(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Stepping out to clarify the truth in San Francisco
I found that I had a lot of attachments when I first went to San Francisco to help with truth clarification. I had the attachment of fear, and my human emotions towards my family members were quite strong. I don't know English, and I was not familiar with the city. I've been in the US for quite a few years, but my husband used to be with me all the time. We practiced the exercises and studied the Fa together. We handed out flyers together. We did this every day. In March of this year, my husband started suffering from illness karma. It was a very difficult tribulation for him to pass. He passed away after struggling with it for 42 days. Both my son and I were very sad. With fellow practitioners' encouragement, I enlightened to the fact that I had to treat myself as a genuine practitioner at all times.
"Cultivation is something you do right in the thick of tribulations. They'll test whether you can sever your emotions and desires, and they'll see if you can take them lightly. If you're attached to those things you won't be able to finish your cultivation." (Zhuan Falun, Chapter 4)
"If you don't sever emotion, you won't be able to cultivate. But if you do break out of emotion, nobody can affect you, and ordinary attachments won't be able to sway you. What replaces it is compassion, which is more noble." (Zhuan Falun, Chapter 4)
I realize that as a Dafa disciple I need to do the three things that Master told us to do. In "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005" and "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles," Master stated clearly that Chinatown in San Francisco is a key spot that needs truth clarification in the Western US--so I went there.
Upon arriving in Chinatown, I shared an apartment with fellow practitioners. There were no beds or other furniture in the apartment, and it appeared very sparse. I stayed in a room all by myself. I had no one to talk to, and felt lonely. My husband had recently passed away and oftentimes I couldn't hold back my tears when I thought about him. If he were still alive, how good it would be for us to clarify the truth together. My son called and asked if I was used to the new environment. I told him that I was fine. After a few days, he called again, and said: "Mom, are you coming back this weekend? I miss you so much." He was very close to his father. His father had just passed away, and he was home alone. He was busy at work during the day, but at night he felt lonely, too. I insisted on staying in Chinatown for two weeks before returning home. In the ensuing days, I got up at 3:00 in the morning to send righteous thoughts and then studied the Fa. During the day, I went to the Tuidang Center (Quit the Chinese Communist Party Assistance Center) to pass out flyers. In the beginning I was not familiar with the layout of the city, but after a couple of days, I started to know the area. After this first trip, I often went back to Chinatown, and spent a week or two there. My attachment to my son gradually lessened. Master says in Zhuan Falun,
"Back when I was cultivating, a lot of men of great character told me this: 'It's hard to endure, but you can endure it. It's hard to do, but you can do it.' And that's really how it is. When you go back you might want to give it a try. When you're going through an awful tribulation, or maybe a critical juncture, give it a try. When it's hard to endure, try to endure it. When it seems impossible to do, or just hard to do, give it a try and see just what you can do. And when you can really do it, just like that worn and weary traveler, you'll see, 'the shade of willows, the blooms of flowers, a place to rest my head!'"
2. Not forgetting to cultivate myself while clarifying the truth
When I was in Chinatown, I joined the group practice from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. in Portsmouth Square. After sending righteous thoughts at 9:00 a.m. I went to the Tuidang Center to clarify the truth. I insisted on staying there rain or shine. I approached the busy passers-by and tried to explain the truth to them. I told them to please take a look at the true history of the evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It has killed 80 million Chinese people in its 50 years in power, and now, 13 million people have quit the party. I told them to save themselves by quitting the CCP.
In the beginning I was timid because there were lots of people deeply polluted by the evil propaganda of the CCP. Sometimes those who didn't understand the truth gave me dirty looks or even berated me. Then I realized that I am a Dafa disciple, and Dafa disciples' mission is to save sentient beings; so no matter how badly people treated me, I should still try to save them with compassion. When I encountered those who didn't accept our flyers, I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil elements behind them so that they would take a flyer. Once, an old man confronted me. For three days, he scolded me and called me a betrayer of China every time he passed by. He said I was a disgrace to the Chinese people, and my future would be bleak. Each time I just sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil behind him. After a while, he no longer berated me.
There was another incident. One day I asked a tall middle-aged man to read the Epoch Times newspaper. He looked at me fiercely, waved his hand and told me to go away. I did not leave. Instead, I stood in front of him and said: "Please read the Epoch Times. It's a paper with integrity, and it dares to tell the truth and only the truth." A lady beside him heard me and took the newspaper from my hand. She added: "Please give me one more copy for my friend." I thought to myself, one righteous thought subdued one hundred evils. After that, the man no longer treated me badly when he passed by.
Overall, the majority of the people were kind-hearted. Some people raised their thumbs to me when they understood the truth. An elderly gentleman shook hands with me twice after he learned the truth. An American young man made a Heshi gesture to me, and he was friendly. In Portsmouth Square, there was an elderly lady who was interested in learning about Falun Gong. I told her that Falun Gong is righteous, and that it has helped to elevate people's moral standards as well as restore their physical health. I told her that it's a genuine cultivation of both body and mind. She showed a keen interest in reading Zhuan Falun after listening to me. I went back to my apartment right away to fetch her a copy as a gift. This lady's husband was one of the old folks at the Square who used to glare at us and respond to our truth clarification with hatred. After the woman and her husband read Zhuan Falun, their attitudes changed. When I met them again, they greeted me with smiles.
In Chinatown, many residents like our newspaper. They read it every day. One day, when the newspaper arrived late, a lady waited for 40 minutes to get a copy. I used this opportunity to clarify the truth to her. I told her why the head of the evil party persecuted Falun Gong, that the self-immolation was staged, described the Nine Commentaries and Tuidang (the movement to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations), and talked about the number of people that had quit the CCP, etc. I also asked her to tell her friends and relatives in Mainland China about the truth, and that doing this would bring her blessings.
3. Studying, cultivating, and comparing together with the Taiwanese practitioners
Realizing the importance of truth clarification in Chinatown, three groups of Taiwanese practitioners came to assist. I felt that their minds were pure and they had cultivated very well. They coordinated well with each other. In Portsmouth Square, some of them sang songs composed by Dafa disciples. Not only did I find it very touching, but they drew the attention of the older folks. A family of four people came from Taiwan. Their daily life was simple and unpretentious. The husband always followed the passers-by to tell them the truth. When he was hungry, he just ate whatever was conveniently available. He continued to clarify the truth right after eating. An elderly practitioner stayed on the street from 9:00 a.m. To 6:00 p.m. to clarify the truth. When he got back to the apartment, he studied the Fa with the group. Every day he got up at 3:00 a.m. to send righteous thoughts, then studied the Fa. He went to the kitchen and studied the Fa in the dim light there. I was very moved when I saw this. I felt that I needed to catch up with others and study the Fa well. Right now I can often stay up after 3:00 a.m. and memorize the Fa. I've memorized three chapters already. In this process, I found many of my deficiencies, and the more I memorize and recite, the more I want to study.
4. Final words
Some senior Chinese immigrants in the San Francisco Chinatown, especially in Portsmouth Square, were deeply polluted by the communist propaganda. After this period of truth clarification, the situation has greatly improved. I feel that Chinatown is one of the main battlefields between the righteous and the evil. We need to stay firm with the Tuidang center, and rectify the deviated things with our compassion.
The above is my recent experiences in cultivation. Please kindly point out my shortcomings. Thank you, Master! Thank you, my fellow practitioners.
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.
