(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Gong in 1997 and have been through 11 years of tribulations. Our compassionate Teacher protects me until this day and I gratefully thank Teacher for his salvation.

Maintaining a harmonious family life is also validating the Fa

Former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin started the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Everyday there were news of practitioners being persecuted and tortured. I was fearful, and my family tried hard to make me give up the practice. For a long period of time, I couldn't step forward and validate the Fa. My family actively prevented me from meeting with other practitioners. I was anxious about not being able to overcome my fear, as I yearned to validate the Fa openly and nobly. I often cried, as it was only during the night that I was courageous enough to go out to validate the Fa, distributing fliers, putting up posters, and hanging up banners.

After Teacher's article "The Knowing Heart" was published, I studied it repeatedly until I memorized it. I realized that my human notions were so deeply ingrained that they were nearly impossible to discard. I was very attached to my family, and I was desperate to get over that attachment so that I could walk well the path Teacher had arranged for us to save sentient beings.

"Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy -- this is establishing the mighty virtue of an Enlightened Being." ("Rationality," from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

I had promoted Falun Dafa to my family members. I would tell them, "I am a Dafa practitioner and my mission as a Fa rectification practitioner is to assist Teacher in saving sentient beings. I have benefited greatly from the practice and and you are all aware that I have gotten rid of all my illnesses. Since I started the practice, I don't have to take any medication or have any injections. I follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I do all the housework and don't inconvenience anybody. All of you have witnessed the changes I have undergone. The practice is wonderful and does no harm." My husband had told me that he knew that Dafa was good and that he had wanted me to practice at home because he didn't want to lose me to an arrest. I had replied, "Falun Dafa is being persecuted. Teacher is going through tribulations. I have to speak up for Teacher and the Fa and promote justice." After that, my family just let me be. They seemed to have understood. I started to study the Fa with fellow practitioners and assisted with "truth clarification" work. My understanding is that in order to be able to validate the Fa, one has to create one's own opportunities.

My daughter-in-law had asked for me to babysit her daughter after she was weaned off breastfeeding. Dafa is the top priority in my life, so I said, "Since you don't work, in the evening you will need to take care of her yourself, as I need to study the Fa, do the exercises, and clarify the truth. Please understand and support me to do the three things that Teacher has requested of us. You will then be positioning yourself well for the future." Since then she never asked me to babysit at night anymore.

I continued to study the Fa and gradually eliminated my attachment to fear. I worked with fellow practitioners, and in the past few years we have been to every surrounding small town and village to distribute truth clarification materials. If anybody defames Dafa, my husband tells them about the beauty of Dafa. Initially he was opposed to my validating the Fa. Now he will spontaneously remind me to send righteous thoughts and supports me in doing the three things. If ever there is a day when the whole day is taken up by truth clarification work, he accept its without complaint.

My husband and I haven't been intimate for two years now, but we respect and love each other and live a harmonious life. His health has been improving and he has been more energetic in the past few years. I have told him that his kind thoughts toward Dafa have brought him happiness and peace.

I try to behave like a practitioner should at all times, as I want my family members to witness the miracle and beauty of Dafa. I examine my every thought and action in accordance with the teachings of the Fa. I have two daughters-in-law. I told both of them about Dafa when they married my sons. One Chinese New Year's Eve, I gave every family member an amulet(1) and told them to always remember "Falun Dafa is good" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." In those few days that they were home, I gave them truth clarifying materials and playing CDs about Dafa and the persecution for them. All of them denounced any association they had with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I often remind them to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their day-to-day lives. One of my daughters-in-law bought me a down jacket to wear so that I wouldn't get cold when I go out to clarify the truth. The other daughter-in-law often reminds me to send righteous thoughts, to do the three things well, to join the Fa study group, and to save sentient beings.

I have gotten along well with my daughters-in law for the past decade. I am healthy, so they don't have to worry about me. I do all the housework so that they can focus on their work. People often comment, "Your daughters-in-law praise you for being such a wonderful mother-in-law and being very considerate of others. People who practice Falun Gong are good people, just like you!" I ell them that our Teacher taught us to be good. I remind them to remember that "Dafa is good!" This is truly "The Buddha light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities." (Zhuan Falun)

Distributing Dafa materials is part of our cultivation

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I worked with another practitioner to clarify the truth. Many people gladly accepted our materials and CDs. We asked them to cherish the materials and pass them onto their family and friends. We clarified the truth from door to door and covered over 30 villages in 12 days. No matter where we were, on the street or in the fields, people would wave to us and say, "Falun Dafa is good." Because we had previously distributed truth clarifying materials and informed people to renounce any association with the CCP, many people wanted more of our materials, CDs, and amulets. My understanding is that we must be compassionate at all times when we clarify the truth and never give up on those who refuse to listen or appear indifferent.

One day when we were out distributing informational materials and everything was going smoothly, I started to feel a sense of zealotry. As I slipped a flier under a door, the other practitioner immediately removed the flier I had left and replaced it with hers. They were the same fliers, so why would she do such a thing? I wasn't happy about it but didn't say anything. I thought to myself, "I can distribute fliers on my own. I don't need to work with you." I had wanted to be better than her and wanted to validate myself instead of Dafa. When I got home, I was still bothered by the incident and decided to study the Fa. I then came across "Further Elimination of Attachments" from Essentials for Further Advancement:

"My disciples! Master is very worried, but this cannot help! Why can't you abandon ordinary human attachments? Why are you so reluctant to take a step forward? Our students, including our staff, are jealous of each other even in their work for Dafa. Can you become a Buddha this way? I want to have a loose administration simply because you cannot let go of ordinary human things and so will feel uneasy in your work. Dafa belongs to the entire universe, and not to any one, insignificant individual. Whoever does the work is spreading Dafa. It is not important whether it should be done by you or by others. Are you going to bring to a paradise this attachment that you cannot let go of, and contend with Buddhas? Nobody should treat Dafa as his own exclusive thing. Get rid of that thought that you've been treated unfairly! When your mind cannot get over something, isn't it caused by your attachment? Our students shouldn't think that this has nothing to do with them!"

I was deeply ashamed. Every word in the article was directed at me. The Fa was reminding me to eliminate the bad factors and was cleansing my mind. I did not realize that my human notions were stacked up as high as a mountain. I was self-centered, jealous, and full of complaints. With all these attachments, how could I ever handle myself as a practitioner when conflicts arose? Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students" (April 12, 2004):

"In your cultivation you can't always look at others. You need to look at yourselves and cultivate yourselves. When there's a problem, examine yourself and try to find the problem on your part. When you see that something is lacking, figure out how you can do each thing well, keep your thinking right along the way and manifest the righteous thoughts and righteous actions of a Dafa disciple when faced with challenges--now that is extraordinary. And as a Dafa disciple, that is your validating the Fa with righteous thoughts and only then are you truly worthy of being a Dafa disciple. "

Being a Fa rectification practitioner, one must study the Fa diligently and improve xinxing if one is to validate the Fa with wisdom. We can only do the three things well when we have rectified our every thought and followed the Fa, eliminated all evil factors that segregate practitioners, and correctly understood the basis of our validating the Fa.

Note:

(1) Amulets - In China, practitioners sometimes clarify the truth by giving people something small to wear or cherish, bearing a few words reminding them of the goodness of Dafa.