(Minghui.org) Greetings, our Esteemed Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I have never submitted an article for an experience sharing conference before because I always felt that I have been doing poorly in cultivation practice. About 10 days before the deadline, a practitioner suggested that I write one because it is what Master wants us to do. I think Master was giving me a hint through that practitioner.
"People Who Practice Falun Gong Are Indeed Different; They Are Blessed"
Alongside many fellow practitioners, I have participated in validating Dafa by appealing for Dafa, shouting out "Falun Dafa is good!" in Tiananmen Square, unfurling a banner that said "Falun Dafa Is Good," making truth-clarification materials, etc. I have been persecuted by being illegally arrested and being held in a detention center and a forced labor camp. Looking back, I have done quite a few things to validate Dafa and clarify the facts but have not had a good understanding of the Fa principles. Because of this, I have been persecuted, which has caused misunderstandings among my relatives and friends. Having cultivated Dafa for so many years, I have not shown people enough how wonderful Dafa is. I am determined to adjust my bad cultivation state, rectify myself, and walk the path Master has arranged for me.
In 2005, I got out of the forced labor camp and discovered that my employer had revoked my contract. So I talked to the management to clarify the truth to them about Falun Dafa.
During my four-year absence, my son slacked off in cultivation practice and failed the College Entrance Exam. I analyzed the reason with him, searched his shortcomings, and realized he did not put cultivation practice and saving sentient beings as his highest priority.
My father-in-law feared that I would be persecuted again, so he would not let me go out or contact other practitioners, and he would not let my son near me, fearing that we would do the exercises together and “waste time needed for his studies.” So he often checked on my son at night. I shared my understandings with my son: "We are cultivating in the Fa; it should provide you the best safety. The reason why our family is worried is because we did poorly in the past."
Master has told us,
"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” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Every day, as soon as we finished sending forth righteous thoughts at noon, we would study the Fa together for 40 minutes until he left for school. After he came back from the evening class, he would do his homework and practice. He made time to clarify the truth, mainly through giving out flyers. He would leave a copy in the classroom, which his classmates would pass around, or leave a few copies in people’s bicycle baskets. Sometimes he would clarify the facts to his classmates as a third person. We were both doing the three things that a practitioner is supposed to do. On the next College Entrance Exam, my son scored fourth in the nation in the arts, and he easily got into the top art institute that he failed to get into last time.
When the letter of admission arrived, my father-in-law was grinning from ear to ear. My sister-in-law said, "People who practice Falun Dafa are indeed different; they are blessed." When families and friends came to offer their congratulations, I told them that practicing Falun Dafa could enhance one’s wisdom, and one would be blessed. Many people have thus changed their attitude toward Falun Dafa. My husband also no longer objects to my son's practicing Falun Dafa. Moreover, he took the initiative to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
Your Master Is Great; I Want to Learn, Too
My sister-in-law’s classmate stopped by my home and said, “When I stopped by a few years ago, you weren’t home. (I was detained.) I know a little about you. I heard you lost your job. Are you still practicing that qigong?” I answered with a smile, “Yes, I am. It is the best qigong in the world and teaches people to be good. Who would give it up?” He said, “Oh, I see.” Pondering for a moment, he suddenly held up his thumb and said, “Your master is great. Having been imprisoned and lost your job, you guys are still practicing. It must be a good qigong.”
Two days later, he called me and said, “Falun Dafa is really good. I want to learn it, too.” I said, “I’ll come to you in the next few days.” I contacted the fellow practitioners in his area who gave him Master’s lectures on CDs and helped him quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
In a few days, I went to see him and taught him the exercises. Later, when we were studying the Fa together last year, he said he felt a very strong energy field, and the pain in his leg was gone.
All Those Who Practice Falun Gong Are as Nice as That
Every time I persuaded people to quit the Party and its affiliated organizations, I felt Master had paved the way and led those predestined people to me.
My husband has a cousin whom I wanted to save, but my husband didn’t know where he lived. One day, that cousin and his wife came by, along with their grandson, who was in third grade. They told me they would only stay for two nights. I was so grateful that I almost cried. I thanked our Esteemed Master for leading them to me just when I was wondering how to find them.
Having not seen each other for so many years, they had a lot to chat about. I couldn’t get into the conversation and was very anxious. A day and a night passed, and all I had left was one night. But I would have to go out for group study that night. I wanted to ask Master for help, but I knew that Master had led them here, and if I were to ask for Master’s help again, where were my righteous thoughts?
It was after 10 p.m. when I returned home from group study. The grandson was watching TV with my sister-in-law’s husband. I read him a story from a truth-clarification pamphlet, and he listened attentively. When I came to the part about quitting the Party and its affiliated organizations, my sister-in-law’s husband started yelling at me to stop. The kid was scared off and ran away. I followed him to his grandparents and clarified the facts to them. They listened with great interest. My sister-in-law’s husband came after me and scolded me. While sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil specter that was controlling him, I continued my explanation. He became louder and louder, but I just smiled and continued what I was doing. My husband signaled me to stop, and I smiled at him, too. When I finished telling the couple what I had planned to tell them, I got up and walked out of their room. I heard the wife saying to my sister-in-law, “What a nice person your sister-in-law is!” My sister-in-law said, “All those who practice Falun Gong are as nice as that.” I went back to my room, and it was exactly time to send forth righteous thoughts at midnight.
The next morning, the wife came to me quietly, looking very excited. She said, “The qigong you’re practicing is really good. I want to learn it from you.” I said, “Then stay for a few more days.” She said she was too busy to do that. I asked Master to keep them here one more day for me. Indeed, they stayed one more day because the return tickets had been sold out. In the afternoon, I played the video of the first of Master’s lectures in Dalian for the wife, and at night, played Master’s exercise instruction video, and taught her Exercise One. Although the time we had together was short, it has laid her a foundation for obtaining the Fa in the future.
The next morning when I saw them off at the station, I asked my husband’s cousin if he had joined the Party, the Youth League, or the Young Pioneers. He said he had joined the Party. I said, “How about I help you quit?” He agreed.
Material Sites Running Smoothly
Most practitioners in our study group are women in their 70s, but they are very diligent. We had only two copiers and relied on other material sites to supply truth-clarification materials, mostly because we lacked practitioners good at using computers.
I know a little bit about computers and wanted to take on the responsibility. As soon as the idea emerged, Master’s Fashen arranged for a fellow practitioner to visit me. A few days later, we bought a printer and started running our own materials site. Later on, I bought two CD burners and started making CDs. I taught two other practitioners to operate the equipment and set up two more material sites. At the time, we were producing Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in large quantities, as well as some Dafa books. In 2010, a fourth materials site was set up. The four sites have been running smoothly to this day, as we have cooperated with each other well.
Removing the Attachment to Arguing
Before I started practicing cultivation, I was quite attached to self-interest. The attachment was still pretty strong after many years of cultivation. When Master’s Lecture “Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan” was published, I wanted to memorize all of it. However, because of a time constraint, I was only able to memorize the two paragraphs that were directed at my attachments.
Two months ago, I made a batch of materials and divided them among two fellow practitioners so they could mail them out for truth-clarification. When we met each other at a group study, one of them told me I had got the layout wrong. I said it was impossible because I'd checked it twice. But she insisted. I took out the rest of the materials and showed them to her, proving I wasn’t wrong.
I was very upset when I got home. So I read “Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan.” I started to analyze the reasons behind my attachment to arguing, and I discovered many attachments behind it. I realized that only by studying the Fa more can one improve because,
“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.” (“Drive Out Interference” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Perhaps Master has seen some improvements in me and therefore arranged another opportunity for me to let go of my attachment. One day that practitioner asked me to check her phone, because she could not make any phone calls with it. I put in batteries, but the device still wouldn't turn on. I took out the batteries and saw the seals hadn’t been taken off yet. But she insisted that she had used the same batteries and charged them many times. Just as I started to give my opinion, I realized that miracles happen all the time in cultivation practice; why did I always want to argue with her? Master told us,
“I will remove that material substance, but the associated habits and traits that you’ve formed have to be eliminated by you.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan”)
The Righteous Thoughts of a Cultivator Should Guide Us
From Minghui, I saw that some practitioners were using cell phones to do truth-clarification. I wanted to do it, too. A practitioner helped me buy a cell phone and taught me how to use it. Many practitioners reached out to me and wanted to learn, too. One day I was following the tutorial and practicing it at home, and all of a sudden I felt I had mastered everything. I believed it must be Master who unlocked the wisdom for me.
Then I started helping fellow practitioners buy cell phones and install the software. Practitioners in our group were very enthusiastic about this new method and therefore were very serious about learning. Only a few sessions later, they could all work independently. I taught anyone reaching out to me until he/she had mastered the skill. Some elderly practitioners had never touched a cell phone in their lives, and they could not grasp it, even after I went over with with them repeatedly. Then I would become impatient. When this happened, I would remind myself of the urgency of saving people and the preciousness of their willing hearts, and I would calm down. I also knew that Master arranged to increase my capacity through helping elderly practitioners.
Just as the project was moving forward smoothly, I had some interference. First my mother developed serious sickness karma and called me home. When I was staying with her, some practitioners started having problems with their computers, printers, and cell phones and were waiting for me to return and help them. As soon as my mother started to recover, my father-in-law was hospitalized. I took turns with my two sisters-in-law to stay with him in the hospital and bring him meals from home. I planned to read Minghui Weekly in the hospital, but as soon as he woke up, he demanded the TV be on loud. For that period of time, I studied the Fa superficially, couldn’t complete the exercises sometimes, and the quality of my sending forth righteous was compromised. I developed some rashes that were extremely itchy on the right side of my body, I sent forth righteous thoughts against them a few times and they went away. A few days later, the same thing happened to the left side of my body. I knew I had a problem with my cultivation state, but I was too stuck to overcome it.
I started memorizing the Fa and took every possible opportunity to do it. After the doctor said my father-in-law could be discharged from the hospital at anytime, he insisted on staying, regardless of what others said. I didn’t know what to do until Master’s Fa flashed through my mind,
“But you are cultivators and disciples of Dafa after all, so ultimately when the tasks that need to be carried out come before you, it should be the righteous thoughts of a cultivator that guide you.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa”)
Ah, I should have the guiding role in this matter, and I should have the final say! So I started sending forth righteous thoughts.
The next day, the big area of rashes around my waist was completely gone. The TV in my father-in-law’s room stopped working. He was very bored, so I played Dafa music for him. When it was my sisters-in-law’s turn, I asked them to listen to the Minghui Broadcast. Dafa music was played for several days. Suddenly, my father-in-law told the doctor that he wanted to be discharged from the hospital.
Finally, I’d like to encourage you and myself with the following Fa-teaching:
“No matter how much I say, you still have to walk the path of cultivation yourselves. To walk this path well and progress to its end—nothing is more extraordinary. I say that because during the journey you will have hardships, tests of every sort, unforeseen ordeals, and you will have unexpected interference from all kinds of attachments and emotion. The interference will come from family, society, good friends, and even fellow cultivators. And along with this there is interference from changes in the state of human society and from human notions that were formed in society. All of those things can drag you back to being like an ordinary person. But if you can break through all of it, you can advance towards godhood. So as a cultivator, what is truly remarkable is when you can be steadfast and have righteous thoughts so firm that nothing can sway you. Be solid and firm like diamond, or granite, and then nothing can affect you—evil will be afraid at the mere sight of you. If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil’s persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil’s persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil’s interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa. (Long applause)” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference”)
Thank you, Esteemed Master! Thank you, my fellow practitioners!
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