(Minghui.org) With Master’s compassion and protection, in the past year I escaped close encounters with the authorities in the persecution of Falun Dafa in China, endured hardships, and felt the joy of elevating my xinxing. I also recognized some human attachments when doing the three things. I would like to report my experiences over the past year to Master and share them with fellow practitioners.
Responsibility and Perseverance
Master said:
“As a cultivator, and especially as a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, you shoulder enormous responsibility, and you have a great mission that history has bestowed upon you.”
“Even though the things you do in this world look a lot like the day-to-day things that ordinary people do, the fact is that the Dafa disciples' basis and the purpose of what you do are completely different.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York)
From Master’s Fa, I enlightened to the fact that every Dafa Disciple is a particle of the Fa, and every particle acts in unison, but they are also independent individual life forms. When validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, as manifested at the human level, every Dafa disciple has separate responsibilities and missions. Our responsibilities are the three things that Master requires us to do, and we must take responsibility for the missions we have chosen. The project that I chose was to post truth-clarification posters.
I try to put up posters in clean and visible areas where there will be lots of foot traffic and suppress evil at the same time. I do my best every time. I never allow myself to feel like I am just completing a task. Every night, before I go out to put up posters, I send forth righteous thoughts: “Eliminate any evil elements and beings that will interfere with the posting of truth-clarification posters; disintegrate the Communist specter behind all the people who will be near the posters; and eliminate all the evil beings controlling the video cameras that will be along my path. The cameras are there for bad people, not good people, and they should protect Dafa Disciples.”
While walking to put up the posters, I recall Master’s Fa:
“With such an enormous Fa here, the Fa will be with you when your thoughts are righteous, and this is the greatest assurance.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan” in Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
It doesn’t matter what season it is; if I see a good spot, I will put the poster there.
There have been numerous dangerous encounters and difficulties, but I was able to complete the postings with Master’s protection.
For example, on the night before the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman election of 2017, police all across China illegally searched, harassed, and arrested practitioners. Even in my city, the police increased their patrols and surveillance of practitioners. One fellow practitioner was arrested for putting up posters. My family members learned of the arrest and tried to persuade me not to go out to put up posters. “Just hide for a couple of days. They are so ruthless,” they said.
I understood how they felt. I said to them, “Thank you for accompanying me every night for the past year while I put up the posters. Someday you will be proud of your efforts. These policemen are ruthless because they are controlled by the specter of the CCP. If they knew the truth about Falun Dafa, they would never arrest a practitioner even if they were ordered to. Moreover, if I stop putting up the posters, they will think that the practitioner they arrested was the one who was putting up the posters. In order to help end the persecution, I must keep doing what I must do. I have Master, so you don’t have to worry. I will be careful.”
I intensified sending forth righteous thoughts and silently recited Master’s Fa:
“With such an enormous Fa here, the Fa will be with you when your thoughts are righteous, and this is the greatest assurance.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan” in Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
Various patrol cars were driving along the side of the road as I steadily put up the posters.
Right after I finished putting up a poster and turned around, a patrol slowly drove up right beside me. I was on the sidewalk, and the only thing between us was a telephone pole. I thought to myself, “Master, please make me invisible to the police.” The patrol car didn’t see me and kept going.
My husband quickly came up to me and said, “I was so worried for you. Thank goodness you’re skinny and the telephone pole hid you.”
I replied, “It wasn’t the telephone pole. It was Master who protected me.”
During those days, the CCP was more ruthless than usual. However, the posters that I put up in different areas lasted longer than usual. I realized that no matter what the situation is, we must not be fooled by the circumstances. We must believe in Master, believe in Dafa, and do what must be done.
I often have to go to a practitioner’s home to pick up the posters I need. It takes about two hours to walk there and back. Because there are many places in between that are good for putting up posters, I choose to walk. This year, around Chinese New Year, the practitioner knew that I needed more than usual, so the practitioner packed a little box full of materials. Luckily, I brought a backpack large enough for it. It was heavy when I carried it on my back, but I said nothing of it and simply left.
For safety reasons, I never let any of my non-practitioner family members go to a practitioner’s house. So I had my husband wait for me at a meeting point. He picked up the bag and realized how heavy it was. After walking some distance, he threw the bag on the ground and left after saying some inappropriate things.
I wasn’t angry at him because I knew the bag was really heavy. I struggled as I carried the bag on my back because it put a lot of strain on my shoulders and arms. I begged Master to help me. I knew there would be a large market in the area the next day, with lots of people walking by. Thus, I knew I had to put up posters here for people to see. Suddenly, my body felt weightless.
When my husband saw me again, he said, “You are so skinny but so strong.” I told him that because I was doing the right thing, Master strengthened me.
He never again got mad about the size of the bag. Even though he does not cultivate, he knows Dafa is good and is very supportive of me.
One day, as I was memorizing the Fa, I realized something.
Master said:
“Similarly, your field could have the power to alter any improper thoughts that might be going through the mind of someone immoral who is in your presence.” (“The Third Talk” in Zhuan Falun)
I realized that the Buddha Fa is truly great and compassionate.
The practitioner told me how complex and laborious it was to make each truth-clarification poster, so I cherished each and every one of them. They are tools that can save people and suppress the evil.
Reflecting upon my experiences of putting up posters over the past year, I was able to do so without interference not because I was clever or bold but because Dafa gave me wisdom and righteous thoughts. Master’s Law Body constantly protected me. Master’s Fa made me understand that I have to take responsibility, and this sense of responsibility motivated me.
Going Upstream
Master said:
“This involves not just the issue of people obtaining the Fa. People have also been so affected that they cannot work well, cannot focus on their studies, and they spend a large amount of time on the computer and electronic games—these things tempt you to watch and play them. This is no longer a human state. From antiquity till today humans have not had this state. This is aliens’ technology, and demons are utilizing it to get you hooked, get you to abandon everything you have, and have you devote yourself to it. It’s wasting your life, yet you are loath to put it down! Even from the perspective of being human you are not right, let alone in cultivation.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Upon learning Master’s Fa, I realized that computers and video games are demonic tricks and that the popular WeChat app is one of them. Master already told us that everything is alive in other dimensions. Dafa disciples are not ordinary and have power. If we accept it, then we are actually giving them power. How can Dafa disciples give demons power? Wouldn’t we also nurture our own demon-nature? So, I decided not to install or use WeChat.
For some time, my family and friends asked me why I didn’t use WeChat. They told me stories of how they received red envelopes through it, how convenient it is, or how animated the group chats are. I wasn’t moved no matter what they said.
Many of us got together for a relative's birthday party. One wealthy relative wanted to liven up the atmosphere a little. So he sent a couple of red envelopes worth several hundred yuan through WeChat. Everyone was trying to get the red envelopes except for a few elderly people. He saw me sitting quietly in my seat.
He looked at me blankly and said, “Don’t you have WeChat?”
I replied, “No.”
He responded in a serious tone, “I admire Falun Dafa practitioners.”
After a while, he said, “WeChat is not a good thing.”
I quickly answered, “WeChat is not good for people. It controls people’s lives, and it is extremely harmful to people’s physical and mental health. You guys shouldn’t use it. You should be responsible to your own lives.”
People at the party laughed at me, criticized me, and said I was so old-fashioned. Realizing that I couldn’t convince them, I told myself not to go with the flow of society and must instead go upstream.
I have cultivated for over 22 years now, and yet there were times I still could not take criticism and was overbearing. Every now and then, these attachments would surface. However, since the incident at the party, I fundamentally eliminated these attachments.
The improvements in my cultivation come from memorizing the Fa. For the past year or so, I have changed my Fa-study habits from simply reading the Fa to memorizing it. I concentrate better when I memorize the Fa, and I benefit greatly from it. I can finally learn the Fa, and the meaning of the Fa reveals itself to me. When I am about to get angry, I remember Master’s Fa.
Master said:
“There is a lot of hardship involved in roaming about, since it means that one must wander about the world and beg for food, and one might experience ridicule, verbal abuse, or mistreatment from all sorts of people. Anything can happen. But the secondary soul will conduct itself as a practitioner at all times, and handle its interactions with others well, being mindful of and perfecting its character, and never falling for the many worldly temptations it encounters.” (“The Eighth Talk” in Zhuan Falun)
A Dafa disciple’s understanding of Master’s Fa depends on one's innate foundation and one's virtue. But if Master has already pointed out the problem, one must listen to Master and take it seriously. Disciples must truly cultivate.
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Category: Improving Oneself
