Thoughts after Watching “Defeating the Skeleton Demon” at a Shen Yun Performance

A Dafa Disciple in China

PureInsight | May 19, 2015

[PureInsight.org] “Defeating the Skeleton Demon” is an episode from Journey to the West. This year, Shen Yun Performing Arts brought it to stage. In order to eat Tang Seng, the skeleton demon transformed itself three times: the first time it transformed into a village girl holding a basket of bread for Tang Seng and his disciples. However, the Monkey King saw through its disguise and maimed it with his staff. The second time, it transformed into an elderly woman searching for her daughter, only to be maimed once again by the Monkey King. The third time, it transformed into an elderly man in search of his wife and daughter. The Monkey King again saw through its disguise, but just when he was about to kill the demon, Pigsy interfered, causing Tang Seng to dismiss the Monkey King and send him away. The skeleton demon then capitalized on the Monkey King's absence and captured Tang Seng and Sand Monk and imprisoned them in its cave. Even though Pigsy convinced the Monkey King to return and ultimately defeat the skeleton demon, there were twists and turns along the way that caused them to waste time.

I realized that the CCP is just like the skeleton demon. Persecuting Dafa disciples during these past years, it has deceptively appeared calm on the outside, yet it has continued to quietly employ cruel and brutal torture methods on Falun Dafa practitioners. On the surface it appears to not speak, but behind the scenes the persecution has only escalated. Faced with these circumstances, some Dafa disciples, while sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, were unable to rapidly eliminate the evil. Instead, they pause once in a while, constantly watching and hovering and unstable on the inside. This is very similar to these past years of the CCP's persecution - in the beginning, everyone was very clear about their understanding of the CCP’s demon leader Jiang Zemin; he was the main culprit in the persecution of Falun Dafa. Everyone sent forth righteous thoughts, distributed the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, exposed the persecution and had a very strong sense of direction and momentum.

However, when party leader Hu Jintao took over, some practitioners became deluded, saying that Hu was different from Jiang and didn’t do anything evil towards Dafa. When he left the country, he even showed support for Dafa disciples’ petitions, hoping that one day Dafa would be vindicated. Hu is a centrist. These separate views remained among practitioners for a while, which is very similar to the scene where Pigsy was fooled by the skeleton demon's disguise and prevented the Monkey King from eliminating the skeleton demon. Without a strong body of practitioners all having a similar view of the CCP's evilness, our righteous thoughts weren’t unified, which in turn prevented the evil from being thoroughly eliminated.

After Xi Jinpin took over, he quickly won people’s hearts by fighting corruption. Especially after Xi apprehended Bo Xilai, one of the main culprits behind the persecution of Dafa disciples, many practitioners thought that because he helped speak for Dafa disciples, Xi was even more different from the previous two leaders. They acted as if they had seen the “hope” for Dafa’s vindication and thus harbored positive attitudes towards Xi. Some even thought that better things were yet to come. However, these practitioners should not forget that the CCP’s nature is evil and poisonous. Placing hope on it is like placing hope on the skeleton demon. We shouldn’t look at what it has done for ordinary people (that has nothing to do with us). Instead, we should consider what it has done for Dafa. The new leader has been there for three years, yet the persecution still continues. Last year was one of the heaviest years of persecution. Whether they fight corruption or do anything else, it’s only for their own survival and has nothing to do with Dafa. Some practitioners have become deluded by this and talk about how Xi is good; they’ve been deluded by the CCP's surface level disguise, just like how Pigsy was deluded. In these past few years, the practitioners who have been attentive towards the CCP’s elections have all been playing Pigsy’s role, causing unnecessary arguments among practitioners and interfering with Fa rectification. They also do not have a clear understanding of Fa principles.

This program reminds us that we should be like the Monkey King - we should view situations at a fundamental level with a pair of “piercing eyes” that can’t be deceived by delusion. Master told us, “Absolutely don't think about any favors the old forces might do for us, or about how the ordinary society might help us. You are the ones saving the ordinary people's society, and you are the ones saving sentient beings!” “When you've been persecuted or been under pressure in the ordinary society, it's hard to prevent your human thoughts from having an effect, so some ordinary people's thoughts might surface, but don't think too much of it.” “As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts” (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.).

Watching this program gave me a new understanding - the skeleton demon transformed itself three times; the evil CCP has also had three different leaders. No matter how the evil transforms, it’s fundamentally still evil and will harm people. No matter how many times the CCP changes its leaders, it is still controlled by evil spirits and is against Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Thus we must not be deceived by it, and eliminate the evil thoroughly!

These were just some thoughts I wanted to share. Please point out anything inappropriate.

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/143918

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