(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to use this opportunity to summarize my cultivation experiences over the past years, to look for my shortcomings, and to share my experiences with fellow practitioners so that we can improve together.
1. Memorize the Fa and Pay Attention to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts
In 2005, I read a fellow practitioners' experiences on memorizing the Fa on the Internet, so I decided to memorize Zhuan Falun. I utilized every spare moment to memorize the book. I would try to remember a few sentences even if it was only ten minutes. I memorized the entire book in about four months. During the process, I continued to enlighten to deeper meanings of the Fa and continued to realize my hidden attachments. And the Fa continued to change me at the microcosmic level. After I finished memorizing the book, I really felt that I was a changed person from the inside out.
When you study Fa a lot, the Fa will come to mind when you encounter anything. You will know how to handle yourself according to a cultivator's standard. Society is like a big dye vat. If you relax a little, you will be contaminated. Only when you continue to study the Fa can you remain clearheaded with righteous thoughts. Studying the Fa well is the foundation and guarantee for us to walk our path straight.
My experience with sending forth righteous thoughts is that in order to be really effective, one must maintain a pure and calm state of mind to send out powerful thoughts. When I send forth righteous thoughts with a pure mind, I immediately feel warmth in my palm and my whole body feels warm when I raise my hand. But often other thoughts arise during sending forth righteous thoughts. The thoughts can even be related to validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. It was easy just to follow those thoughts. Moments later, I could feel the energy in my body and on my hand had disappeared.
I realized that any stray thought, even if it is about validating the Fa, is interference when sending forth righteous thoughts. When other thoughts emerge, a warning sign goes off and I don't follow that thought. If I had studied Fa well and did well in clarifying the truth one day, then my righteous thoughts would be purer and more powerful. When Teacher told us to do the three things, they are complimentary to our own improvement, validating the Fa, and saving sentient beings. Only when we do all three things well can we holistically improve and holistically upgrade.
2. Validating Fa Calmly and Rationally
I have set up a home material production site. I quickly learned to operate printers and a CD burner. I have tried almost all the truth-clarifying methods listed on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. My home production site has been operating very smoothly. I often go out to distribute materials alone. I use paper money with truth-clarifying messages posted on them. I often clarify the truth to people I know from a third person's point of view. People around me see me as a very ordinary person. On the surface, I am not that much different from other people. I have a very busy job, I need to take care of my kids and do housework. But I always see myself as a practitioner: I balance work, family and cultivation, and I don't forget the sacred mission of a Dafa disciple. When other people are busy watching TV, playing the stock market, or playing mah jong (a traditional Chinese game), I quietly use my spare time to do what a Dafa practitioner should do.
Whenever I have time, I go out to distribute truth-clarifying materials by myself. I always have some in my purse. Sometime I have gone door to door, sometime I leave flyers on buses or in public places. At first, I only distributed a few copies. Now I can distribute several hundred at a time. Things always have gone smoothly, and I've never felt scared or thought about being persecuted for distributing materials. Nowadays, many people pass out advertising flyers. If we maintain righteous thoughts and a relaxed mind, everything is very natural.
Everything in this world is for the Fa. "This instant is precious beyond measure."("Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago") Practitioners have come up with many ideas to save sentient beings. I have tried many different methods myself. Sometimes I am very busy at work and do not have much time to distribute truth-clarifying materials. How could I do better spreading the truth? In practice, the methods I use most are money with truth-clarifying messages and sending short messages by cell phone.
I often have about a thousand small bills, mostly one yuan bills. I print the truth clarification messages on the bills to try to persuade people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I then apply wax over the words and send forth righteous thoughts for them. Every morning when I go to the market, I only use the bills with messages on them. I use several bills at one. At a minimum, I use over ten bills and usually 30 at the food market. In one month, I will use several hundred bills with truth-clarifying message. I have truth-clarifying bills of various face values in my wallet. I am very comfortable using them. Almost all the time I use money with truth-clarifying words when I go shopping and have never had any problem.
One day I bought some lotus seeds from a roadside peddler and I gave her two new bills with truth-clarification information on them. When I turned around, I heard the peddler say to the people around her with excitement, "Look, money with 'Falun Dafa is good'!" Although I do not know any more details of what went on, her words of excitement left a deep impression in my mind. Maybe she had been waiting for this for a long time.
I also use my cell phone to clarify the truth. I have been doing this for about two years. At the very beginning, I sent a dozen or so messages a day. Now I send nearly a thousand messages a day. I think it's easy and fast to use a cell phone to send truth-clarification messages and all recipients can read the message. Now more and more people are using cell phones. They are used to receiving ads as well as messages about winning a prize. If they can receive the truth about the persecution of Falun Dafa or messages about the three withdrawals (withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party, the Youth League and/or the Young Pioneers) they will certainly be shocked and will discuss the messages with others. This will meet Teacher's requirement of "spreading the facts widely." ("To the European Fa Conference in Stockholm" in 2005)
Using my cell phone to clarify the truth has also helped me improve in my cultivation. I still remember when I sent my first message, my hands were shaking. All sorts of fears came up. However, gradually I let go of this fear. Teacher said,
"Don't overlook any of the things that Dafa disciples do. Your every word, every flyer, every keystroke, every telephone call, and every letter is having a huge impact. " ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference" )
Each time I plan to use the cell phone to send truth-clarification messages, I send forth righteous thoughts first. I think that a cell phone is also a type of Fa-implement, it is glittering, and every message it sends out is like a powerful energy striking into people's minds to eliminate the evil factors and save sentient beings.
In the last two years of sending cell phone messages, I have received various replies. Some have scolded me and some have threatened to have me arrested. It is like wandering around in society and encountering all kinds of things. In the beginning, I was disturbed because of my human sentiments. When I read the replies that slandered Falun Dafa, I always tried to argue with the sender. With a better understanding of the Fa and the improvement of my "xinxing," I am able to remain unmoved no matter what message I receive. As the process of the Fa-rectification proceeds and the evil forces are being eliminated in great numbers in other dimensions, I receive fewer and fewer messages that scorn Falun Dafa. Some messages even say things like, "Thank you for your concerted effort!" "Falun Dafa is great!" Some are willing to learn more about the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong and others have agreed to withdraw from the CCP and its subordinate organizations. Some have even said they want to learn the Falun Gong exercises.
3. Upgrading Myself in the Process of Processing the Truth-Clarification Materials
I know very few practitioners. In order to keep up with the needs of the Fa rectification, I set up a truth-clarification material site at home. I purchase all the necessary equipment, download materials from the Internet, process them, and hand them out. I have done all of this virtually by myself. This experience has been helpful in providing me with a very good opportunity for self-improvement.
I knew that VCDs were very effective in clarifying the truth, so I wanted to make them myself. I bought a VCD burner and hoped that a practitioner who knew how to operate the machine could teach me. I waited for more than one month but still could not find a practitioner with the skills. I thought I should not wait and rely on others. The sentient beings are waiting for us. Then who should I rely on? I'd better learn it by myself. First of all, I studied the Fa with a calm mind and begged Teacher to give me some hints. Then I installed the driver into the computer but could not read the instructions, which were all in English. I just clicked the box I felt I should click, then more boxes kept coming up. I just clicked, clicked, and clicked and in less than half an hour, it showed that the installation was successful. I was very happy. Whenever we let go of human attachments, the wonder of Falun Dafa will appear.
It is not that difficult to copy a disk, but producing a VCD needed a lot of skills, such as changing from one format to another. At the very beginning, I had no knowledge of it at all, so I began to learn from the Internet. I downloaded the software and tried it. After nearly ten days of concerted effort, I was finally able to produce the truth-clarification VCDs. I was very excited. On all these days I always studied the Fa with a calm mind first and then worked on learning the techniques to burn a VCD. When our xinxing is stable and righteous thoughts are strong, we, as practitioners, will have endless wisdom.
One day when I was printing a copy of Zhuan Falun, I tried cutting corners to save myself time and effort, but I made a lot of errors. It took me the whole morning to print just one copy of Zhuan Falun. Teacher said:
"You will be made to abandon all those attachments that cannot be given up among everyday people. As long as you have them, all of those attachments must be removed in different environments. You will be made to stumble, whereby you will become enlightened to the Tao. This is how one goes through cultivation practice. " (Zhuan Falun)
When I wanted to do something, I always looked for an easy way and did not want to expend too much effort. How sacred it is to do work for Falun Dafa! Then, can I do it with an attitude of saving time and effort? Didn't the trouble I had in printing the copy of Zhuan Falun mean that I would need to let go of this attachment? Now when I process truth-clarification materials, I never try to cut corners but hope to do it better. I put every copy of truth-clarification materials into self-sealed envelopes and carefully match the truth-clarification VCDs with a proper introduction. When I print on paper money, I often try to change the message.
In the years of processing truth-clarification materials, I deeply feel that the improvement in skills is also a process of upgrading in our cultivation. Our wisdom is enriched along with the improvement of our xinxing. During this process, I let go of a lot of human attachments, such as seeking comfort, relying on others, and being careless. When we do things with our hearts, the sentient beings feel the compassion of practitioners. When we wholeheartedly work for the salvation of sentient beings, we are able to do everything well.
4. Ensuring That I Have No Regrets
Teacher said:
"When we've passed through this part of history and we take a look back, if every Dafa disciple is able to say, 'I've done what I was supposed to do,' (applause) then that's the most extraordinary. " ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference")
Teacher repeated at "Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital:"
"Don't become complacent just because you think you've done such and such, for there are so many sentient beings that we have yet to save. You still need to push yourselves so that you may establish even greater mighty virtue within a limited time frame, and so that you won't have any regrets when all is said and done. So I hope that you will do even better and be even more magnificent. "
Although I know that I still have much room for improvement and lag far behind those fellow practitioners who have done very well, I hope to keep up with them in studying the Fa and in cultivation. At the same time, we must follow the requirements set by Teacher,
"Cultivate away your deficiencies, restrain your shortcomings, and eliminate your shortcomings. You must have a sense of constantly climbing up. That's cultivating. " ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")
My wish is that every practitioner will cherish this opportunity of the ages and make the best use of time to do better what we need to do to make sure that we will have no regrets.
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