(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings Fellow Practitioners!
I joined a project to call China and clarify the facts of the persecution after I attended the 2013 New York Fa conference. This project allows us to play pre-recorded messages about the persecution on the call and manually intervene to talk more if the other party listens, has a question, or would like to have an exchange.
Just like my fellow practitioners, I encountered all kinds of people during the calls, and went through a variety of xinxing tests. Under Master’s compassionate care, and with the help of fellow practitioners, I've eliminated many human attachments and human notions in a relatively short time period.
I'm taking this opportunity to share my experiences during the past six months of cultivation.
Eliminating the Fear of Hardship
After I gained some experience on the project, I became familiar with the operations of the platform and took on additional duties. My initial enthusiasm cooled down after a while.
Time management became challenging. In addition to my everyday job, I needed to study the Fa, do the exercises, and take classes and exams. I sometimes felt tired and didn't want to do the exercises. Tasks that used to be easy started to feel trivial and complicated.
I thought it was because my determination to save people wasn't strong enough. I kept telling myself, “I'm a Dafa disciple. My mission is to help Master during Fa rectification. Be diligent!”
This helped for a little bit. But I kept compromising doing exercises for my project work, and ended up not doing my project well.
I couldn't manage to break out of this state, and my impatience and upset state started to worsen. I knew my xinxing wasn't elevating, and I was blaming myself for everything. Sometimes my mindset even caused a vicious negative cycle.
My coordinator asked me to allocate mobile numbers daily to other practitioners, who follow up our automatic dials with text messages. This is very important to help the facts reach people in China more effectively.
I thought I was already very busy and didn't welcome this extra workload. I thought, “Do I really have to manually pick out cell phone numbers every day and send them to practitioners? To do so, I'll have to switch between two computers!”
The coordinator's request met with all kinds of questions. Finally he asked me: “You just can't do it?” I suddenly realized that I wasn't behaving like a cultivator. So I reluctantly agreed.
After I calmed down I started looking inward. I thought, “Why can't I behave like a practitioner when I get busy? Could this be caused by an attachment to comfort and ease?”
I asked myself why I came to this world. Doesn’t practicing cultivation include enduring hardships? Should a genuine Dafa disciple be afraid of difficulties? I suddenly realized that this was an improvement opportunity. As soon as I had this thought, my negative emotions disappeared and the burden was lifted.
Negating Financial Interference
The old forces persecuted me financially by keeping my business slow over the past year. Study and exams took a lot of my time and also kept me away from working on the telephone platform.
I spent a lot of effort and money on exams and registration, trying to gradually improve my situation by keeping my current job which requires us to pass the mandatory qualifying exams. That time period was really challenging, and I wasn't sure what the future held for me.
I later began to realize that I had partly invited the interference. Hidden behind all this were my attachments to fame and personal gain, my attachment to fighting and jealousy, and self protection.
I told myself that I should do what was normal in mainstream society as I rectified all the identified attachments. I should continue to study and get ready for my exams. I registered for the April exam in March, which meant that I had to finish studying all the English materials within a month.
My heart stayed calm this time. I thought, “I shouldn't be afraid. If it's mine, I won't lose it. If it isn't mine, I won't get it even if I fight for it. I follow Master’s arrangements in everything. I'll do whatever Master arranges for me.”
I continued to get on the telephone platform, and focused on saving sentient beings. I didn't skip Fa study or doing exercises. Of course, fellow practitioners temporarily shouldered most of my responsibilities on the platform. I only went on when it was my turn to host. I used a very small amount of time to prepare for the exams.
I got up early on exam day and read the Fa before departing for the exam. I sent forth righteous thoughts to clear my various attachments and remove all kinds of interference. I gave myself sufficient time to get to the examination place.
The security exam went very well. We were allowed to take the law exam as soon as we finished the security exam because the exams were administered on computers. I didn't know how to answer some of the questions in the law exam. The time I spent studying for the exam had been quite short.
Passing the exams was an essential requirement to keep my job. Once again, I told myself to let go of the fear of losing my job and to simply accept Master’s arrangements. I answered the questions to the best of my knowledge.
I was still worried about it after I got home, but I realized that this was also a test. This kind of worrying was just an attachment of pursuit. I told my friends that I did well in the security exam, but wasn't sure about the law exam.
As I mentioned “The Law, the Law” (the same Chinese character represents law and the Fa) over and over again to my friends, I suddenly realized that this may actually be a test for me to see if I believed in Master and Dafa.
I'm a Dafa disciple, and as long as I believe in Master, and believe in Dafa, I shouldn't be worried too much about making a living! With this conviction, I no longer thought about the exam results, but put my mind on saving people.
One week later, surprising results came in the mail—I passed both exams! Everyone said it was miraculous that I passed the exams with so little preparation. I realized even more that we should always keep in mind that Dafa disciples should do well the three things.
We should put stringent requirements on our xinxing, and be determined not to take the road of the old force arrangements. Miraculous things will happen in our lives and work. All we have to do is to firm up our belief, and trust Master and Dafa.
Maintaining Righteous Thoughts During Calls
I usually get on the platform to call and clarify the truth every day, even if I can only make one phone call. I only broadcast the recording initially. I started making more manual interventions and speaking during the calls. I now add my own words after the recording on most of the calls.
I carried an attachment when joining this project. I previously had only participated in promoting Shen Yun and sending group eBlasts, and hadn't done any other Dafa projects. I felt I needed to catch up. I realized that this mentality was based on individual cultivation needs, and my intention was to benefit myself.
Many times while people were listening to the recording, I would look in the mirror, water the plants, wipe the table, stand up and walk around, etc. Even if I sat quietly in front of the computer, I did not reach the state of, "The Mind and Body Join Together" (The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa). The energy was not strong when I sent righteous thoughts.
We should always first think of ourselves as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, as we came to assist Master in Fa rectification and to save more people. After I corrected myself, the rate of phone call acceptance increased.
Nothing is absolute of course, as I have also encountered many who would not take my phone calls. Some hung up, some swore on the phone, some played Chinese Communist Party (CCP) songs, set the phone on fax mode, etc.
I find that I am no longer affected or moved by people’s attitudes. I also don't compare my length of calling time with other practitioners. Hearing the other party swear at me no longer arouses my urge to fight back.
It was previously very difficult to remain unmoved when hearing someone swear on the phone, and it was common to hear very bad cursing. I thought these people lacked morality!
I told a police officer who yelled at me, “This [cursing at me] is definitely not what your father and mother taught you. It's atheism indoctrination by the wicked Party talking. Let me ask you, Have you heard that 'good is rewarded with good, and evil meets evil?' This is a heavenly law. If you still don't believe me, I’ll show you the cases that have happened in your areas.”
I continued to play more recordings, and he listened to all of them.
A bad CCP police officer once cursed at me for seven minutes non-stop. I felt so bad for him. I recorded his voice to and play it back to him to show him.
I called him and told him after the re-play, “Listen to what you've said. This is evidence that you persecute Falun Gong. But we don't return evil with evil. When you swear at people, you generate bad karma for yourself. China’s five thousand years of culture was all about teaching people to be good...” and so on. He stopped swearing and listened to some of what I said.
Another person once played CCP songs to me. I was just about to send forth righteous thoughts, then I thought,
“Hearing but hearing not— A mind hard to disturb.”(“In Dao,” from Hong Yin)
Then someone picked up the phone and yelled at me. Before I could speak, the phone was hung up. I thought, “I shouldn't let him create karma like this,” and I got ready to talk to him.
After the call went through he burst out loudly and said that he just didn’t believe in Falun Gong. He just believes in the CCP. Before I was able to put in a word, the phone was hung up again. I dialed again but he did not pick up.
I reminded myself not to be attached to my own plan. Things might not go according to my plan. If I thought too much, it could become an attachment. I knew that as long as I had the heart to save people, everything would be arranged by Master.
I tried again and he answered. He asked me if I was going to stop calling him. I said I only wished the best for him. The line cut off again, and I dialed again. I realized that each call was a test to see which of my attachments surfaced, and which had been removed. It was to see if my heart was moved, and if I could keep up my efforts to help him.
He kept praising the CCP while continuing to swear, but before I finished talking he would hang up. I was not discouraged, and continued calling back. I thought that he might be a sentient being in my world.
He gradually stopped swearing, but also continued to praise the Party. I told him about the nature of the CCP, about the truth of the self-immolation on Tiananmen Square, and about the facts of the forced organ harvesting. He listened carefully. I then talked about good and evil retribution and what Falun Gong is. I also provided him the phone number to call to assist the investigation of the persecution of Falun Gong.
Finally I said to him, “Listen to what I have said. You should stop swearing at people since that will generate a lot of karma for yourself. Don't be like what was in the songs, thinking that the CCP is your mother. Quit the CCP now.”
He laughed and said, “Thank you for giving me a lesson today. OK, I won't believe in the Communist Party from now on!”
I said, “That's good. Remember Zhen Shan Ren (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) is good, Falun Dafa is good, protect Falun Gong practitioners, and spread the truth widely.” He sincerely agreed.
I had called him a total nine or ten times. He listened for seven minutes on the last call, and I knew that he understood the truth.
Once again, I recited Master’s teaching,
“Not nothingness, not emptiness, not anythingNo goodness, no evilness, beyond the utmostMoving forward, hundreds of millions of things can formMoving backward, completely nothing remains, forever a mystery”(“Nothingness,” from Hong Yin Vol. II)
I came to understand,
“Seeing but seeing not— Not lost, not tempted. Hearing but hearing not— A mind hard to disturb.” (“In Dao,” from Hong Yin)
I had only understood the surface meaning. The reason we were able to do well was that a part of our hearts were filled with Dafa and had been assimilated to the Fa.
The part of our hearts that Master arranged for us to improve will assimilate to Dafa at the moment when truth-clarification efforts are needed, so we don’t have to worry that we cannot do well in our projects.
What I have seen is very limited at my current level. I am deep grateful to Master, for giving us this precious Dafa! I've experienced once again that when rising above my realm, another level unfolds. More sentient beings are saved as I elevate!
My gratitude to Master is no longer limited in terms of my emotions, my physical body, or the growth of my supernormal abilities. Rather I cherish more and more the time that we are with Master in this world. Cherish this precious Dafa.
Closing Remarks
I was studying the Fa using my cell phone and reading Master’s poem,
“Who is the lord of heavenRealm after realm, beings stray from FaEach claiming to rule the firmamentTime draws nigh for returning to positionLet’s see who is still muddleheaded”(“No Confusion” from Hong Yin Vol. II)
The words “Time draws nigh for returning to position” flashed several times on the phone screen. My cell phone also beeped. No text messages or e-mails came in, and the battery was charged. I couldn't identify what triggered the beep.
I thought that Master was urging me that time is limited, and I should not be “muddleheaded.”
My level is limited, please point out my mistakes.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Shared at the 2014 Falun Dafa Cultivation Conference of Canada in Toronto on August 23)
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