(Clearwisdom.net)
(Continued from Part One)
Part One: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/4/18/59756.html
III. Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts; Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions
Teacher said,
"Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. No matter whether you think you have the ability or not, you should do it. What you eliminate from your own mind are ones which have an effect within the expanse of your own body; at the same time, you need to eliminate the external ones, which are directly related to the dimensions you're in. If you don't eliminate them, then they not only persecute you and restrain you, but also persecute other students, other Dafa disciples. As you know, the persecution that Dafa disciples in Mainland China suffer is quite severe, so each student has to truly, clearly realize what his responsibility is, and when he sends forth righteous thoughts he has to be able to truly calm his mind and truly produce the effect of righteous thoughts. So this is something extremely critical, extremely important. Then if every student is able to do that, I can tell you, with five minutes of sending forth righteous thoughts together, the evil in the Three Realms will never exist again--that's how important this is." (From "Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")
After Teacher taught us to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil from other dimensions, many of us have become mindful of their importance. In addition, sending forth righteous thoughts towards specific targets as a group requires us to cooperate with each other as one body. Because of Teacher's protection and reinforcement of our righteous thoughts, we have repeatedly thwarted Jiang's henchmen's plans and actions to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. As a result of our continuous efforts to send forth righteous thoughts, the evil has become increasingly scarce. This is an important reason behind the much-improved local environment today.
Falun Gong practitioners in our area celebrated the 2005 Chinese New Year with our righteous thoughts and righteous actions.
On the evening of February 7, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners in our city arranged a large group effort to validate the Fa. We cooperated with each other very well. Some of us hung banners, some of us wrote messages on the streets, and others stayed home sending forth righteous thoughts. In a local village, all the Falun Gong practitioners kept sending forth righteous thoughts as a group for 12 consecutive hours from 5:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. the next day. During the night of February 7, we hung more than 5,000 banners on the streets of the entire city. Over a dozen of the banners measured 10 x 18 meters. On the walls, electricity poles, and tree trunks of the streets and alleys, we posted truth-clarification messages. Banners were hung on the tree branches, and the messages on the banners were flying proudly in the air. The magnificent view filled our hearts with a feeling of powerful righteous thoughts. We also hung a giant golden banner with the message, "Falun Gong practitioners worldwide wish our honorable Teacher a happy Chinese New Year! Happy New Year, honorable Teacher!" on top of a 60' high tower to express our respect towards our beloved Teacher and to show people in China our steadfast faith in Falun Gong. In addition, we hung a giant banner over 12 feet wide on a boulevard flanked by colorful banners on the trees along the sidewalks. It became a unique sight to behold in our city.
On the Chinese New Year's Eve (February 8, 2005), many households hung rhyming couplets on red paper they had received from Falun Gong practitioners, on their entrances. Many households hung ornaments with messages such as "Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) is good" or "Falun Dafa is the salvation for mankind." Many households posted cut-paper art with the words, "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance," on them. Many households hung red lanterns with the words, "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance," on them. During the Chinese New Year celebration, these messages filled people's hearts with wonderful feelings.
In the past few years, we offered people Chinese New Year rhyming couplets with truth-clarification messages on them. This year many people asked us in advance for Chinese New Year rhyming couplets. They told us, "We want to decorate our entrance with Falun Gong's Chinese New Year rhyming couplets. You see? These are wonderful messages!" Some people have had good fortune after they decorated their entrances with our Chinese New Year rhyming couplets, so they were eager to get new ones this year. Some people had already bought Chinese New Year's rhyming couplets from the market, but they decided to use ours instead after they received them. They said, "We prefer decorating our entrance with Falun Gong's couplets because they will bring us good fortune!"
This year we made over 20,000 rhyming couplets, and over 20,000 ornaments with the message of either "Falun Dafa is good" or "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are good." We doubled the production this year, but they were gone in no time. The demand was high. Two days before Chinese New Year's Eve, some Falun Gong practitioners had to give away the rhyming couplets they reserved for their own entrances. Despite the sacrifice, many people told us, "Next year, please remember to reserve enough Chinese New Year couplets for me because they bring me good fortune."
IV. A Banner on a High Tower
During the Chinese New Year of 2004, a local Falun Gong practitioner asked a woman Falun Gong practitioner in her 60's, X, to deliver a giant banner of over 12 feet wide to another practitioner Y, who would hang it up. But she thought, "Nothing happens without any reason. Since I received the banner, I should be responsible for hanging it." That night this older practitioner climbed up a tower 70 meters in height in sub-zero temperature and a biting wind. She had to stop three times before she finally reached the top. She said, "Strangely, each time I stopped and looked down, it looked like I was only one foot off the ground." Finally she reached the top and tied the banner on the tower. Just as she was about to tie up the bottom of the banner, a gust of wind wrapped the banner around the tower. She would have to climb to the other side of the tower to reach the bottom half of the banner, but she did not think of the risk involved at all. She bit her teeth onto the steel bar of the tower and opened both arms to grab the bottom part of the banner. Thus she finally secured the banner on top of the high tower. In retrospect, X said, "At first my hands were stiff because of the sub-zero temperature and because of the thick gloves. In the end, my hands became so warm that I felt as if they were burning." Her righteous action was very inspiring and encouraging to many practitioners in our area. However, we still hope that older practitioners would leave this type of work to younger practitioners, as they no longer have the same agility as younger people.
In 2003, the provincial level of the 610 Office in Heilongjiang Province established a brainwashing facility inside the Chinese Communist Party School in our city. They planned to arrest a great number of local Falun Gong practitioners and detain them in the new brainwashing center. As soon as we heard about their plan, we notified all Falun Gong practitioners in the city and asked everyone to send forth righteous thoughts to disrupt it. It turned out that the brainwashing facility was closed down quickly, and the abducted practitioners left the brainwashing facility quickly after we repeatedly sent forth righteous thoughts as one body.
In November 2001, we held a cultivation experience sharing conference in our city, which was attended by 70-80 practitioners. The local police received a tip and came to the conference. While the majority of the practitioners escaped successfully, a few were arrested. After they repeatedly sent forth righteous thoughts at the detention center, one of them escaped successfully. Afterwards, the police handcuffed a female practitioner and tried to chain her to a metal chair. She kept sending forth thoughts and thinking that the locking devices on the metal chair should not work. It turned out that the police could not unlock the devices on the metal chair. They had no choice but to lock her in a room with several police officers guarding the outside of the room. In addition, the room was locked from the outside. She kept sending forth righteous thoughts and thinking that the police outside the room should either fall asleep or leave the area. Next she told the handcuffs, "You are also a life. You should be used on criminals. I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I have come to offer Teacher's salvation to the world's people. You should not bind my hands because I am doing a most righteous deed." Then the handcuffs opened on their own! Next she said to the door lock, "You should not lock me in this room. Open at once." The door opened itself miraculously! She quietly pulled the door open and walked out of the detention center in an upright manner.
A person reported two elderly Falun Gong practitioners to the police while they were distributing truth-clarification materials on the street. The police arrested one of them while the other escaped. After the one that escaped returned home, she kept sending forth righteous thoughts for the other practitioner for three days and two nights until the arrested practitioner was released and paid her a visit. When the released practitioner entered the door, she was still sending forth righteous thoughts. She saw the released practitioner and exclaimed, "You have come back!" Then she collapsed, after having stayed up for three days and two nights sending forth righteous thoughts.
There are many cases of righteous thoughts and righteous actions in our area. They have intimidated Jiang's henchmen and have inspired and encouraged fellow practitioners.
(To be continued...)