(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Starting to Practice in Desperation
I suffered from a long episode of illness in 2002. I thought I was going to die so I made my own arrangments. My mother said to me one day, “Daughter, you will be fine, you won't die. I dreamed that you had a 'heavenly dragon guardian' last night."
I did not pay attention to what she said. A few days later, a Falun Gong practitioner gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun. I thought, “Awesome. I'm really interested in finding out what Falun Gong is all about. The Communist Party is waging such a severe persecution, yet these people aren't even afraid and they simply go on as usual--this book must be very unusual.”
I spend a little more than half a day reading Zhuan Falun. I learned it teaches people to be good, but I did not understand much else, so I continued to read.
My younger brother later found out that I was practicing Falun Gong, and he kept trying to stop me. I replied, “I just want to practice! Nobody can stop me.”
Exactly like what Master said,
“Although the old forces have been controlling certain things, they haven't been able to block it, and a lot of people have still come to learn it.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York”)
That was how I started to practice Falun Gong.
I practiced by myself until 2009. I did not read much and was busy with work at home, and I was often sleepy when I read the Fa at night.
The only book I read during those years was Zhuan Falun. Other practitioners lent me two books of recent lectures, but I did not understand the contents well.
Fortunately, the articles on Minghui Weekly helped me a lot. One of the articles talked about clarifying the truth; I was very moved when I read it. I thought, "Such a righteous Fa is being unjustly persecuted. I want to clarify the truth, too. Falun Gong teaches people how to become better people, and it is being wronged--I want everyone to know the truth!"
My husband ran a business transporting grain in trucks, and I rode with him. I would spread the truth about Dafa wherever I went.
As a result, when I found other practitioners in 2009, I was already pretty good at clarifying the truth. In retrospect, I did not have a very deep understanding of the Fa, but I knew very well that Master gave me a new life, and that I would follow and do what Master asks.
Making Advancements
In the fall of 2010, the coordinator encouraged me to buy a computer and download all of Master's lectures onto it, so that I could read more of the Fa. I eagerly read two chapters of Zhuan Falun every night along with a recent lecture.
Soon after, I was thrilled when the coordinator brought me a printer. I printed the articles from Minghui that I felt were the best, and also other truth clarification pamphlets. It was so easy, and I didn't even have to ask the coordinator for help.
My righteous thoughts grew stronger and stronger when I studied the Fa in depth. I felt like my entire body and soul were bathed in Master's Buddha light. I was filled with righteous thoughts and belief from inside out, with no trace of fear. It was a great state to be in.
I was practicing Falun Gong when the persecution was the most severe. Of course I wasn't afraid; if I were, I wouldn't have taken up the practice. Therefore, I was calm and poised when I was validating the Fa, and I did not have any sense of fear. Okay, that may be a bit absolute--I shouldn't say I had no sense of fear, just very little.
I often rode an electric bike when I was out explaining the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution. I would call people over to the curb and say, “Hey, come on over, I have some something good for you.”
The people would ask, “What do you have?”
I would then take out the Shen Yun DVDs and tell them, “You will not be able to see this anywhere else. The scenery, music, costumes, and choreography are all exquisitely beautiful. This world-class performance presents the most authentic examples of traditional Chinese culture in the world--and you may be blessed if you watch it.”
I show them a beautiful picture of the performance. Usually everyone wants a copy, If some don't at the beginning, they usually change their mind and say, “Okay, let me take a look!”
I then ask, “Do you have a DVD player? You can play this on the computer or on a DVD machine, so that you can watch it with others. If you give it to others to watch, you will be rewarded with good fortune!”
When there were many the DVDs, I'd take an entire box. I put the box on the back of my electric bike and put another big bag in the basket on the front of the bike. They were gone so quickly that it didn't seem like I'd done much work, and I had to say to people, “This is the last one. You'll just have to take turns watching it.”
We set up a material production site in my residence, and I frequently provided truth clarification materials to other practitioners. I'd usually take two regular routes when doing my truth clarification efforts.
Since I always talk to people when I walk by those routes, I came to know them well, and they have all become like my relatives. They gave me feedback after they watched the DVD, and some said, “The DVD that you gave me was wonderful!” Some would say, “I found a DVD machine, and several of us watched it together.”
Of course things are not always so easy. There were people who did not listen, and also some who called the police and reported me, but those were very few. Once I gave a person a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, he saw that it was related to Falun Gong and wanted to report me to the local police.
I did not think that he would call the police and wasn't worried, and I continued to clarify the truth to him. But he did call, and when the call went through, he said, “There is a person here distributing the Nine Commentaries.”
I didn't realize who he was calling until I heard that. At that time several of his buddies walked over, but I wasn’t afraid: “How could you send a good person to the police? Who doesn't know that the Chinese Communist Party is rotten to the core?”
He said, “I am a Communist Party member.” I realized he was wicked and I told his buddies, “Talk to him. How can he do such a thing?” At the same time I pushed my electric bike forward. He could not stop me when he tried.
I immediately realized I had loopholes in my cultivation practice, otherwise such an incident wouldn't have occurred.
Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York:”
“With a lot of the Fa-rectification things, it's not that there is no way to do them. No matter how hard it is, there is a path for you to take, even though it is a fairly narrow one. You have to go down that path correctly, and it won't work if you come up even a little short or stray a little bit. Nevertheless, there is a path for you. In other words, you need to go down it correctly.”
I did feel a great deal of interference back then. When I got home, I began to study the Fa intensively to rectify myself and to deny the arrangements by the old forces. It took me some time to get back to a good state.
I absolutely have never thought about the word “fear” when I went out to put up truth clarification posters or banners. Because I do this with my heart, I don't think of anything else, but just help people understand the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
I've learned that you just do it, and not care about anything else. Sometimes people walked by when I put up truth clarification posters, and then I would clarify the truth to them. I would keep focused when automobiles or motorbikes drove by, and just kept doing what I planned to do. I held the same attitude about video cameras, and I never thought about what might happen.
My sister-in-law told me once, “You appeared in such-and-such security camera footage. I said, “So what? Who doesn't know I practice Falun Gong?” My husband said, “You made everybody in the village nervous.” I said in my heart that it would be great if I helped everyone in the village understand the truth of Falun Dafa.
When I was putting up posters up once to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 13, I rode my bike to the next village to put up banners after 10 p.m. I found a good location and went to put the banner up high after making sure nobody was around.
I couldn't get it secured after several attempts. At the time, I felt somebody was watching me from behind. I turned and there was indeed someone standing not too far from me. I ignored him and kept trying and finally got the banner up.
I then got my bike and walked over to the person. I saw a man in his 50s when I got closer. I asked, “What are you doing here? Still not sleeping?” He asked, “Is this about Falun Gong?”
I asked, “Do you know what it is about?” He said he didn't, so I told him, “They're all good people, and they believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Aren't those three good qualities?” He agreed that they were.
When I heard that, I figured he was a person with a predestined relationship. As I pushed my bike forward, he followed me, and I told him about Falun Gong and the persecution as we walked.
I shared with him the miraculous effects of Dafa in improving one's health based on what I'd personally experienced. I also told him that the Party was corrupt, and he agreed. He also told me about magical things he had experienced.
We came to another intersection that was a good spot, so I decided to put up another banner. I took one and tried to secure it up but couldn't. He saw that I didn't have the strength, and said, “Let me help you with it.” But I thought the banner would have a better life-saving effect if it were hung by a Falun Gong practitioner.
So I replied, “Let me try again.” I tried again and got it just fine. The last words I said to him before we parted were, “Remember, 'Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!' These words will keep you save when you are in danger.”
He nodded and said, “I will.”
When I reached yet another intersection and was just about to put up a banner, a woman with a flashlight recognized me and said, “Oh, aren't you so-and-so?”
I realized this was someone who knew me, so I replied, “Yes, it is. You still haven't gone to bed at this late hour?" She said, “Not yet.” She walked over to me, and I began to tell her about Falun Gong.
She listened very carefully and asked me to give her a Shen Yun DVD in the next few days. She eventually used her flashlight to help me to put up the banner.
Arduous Tasks and Determination
Although I have not practiced for very long, I've tried to participate in every project, including setting up satellite dishes to receive NTDTV signals.
People must think it is very funny to see a woman in her 40s setting up satellite dishes. When I began to get in touch with the coordinator practitioner in my neighborhood, I was simply helping her to make DVDs.
Since I got my own computer and printer soon after that, I began to produce materials myself. And then I began to learn how to set up satellite dishes when my computer skills were still very limited.
The plan was to have satellite dishes in every village when we began to promote NTDTV. But the practitioner who knew the technology simply could not make it to our area. In some cases six months passed, and the families that wanted the dish installed were left high and dry. I found it hard to wait any longer and thought it would be great if I could do it myself.
Just two days after I came to that conclusion, the coordinator practitioner asked me to come to his place for a meeting to train four local practitioners to learn the technology from a technical expert. It was exactly what I'd wanted. I learned it with an open heart, and, as a result, I was the only one who actually learned the steps.
I had no idea whether I could do it when I began to tune in the signals at home, and the practitioners in the next village were already urging me to come work in their village. This is how I began to work on satellite dishes.
Since I wasn't sure if I could actually succeed, I started with a practitioner’s house, as they knew I had just learned, and, even if I failed, it would be okay.
Much to our surprise, the dish and machine were installed very quickly, and it worked well. The second household I went to was also a fellow practitioner's, and again everything was installed very smoothly. The third household was a young woman in her 30s. She watched me set up the satellite dish on the roof.
Again we got the signal on the first try, and the signal was very strong. She said, “I just wanted to see whether you could do it, and you actually did.”
When I got down and tried to find the signal on the TV set, again the signal came in right away. So I installed dishes in three households in one afternoon.
I did not even know how I did it all. Whenever I thought about it, I felt very deeply that it was indeed “Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master.” (Zhuan Falun)
Recently I felt I had a deeper understanding of one paragraph in Master's lecture “Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference III:
“Actually, I talked about this long ago: When your minds are very righteous, a special agent wouldn't dare to stay where you are. He only has two options. One is to be assimilated by the righteous field, since the pure and righteous field that Dafa disciples give off purges everything that's bad in a person's mind. The pure, righteous field would disintegrate it, disintegrate everything that's unrighteous in the person's consciousness, and that's another manifestation of salvation and a reflection of compassion. When everything bad in a person's consciousness has been disintegrated and he's only left with a simple, pure mind, then that person will recognize and appreciate what's upright and good. So hasn't he been assimilated? Then the other option is to run away as quickly as he can, because the bad person's thought karma and bad concepts are afraid of being disintegrated.”
We ought to be calm and poised while walking on our cultivation path.
Please correct anything inappropriate. Heshi!
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