(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Ever since I was young, I lived in fear because my parents always fought with each other. When I married, my life became even worse because my husband had a bad temper, and we often fought with each other as well. Even though my child was young I still had to work, so I was constantly exhausted. Fortunately, I began to practice Falun Gong in 1998, and both my mind and body became healthy.
1. Clarifying the truth to save officials at my workplace
When the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, the officials at my workplace fired several practitioners in October that year, including me. I went to Beijing to appeal at the end of 2000. I was illegally arrested and sentenced to one year of forced labor. Four months after I was released, I was arrested again at a materials production site and sentenced to three years of forced labor. When I was released, I found out that my husband had divorced me and was already married to someone else. At that time, I had no job or money, and my child would soon be going to college. My mother and younger brother were both ill, and I temporarily lived at a fellow practitioner's home.
When I heard that two practitioners who had been fired from my workplace had returned to work, I adjusted my mindset to one of compassion and went there to talk to the management. I talked to one manager, who was directly responsible for firing us, for an hour. When he heard the facts about Falun Gong, he agreed to quit the CCP and also said that he would help me try to get my job back. He kept requesting that the other officials reinstate my employment, until he retired. He used to have many illnesses, but after I talked to him and he quit the CCP, he became healthy. I told him that it was because he received blessings for helping practitioners.
I wrote many letters to the senior officials at my workplace to help them understand Falun Gong, and visited some of them so that I could talk to them about the persecution. In early 2010, I was paid the backdated pension money that was withheld by my workplace, along with a lump sum of tens of thousands of yuan. I know that Master helped me with all of this.
2. Firmly eliminating arrangements made with the old forces
Before I started to cultivate, I felt that life was very hard, just living from one day to the next was a struggle. When I began cultivation in Dafa, I realized that I might have made some arrangements with the old forces in a past life. Otherwise, why did I keep being interfered with and persecuted? I was sent to a labor camp twice and was detained for a total of four years. I kept opposing the persecution during my detention by refusing to do the forced labor and going on hunger strikes. My condition was poor and I was close to dying several times. Although I was diligent and got involved with many projects to help save people when I was released, I often had a hard time remembering things and sometimes my body began twitching. During meditation or while sending righteous thoughts, my head often felt constrained. My face and eyes would become distorted and I would often get a stiff neck. Although I kept doing things to save sentient beings, my physical condition was always a problem. Fellow practitioners were also concerned about me, but could offer no explanation as to why it was happening. Wishing to eliminate these manifestations of the old forces' interference, I looked back over my cultivation path. I only wished to be guided by the Fa and follow Master's arrangements, so I decided to recite the Fa and rectify myself in the Fa.
I started to memorize the Fa in 2007. It was a difficult process, since I sometimes felt sleepy while reciting and could not remember anything upon waking up. Nonetheless, I persisted.
In Essentials for Further Advancement II, Master said:
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts."
As I continued reciting the Fa, upgrading my xinxing and sending forth righteous thoughts, the state of my physical body improved. The old forces' attempts to interfere with my saving sentient beings failed. As long as we are assimilated to the Fa, our life will be secured.
I now have a much better understanding of the power of sending forth righteous thoughts. It is indeed crucial to send forth righteous thoughts, as I have seen this from the dramatic improvement in my physical body. After being detained for four years, I was in very poor health. I was unable to eat and was in pain whenever I woke up. I also had a strong attachment of fear and did not feel safe, regardless of where I was. To eliminate any old force elements within my cultivation field, I increased the time for sending forth righteous thoughts and during each time designated for globally sending forth righteous thoughts, I did it for at least half an hour. I even send forth righteous thoughts for one or two hours sometimes, depending on the situation. The people around me have seen a significant improvement in me, and I can feel it as well. When my family saw these improvements in me, they also changed their attitude towards Dafa. In the past, I was surrounded by vicious interfering elements and encountered various tribulations. With faith in Master and Dafa, I have thoroughly disintegrated the old force elements by sending forth righteous thoughts.
3. Reaching maturity
I began to talk to people about the persecution in 2006. Initially, I did not know what to do and had a strong attachment of fear. Other practitioners encouraged me and gradually I was able to overcome my fear and clarify the truth to people on my own. During the past several years of truth-clarification, many bad elements were eliminated, especially fear. In my understanding, the most important aspect of truth-clarification work is to always focus on saving sentient beings.
Many local practitioners began to inform people about the persecution in early 2006. Some elderly practitioners were illiterate or could not write well, so I helped them and wrote many articles during that period of time. These articles were submitted to the Minghui website. When writing articles, I deeply felt Master helping me. It was as if my wisdom was opened, and I was able to write very fluently. Writing these articles not only helped disintegrate the old forces but also cleaned up my own dimension.
Due to the old forces' persecution I have been presented with many challenges on my cultivation path, and had to move to avoid persecution more than ten times. I have experienced financial difficulties and physical suffering. I have worked hard to cultivate my xinxing and send forth righteous thoughts, as well as letting go of my attachments. Many practitioners have had to leave their homes to avoid persecution and temporarily came to live with me. Each time, they helped me through my tribulations, exposing my attachments and eliminating them.
I have come to realize that all environments provide opportunities for practitioners to reach maturity in their cultivation. It is very important for us to make good use of these and discipline ourselves with the requirements of the Fa. We have to constantly look within and let go of our attachments. Having conflicts may not necessarily be a bad thing, and we should use them to purify ourselves and quickly improve.
After cultivating for more than 10 years, I still have many attachments. I hope to eliminate them, fulfill my mission as a Fa-rectification period practitioner and not disappoint Master.
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