(Clearwisdom.net) While walking the path to validate the Fa over the past ten years, local practitioners in our area, like many fellow practitioners, that went to Beijing to validate the Fa were subjected to persecution, including illegal forced labor, illegal detention, and fines. We were therefore forced to take a detour in our cultivation. We got lost and experienced the test of life and death. Under the protection of compassionate and great Master, illuminated by the Buddha's light, and with the support of my family members, I finally improved my initial surface understanding and gained a deeper understanding of Dafa. I stepped firmly on the path to validate the Fa and save sentient beings.
Forming One Body, Eliminating the Persecution, and Saving Sentient Beings
There were 40 to 50 of us practicing Falun Gong in our area before 1999. About 20 practitioners, many of them women business owners in their 40s, stepped forward after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong. With a firm belief in Dafa and Master, they went to Beijing to validate the Fa. They were detained and fined by the CCP. Their homes were ransacked, and they were sentenced to forced labor. We were not clear about the Fa principles, and the evil often harassed us. Master later published new Fa lectures, and we became enlightened that we needed to completely negate the old forces' persecution and interference in order to assist Master with Fa-rectification and save sentient beings who are still deceived by the CCP. We should not cooperate the evils' requirements or orders under any circumstances.
The CCP officials didn't allow us to get together, and we were required to report wherever we went. They also ransacked our homes and fined us, but we never cooperated with them. When we were ordered to sign documents regarding the persecution of Falun Gong, we refused to. On so-called sensitive days, we came out and walked down the street, or we went to a mountain to send forth righteous thoughts. As a result, the CCP officials were scared to death. They said that Falun Gong practitioners had united and that perhaps they shouldn't punish practitioners, as the more they attempted to repress them, the more the practitioners achieved.
With our improvement as one body, our families cooperated more and more in resisting the persecution.
As we studied the Fa more, we more clearly understood the the meaning of being Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period, as well as what Master had given us and our sacred mission. We knew that we had a huge responsibility. Lacking truth-clarification materials, we carried copies of Zhuan Falun and law books to clarify the truth to people and expose the persecution. We made truth-clarifying cards by drawing lotus flowers and Falun emblems on one side and truth-clarification messages on the other side of the cards, then sealing them with tape. We distributed the cards, and many people cherished them and kept them. Some senior practitioners clarified the truth and distributed materials on the street for ten years. Many of us were moved by their compassion and perseverance in saving sentient beings.
Since so many sentient beings are waiting to being saved, some of us took the initiative to prepare truth-clarification materials locally. With our compassionate Master's hints and protection, we passed many tests and tribulations and firmly walked our paths. There were no Dafa disciples in the neighboring villages and towns, and senior practitioners basically were responsible for distributing the truth-clarification materials. In the wind and rain, severe cold and hot weather, with bleeding and blistered feet, these fellow practitioners firmly walked the path of validating the Fa. Their footprints covered every street, village, and surrounding area. They laid a solid foundation for clarifying the truth of Falun Gong and persuading people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Heaven and earth were moved by their firm belief in Master and Dafa.
Practitioners who ran businesses took the opportunity to clarify the truth and persuade people who frequented their businesses to quit the CCP and its related organizations. These practitioners encountered all kinds of people. Some refused to listen, and some made fun of them or threatened them, but the practitioners were not driven by human mentality.
We clarify the truth and try to persuade people to quit the CCP and its related organizations in public. We also practice and study the Fa in public. Some practitioners practice the exercises on their balconies and some outdoors. We want to bring the beauty of Dafa to sentient beings and we also want to tell them that Falun Gong still stands with dignity after being persecuted for ten years. During this time we maintained a group Fa study without interruption. We sometimes didn't do well due to our human notions. Around the so-called sensitive days during the first several years, CCP agents often harassed us. We simply regarded it as a good opportunity to clarify the truth. Later we were monitored remotely. We asked the authorities directly about this and they dared not admit it.
Before the Olympic Games two years ago, there was severe persecution in other areas, and local practitioners were also monitored. We realized that the evil had emerged and that this is precisely the time to disintegrate it altogether and save sentient beings. We immediately formed a united body. Some of us sent forth righteous thoughts, while others went to clarify the truth to mayors of towns and the 610 Office staff. We sent Master's Fa lectures and VCDs of Shen Yun performances to them. Those we visited told us that the director in charge of the Falun Gong issue wanted to talk to us. We felt that we should not miss this opportunity to save sentient beings. Several days later the director came and asked many questions about the Flushing incident in New York, the earthquake in Sichuan, and other topics. We answered all his questions.
The route of the Olympic torch passed through my town, and the CCP authorities were extremely busy. Even the dumpster sites were decorated with tiles, and Dafa practitioners were not allowed to go out to see. We would not see the CCP's performance, but we could not acknowledge the unjustified persecution. Local fellow practitioners immediately formed one body with practitioners from another area of the county. We sent forth righteous thoughts continuously. The authorities subsequently changed the route away from our town. This was a manifestation of what Master said:
"Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts are powerful." (Essentials for Further Advancement II),
"...the evil CCP could save itself some trouble by not doing anything; whenever it does something bad, and particularly to Dafa disciples, it results in a scandal and fiasco for it, and ends up helping Dafa disciples with what they are doing." ("Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference")
Clarifying the Truth as One Body and Rescuing Fellow Practitioners
In 2005 another practitioner and I went to surrounding towns to distribute truth-clarification materials. We were falsely charged and arrested and taken to the county detention center. There we held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. We sent forth righteous thoughts, clarified the truth, wrote letters to clarify the truth, and searched inward. Other practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts at home, and fellow practitioners who ran businesses let go of self and went to the County Police Department to request our release every day. They clarified the truth and sent forth righteous thoughts. Overseas practitioners also called to help rescue us. With the powerful righteous thoughts of Dafa practitioners and Master's protection, the persecution was disintegrated in seven days. I returned to the current of assisting Master in Fa-rectification.
Above I just briefly described some of the things we did during the past ten years to assist Master in Fa-rectification. In other dimensions it's a thrilling combat between good and evil. Since then there has been no serious persecution in our area.
Improving as a Whole Body, Believing in Master and the Fa
With the ups and downs during the past ten years, I understand that, because we believed in Master and the Fa and acted with righteous thoughts, we were able to validate the Fa and cultivate in a relatively relaxed environment. No matter how powerful the evil acted, we did not cooperate with any of its orders. We always formed an indestructible entity, and the evil just crumbled. I think that letting go of self to harmonize the whole body is a cultivation process of changing from being selfish to selfless.
Besides studying the Fa well and reading experience sharing articles from the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, it was helpful to study some basics about the law. I often downloaded editorials from the Minghui website, speeches by experts and professors in other countries, and other truth-clarification content. We also studied the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and Disintegrate Party Culture. After eliminating the evil factors of the Party culture, I figured out how it has degenerated the minds of Chinese people. No matter what tricks the evil plays, we can see through them. We can refine the golden eyes and immeasurable wisdom of enlightened beings during Fa-rectification and manifest the mighty virtue of Dafa and Master's immeasurable compassion. We can save more sentient beings and have a relaxed environment in which to cultivate. I feel that those who have participated in the persecution, who have refused to listen to the truth, and who have gone astray are deeply poisoned by the wicked Party culture. At first we didn't see through the false kindness of the CCP and made the persecution even worse. When I took a detour in the past, it was also like this.
Cherish the Relaxed Environment and Be Diligent in Cultivation
Now that the environment has improved, some local practitioners have become less diligent in cultivation and slacked off in group Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts. Some have pursued comfort and are not diligent in cultivation, instead watching TV every day. Some fellow practitioners simple no longer do the three things. Some have searched inward during conflicts but were reluctant to communicate, and some have followed the path arranged by the old forces and caused unnecessary pressure in their cultivation. They have engaged in the pursuit of money for themselves, and their cultivation has suffered.
Some fellow practitioners no longer cherish the opportunity of having a relaxed Fa study environment, and say that they don't gain as much as studying at home. At group Fa-study, some fellow practitioners sometimes don't talk about things from the perspective of the Fa. Their hands foll down while sending forth righteous thoughts, and they are tired or can't concentrate when studying the Fa.
I hope this reminds fellow practitioners to cherish the cultivation opportunity that occurs once in millions of years!
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Category: Clarifying the Truth
