By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Changchun City, Jilin Province, China
“What should I do?” I asked myself.
I had just read an article on the Minghui website “Nine Changchun Practitioners Arrested for Distributing Calendars.” The article reported that several practitioners were arrested for picking up calendar shipments or distributing calendars. The calendars contained information about Falun Dafa and the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) persecution of the practice.
A practitioner from my local area was going to pick up the same calendars at a train freight station the next day. I knew that I should send forth righteous thoughts to reject the persecution and any evil factors preventing the pickup.“But what else can I do?” I asked myself. An answer came to me.
The next morning, I asked Master to keep those fellow practitioners at home. Then I visited three of them. They were all at home. One even said, “It is quite a coincidence that you came now. I just got back from taking my kid to school.” I told them about the arrest and asked them to send forth righteous thoughts for both the arrested practitioners and the pickup scheduled for later that day.
They had different thoughts about the pickup. One practitioner said that our hearts should not be moved by the arrest; Master didn’t arrange any persecution in our cultivation, so we should not acknowledge or be afraid of persecution. One suggested we wait for a few days before making the pickup or even abandon the shipment altogether. Another had a negative thought.
“Don’t have any negative thoughts,” I told them. “No matter what happens, just send forth righteous thoughts this afternoon.” They all agreed.
I went to see the practitioner who was supposed to go to the freight station later that day. He had also read the article, but he was determined to go. In a heavy tone, he shared his own mental struggle.
“When I saw that article yesterday, I had the same feeling as when I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Dafa. I have gone to Beijing four times. Each time I let go of the attachment to life and death because I had to prepare for the worst. Persecution tragedies, one after another, showed up before my eyes: My home was ransacked, my child was left alone, and I was tortured to death in prison! I let go of each thing, one by one. This went on for an hour.
“Then I realized: That is not right! It is not what Master arranged! Master didn’t arrange any persecution! I was following the path set up by the old forces – to get rid of the attachment of fear through hardship. Those were all illusions. I should negate them! I should not cultivate amidst these ordeals. I should not have any negative thoughts! I should not even acknowledge the hardship! Whatever I want to do tomorrow will succeed. This is to validate Dafa!
“I calmed down, and started studying the Fa. In the Fa, Master told us about the disciples’ relationships to Master, to Fa rectification, and to the old forces. I became clear in my mind. I had a new understanding of negating the old forces.”
Based on the Fa, we decided that, since we are doing such righteous things, no one should stop or persecute us. We must reject the persecution and do what we should do. Master has said,
“Vast numbers of divine ones are guarding Dafa” (“Dragon Springs,” Hong Yin III)
If what we are doing is truly to safeguard Dafa and save sentient beings, we are protected and no one dares to interfere with or sabotage it.
We went together that afternoon, confident and at ease. Other practitioners were waiting for us. They were all calm. We picked up the calendars and delivered them to the prearranged site without any problem.
Master said:
“We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they've arranged; we don't even acknowledge their existence. We're fundamentally negating all of their things, and all of, and only, the things you do while negating and getting rid of them is mighty-virtue. It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations. (Applause) So looking at it from this angle, what we need to do is completely negate the old forces. Dafa disciples and I don't even acknowledge the manifestations of their last-ditch efforts.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference,” Teaching the Fa at the Conference IV)
From this event, I learned that, with help from Master and Dafa, Dafa disciples can develop firm righteous thoughts through Fa study. Then we can negate the persecution. This is the process of rejecting persecution, cultivating ourselves, and validating the Fa. With Master's strengthening and fellow practitioners' cooperation, what we do is bound to succeed.
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Category: Improving Oneself
