(Clearwisdom.net) Master says in Path: "The path a Dafa disciple takes is a glorious history, and this history has to be created by his own enlightening." All along, I didn't feel that I walked fast enough and steadily enough on my cultivation path. I realized that our Dafa website needs to be supported by all of us and we have the responsibility to write and share our experience and give feedback in order to advance together. Here, I want to review my own cultivation path in order to find my shortcomings so as to improve and to better save sentient beings.
1. Joining Dafa Materials Production Sites
Before I obtained Dafa, I was a college graduate and had a decent job. After the persecution started, because I practice Falun Dafa, I was detained illegally in a forced labor camp for a year and was sent back to my hometown afterwards. At the end of 2001, I joined a Dafa truth clarification materials production site. As a matter of fact, I didn't know anything about computers. I only knew how to type and my typewriting speed was very slow. But I thought, I'm a Dafa particle. As long as I have righteous thoughts and righteous actions, I will be able to do Dafa work well. Unexpectedly, our coordinator was arrested two months after I had joined the Dafa materials production site. We escaped the danger with righteous thoughts and Master's protection, and safely transferred the computer equipment.
In 2002, after the coordinator was persecuted, the work of the Dafa materials production site stopped. The arrested practitioners could not withstand the torture and they gave out my name. The authorities had my picture and started to look for me everywhere. I was under great pressure. Time passed by quickly. Fellow practitioners had missed two editions of Clearwisdom Weekly already. I knew that I couldn't wait any longer. So we found a house and started accessing the Internet and broke through the government's Internet blockade. Later on, we couldn't even get in touch any fellow practitioners who had technical skills. Due to the pressing need to save sentient beings, we had to print some information with pictures. After we bought the equipment, we didn't even know how to insert the ink cartridges. Then I sent forth righteous thoughts and asked Master to strengthen us. Due to firmly believing in Master and Dafa, the normal Dafa work wasn't impacted at all when we encountered technical obstacles.
At that time, lots of the materials needed formatting and editing. I didn't know how to do any of these. I then had the thought that Dafa could clear my mind. So I calmed down and started to click around on the computer screen using the mouse, and right away understood how to do everything. Sometimes, I would download the edited materials from the Internet in order to see how they utilized "textbox" or WordArt, and other editing and formatting tools. Once, we needed to do a large notice with both graphics and words. I couldn't make it work no matter what I tried. Then in a dream, somebody showed me the whole process. After I woke up, I turned on the computer and followed the procedures from my dream, and everything worked perfectly.
Fellow practitioners thought that I knew how to do all this because I was a college graduate. In fact, that was not the reason; it was because I'm a Dafa disciple. When my thoughts coincide with the Fa, the power of Dafa manifests in my body. At that time, our fellow practitioners had the strong mentality of waiting and relying on others. Even the practitioners who lived with me were intimidated by the computer and could not use it. So I was the only one who was accessing the Internet and printing materials. During that time period, there were lots of accidents and technical difficulties encountered in different materials production sites. Later, only my site could access the Internet and break through the Internet blockade. The copy centers couldn't continue their operations for various reasons. Sometimes, I used two ink-jet printers at the same time in order to print the weekly publications and provide downloaded materials to other sites.
One day, I was not able to access the Internet. It continued like this for several days. Even sending forth righteous thoughts didn't help. My fellow practitioners were worried as well. Later, I calmed down and thought that the progress of saving sentient beings cannot slow down. So I changed my way of accessing the Internet. But how should I set it up? Fellow practitioners and I sent forth righteous thoughts together. I sat in front of the computer and said to the computer: "You are here to help save sentient beings. You have to cooperate with us to validate the Fa." Within minutes, we were able to open up the Clearwisdom website. All fellow practitioners came close to the computer to read. With tears in my eyes and with my whole heart I said to Master, "Thank you Master." With Master's protection, we once again broke through the old forces' arrangements.
2. Continuing to Produce Truth-Clarification Materials
At the end of 2002, due to severe damage to several materials production sites, over ten practitioners were arrested. It impacted our materials production site as well. The evil sent lots of policemen to search for me. They thought that if they could arrest me, nobody else would be able to access the Internet in our area. I safely left that area. Not long after I had left, somebody who lived in my neighborhood recognized my picture and said they had seen me around. But the evil didn't find me even after an intense search.
After arriving in another area, I wasn't in a very good cultivation condition. I had a strong attachment to fear. In the meantime, I had some struggles in my personal life as well. After a while, I went to another area which I wasn't familiar with. I lived with my sister and her child at that time. We found a place to live the day we got there. But we all developed scabies and were very uncomfortable. After a month, I felt that we shouldn't be waiting around passively for a breakthrough. In addition, I heard that the truth-clarification materials had been stopped for a long time in the city I came from. I realized my responsibility as a Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification period, and my heart became very heavy. In the meantime, my human mentality surfaced, wondering why there were so many Dafa practitioners waiting and depending on others. But by studying the Fa more, I eliminated my feelings of unfairness and realized what my responsibilities were.
Since I left home to avoid persecution, I had a hard time renting a place because the landlords usually check for personal identification cards. I thought: I am a Dafa practitioner. I am using my divine side to validate Dafa. Everything I do is extraordinary. I will find a place to live this afternoon. After I studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts, I walked out on the street of this strange city. My heart was calm and filled with peace. Soon after that, I found a place to live. The landlord was very nice. She only asked a few questions. I noticed that she wanted to say something several times. Then I sent forth righteous thoughts right away. She stopped immediately and didn't ask any more questions. It was miraculous. This house was recently built and it wasn't rented out yet. So I didn't have any neighbors around me. It was very convenient for me to print truth clarification materials because I didn't have to worry about the printing noises. I was able to print lots of truth-clarification materials in this house.
At the beginning, I felt lonely living there. I was the only one in such a big house and I had to deal with lots of things all by myself. Sometimes, the attachment to family bothered me. My family was destroyed by the persecution. My father was unable to bear the trauma of his family members being arrested and detained and he passed away. My mother and relatives are still being illegally detained. My sister and her young child had to leave their home in order to avoid persecution. My heart felt very heavy facing the machines in front of me and I felt that everything was very difficult for me. So I picked up Master's lectures and then my righteous thoughts became stronger and stronger. All of my human mentalities melted before the great power of Dafa. I put both hands together and bowed to Master and in my heart said to Master: "I promise that I will do everything well." So with Master's protection, I started validating Dafa again.
3. Looking for a Job
With the progress of Fa-rectification, more and more materials production sites have been set up. During the second half of 2003, I gradually realized that being homeless is also accepting the old forces' arrangements. Due to being homeless for a long time, plus the expenses of making truth-clarification materials, my savings of several hundred thousand yuan were almost depleted. First, my nephew had to drop out of school and follow us around, because we could no longer afford the school fees. As a matter of fact, young Dafa practitioners should go to school too. However, because we were not able to get the transfer letter, plus not having the required funds, he was forced to stop going to his school. At that time, the money supply for the materials production site was not enough and some of the homeless Dafa practitioners lived under very difficult conditions. I thought that I should start looking for a job to solve our living situation. If I had a job, I would also be able to help other practitioners. I should walk my path righteously.
I first tried to be a waitress at a Barbecue restaurant. It was not only physically challenging, but also required me to work long hours. Most importantly though, that wasn't a position I had studied for. I encountered my attachment of fear. Losing a job is an arrangement of the old forces. I realized that my education and degree were not accidental. I found my degree certificate and decided to break through the economic blockage set by the old forces. Right away, I got a job in a company, and a month later changed to another company. Naturally, my salary increased as well.
During this process, the hardest thing for me was that I didn't have my identification card because the evil was still searching for me. But I firmly believed that I am a Dafa particle and nobody could move me. I walk the path that Master arranged for me. My job sometimes required that I go to banks in order to deposit money. Therefore, I needed an identification card. I usually sent forth righteous thoughts so that others would do this task for me. But not too long afterwards, it was my turn again. I didn't know how to explain it to my coworkers. But I also knew that I had to face this issue. Master told us that clarifying the truth is the Master Key. The next day, I started clarifying the truth to my supervisor. I told her everything about the persecution I had suffered. She was shocked and couldn't believe that there was still such brutal persecution in this civilized society. I also told her how the policemen in the forced labor camp shocked me using electric batons, and other tortures.
My supervisor shed tears after she heard my story. She told me that she would help me. Because I had always followed the Dafa principles and followed strict xinxing requirements since I started working there, she said, "Looking at you, I know that all the propaganda in the media was wrong. Good people like you are very seldom encountered. You have great tolerance and I have learned a lot from you." I told her, "Before I obtained Dafa, I was very selfish and stubborn. It is Dafa that has changed me."
By clarifying the truth, I created a positive environment at work. Later, my boss heard about my experience, offered a lot of help and got to know the truth of Dafa as well.
4. Establishing a Personal Materials Production Site
I realized deep down inside that even in my homeless situation, I still was able to have a stable job. It was all because of Master's protection. I set aside some of my monthly income for making truth-clarification materials as well as to help other homeless practitioners. Although it wasn't very much, I truly felt that it was not very easy for the practitioners who had an income and helped other practitioners either. Prior to that, when I worked at the materials production sites, I never realized it that profoundly. Therefore, I didn't treasure it enough. Sometimes I even felt that I had certain rights because I spent my own money. That kind of thinking was my human mentality surfacing. During that time period, lots of my attachments were exposed. Sometimes, I would have feelings that things were unfair, especially when we were economically challenged. I was thinking about all my savings, now almost gone since the persecution started on July 20, 1999. I felt that it was so unfair that there wasn't any money left for me. However, by continuously studying the Fa, I realized that thinking that way meant having an unclean mind. How could I bargain with Dafa and Master? Everything we own was created by Dafa. It is a human attachment if one still can't let go of certain things.
With improved xinxing, lots of other things became easy to resolve. It was just like what Master says in "No Obstacles" in Hong Yin II:
"Cultivation paths are different
Yet all are within Dafa
With no attachment to anything
The path underfoot is naturally clear"
I started utilizing the company's resources to access the Internet, made truth-clarification materials and established my personal materials production site. I realized that if everybody would take some initiative, it would not be that difficult for practitioners to have material production sites all over the place. After I acquired the necessary equipment, I started to provide information and truth clarification materials to other practitioners. When others wanted to learn how to use the computer, I always tried my best to teach them.
During this process, I realized that the work we do to validate Dafa is not a job, it's our cultivation process. The most important thing is that we comply with strict xinxing requirements no matter what we do, and maintain righteous thoughts and righteous actions during this Fa-rectification process. The method we employ is not the essential thing. It is our pure heart that takes effect when saving sentient beings. It's not only about how many materials we have printed or distributed. The key is that we can realize our shortcomings and differences while doing this task, and correct them to make the things we do purer so that we can more effectively save sentient beings.
5. Moving to Beijing
Master says in Path:
"The path a Dafa disciple takes is a glorious history, and this history has to be created by his own enlightening."
Our Dafa practitioners' firm belief enables us to bear any suffering. But we are not here to bear the suffering. I'd been sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil's illegal search for me and firmly negated being homeless. We can't acknowledge these things, because this is persecution of Dafa practitioners. Later, after returning home, holding my new identification card in my hand, I truly understood that this was the result of eliminating the evil by Dafa practitioners all over the world and because of Master's encouragement to Dafa disciples.
In the several years of being homeless, I experienced all the inconveniences of not having an identification card. I must utilize all the conditions I am faced with to better validate Dafa. At that same time, many overseas practitioners gathered in Manhattan in order to clarify the truth. So the idea of going to Beijing came to my mind. The moment I thought about going to Beijing, the pursuit of comfort and the attachment of fear interfered with me. When I arrived at Beijing, I had a hard time finding a job. At last, when I only had 200 yuan left in my pocket, I had strong human thoughts and felt that I could not walk my path any longer because I was thinking about needing to find a job and a place to live. For the very first time, I realized deep down inside that Beijing is truly an evil center. Every step I took in order to move forward seemed very difficult. Due to temporary living situations with other people, sending forth righteous thoughts and practicing the Falun Gong exercises couldn't be guaranteed. One night, while lying on my bed, feeling hopeless, I was wondering whether I should go back home. The second half of that night, I had a chest pain but got up immediately to send forth righteous thoughts. I thought of Zhao Ming, a Dafa practitioner who was an excellent Qinghua University graduate. I then thought of the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. I determined that as long as I'm staying in Beijing, I will be able to eliminate all the evil here, even if it's just one day or one hour.
I focused the force of my thoughts to eliminate all the evil that is persecuting Dafa at the Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp and the Women's Xinan Forced Labor Camp. I sent forth righteous thoughts for one whole hour. Afterwards I had a dream that Dafa practitioners at the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp were getting ready to go home and said that it was an early release. They all said to me: "It was because you sent forth righteous thoughts for us." I woke up and knew that it was Master who was encouraging me. I was in tears and in my heart said to Master, "I will create a path here and do Fa-rectification work well in Beijing."
Soon after that, I found a job and earned a decent income and also found a comfortable place to live. All of this happened within a one-month period. But to me, it felt like I went through a life and death experience. I've encountered some physical attacks, including a fever which made me very weak. However, I continuously looked inward and sent forth righteous thoughts and then the difficult time passed quickly. I started my path of validating Dafa in Beijing.
Finally, let's read Master's lecture, "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference" to encourage each other together:
"If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil's persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil's persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil's interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa."
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
