(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
In autumn of 2003, with the advance of Fa-rectification I became a Dafa disciple. At that time, I came into Dafa with strong selfish motives. I am a little ashamed when I think about my past practice and cultivation path. I didn't do well with a lot of the things our Master has wanted us to do and I didn't behave and engage myself according to the requirements of Dafa. Although I was not as diligent as I should have been, our merciful Master never gave up on me and instead has let me experience thewonders of Dafa. This encouraged me to become more diligent.
When I truly began cultivating, I felt the rotation of Falun in both of my palms when I practiced the second exercise-- Falun Standing Stance. I was so happy at the time. I had Falun and knew that Master was really taking care of me. I said to myself: "Master, please set your heart at rest, I will follow you and became a genuine Dafa disciple." From that point on, I practiced and studied the Fa every day, reading Zhuan Falun and systematically studying all of Master's other lectures. One time when I sent forth righteous thoughts, I felt my body became massive. I felt everything was boundless and as a result I had more confidence in doing the three things.
However, during my practice and cultivation, selfish thoughts arose. I also sometimes became numb to the persecution, and at times I became less diligent. I studied the Fa, sent forth righteous thoughts and clarified the facts as if they were a chore. I could not guarantee that I would practice the exercises daily either. Even worse, I became addicted to Internet movies. During that time, some fellow practitioners talked with me on several occasions, but I turned a deaf ear. Then one day, a practitioner talked again to me with tears in his eyes. I was shocked and my mind woke up. I said to myself that this was not my true self. I wanted to practice and cultivate, and I wanted to go home with Master.
From that point, I began my practice and cultivation diligently and tried my best to do the three things well. Also, I began to memorize the Fa, like many other practitioners have done. In order to encourage me, Master let me experience the wonders of Dafa again. During the sitting meditation, I truly felt a strong energy current between my two palms.
With the progress of Fa-rectification, in 2004 the Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, which has shaken the world. This has induced mass withdrawals from the wicked party and its affiliated organizations in mainland China. People have expressed their detestation of the wicked party and issued statements of resignation. I also resigned and published my own statement. At the same time I mobilized my wife, my child and some friends to resign. However, for my relatives, I wasn't rational. I thought that they were my family members and would understand when I talked with them. I didn't clarify the facts to them with the mindset of offering salvation to sentient beings. It was because of this incorrect thought that I faced a lot of difficulties when clarifying the truth to them and helping them to understand why they should resign from the evil party.
For example, my father has been a member of the wicked party for a long time and has experienced all kinds of political movements, so he should have a clear understanding of its evil history. But it is not that simple! Although during every festival, when family members came together, he complained about how the party was not good, he still would not resign after I talked with him. On top of this, he would even say some sarcastic things to me.
By studying the Fa, I realized that I was not level-headed about this. It was like what our Master taught in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles":
"While we are on this subject, I would like to mention something. Some of you have done poorly in clarifying the truth to your families, and that is because you haven't done it right. One reason is that you don't know what their stuck point is, you are unclear on the cause. Another thing is that when you clarify the truth to your family, you always regard them as family, rather than as sentient beings who are to be saved. You are a cultivator, and you are above ordinary people. You know that in this lifetime you are family, but did you know that in your previous life you might not have been? You know that in this lifetime this person is your wife, but who knows whose wife she will be in the next lifetime. In this lifetime that person is your child, but whose child was he in his previous life?
As cultivators, you should all be very clear on this, and you can't be mired in the kind of concept ordinary people have of being related to someone. Regard him as a sentient being and save him as you would any other sentient being. Then when you talk with him, the result will be different--guaranteed. Don't first think of him as family. When you instead talk to him as though he is someone to be saved, it will be different. In reality, the knowing side of his being is aware that, "You and I are family in this life, but in my next life I will be in someone else's family." The core of his being knows this. When you truly have righteous thoughts as you save him, his true thoughts will be able to tell, and he won't be mired in ordinary people's feelings anymore." Our Master enlightened me, through fellow practitioners, about how to rationally and wisely keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification.
At the beginning of this year, the evil party's crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China was exposed. Kind-hearted people are shocked by these atrocities and often find it hard to believe that such cruelty is occurring in this day and age. In order to let more Irish people learn about the wicked nature of the evil party and learn about what has happened in China, I took part in a car tour with other more than 10 practitioners. The car tour visited 15 counties around Ireland. When Irish people asked us, "Is this true?" the only answer we could give was, "Yes, this is happening in China. However, due to a CCP cover-up, what we have told you is only the tip of the iceberg. Please sign the petition letter if you want to help us. Let us work together to stop this genocide." After understanding the truth, many people signed their names and expressed their support.
At times, I would become impatient when seeing other practitioners clarifying the facts in very good English. Because my English is not very good, I felt frustrated being unable to communicate with people or being able to clarify the facts to them properly. So during the car tour, I decided to hold the end of one of our banners to allow other practitioners with good English to clarify the truth to people. After each day, I felt very tired, but gratified that a lot of people learned the truth. It is worth it if only one person learns the truth. Upon seeing practitioners standing in the rain or wind, many people would want to give money and some old people even bought food to give us, but fellow practitioners would kindly decline. One young man, who was quite interested, even bought several books of stamps, put them on our table, and then left. When faced with these kind and selfless people, my tears would often mix with the rain.
Looking back at my three years of cultivation, our Master has enlightened and encouraged me all of the time. Is there any reason for me to not do better?
Thank Master and thank fellow practitioners!
August 17, 2006