(Clearwisdom.net)
Over the last five years of the persecution of Falun Gong, a good friend of mine often urged me to stop practicing, without caring at all who was right and who was wrong. While I was jailed, she joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and got a position in a foreign company. Recently when I met her again, I urged her to quit the CCP.
After I introduced the subject, she responded aloofly. When I showed her the material, she tactfully rejected it. She told me she had received the "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party" in her mailbox and read it. "You just practice, why are you involved in politics now?" she said. I began to clear away the Party culture in her mind with reasoning and examples. She listened quietly and expressed distaste for the CCP, but eventually she said, "I do not participate in these things," and went to answer the phone.
At that time, we had talked for several hours. I felt a bit discouraged. I said to myself that I had made the effort and Teacher has said that some people are not savable. However, I remember Teacher also told us,
"In saving people, you have to be patient, and that's Dafa disciples' compassion." ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
My temperament is usually anxious, and I pay too much attention to the results. I should consider that when I meet somebody, I may be the first person who has spoken the truth about Dafa to that person. He may not accept it right away, and he may even appear to disagree. However, he may have the chance to meet a second, third and fourth Falun Dafa practitioner. If he can be saved, he will understand the truth one day. Over these years of clarifying the truth and saving people, how many defeats and setbacks have we experienced?
Therefore, I steadied my mind and thought, "I won't ask her to withdraw from the CCP today, but I must let her feel my compassion." I thought, "I want to tell my good friend that I made so much effort to find her, not just for the superficial formality of quitting the CCP as she sees it." I knew that as long as practitioners' hearts are righteous, not a single word would be wasted, and my compassion should move the depths of her being. My thought was righteous and the anxiety disappeared. I sent forth righteous thoughts towards her while waiting for her to finish talking on the phone. Her telephone conversation lasted one hour. When she was finished, I was also ready to talk to her more patiently. Unexpectedly, she suddenly said, "All right, can you withdraw for me? Use my real name."
Through this experience, my understanding of the importance of self cultivation was reinforced. If I can be pure, one word, one sentence or one thought can save the other person.
I feel that patience is very important when we clarify the truth. One of my other colleagues was the same. She did not want to listen to or read about the truth. I have tried to persuade her four or five times, but she did not even want to accept the literature. I said to myself, Teacher has said that she's positioning herself if she does not want to listen to or read the truth. I thought, "I have to give up on her," and was not even willing to talk to her sometimes.
One of the things that Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference" especially moved me. Teacher said:
"In other words, think about why so many high-level beings dared to take such a perilous risk and come to the Three Realms. They are gods, so how could we not save them? Didn't they come to obtain the Fa? If you look at it from another perspective, wasn't their bravery in coming here a way of validating the Fa-rectification and placing their hope in the Fa-rectification? That's why I have said that we cannot leave them behind, and that we must save them and think of ways to save them! Even though they may be confused at the moment, or they may have lost their capacity to recognize truth or reality, owing to their concepts being warped by the Party culture over time, we still have to find ways to save them."
Every time I read this part, I wanted to cry. No matter how compassionate I feel that I am, I always feel ashamed in front of Teacher's boundless and powerful Buddha's mercy. When I faced that colleague again, my heart became very soft and gentle, like the love between a mother and child. I tried to give her the truth-clarification pamphlet again, and she accepted it. When she returned it to me, she told me that she wanted to quit from the CCP and asked for a copy of the "Nine Commentaries".
I have realized countless times that when my will for saving sentient beings is weak, I appear to be impatient and think others are not savable. I have so many ordinary people's matters to deal with--sometimes I feel too lazy to open my mouth to clarify the truth and this shows that my righteous thoughts are not strong. I feel ashamed to be a Falun Dafa practitioner when I can't regard saving people as the first priority in my life. This depressed state is undoubtedly caused by shortcomings in studying the Fa.
Finally, I would like to share Teacher's words with fellow practitioners,
"The form and state of the cultivation that Dafa disciples practice today are different from the cultivation forms of the past. You are the ones who are truly saving sentient beings on a broad scale, and you are the ones who truly have such a great mission. That is why the state you manifest is completely different from that in the cultivation of the past. And for precisely these reasons, it is even more important that you not neglect your own cultivation or use these things to make excuses for your shortcomings. So I hope you will do well on the path ahead. Okay, I'll end here, that's all I will say today." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference")
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