(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings to Master! Greetings to fellow practitioners!
I am a barber in the countryside. I was fortunate to have started practicing Falun Gong after I became a barber. Then in July 1999, Jiang Zemin's regime started persecuting Falun Gong. Local practitioners and I had worked together to create a relaxed cultivation environment in the countryside, allowing many people to learn the truth about Falun Gong. Thus, as a result, they assisted in protecting practitioners after the persecution began.
Fellow practitioners encouraged me to open a barbershop in the township. However, I didn't believe that I was good enough. What eventually caused me to go to the township was a young man from my village who had opened a barbershop in the big city. He came to my home several times and invited me to join him at his shop. There were several other people who had previously come to invite me before, but this time I felt that Master was encouraging me through other people's words! I then knew how I should walk my path.
I would like to thank fellow practitioners for their help with opening my barbershop in the township. My business was very good, and it also brought situations that tested my xinxing. It was just like Master said, “...the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.” (Zhuan Falun)
I invited a hair stylist to join my shop. She looked down on me, and told others that my skills were not good. Fellow practitioners also came and told me how other people had commented on my skills. I harbored no feelings of resentment toward others, and neither was I discouraged. I continued treating others with a peaceful mind.
An entire month passed quickly. The stylist I invited to my shop left and before she left she asked me, “How are you going to run your shop?” I told her, “This is my shop and I will keep it going. I will create my own environment.” With such a simple thought, my surroundings kept improving and people started to accept me. Master said,
“So in other words, whichever field you might be in, when you are able to improve your skills, that is a reflection of your having continually risen in realm. And people can see that you are a good person and someone who cultivates his or her heart and mind. From the vantage point of human beings, you are becoming a good person. As a result of studying the Fa and cultivating your inner self, you do better and better, and gods give you the wisdom you deserve and give you inspiration so that you can come to realize a lot of things while you study, create better things, improve your technique, and reach beyond. Think about it, in human society, this can be done in any legitimate occupation, can't it? While you do well at work, you are cultivating yourselves--can't you improve that way? ” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”)
I came to understand that the principles of the Fawill unfold to those who are truly cultivating at different levels, and the cultivator will then experience enlightenment within the Fa. All we can do is to do our best to harmonize with what Master wants, and in the process Master will help us. Master said,
“You know what? Just on the one issue of cultivation alone it's so complex at the cosmos's lower levels. But it becomes simple at higher levels, where there's no longer any concept of cultivation but only the concept of karma elimination. At levels higher up, all troubles are to pave the way for ascending to Heaven. And at even higher levels, concepts like eliminating karma, enduring hardships, and cultivation no longer exist, and it's just a choice! This is the principle at high levels of the cosmos: you think someone is good enough, so you choose him--that's the principle." ("Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
Dafa will save an everyday person as long as the person understands that “Dafa is good!” However, a Dafa practitioner of the Fa-rectification period must understand the connotation of cultivating the righteous Fa to achieve the ability to save lives.
Within a short period of time my skills and xinxing made a leap forward. More and more people came to my shop to have their hair done. I started to openly clarify the truth, and I handed out truth-clarification materials and Shen Yun VCDs. Along the two sides of the mirror I hung two attractive ornaments with “Falun Dafa is Good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is Good!” Above the TV I posted a large banner with “Falun Dafa is the Righteous Fa!” I want to give the people an opportunity to learn the truth. In the process of clarifying the truth, the question that people asked me the most was, “Aren't you afraid?” I have continuously cultivated myself in answering this question. In the beginning, I would say with a competitive mentality, “Who would dare persecute me? Heaven would not allow it to happen.” Now I answer, “Thank you for your concern. I believe that all the people I meet are good people and I truly hope that all the people who have a predestined relationship with me can learn the truth and have a good future.” Most of the people can make the right choice for their future. In the beginning, there were some people who walked away as soon as they learned that I practiced Falun Gong. Some even said, “Your business would be much better if you didn't talk about Falun Gong when people come in.” I was not moved and continued doing what I should do.
Police cars often drive up and down the street where my shop is. At the beginning, my pulse would go up when the police cars passed by. I was not able to eliminate the factor of fear even when I sent forth righteous thoughts, and I was bothered by this for a long time. This happened because I did not have a clear understanding of the Fa principles, and I was taken advantage of by the factor of fear. Master does not acknowledge the existence of the old forces, however I had put myself in the position of being persecuted, which allowed the factor of fear to come into my thoughts.
I improved my understanding through this situation and I also came to understand the seriousness of cultivation. No matter how many things we do for Dafa, one is an everyday person as long as he is not on the Fa. The key for a cultivator's improvement is looking within unconditionally when encountering situations. We are the only hope for the people to be saved, and we have no reason not to do it well.
Through studying the Fa and cultivating myself, I became a life who truly thinks of others. Many people who listened to my clarifying the truth said wholeheartedly, “You are really a good person!”
A person from a fish farm business once came to my shop and I clarified the truth to him. He said, “Someone posted a truth-clarification sticker on my vehicle. While scraping off the sticker, I scraped off a big piece of paint from my vehicle, but I was not angry. I want to know what Falun Dafa is.” I explained the beauty of Dafa to him from my personal experiences. After listening me, he made a deep sigh while looking into the sky, “I am really glad. I finally understand what Falun Dafa is!” He took all the truth-clarification CDs home to watch them with his family so they could learn the truth, and also withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. He later told me that his fish farm had the best harvest ever. He was very happy.
One lady who had learned the truth before came to my shop, came in one day, and I saw that she was very upset and asked her why. I learned that she had just given birth to a baby girl prematurely and the baby girl was critically ill. She and her husband were very worried. She had already withdrawn from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I asked her whether she believed the truth I had told her. She said, “I believe!” I told her to repeat in her mind sincerely, “Falun Dafa is good!” next to the baby, and a miracle would happen. She went home and told this to her husband. Her husband said, “If it is that simple, I will also repeat 'Falun Dafa is good!' in my mind.” One month later, she brought her daughter to my shop. I said to her, “The child has survived due to the miracle of Dafa!” She smiled and nodded. When the baby girl was one year old, the lady came to my shop and told me that her daughter was as healthy and as lively as any other child.
A man in his forties had picked up a truth-clarification flier on the street. The next day he came to my home in the early morning and told me that he was not able to sleep all night after he read the flier, because he felt that Dafa was being unfairly treated. He told me that he also wanted to go out to hand out the truth-clarification fliers. In 2007 there was a heavy, disastrous snow fall, and he was involved in a traffic accident. He had fractures in his back and legs. His doctor had to install steel bars to fix the fractures. During this most painful period he kept in mind the truth we told him. Later, I also gave him an amulet (1) when I visited him, for which he was very grateful. He tried to sit in the lotus position every morning and repeated, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” in his mind. He recovered rapidly. At the beginning of the year he was able to bicycle on the street, and in June he was able to go to work in the fields. He went to the hospital to have a check-up in August. After he came back he told me, “The doctor said that my recovery is a miracle in the medical field.” I told him, “This is good fortune brought to you for your believing in Dafa.”
To the extent where I can reach, all the people know that I practice Falun Gong. When people talk about having their hair done, my customers say that “Falun Gong” is the best barber. Many teachers at a nearby college are my regular customers and almost every day I run into people that talk highly of me. I keep in mind Master's teaching, “For a cultivator, all the frustrations he comes across among everyday people are trials, and all the compliments he receives are tests.” (“A Cultivator is Naturally Part of It,” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I maintain a righteous and clear mind, and continuously maintain a relaxed environment for people to learn the truth so that all the people with predestined relationships can be saved.
Thanks to Master, thanks to fellow practitioners
Note
(1) 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.
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