(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings fellow practitioners,
I obtained the Fa right after July 20th in 1999, so my personal cultivation has been integrated with the Fa Rectification path. I chose to use Internet chat rooms to clarify the truth to others. Although this method is both straightforward and easy, I was still able to cultivate my xinxing (mind nature and moral character) and spread the truth at the same time. I am very pleased to have this opportunity now to share with everyone what I learned while doing truth clarification work via the Internet.
1: Too much haste and eagerness have a negative result; purify the mind and be considerate.
When I first started utilizing chat rooms, I obtained the locations of hundreds of chat rooms through just one search. I realized that I would have many places to chat. I then began to use a Chinese poem I wrote as a salutation (Roughly translated: "I am here as a pleasant swan to sing a good song for you to clarify the truth, and I will not disturb the joy of your chatting"). At first, I was nervous and my hands were shaking. I was afraid to reply to any inquiries from others. All I wanted to do was to quickly type more on the truth, but the truth, like a bomb, seized everyone's attention. However, my attachment of zealotry arose once I became excited from seeing the many things I typed displayed quickly on the screen. Then I would often be booted from the chat room by the host. Since there were so many chat rooms, I did not care. I kept on logging on, and I continued clarifying the truth as soon as I got on. As a result, I was banned from these chat rooms frequently. But these experiences exposed the many problems I had: Attachments to achievement, zealotry, impatience, fear, and self. My nonchalant attitude caused me to be kicked out frequently, as I only focused on telling the truth in my own way without being considerate of others or the host. I began to realize the difficulty in clarifying the truth. I needed to have a pure mind to succeed!
2: Eliminate conventional thinking. Act when it is appropriate. Uphold xinxing. Remain calm.
I began sending forth righteous thoughts before I chatted, and I tried to keep a pure mind. Instead of clarifying the truth immediately, I chatted with people first or displayed poems written by practitioners to warm up our relationships. People would then want to chat with me privately. Sometimes, people challenged my remarks and cursed, which also created an opportunity to clarify the truth.
The deceived people were shocked after hearing the truth for the first time. They often cursed at me and wanted to kick me out, but they kept on asking questions. The host of the chat rooms ignored the arguments. Although it looked like I was attacked and cursed by people on the surface, the fact is, the truth of Dafa penetrated peoples' minds. Many people were awakened.
In the beginning, I could not control my mentality of showing off, nor my competitiveness, which resulted in big, ordinary people's debates. Many people fought back together and said things like, "We can't let Falun Gong win." Some observers told me that my remarks were concise but aggressive.
I initially thought I was doing the right thing. Then I quickly realized that Teacher was using the other people's criticism to tell me to cultivate compassion. With my attachments, my truth clarification efforts could never be effective.
As a matter of fact, whether to use aggressive or subdued dialog depends on the situation. The critical question was, "Did I maintain a mind of compassion?" I learned that clarifying the truth is also a part of xinxing cultivation. If I neglect cultivating myself, my actions are all merely on the level of ordinary human beings.
3: Seeking from within.
At first, I didn't like private messaging because I thought my efforts would be ineffective without large audiences. One day, however, I was in a chat room with lots of people when I received multiple requests from someone to talk privately. I finally agreed, and we chatted for a long time. He was actually a police officer. He said, "If you can convert me, you can convert a lot of people." I did not think too much of it. I thought that it would be worth it even if I could successfully clarify the truth to him alone. He did not know the truth, but he posed some good questions. He types very fast. I had to use English to keep up with him. The poems from the practitioners touched him deeply, and our conversations were very peaceful. I knew that Teacher was standing beside me, giving me the wisdom, and strengthening me with Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. The police officer even brought his meal in front of the computer to continue the conservation. Later on, we talked on the phone. He told me that he would make sure that the persecution I told him about (the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners) would not happen in his place. He has also learned how to get on our website, and he was impressed with all the talented people among the practitioners. At the same time, he was distressed about the current situation. He hoped that we would provide more articles with convincing facts, rational analysis, and detailed descriptions of one's feelings so that readers can easily accept the ideas in the articles.
Time flies. The cultivator progresses as the chatting continues. Whenever I am in a chat room, I no longer look for the number of attendees. I only care about whoever is predestined to know Falun Gong. Even if there is no one in the chat room, I will still paste the truth. It will be worth it when anyone sees it. Teacher said:
"Even when in your daily life you pass by people so quickly that you don't have a chance to talk to them, you should still leave them with your compassion and kindness. Don't lose those who should be saved, especially those with predestined connections" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference").
4: The best truth clarification is demonstration through our own behavior.
One day, I went in a chat room for computer lovers. I wanted to teach them how to break the internet police' blocking access to the Dafa websites. The minute I got in, someone who had just bought a computer and did not know how to use it asked me for help. I said that I was a housewife, and I was not familiar with computers either. But, I could try to get someone to help him. However, nobody was available. I didn't want to disappoint him, so I started to teach him. Someone laughed at me; I kindly invited him to explain instead. He was unwilling to waste his chatting time. I then spent about two hours explaining everything. The guy was very moved and started calling me "teacher". Since I didn't have enough time to clarify the truth, I told him that I have practiced the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. My teacher - Mr. Li Hongzhi asks us always to be considerate of others. The person who was laughing at me said, "I am impressed that even housewives know so much about computers." As I was logging off, there were even a few good-byes from people, which is very rare in my experience in the truth clarification.
On another occasion, I attended a chat room late in the day; there was only one person online. He came to say hello, and I realized that this person was waiting to know the truth. He revealed that he was actually from Chang-Chun, but he refused to listen when I mentioned Dafa. I could feel that he was depressed, so I stayed to chat with him. I also provided him with a few humorous stories, and in between I clarified the truth to him. His mood slowly grew better. Gradually, he was willing to listen to the truth. He got disconnected a few times during our conversation. I continued to input while he was gone, and I sent righteous thoughts to help him. He was so touched whenever he returned. He said, "You are still here! I thought you were gone already. I was so worried about that." I could tell that his situation had improved. He regained confidence in life. I said to him, "It is a blessing to know the truth. Good luck to you!"
He sent me a long email on a later date in which he explained how he had come out of his depression. His dream came true. He said that the conversation we had the other night touched him deeply, and he will always remember the three words -- Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. He also mentioned that he will always think of us Falun Dafa practitioners whenever he encounters any tribulations.
Yes, it is quite a blessing to know the truth. There are so many people who do not know Dafa and are still being deceived.
Sometimes, I talk to chat room hosts. One host changed the chat room's name to "Coming for You." Another host told me, "You [practitioners] are the greatest among those on the Internet!" I also noticed that those unpopular chat rooms grew popular after truth clarification, sometimes attracting over four or five hundred people.
5: Concentrating on Fa study will increase confidence. Determination helps in detaching emotions.
When I chat without a pure mind and righteous thoughts, the interference can be enormous, resulting in unproductive sessions. At times, my whole body got chills, and I felt as though some evil power was controlling me. My fingers became stiff, and they shook until I almost could not type anymore. In addition, there were no good effects when I treated truth clarification as an obligation.
Studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth are the three essential things for Dafa practitioners in this Fa-rectification period. None of these three can be left out. Whenever I didn't pay attention to Fa study, ordinary people's thoughts would cause interference. I would be proud of myself if I did well in a chat room, and I would feel awful otherwise. I often had a hard time falling asleep after I logged off from the chat rooms. My mind was full of the conversations. I felt this matter accumulating, and I had trouble ridding myself of it. In the chat room emotions, rather than fame and profit, are involved. A lot of people were attached to the pursuit of dubious emotions, such as the so-called "Internet love." Even though my purpose in the chat rooms was obviously to clarify the truth and guide predestined people to obtain the Fa, I was overwhelmed by emotions on one occasion. This was due to my lingering attachments, which were utilized by the old forces. They made arrangements for me to meet "intimate friends" and to make me enjoy talking to these persons, or they let the person admire me and attach to me, which magnified my sense of "self" and misled me into treating the ordinary people's kindness as a practitioner's compassion. As a result, my righteous thoughts were slowly dissolved by the emotions. It is easy to close the chat room's window, but hard to eliminate the attachments. However, if you study the Fa with a peaceful mind, you will be able to pass these tribulations. You will let go of your emotions little by little while your compassion emerges. When your compassion rises, the emotion slowly disappears. So as long as you cultivate with sincerity, the Fa is omnipresent.
After I let go of the emotions, I was like a kind grandmother every time I joined the chat rooms again. I would naturally call the person I talked to "my child," and the person saw me as "Older sister" even though the person was about the same age as me. I didn't care if they knew my age or profession. The more notions we let go of, the more people will be willing to chat with us. Although the Internet is a virtual world where ordinary people can cover up their real identities, as representatives of Falun Dafa, we need to act according to "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance" and clarify the truth with all of our wisdom.
6: Teacher will assist you as long as you are a willing participant.
I initially had a hard time chatting on-line with one person at a time, but now I often chat with two or three persons simultaneously. It is not because I can type fast. I somehow am able to guess what the others are going to say, and so I respond sooner. One time, I went to a law chat room, and because I was not a member, I wasn't allowed to get in. I tried several passwords, but I failed. Then I sent forth righteous thoughts and asked Teacher to strengthen me because I knew it was important to get into that chat room. I was able to log on successfully after sending forth the righteous thoughts.
There was another time when a person wanted to speak English with me. I was going to avoid this due to my poor English, but I changed my mind because I didn't want to miss the opportunity to save her. Surprisingly, I chatted with her for over two hours. I was surprised at my own English skills in the words I typed. The person learned the truth for the first time since coming to the U.S. three years ago. She thanked me sincerely and told me that she would trust people who believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
There was one occasion when I went to a chat room for poem lovers. Everyone was having fun in writing sentences to match up with other people's writing and create a lengthy poem. I am generally not good at composing poems, but I did well and impressed all the attendees that day. There were many sentimental poems. I decided to introduce poems written by practitioners. I really appreciated those practitioners who wrote poems to validate the Fa because this demonstrated the cultivators' selflessness and their unyielding to attachments. I also admired their determination and compassion in saving humankind. Some people suggested, "You should let more people see those poems!" Yes,
"Falun Dafa is good;
Gradually entering the human realm."
(quote from Teacher's poem, "Dafa is Good")
Let us praise the beauty of Dafa in every way. As long as we do this, Teacher will help us.
I often tried to get people's attention by asking questions. For example: Which Chinese person was nominated for the Nobel peace prize in 2001 and 2002? Which Chinese qigong has spread over 60 countries in the world? Birth, aging, sickness, and death left behind; love, hatred, emotion, and worries transcended. Can you guess what will lead us to that level? Which Chinese leader has been sued in multiple countries? And why? Who are those people that can be considered the backbone of China? And why? Many people became curious about the answers, and they wanted to talk with me in private. We then started discussions. Most people were nice and righteous. At last, I'll type out, "solute to those Dafa practitioners who sacrificed for Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance!", and "Solute to the great Mr. Li Hongzhi who led the rise of morality for humankind!" The screen display moved very slowly. I knew more people were thinking, and I know that more and more people will express the same feelings in the future.
The number of chat rooms is increasing and the truth is spreading. Wherever the truth is present,
"The decayed extinguished,
The bright light illuminating."
("New Life," from Hong Yin)
It seems to me that the day has arrived already:
"The Fa-rectification moves through the world, the grand manifestation of Gods and Buddhas unfolds, and all of the chaotic world's unrighted wrongs and karmic relationships are settled with benevolent solutions. The ones who do evil against Dafa go down into the gate of no-life. As for all the others, people's hearts return to righteousness and they cherish virtue and do good, all the myriad things are renewed, and every single sentient being reveres Dafa's saving grace. All of the heavens and the earth celebrate together, congratulate each other, and exalt together. Dafa's most glorious period in the human world begins at this moment." ("Foretelling the Fa's Rectification of the Human World" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Thank you everyone!
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