of their newspapers. The graphic designer of the newspaper answered the phone and told her that she could come to the office to pick them up. When she arrived at the newspaper office, she saw the graphic designer was the only person in the office and was really busy with his work. He told her to look for the editions herself in the big pile of the newspapers. She got as much as she could carry. We found out that she got all except two of the editions of the last two years! So we had all the slanderous articles published in that newspaper over the last two years which later on became the evidence for our lawsuit.
Qualified legal evidence was obtained and the political objective of their newspaper was exposed. I finally felt relaxed and quickly did heshi to thank Master for His ingenious arrangement.
Treating Practitioners that are Experiencing Interference with Righteous Thoughts – Miracles Happening One after Another.
Before the lawsuit entered the legal process, there were mixed views amongst our local practitioners due to differences in ideas and viewpoints. If we couldn’t form one body so weren’t we going to incur interference? I shared my concern with the President of the Australian Falun Dafa Association. Her words inspired me greatly: “Since you have enlightened to it, just do it.” She also advised me that as long as our small project team was united, it could be successful.
Just before this, an American practitioner had heard that we wanted to take legal action. He especially called to tell me that a practitioner with their celestial eye open saw that when there was a division in the whole body, the old forces targeted the weakest members of the group to interfere with and that we needed to be prepared.
It was indeed so. During the process of the project, we had never encountered this much interference, and almost all of it was concentrated on a relatively new practitioner. In the beginning, even the lawsuit documents she filed were sent to the wrong department of VCAT. Her family members were also getting sick one by one or were encountering other problems.
In November 2016, we held the first conciliation hearing with the defendant. At that time, we had not found a lawyer, but the other party had already paid a high price for a very professional Western legal team. When the court saw that we were at a great disadvantage, they arranged for a one-off free lawyer to advise us.
On November 29th, the day we planned to meet the lawyer, just prior to the meeting, the practitioner who had been targeted told me she was quitting. She listed many reasons and also said she was moving to Sydney, leaving Melbourne forever. I knew it was interference as soon as I heard this. I did not say anything and ignored the interference. I silently eliminated the evil factors behind her through sending strong righteous thoughts. It is a Dafa disciple’s number one responsibility to defend Master and Dafa, no one is to interfere with Master’s wishes. Since we had initiated a lawsuit, we must follow it through till the end!
With this thought, I suddenly felt my body become tall and big like a vajra, I also felt my powerful field expanding outwards. My heart did not fluctuate at all and I was very peaceful. Just like a small particle being integrated into and protected by Dafa, I was full of positive energy and everything was still at that moment, with nothing clouding my mind. I knew that Master was by my side!
Soon, the other practitioner who had jointly filed the complaint also arrived. I explained the situation to her simply. She was also calm and didn’t make a big deal out of it. We then went into the courtroom. The first practitioner told the lawyer her plan and filled out a withdrawal form. We sat there quietly listening to the lawyer explain how to proceed with the case, and how to help us by sending letters to the city’s human rights lawyers to seek assistance from righteous ones.
After meeting with the lawyer the first practitioner had calmed down. She said she was moving to Sydney a month later but, during that intervening month, she would be responsible for attending the first mediation hearing with the defendant.
Three days later, she called to tell me that she was not leaving anymore and would continue to work on the case. It was fantastic that a Dafa disciple had broken through the interference. If we were moved at that time and had human thoughts, the case would have been left unsettled and the old forces would have succeeded. The magical thing was that since November 29th, we no longer saw the newspaper on the market even though the newspaper’s signboard was still hanging outside their office. We didn’t know what the evil was playing at, so we still asked practitioners to check for the newspaper every week.
The day of the hearing was getting closer and closer. For us three legal amateurs the lawsuit was progressing forward and many things had to be done. The most important thing was that we had not formed a whole body among practitioners yet. Ninety per cent of our confirmed meetings had to be pushed back because one practitioner had to reschedule due to various reasons.
The other practitioner also could not stand these constant changes, but I began to develop a different view on the first practitioner. The important thing was how we could form one body as soon as possible? I invited another veteran practitioner to join our team to strengthen our righteous thoughts. Regardless of whether the whole team was present, we had Fa study at a fixed time and then attended to the legal work afterwards. At the same time, I was looking within and changing my mentality. I resolved that only by first cultivating myself well could the interference of the team be eliminated.
I started to recognise the all the positive attributes of the first practitioner. Her heart for defending Master and Dafa was so sincere and valuable. When she found out that the newspaper had attacked Dafa for half a year without being stopped, she could not stop crying. She immediately participated in some of our protest and truth-clarification activities, as well as calling and writing letters to the newspaper. She had said that the evil must not have their way in the democratic country of Australia. She was the first to approve taking the legal path and initiated the lawsuit. She had invested a lot of time and energy in this project. She had to go to work, look after a family and also lived very far away. Every day it took her three hours to travel to and from work.
Money was required in order to go to court, and the success or failure of the lawsuit was directly linked to our personal assets. As a western practitioner, wasn’t it precious for her to step out despite all of this? Every one of our practitioners hoped that the newspaper would stop the slandering immediately, but this practitioner was the only one taking action at present. So shouldn’t I be more tolerant and considerate and try to help and encourage her?
There are no coincidences along the path of cultivation. Master has made an arrangement for every practitioner. He gives us the opportunity through projects to cultivate, expose human attachments, remove shortcomings, and become more mature. I have already been practising Dafa for over 20 years, but sometimes still have human notions and lack righteous thoughts, how can I have expectations for a newer practitioner using my own standards? Only when we compensate for each other’s shortcomings, can we form one body.
When we looked at the problem positively, everything started slowly getting better. The interference reduced, and that practitioner became more enthusiastic than all of us at the weekly Fa study and work meeting. We did not complain or criticize each other and tried our best to complement each other. The local Dafa Association had also held a press conference and strongly condemned the newspaper acting as an overseas accomplice of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. Some practitioners helped to translate, and some made witness testimonies. Everyday people, such as a former diplomat from the Chinese Consulate in Sydney and a former official from the 610 office, had also expressed their willingness to testify for us.
My two fellow practitioners put aside their work to make many phone calls. The second practitioner, in particular, was already a very busy project coordinator who had to work around the clock. After they had called and clarified the truth to almost all human rights lawyers, a very capable right thinking lawyer said they were willing to take over our case!
In the first court hearing, our lawyer went on the offensive. The other party changed their past arrogance and was shocked and speechless. At the end of the case, the defendants admitted that they had not published any newspapers for 6 months since December 2016.
Looking back now, in fact, on November 29th, the day our righteous thoughts emerged, Master had already resolved everything. The remaining time was for us to steadfastly do what we should do, and to clarify the truth to the legal community.
In court, the lawyer whispered to us, “You are already the biggest winner! Because under normal legal judgments it is impossible to stop a newspaper from publishing” This was Master encouraging us through his mouth. After returning home, I bowed to Master, tearfully thanking Him, and felt infinitely grateful!
Conclusion
How blessed it is to be Master’s disciple, and to cultivate in Dafa! Master helped us and also rewarded us. Regarding my two fellow complainants: the child of the first practitioner graduated from college and found a job successfully. Her husband changed to a higher-paying job and said to her: “You can now do more Dafa things, and not have to worry about making money. The second practitioner’s project was also becoming more and more successful in society. For myself, previously I couldn’t imagine that I could possibly meditate for three hours, but I achieved that one day after the case had finished!
Thank you great compassionate Master, thank you fellow practitioners!