(Minghui.org)
“As Dafa disciples clarify the truthSharp swords shoot forth from their mouthsTearing open the rotten demons’ liesLose no time and save them, hurry up and tell them”(“Hurry Up And Tell Them” from Hong Yin Volume II)
After Master's poem “Hurry Up And Tell Them” was published in 2002, my husband and I realized how urgent clarifying the truth was for sentient beings, and that's when we started talking to people about Dafa in person.
Looking back, I have truly come a long way in clarifying the truth and in my own cultivation over the past 15 years. Luckily, Master has always been watching over and guiding me. I would like to share with fellow practitioners some of my experiences in validating the Fa and saving sentient beings.
My husband and I only talked about Dafa with people who we already knew at first, such as our family, friends, and colleagues. But one time, my husband ran into a colleague who had just bought a new apartment unit. When he tried to talk to him about Dafa, he just wouldn't listen and was more concerned with showing off his new home.
After they parted, my husband started a conversation with a stranger at the park. He told him what Dafa really is, what caused the then-leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to launch the persecution, and how wrong and brutal the persecution was. The person listened attentively, strongly agreed, and believed everything my husband said.
This experience made my husband realize that we needed to clarify the truth to everyone.
He told me the story when he got home, then added, “We have to change our ways of clarifying the truth. We need to approach sentient beings outside of our circle.”
We subsequently began talking to strangers about Dafa at parks, on the streets, and in small alleys all over town. Wherever we went, we told people about Dafa.
We started helping people quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations after the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party came out in 2004. I read the Nine Commentaries three times so that I could better explain to people why they should cut ties with the Communist Party.
I also read other books, booklets, and periodicals published by the Epoch Times and the Minghui website. Master strengthened me so that I could remember the content of all these materials and choose the most effective angle when talking to people.
I usually go out to clarify the truth during the day and come back to study the Fa at night. I don't go to sleep until after I send righteous thoughts at midnight.
Inspired by a practitioner's sharing on memorizing the Fa, I started memorizing, one paragraph at a time. So far I have gone through the entire book of Zhuan Falun nine times. I want to keep the Fa in my heart. I do what Master asks of us, and have not gone a day without studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and sending righteous thoughts.
I don't want to go a day without clarifying the truth either. If I stayed home all the time, how could I meet the predestined people that Master has arranged for me to clarify the truth to? I go out every single day, rain or shine. Nothing stops me.
I remember one time, the sky was full of dark clouds and my husband asked whether we should still go out that day. I said “of course,” knowing that Master would take care of us.
As soon as we got to the riverside, it started pouring rain. People gathered under the bridge to stay out of the rain and so did we. One by one, we told them about Dafa and helped eight people quit the Party. We then moved on to the lobby of an apartment building and helped nine more people quit the Party.
My husband and I worked as a team at first when we clarified the truth. One of us would send righteous thoughts while the other one did the talking. We probably helped one or two people quit the Party each day on average.
It took us a lot of talking to convince one person. We talked about everything from prophesies to historical facts, from human rights to local practitioners' stories. We would talk until our throats were parched before our message would get across.
Master said,
“But if your righteous thoughts are strong, the evil will be dissolved. The power of true compassion can dissolve all deviant factors, and when you talk with a person you will be emitting energy outwardly that dissolves evil things, and the evil in other dimensions will not dare to approach or control that person anymore. When you then reason with that person, he will listen, and you will be able to purge the lies infused into him by the wicked CCP, thus removing the block in his mind.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference X)
I realized that we were not being efficient. We couldn't afford to have one person dedicated to just sending righteous thoughts. My husband and I sat down, examined ourselves carefully, and realized that we still had fear in our hearts.
We felt like we needed the other person's support and righteous thoughts when talking to people, and that fear was stopping us from saving people more effectively. We have since been clarifying the truth separately.
A sharing on the Minghui website helped me a lot in terms of effectively clarifying the truth. In this sharing, the author walked from place to place to clarify the truth. He had been to many cities in different provinces and had worn out many pairs of shoes. He was able to help more than a hundred people quit the Party each day.
His sharing made me look within and realize that my attachments to fame, fear, and various human notions made me beat around the bush when I talked to people. To be more effective, I needed to be more direct and focus on the main points.
Master has made it clear in the Fa that when clarifying the truth, the most important thing is letting people know what Falun Gong is and how evil the Chinese Communist Party is. I try to always keep this in mind, and quickly figure out what the best approach might be.
Everyone has a knowing side. Talking from too high of a perspective when approaching people might just push them away. Instead, I try to figure out what's blocking them and go from there. I approach the issue from different angles when talking to different audiences.
I became better at communicating and was able to clarify the truth more effectively.
I went out as usual in the morning on Chinese New Year's Eve in 2008, before I had time to clean the house. When I got home in the afternoon, I started preparing for the holiday frantically, making dumplings, doing laundry, hanging drapes, and cleaning up the house.
As I was trying to get everything done, a thought came to mind, “I don't have time to study the Fa today.”
That one thought caused an accident. When I was standing on a chair to hang up some drapes, one of my feet stepped onto the edge of the bed. The spring mattress bounced back and pushed me toward the wall, and my face slammed directly into the wall.
My husband heard my scream and came running. My nose was bleeding and my face was covered in blood. I knew that the old forces were attacking me because of my unrighteous thought. My husband and I sat down to send righteous thoughts right away and I completely ignored my bloody nose.
I later told my husband the thought that had flashed into my mind which caused the accident. How could I not have time to study the Fa? Of course I did. It was only that my attachment to comfort was surfacing and my will was wavering.
I apologized to Master in front of his picture, dropped all preparations for the holidays and started studying the Fa with a clear mind. My hands couldn't move and something was wrong with my teeth as well, but I just ignored them.
The next day was Chinese New Year's day, but I went out to clarify the truth as usual after a simple breakfast.
The temperature was below zero that day. I couldn't wear gloves because my hands were still hurting. I also forgot my scarf and my keys when I hurried out of the door. After helping more than ten people quit the Party, I went home, only to realize that I had locked myself out. My husband was still out clarifying the truth.
My face, hands, and feet were freezing. I decided to go to a shopping center nearby, where I ended up helping quite a few more people quit the Party. When I went home again, my husband was still not there. I went back out and helped about a dozen more people quit the Party.
I thought to myself excitedly, “Wow, that's more than twenty people today!”
That was my new personal record, something I hadn't thought possible before. I set a goal for myself to help at least 20 people quit the Party every day—I would not go home if I didn't reach that number.
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (“Why Doesn’t Your Gong Increase with Your Practice?” from Zhuan Falun)
Master saw that I had the wish to save people, so he arranged for me to run into more predestined sentient beings every day after that.
As I started helping more than 20 people quit the Party each day, a new problem arose. Between my husband and myself, we had about 150 people each week that we had to publish announcements for online.
We didn't know how to use a computer and had to ask another local practitioner for help each week. Each time we went to him to drop off the list, we had to make two bus transfers, and if he wasn't home, we had to go back another day.
Master had told us to set up materials production sites wherever we could in China. Master also knows everything, and makes the best arrangements for disciples. Just when I had the wish to learn how to use a computer, my son came home.
The first thing he asked was, “Do you need anything?”
“A computer,” said my husband.
So my son went out and bought a computer for us.
Once we had a computer, there was a new problem—how do we use it? My husband and I had no knowledge or experience with computers whatsoever. We didn't have the time to take a class either. My son didn't live at home, so we couldn't ask him for help.
Just as we tried to figure out how to get started, a local practitioner stopped by. As soon as he saw the computer, he wanted to help set it up. He installed the operating system and software, and taught us how to turn it on and off, how to download files, and how to print. He wrote down detailed instructions before he left.
However, we still didn't know how to type and form words with the Pinyin system.My husband looked in a dictionary and found the pinyin chart on the last page of the index.
He told me, “You could probably use this chart and try to learn Pinyin on the Internet.”
Master strengthened me and gave me wisdom. I learned Pinyin in one afternoon and was able to type. I no longer had to travel across town to ask the other practitioner to do it. I was so happy.
I am now not only able to make announcements for people, I can also print booklets and fliers for truth clarification. A little flower has blossomed in our home.
I attended a local experience sharing conference, where I ran into a local practitioner.
She said, “Though you help more than 20 people quit the Party each day, if you don't cultivate yourself, you're just an ordinary person doing Dafa work.”
Her words set me off right away. I felt so wronged.
“So my going out every single day helping more than 20 people quit the Party is really worth nothing? All my hard work is nothing but a waste of time?” I cried. “Is it really so wrong that I help 20 people quit the Party each day?”
Master said,
“Many gods are whispering in my ear, 'Your Dafa disciples won’t stand for anyone being critical of them. Just one word and they explode. Could it work if others aren’t allowed to criticize them? How are they supposed to cultivate if they can’t take criticism? What kind of cultivator does that amount to?' and similar things to that effect. I could tell before that there were many forms of interference, and that you still weren’t mature in regards to the things you needed to do when facing the persecution. So, in order to have you do a good job with the things related to validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, all along I never spoke about this aspect of the Fa and I never emphasized this issue when speaking with you. But it’s now something very prominent, and it is something that you have to take note of. You all know, being cultivators, the principle of “not striking back when hit, not talking back when cursed at,” and that when a cultivator truly suffers some form of loss he simply laughs it off. That is the state that you should have, and that is what you must achieve, for you are not ordinary people and you seek to transcend their state of being. You have to hold yourself to high standards, not those of ordinary people. So you have to achieve what I described.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference X)
At that moment, I couldn't keep calm and do what Master asked of us.
The practitioner was embarrassed, and said, “I didn't mean that. I wasn't talking about you. I have no clue about what you do. I am just talking in general and about my own experience.”
The conference couldn't go on because of my overreaction, and everyone left.
Master's words came to me,
“If you can manage to handle things calmly no matter how wronged you may feel, if you can remain unmoved and not try to come up with some kind of excuse for yourself, then with many things you won’t even need to argue. That’s because on your path of cultivation there is nothing that is by chance. So, when you get into a heated exchange and it stirs things up in you, or you get into a conflict over something that concerns your vital interests, perhaps the factors behind it were put there by Master. Maybe you only get upset when it’s a case of someone saying something that really provokes you or hits a sore spot. And maybe the person really did treat you wrongfully. But, those words weren’t necessarily said by that person. Perhaps they were said by me. (Everyone laughs) I want to see how you handle things at the time. When you butt heads with that person, it actually equates to butting heads with me.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference X)
I calmed down when I got home and started looking inward, thinking, “I really haven't cultivated myself well all these years.”
My husband and I are both practitioners and we have a relatively harmonious relationship. Like a team, we do everything together, without having to reach out to other practitioners much. I therefore had very few personal conflicts that could help me improve.
I realized that many of my human notions and attachments had surfaced, including the mentality of showing off, my competitiveness, my zealotry, and my attachment to fame. I'd show off when I ran into a practitioner, and felt very pleased to tell him or her that I helped at least 20 people quit the Party each day. But when the practitioner pointed out my shortcomings at the conference, I let my human notions get the best of me.
Master said in Zhuan Falun,
“In order to gain fame, personal profit, and a little benefit, some people often brag about themselves and show off, 'I’m very capable and a winner.'” (“The Mentality of Showing Off,” from Zhuan Falun)
Everything was done by Master. Wasn't I taking credit for what Master had done when I bragged? All I was doing was going out and talking to people. Master saw how dangerous it was for me as I headed down that path, and woke me up just in time through that practitioner's words.
Something happened recently that really touched me, and helped me a great deal in my cultivation of truthfulness.
I was helping a local practitioner make announcements renouncing the Party and its affiliated organizations on the Epoch Times website. To differentiate between two with the exact same nickname, the practitioner used a different character of the same pronunciation to replace one of the characters in one of the names.
I used the character provided when making the announcements without thinking much.
However, shortly after submitting it to the Epoch Times, I received an email from an editor, which read:
“In this list, two names have a similar pronunciation but different characters. Do the people quitting the Party know which characters were used in their nicknames? If they don't, then we are not being truthful and it makes the list look fake. Could it be that one of the names was changed without the person's knowledge? It doesn't meet the requirement if the person has not agreed to the exact nickname used in his or her announcement. If that's the case, can we change the character back to what it was (the same as the other name)? Or would you be willing to provide the original list? Please respond to this message as soon as you can. Thank you.”
I responded, “Dear editor. I helped type up the announcement for another local practitioner. We're not highly educated and may have given the same nickname to multiple people. Sometimes if we don't know how to write the characters in a person's nickname we may also substitute with a character of the same pronunciation. I sometimes change it back if I know it's a substitute character. I'll take note of it and let the other practitioner know. I will also be careful with this in the future. However, this is the original list provided to me.”
The editor wrote back quickly, “Thank you for your response. We will change the character back and split the two names into two different announcements. Please check the results in a few days. Please do not use characters with the same pronunciation to substitute in the future. That will cause a negative effect on the announcements. We do not want to do anything that's not truthful.”
The editor's sincere attitude truly touched me. I saw how he or she was being responsible to the Fa and the sentient beings.
I carefully examined myself, and asked myself, “Have you truly cultivated yourself?”
When there was an issue, instead of looking inward for my own shortcomings, the first thing I did was to evade responsibility and point fingers at the other practitioner.
I showed the editor's response to the practitioner and told him to be careful next time. I emphasized in my response that we were not educated, and used that as an excuse. I was not humble nor even polite—the editor said “thank you,” but I didn't even thank him or her. I didn't treat the task of making announcements seriously and just tried to get away with doing the bare minimum. These little things were all reflections of the influence of the Party culture instilled in me.
When I first read the part where the editor said, “We do not want to do anything that's not truthful,” I was even irritated because my attachment to self was exposed. How can I clarify the truth well if I don't cultivate myself well?
Cultivation is a very serious matter and cannot be altered even a bit. We are cultivating Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Are we still Dafa practitioners of the Fa-rectification period if we don't meet these standards?
In the end, I would like to share Master's poem, and hope that we can all do better in our cultivation.
Study the Fa and gain the Fa,Focus on how you study and cultivate,Let each and every thing be measured against the Fa.Only then, with that, is it actually cultivation.(“Solid Cultivation” from Hong Yin)
Please kindly point out anything that's inappropriate.