(Clearwisdom.net)
(Continued from
Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/12/15/130133.html
Part 2: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/12/16/130162.html)
I used to envy the disciples of Shakyamuni for their being able to listen to the Buddha’s lectures directly 2,500 years ago. A lay Buddhist told me to cultivate diligently and I could become a disciple of Maitreya Buddha in the future. Now my dream has come true.
A few years ago when I returned home after having been persecuted for a year, my family insisted on taking me to a fortune teller to ask about my future. I firmly declined, and had a big fight with them. Father even held a knife against my neck. What was going on? Father was not such a person. I sat up and sent forth righteous thoughts for a while. The next day my parents no longer forced me to see the fortune teller, but took a cousin of mine over with them instead. After they came back, my cousin asked me: “Sister, why did the fortune teller tell my parents that you are from the heavens, and have your mission?” Hearing that, I thought: “Teacher, Dafa is just wonderful. I will take this opportunity to tell my cousin the facts about Dafa.” After that my cousin happily quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliations. The Power of Dafa saved sentient beings everywhere.
– From the author
(Continued from Part 2)
5. Get rid of the attachment to interests and don’t be hampered in saving sentient beings
Sometimes I exhibited my attachments to my own interests. I operated a small store and met all sorts of people, and observed many bad phenomena in society from these customers. But I am Teacher’s disciple and no one could impact me. I thought of others and was usually able to do well. But occasionally mistakes were made. Next door to my store was a small eatery. The couple who owned the store were not nice and liked to take advantage of people. I did not want to have much to do with them, but they came to bother me quite often. I did not back down and our relationship was strained. Due to my attachment to interests that had not been quite gotten rid of, I despised their greed for small gains. But I knew nothing was incidental. Aside from their own problems, the fact that they came to bother me often also had its karmic causes, and it was an opportunity for me to elevate myself.
The debt needs to be repaid sooner or later. When I was selling my store to them, I missed counting a batch of goods and charged them 5,000 Yuan less than I would have. But I did not care that much. I felt that I had paid up my debt with this loss. I knew that I would not have lost it if it was mine; if it was not mine, I should not be attached to it. Even if I had given them more than I should have, at least I would be rewarded with virtue in another dimension. What was regretful was that I did not leave them with a good impression and lost an opportunity to save them. So we should not fight with others over some interests. This was a big lesson to me. A Dafa practitioner cannot look down upon others. There is no choosing in saving people.
6. Using one’s power to demonstrate the wonder of Dafa
All lives cultivating in Dafa have supernormal power. In past years of cultivation, I used my power to escape from danger twice. Once was when I pasted posters in a building of the city guards and was spotted by them. The guards snatched my bag with Dafa books and information materials in it. When they walked upstairs, I thought of an experience sharing article I had read in which it said that we needed to reject the persecution. I immediately was reminded of the power of fast running. I turned around and saw that we were encircled by a big audience, and they stepped aside and yielded a path for me. I ran without thinking, hearing the guards running behind. I eventually escaped successfully.
Another time I went to the countryside with other practitioners to distribute fact clarification materials. When spotted by the evil, we hid the materials in a corn field and escaped successfully. We went home, sent forth righteous thoughts, and asked Teacher to help us save the materials. When we went back to get the materials two days later, we found that all the surrounding fields had been harvested but the place that we hid the materials was still intact. We truly appreciated Teacher’s help.
One year, I went to a practitioner’s home in a different town. The evil engaged in arresting practitioners that night. Three of us practitioners were stranded in the house. We sent forth righteous thoughts all night to get the police to leave and to rid ourselves of our own attachments to fear. Sure enough, by dawn, the police were gone.
Teacher is benevolent and Dafa is powerful. Several years ago, I was in a difficult state and had not eaten any fruit for a while. When I visited a fellow practitioner, he invited me to have lunch at his home. When I was waiting, I thought, it would be great if I could have an apple now. Almost at the same time, the fellow practitioner said: “There are apples in that closet. Why don’t you help yourself?” I was stunned and moved. It was just incredible. Teacher was benevolent and consoling me with the apple. At lunch, the fellow practitioner said: “It indeed was Teacher’s arrangement. I don’t know why I just told you to help yourself to the apple.”
A few years ago when I returned home after being persecuted for a year, my family wanted to take me to a fortune teller to find out my future and to help eliminate my tribulation. I adamantly refused, and had a big fight with my family. Mom yelled at me day and night, and Dad was also angry. He even held a knife against my neck. What was going on? Mom’s behavior was not surprising. But Dad was not himself. So I sent forth righteous thoughts at night toward the spirit possession: “I am the disciple of the Main Buddha. Don’t you direct the low level spirits to me. You need to position your future correctly and do not bother me. I have a mission. You will be punished if you interfere with my accomplishing my mission. If you behave, I will compensate you after I am enlightened.”
As a result, my parents stopped forcing me to see the fortune teller the next day; instead they took one of my cousins over with them. When they came back, my cousin asked me: “Why did the fortune teller tell us that you came from the heavens and have your mission, and you can only go back when you finish it? He told me not to interfere with your business. What is going on?” I was delighted and felt that Dafa is truly wonderful. I took the opportunity to tell him the facts about Dafa and got him to quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliations. Dafa is saving sentient beings everywhere with its power.
I have experienced many times Dafa’s wonder: I was protected by a white glow; I found my lost U-drive and identification card by using my righteous thoughts; I had utilized the power of fast running.
7. Be considerate to fellow practitioners and do whatever one can do to help
I do not know exactly what my role is. I am not a coordinator, but I do participate in helping with the coordination occasionally. I am not a technical person, but I do help fixing fellow practitioners’ computers when they bring them to me. I am not a practitioner responsible for delivering the informational materials, but I do deliver them sometimes. I am not responsible for downloading information, but I help people install e-books, Fa-lectures, and exercise music. I am not responsible for making informational materials, but when called upon I have done it too. I do not have a fixed role, but I do everything. Because I am a Dafa disciple, I will do whatever is needed as long as it is good for saving sentient beings.
In doing these things, I had many xinxing tests. Often I did quite poorly while fellow practitioners tolerated me. I want to thank them. No matter what we do we need to expand our capacity to tolerate others. For example, fellow practitioners wanted me to install electronic books for them. They had computers at home, but did not want to use or to learn them. They rather asked me to go a long way to their home to install the stuff for them. Once I installed it, they would have various requests to modify it, such as change the edition, change the font, etc. They could easily modify it themselves, but did not want to learn how. They had lots of excuses, but did not remember that Dafa is almighty. I was patient at first, and then I lost my patience. But as time went on, I became more tolerant. Installing music on MP3 players was the same. They wanted to have the music the same day, have the Fa-lecture the next, and have a song the day after next. Then they wanted to change this or that. Many practitioners were like this. Because they did not have the technical capability, they thought that it was easy for me to do these things. On the other hand, when we did not know how to install software and needed others to help, we behave the same way. So we should not blame those who do not have enough knowledge.
I also begged the tolerance of my fellow practitioners sometimes. A practitioner was responsible for printing the truth-clarification bills. The printer had some problems and he could not solve it, leaving many printed bills stained with blobs of ink that could not be washed off. I wondered why he did not stop immediately when he saw something wrong. Now dozens of bills were stained. (To not create a bad impression on people, we destroyed the dozens of stained dollar bills.) Later I learned incidentally that those bad prints were not generated all at one time. Rather, it printed ok normally, but once in a while it printed a bad one. So one cannot truly blame the practitioner. I apologized to him and thanked him for his being tolerant of me. As a matter of fact, often the unhappiness was caused by misunderstanding. People need to be tolerant of each other. One can always find one’s selfishness in a conflict. Look inward and one can elevate faster.
My uncle was arrested and put in forced labor camps several times after the CCP had begun its persecution of Dafa. This caused my aunt who had used to be a practitioner to become somewhat antagonistic toward Dafa. I thus developed some prejudice against her and she refused to let me go to her home a few times, because she did not want to let her husband contact practitioners. The real issue was actually that my aunt was too scared and cared too much about money. I was a bit upset and despised her. But I always tried my best to help the families of persecuted practitioners and my aunt was no exception. During the time that my uncle was persecuted, I often went to visit her and her two children, bringing with me as many gifts as possible. I very much wanted to help her and her children quit the CCP and its affiliates, but was afraid that she might tell my mother and I would be blamed. I did not act despite my intention. At last I lay aside my prejudice, and calmly went to tell my aunt about quitting the CCP. When I put down all my pre-conceived notions, the miracle happened. My aunt said: “O.K., Why not? A dynasty change depends on the celestial phenomenon and no one can stop it. When Mao Zedong died, big rocks fell from the sky. Now with all the disasters going on, it shows that the CCP is falling. I didn’t gain anything under the Communist’s regime any way. During the Cultural Revolution, our whole family was persecuted. So are we now (referring to my uncle’s being persecuted for practicing Falun Gong).” Then she and the two children quit the CCP and its affiliations.
I took great care of my mother and my mother-in-law before they passed away, which changed my aunt’s view of me. This gave me an opportunity to clarify the facts about Falun Gong with her. At first she was too afraid to listen. I felt disappointed with her, thinking: “She knows fully well that Dafa is great. Why is she so frightened?” Now I know that it was not her, herself, who was afraid. Rather, it was the evil factor behind her that hampered her from obtaining the Fa. My aunt’s health became poor when she took care of the elderly. She spent lots of money on medication but to no avail. Once when she mentioned her problems to me, after much hesitation, I gave up my prejudice against her and calmly urged her to begin practicing Falun Gong again. I told her that she could do it at home and no one would know. A few days later, she happily told me: “I have begun to practice. Dafa is truly useful. Teacher is still taking care of me.” Afterward I urged her to write the declaration of upholding Falun Gong and to truly begin cultivation, and she did. In the process of advising my aunt, I got rid many of my attachments too.
* * * * * * *
I used to envy the disciples of Shakyamuni for their being able to listen to the Buddha’s lecture directly 2,500 years ago. A lay Buddhist told me to cultivate diligently and I could become a disciple of Maitreya Buddha in the future. Now my dream has come true.
I still have many attachments to get rid of and have done many things less than perfectly. I will correct them one by one in the future. I want to thank Teacher and fellow practitioners.
Heshi.
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