(Clearwisdom.net) From March 2002 through November 2003, I was "unlawfully detained." Upon returning home, I was not allowed to go back to work and my employer paid only half of my regular salary. For almost two years, my employer ranked me at the bottom of various proficiency evaluations and switched my position from front service to rear service to work as an entrance guard and janitor. My wife had a new lover and divorced me.
Due to the change of my job, the divorce, and the ups-and-downs in the human world, I felt depressed and imbalanced. However, these tribulations did not defeat me. I kept studying the Fa and our benevolent and magnificent Teacher lifted me up again.
I led some fellow practitioners who had stopped cultivation during the persecution to begin cultivating again and to join the group Fa study at my home. Under the tempering of Dafa, I got rid of everyday people's notions and had the courage to clarify the truth and validate the Fa by talking with the officials at my job.
I. Saving Sentient Beings without Thinking of Results
As I got rid of my fear through Fa study, I went to talk with the principal of a school and told her about my torturous experiences in the detention center. While I was clarifying the truth of Dafa to her, she began to threaten me, saying she would rank me on the bottom (and lay me off) for the third consecutive year. I said, "Aren't you forcing me to go to Beijing? Aren't you forcing me into a corner and then beating me to death with a stick?" I shocked the evilness in her by speaking sternly with the force of justice. After a while, she said, "We held a leadership meeting, and all the leaders said that your job performance is good and cannot be ranked on the bottom again." Then she resumed paying me my full salary.
In 2004, practitioners from other places came to my county to share experiences. I was deeply moved and realized that my salary deduction during my detention period was completely the arrangement of the old forces and should be absolutely negated. I went to talk with the principal again and requested that my deferred salary be paid to me. She rejected my request on the grounds that, according to regulations, a person who was laid-off should be ranked at the bottom, and that being ranked on the bottom for two consecutive years only deserves a half salary.
I answered that, according to the law, detainees should be paid their regular salary while they are in detention. She asked, "How come you were arrested and not anyone else?" I said, "Only because I said something true. There is nothing wrong in that!" She said, "Salary should be deducted for those who rank on the bottom. If you think it's unreasonable, go appeal wherever you like. If the upper management agrees, then I will pay you the deferred salary." I said, "It is a well known fact that I was arrested without justification. Is it fair to rank a good person like me on the bottom? Is there no justice in our school? In the future, when everyone weighs things with a good conscience, they will see that what you are saying is wrong. If you can protect good-hearted people, you will have a bright future."
Later on I talked with her again, and she tried to put me off, saying things like, "If it's said that your deferred salary will be paid, how can it not be paid? Such a big employer like us does not lack a few bucks of your salary." Every so often I spoke with her. Sometimes she avoided the topic and sometimes she completely evaded me. I kept trying and sending forth righteous thoughts. Finally, she spoke with me and paid me half of the deferred salary in the amount of 3,000 yuan. She asked me to keep it confidential. I began to clarify the truth to her, but she turned away without listening.
I felt complacent when I deposited the 3,000 yuan. All everyday people's attachments to being engrossed, to showing-off, and to money surfaced in my victorious mindset. I did not calmly think about why she paid only half of the deferred salary. She accepted my reasoning about returning the salary deduction, but she did not agree with Dafa! I did not let go of attachment to self and did not place saving sentient beings as the priority. This omission in my thoughts was exploited.
Through cultivation, I was enlightening to the fact that attachments are often not removed immediately after we have identified them. Oftentimes, those same attachments still appear in tribulations and interpersonal conflicts. These are arranged by Teacher in order to help us get rid of our attachments.
One day, I went to clean up the principal's office. No one else was around, and I thought it a good opportunity to clarify the truth. I began sending righteous thoughts when she suddenly said, "I'll calculate the salary owed to you after a few days. It's hard for you, with a child." I said, "Thank you. Money is not a big deal. My point is to help you understand the underlying principle." She refused to listen as I tried to go on.
Two days later, the accounting department notified me to come and claim my salary. They returned to me one-fourth of the remaining half. I did not take the money and felt uneasy in my mind. I thought a lot. First I looked outwards and blamed the principal. Then I doubted the effectiveness of looking inward: There is nothing wrong in clarifying the truth. Didn't Teacher say to clarify the truth wherever there is a problem? How come this time only one-fourth was paid? I shared my thoughts with fellow practitioners and looked outward for deficiencies. Then I realized that I was too much attached to my personal pride, without considering the other party.
This year, the principal was promoted to deputy county magistrate. I went to her home, sincerely admitted my mistakes, and thanked her for her help. Trying to understand the situation from her perspective and for her own good, I explained that I did not come to ask for my salary. I said, "Whatever you'd like to do with the salary owed to me is fine with me. Please be careful regarding how you think of Dafa and never have any regrets." The following day, she notified me to go claim the remaining 1,500 yuan and I accepted gladly.
I was neither delighted at receiving the deducted back salary nor depressed by the frustrations during the course of the experience. I sought no results, since all this happened during the course of cultivation and one trips and falls during cultivation. Teacher says:
"This is something I often say: once you take up Dafa, whatever it is you encounter--good or bad--it is a good thing (applause), for it came about only because you cultivate in Dafa." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")
This is the way of cultivation for me.
II. Rejecting the CCP's "Keeping Fresh" Campaign with Righteous Thoughts
Last year, the school participated in a "keeping fresh" campaign. I was asked to write bulletins for the campaign. I approached Secretary Li and expressed my wish not to write the bulletins. He asked why. I said that I myself had suffered from the campaigns and that all those campaigns are just formalities. He flew into a rage and ended the conversation.
I adjusted my mindset and later resumed talking with him. First I clarified the truth to him and talked about the persecution which I had suffered. He said, "The powers that be have not redressed the Falun Gong case. I understand that you suffered a lot. However, corrupted officials are in the minority and good ones are in the majority. Why can't you write a bulletin?" I said, "I believe in Falun Gong, and it says God exists. The CCP is atheist. I'm not a Party member and hope you understand me."
I went on and said, "While I was in the detention center, three times my life was in danger. I've endured great pressure for the past several years, and I won't change! I won't participate in the 'keeping fresh' campaign." He stared at me, puzzled. I stared at him firmly. Finally he said, "It's okay that you won't write it." The next morning, he sent someone to notify me that I was to visit some school buildings and thus not attend the motivation meeting for the "keeping fresh" campaign.
As Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference,"
"...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."
III. Getting Rid of the Party's Culture
Once our union chairman asked me to hand copy a document. As I was copying, I found sentences conveying the CCP's culture. I approached the chairman with the document in my hand. She said with a serious expression, "I want you to copy this because I trust you and you have nice handwriting. Whether on behalf of the school or on my own behalf, I beg you to copy it. It's very dangerous if you go on like this." I replied, "When have I not performed well any task assigned to me? You assigned me teaching jobs every other week, and I never failed." She said, "Everyone recognizes your performance. I treat you well also. If I had not put in a good word for you, you wouldn't have received a pay raise the last time." I said, "I'll keep in mind the favors you did me and will return them in the future. Since you raised the topic, let me ask you this: there was a country-wide pay raise for the entire educational system. How come I was not included?" "You were not working at that time." I replied, "Did I willingly leave the workplace? Did I willingly get a divorce and have my family ruined? Isn't this persecution?" She said, "Persecution or not, don't do what the state does not allow!" I said, "What the government bans is not necessarily wrong. People should have a sense of justice."
I went on to expose the organ harvesting from living practitioners by the Party. She asked, "Is it true?" I said, "All of the cases are true, otherwise how could there have been so many organ transplants in the past few years in China?" At last she yielded to my request to cross out the offending sentences.
Before I used to be afraid of supervisors and meeting with the administration. Through cultivation I got rid of my fear and everyday people's notions. I treat them as sentient beings and clarify the truth in all circumstances. I save the sentient beings and validate Dafa at my workplace. During the course of my experiences, I found a lot of my own faults. I got rid of them through cultivation and upgraded myself. There has been bitterness and sweetness, joy and sadness, clouds and blue sky when enlightening to a Fa principle. As long as cultivation has not ended, I will do the three things well in the environment of my workplace. There are co-workers who have not quit the CCP and there are still sentient beings waiting to be saved.
Fellow practitioners, please point out any shortcomings.
October 10, 2006
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Category: Perspectives
