(Minghui.org)
Greetings Master! Greetings Fellow Practitioners!
I remember a dream the first night I attended Master Li Hongzhi's lectures in 1994. I was a naughty boy and came down to the human world holding one of Master’s body hairs. I saw Master had created a lotus flower path for me and eliminated the demons who attempted to block us. Now, whenever I face tribulations in a dream, as long as I call out to Master, he appears immediately. I would still be a boy, standing on Master’s foot and rising with him slowly…
Cultivate With the Same Enthusiasm as When I Started
I went to Beijing with some local practitioners to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa in 2000. At Tiananmen Square, we opened up banners and shouted “Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa!” After I was arrested, I was considered a “key” target by the local police.
When I was released from prison, I was longing for the opportunity to study the Fa. All my Dafa books at home had been taken away by police. A few practitioners, however, risked their own safety to deliver books to me.
Through Fa study, I understood the reason why I was persecuted by the old forces: It was due to whenever facing a tribulation, I felt the more I was able to endure, the more I would be able to eliminate karma and increase gong. By doing this, I was accepting the old forces’ arrangements.
Master, however, does not recognize this persecution. After I understood this, I sent forth righteous thoughts every day to clear my field and negate this evil interference.
Initially, the local 610 Office arranged for officers to monitor me in an attempt to stop me from clarifying the facts about Dafa in public. I sent forth righteous thoughts to get them to leave and also told them about how karmic law punishes those who harm good people. They later left me alone.
Master says,
“Only if one can persevere and continually forge ahead does it amount to true diligence. It's easy to talk about, but putting it into action is tremendously difficult. That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference”)
Group Fa study is a format Master arranged for us to share and learn from one another. I connected with some veteran practitioners and suggested forming a Fa study group. However, a few practitioners voiced concern about my prior detention and wondered if I was sent back as an informer and would turn them over to the police.
I thought, this is the result of evil factors trying to take advantage of our human notions to create chaos and separation amongst us. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference and also asked for Master’s strengthening: We must establish a Fa study group.
Gradually some veteran practitioners approached me to share their thoughts and experiences. A Fa study group was formed. We met four to five days a week and were so happy together. It was as if we went back in time prior to the start of the persecution in 1999.
Because we joined together as one body, our righteous energy field became stronger. We encouraged one another and were able to gradually get rid of the attachment of fear. As a result, we no longer hesitated about going out in public to clarify the facts. Everybody participated in projects based on their strengths.
Every day, we were able to distribute hundreds of copies of truth clarification materials and exhorted several dozens of people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
There were also new practitioners joining our group. Both veteran and new practitioners cooperated together on various projects. In making materials, young practitioners helped elderly practitioners. We all had our own tasks, with some making truth clarification CDs and others printing brochures.
Whenever any practitioner experienced sickness karma, a few of us would go to his/her house to send forth righteous thoughts and study the Fa together. Other practitioners also sent forth righteous thoughts from home. And when a practitioner was arrested, the rest of us would organize the group to send forth righteous thoughts, help the family to appeal for their release, or hire a lawyer to defend them. It felt great melding into such a harmonious cultivation environment.
Dafa disciples always work to improve their xinxing and do the three things well. But from time to time, we faced conflicts while working together.
Over time, I have been able to eliminate some attachments such as the mentality of showing off, the attachment to doing things, not willing to accept different opinions or criticism, and the attachment of zealotry.
Overcoming Financial Hardship
After I returned from prison, I was dismissed by my workplace. My husband had died in the line of duty prior to my practicing Falun Gong, leaving me and my son to fend for ourselves. I had no income, and the rest of my family was quick to blame me. I told them, “I am fortunate to practice Dafa. Wait and see. Things will be better.”
Dafa practitioners cultivate in ordinary society. So if we all are persecuted to the point of becoming destitute, how can we live? We need money for basic expenses and to make truth clarification materials. I negated the old forces’ arrangements and made up my mind to make a breakthrough.
Over the next several years, I clarified the truth to different organizations and community leaders. I told them: “My husband died for the country, leaving behind my son and me. The country should support us. I practice Falun Dafa and have saved a significant amount of medical expenses for the country. I follow the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and have become a better person. You do not follow the rules to take care of us. On the contrary, you arrested me and took away my right to work. Would you consider what you did right?”
I told them that Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa, and it was Jiang Zemin's regime that started the brutal persecution. I told them not to follow what Jiang’s regime did to avoid receiving karmic retribution. Through my continuous truth clarification efforts, many predestined people quit the CCP. Some leaders even secretly asked me for the book Zhuan Falun, while others also started practicing Falun Gong.
Eventually, I got a new job and our financial situation improved significantly.
Walking Righteously on My Cultivation Path, Regarding the Fa As Teacher
Several years ago, a practitioner from another city arrived and said that he was going to help us write an important article. He also said that everybody who participated in this project would receive mighty virtue. Several other practitioners asked me to participate. But I felt that it didn’t sound right.
That practitioner later also showed me an article he wrote many years ago. I took a quick glance and felt very uncomfortable. I said, “Dafa disciples should not be singing the praises for certain practitioners, especially for those who went astray or those who don’t practice any more.
I continued, currently what Master asks us to do is to help save more people and save them quickly. We should focus on this when writing articles. We should regard the Fa as teacher and use Dafa to measure our thoughts and actions.” I suggested that he study the Fa more first, and we could discuss this matter later.
I then heard that this practitioner still went ahead to organize a group for the project. I became worried and wanted to share my thoughts. However, they said I was interfering with their “significant project” and did not want to meet me. Not long afterward, I heard that almost all practitioners who participated were arrested. I realized that only if we regard the Fa as teacher and walk righteously following the path Master arranged for us, would our future become brighter and brighter.
A practitioner from out-of-town once came to our city for a temporary job. She was involved in a million-yuan fund raising project. It was said that the project was for supporting a media company. I went to share my thoughts and study the Fa with her.
Master says,
“Over the past few years there have been people in mainland China collecting funds without permission. They have been collecting money from students with the excuse of helping New Tang Dynasty, The Epoch Times, and other media outlets run by students outside of China. This cannot be done ...In my previous Fa teachings I have addressed the matter of not collecting money from students. So why have you not complied? (It’s a different matter when students collaborate on their own for the purposes of making truth-clarifying materials.)” (“On the Issue of Collecting Funds,” The Essentials Of Diligent Progress, Vol. III)
Through Fa study, this new practitioner made the decision to return the donations she had collected.
Some elderly female practitioners with third eye visions claimed that they saw great things on my body. I thought this must be a test for me to see if my heart was moved or not. I often reminded them not to say things like that during our sharings.
Although I did not start practicing Falun Dafa for health reasons, I have greatly benefited physically. I suffered from various diseases in the past. When I was very young, my family had to hire a nanny to take care of me. I had often been hospitalized. But after I started practicing Falun Gong, these diseases all disappeared.
Although I have gone through a lot of tribulations over the years, I am almost 60 years old, but still very healthy with no gray hair. Everybody says that I look like someone in their thirties. And when I’m with my son, people say we look like sister and brother.
I know that Master has endured so much for me. I will never be able to express enough gratitude. So, I would like to share lyrics from the song “Master’s Hands” (composed by a fellow practitioner), to end my experience sharing:
“Master, Master, I would like to hold your hands tight. With my righteous thoughts and righteous actions, I would like to repay all you have given to me. I would like to hold your hands tight and march forward with you.”
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