(Minghui.org) Last year, I happened to encounter a very familiar non-practitioner who asked me, “Did you see X (a former practitioner)?” I said, “No, I haven’t seen him for ten years.” He said, “Do you want to see him then?” I replied, “Yes!”
A practitioner gave me a phone book, and I made the call right away. When we later met up, I knew his mind was still on the Fa and that he had kept practicing the exercises, but he was not well-educated. After the persecution started in 1999, he had nothing at home. He had not even heard of sending forth righteous thoughts. I invited him to my place, but he said, “I am studying the Fa - at least one lecture a day. I practice the exercises every day.” I invited him several times, but he always made an excuse not to come.
Once, we set up a Fa-study group, and I told the story of fellow practitioner X. Everyone encouraged me to call X and ask him to study the Fa together. I called him and said, “Could you come and do me a favor, please?” The warmhearted practitioner X came over and saw all the familiar faces of fellow practitioners. After chatting for a little bit, we started to study the Fa. When it was X's turn to read from Zhuan Falun, he failed to finish a whole sentence fluently and had to repeat it several times. We did not blame him, but he felt bad and stopped joining us for Fa-study.
I was so sorry for practitioner X’s state. He obtained the Fa in 1995 and was a coordinator then. He had set up our practice group, hanging the banner and playing the exercise music every morning. He also appealed for Dafa in Beijing with us. How could such a diligent practitioner end up like this? I could not give up on him. He led me onto the path of cultivation, and today I should bring him back to cultivation again. I called him every few days, asking for help. One time I asked if he could help build a flower pond. I called him again a few days later. As long as he was willing to come to my place, there was hope.
Every time he came over, I clarified the truth according to his attachments, telling him how hard it was to obtain the Fa, and that the reason we suffered so much during so many past lifetimes was precisely to obtain the Fa! I said that we needed to cherish it, cultivate diligently, and return home with Master. I also offered to help him with whatever he needed for cultivation, as long as he was willing to cultivate diligently. He gradually accepted what I said, and I provided him a copy of Zhuan Falun, a set of Master's new articles, and recordings of Master's lectures. I also taught him to use the computer. After several months, he became willing to study the Fa with me. I helped to correct him whenever he read Zhuan Falun. But little by little, it became hard for me to bear: I started feeling dizzy and sick, and my eyesight got blurrier. I remembered Master’s Fa:
"Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. No matter whether you think you have the ability or not, you should do it. What you eliminate from your own mind are ones which have an effect within the expanse of your own body; at the same time, you need to eliminate the external ones, which are directly related to the dimensions you're in. If you don't eliminate them, then they not only persecute you and restrain you, but also persecute other students, other Dafa disciples." ("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")
After I improved my understanding of this part of the Fa, I corrected his reading mistakes and helped him read more fluently while sending forth righteous thoughts for him to eliminate all the evil elements interfering with our Fa-study. Even so, we could barely finish one lecture a day, and I still felt uncomfortable. I invited X to join the larger Fa-study group, where we had a stronger energy field. Things improved a little, but soon three other practitioners stopped coming to Fa-study. Practitioner X said, "They stopped joining us one by one, so I will not come again. Your field here is not good, and there is strong interference." When he said this, I felt it was so unfair. I was so upset that I only wanted to cry. I wondered how this could happen. After studying the Fa, I knew Master talked about "an extremely immense tolerance" in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A." Then why was I unable to tolerate this fellow practitioner?
Master said, “When a Dafa disciple saves one person, it’s by no means simply one human being as we know it: an enormous body of lives will thus be saved.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference”) I realized that saving a fellow practitioner means saving a more enormous body of lives in the enormous cosmos. I started to look inside, finding an irritable and unfriendly heart, as well as a lack of patience and tolerance for the fellow practitioner. It was my fault for using an unfriendly tone without enough benevolence when speaking. Everyone knows that when saving people, one should not give up. We practitioners should never give up on our fellow practitioners!
After I came to these understandings, X called me again and said he had problems using the computer. So I was more than happy to give him a hand, and I invited him to rejoin Fa-study at my place. But he said, "Let’s start another Fa-study group! I have brought another former practitioner back, and her place is bigger with fewer people, so it's a good environment for Fa-study. We can all go to her place to study the Fa!" I was quite glad to hear that. It is true that effort will always be rewarded. Now X not only cultivates diligently, but also learned how to clarify the facts to other people. He helps me buy supplies for my small truth-clarification material production center and delivers the materials. He also asks me to help him bring back former practitioners. Seeing all the changes in him, my confidence grew. This made me truly realize that Master wants us to treat former practitioners with righteous thoughts. It is also a way to harmonize what Master requires. It is cultivating and improving. It is also what a real practitioner should do to help Master rectify the Fa. However, there are still many around us who enlightened along an evil path, gave up cultivation, never stepped forward, left the world due to sickness karma, or are still suffering from sickness karma. We shoulder the responsibility of not only saving beings but also, more importantly, awakening former practitioners and bringing them back.
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