(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in June 1998 when I was in my twenties. Twenty one years have since passed, and I have experienced so many things, including marriage and family life, along with arrests and threats due to my belief. To me, each step was a process of growing up, and each time I was thankful for Master's compassion.
Having been through the rainstorms of the harsh persecution, I now cherish even more the peace and happiness that Falun Dafa has brought to me. I would like to share some of my thoughts along this journey.
Believing in Master
Firmly believing in Master is critical for our cultivation practice. I once read a story in which a person was stranded on an island after a shipwreck. He tried to get help from passing ships, but no one noticed him. In despair, he went to the shore every day to catch fish for food, and barely eked out a living.
One day, when returning from the shore, he found that the cottage where he lived—the only shelter he had on the island—was on fire. Frustrated and in tears, he called aloud, “My Lord, thank you for sparing my life so far. But now, why are you trying to make me die cold, hungry, and alone?” With those words, he fainted in fatigue.
Upon awakening, he heard a loud noise from a ship that was approaching the island. With excitement and joy, he called out to them. Later, he asked how the people on the ship knew he was here. “It was you, sir,” replied one of them, “We saw the smoke and fire and knew someone needed help.”
The title of the article was “You Never Know Your Fate.”
Throughout my cultivation, I have come to understand that if we follow Dafa’s requirements, without resentment or doubt, we will be able to overcome all tribulations. Very often tribulations came because I did not act based upon the Fa. I have two examples of this, one about suing Jiang Zemin and the other about uninstalling WeChat.
Suing Jiang
When I first heard about suing Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese Communist Party leader who launched the persecution against Falun Dafa, I had fear in my heart like many other practitioners. I even thought it was like striking a rock with an egg. I also consulted a renowned human rights lawyer, and he was very against this approach.
Facing this situation, I knew that what Master asked us to do must be right. Master said,
“The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston”)
In addition, Master said,
“...when it comes to the Fa-rectification and what I choose, all beings' harmonizing and completing things according to my choices and contributing their best ideas and approaches--not to change what I want, but to harmonize and complete things according to what I've said--is the best thought a being in the cosmos could have.” (Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
This would hold true when I found that things ended up going smoothly, whether I was filing criminal complaints myself or helping other practitioners do so.
Here's an interesting thing that happened to me after I sent in my complaint. One day, my husband and I went to another city. My cousin was driving and he was often speeding.
Several days later, I received a text message, saying that we had been speeding, and that if we followed a link, there would be pictures and detailed information. I showed this to my husband, who immediately clicked the link. It turned out to be a trojan horse virus which repeatedly sent emails asking for my logins. I was not tech-savvy and kept complaining about this to my husband, but the junk emails continued coming every day.
I had no choice but to switch to a new phone with a new number. During this process, I also looked within and sent forth righteous thoughts. I found that I had the attachments of fear, material possessions, and resentment.
Not long after that, all the lawsuit cases against Jiang were returned to our local government. The police began harassing practitioners with phone calls and home visits. But because my number had changed, the police did not bother me about this.
Uninstalling WeChat
After receiving the notice to uninstall WeChat, I knew it was an opportunity to let go of my human notions, even though I did not have a deep understanding of the matter. After all, cultivation practice is not something that belongs to this everyday society, so why should I worry about it with human logic?
As soon as I removed WeChat, both my dry-eye and drowsiness disappeared. I no longer looked at my phone when waiting in line for a bus or something else. I was instead able to recite the Fa lectures or tell people the facts about Falun Dafa.
Looking at my life in the past, my cellphone addiction really did waste much of my time. Like many other people, I indulged myself in the virtual world – when I saw my neighbors or relatives, I sometimes did not even know how to talk with them.
Openness Between Practitioners
When working with other practitioners, I sometimes encountered rough spots caused by jealousy and suspicion. I know that practitioners all have a heart to work for Dafa. But because we come from different backgrounds, without open-minded communication, we may have a hard time cooperating. Vicious elements also interfere with us, which negatively affects our cultivation and our saving of sentient beings.
I was once involved in a conflict which made me feel unfairly treated and resentful. As a result, I chose to avoid those practitioners. In my mind, I was thinking that as long as I did not do anything wrong, Master would see that, and I only needed to take care of myself.
Our group used to work well together. But after this, things began to change and several practitioners were severely persecuted for a few years, including our coordinators. This was a serious lesson for us. I sincerely hope that more practitioners can sit down and take the time to watch Master’s video lecture to the Australian practitioners so that we can let go of selfishness and become one body.
Setting Good Examples
I have come across some people who know practitioners, but these practitioners had done very poorly. It is very difficult for people like this to accept the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution.
My understanding is that since our family and friends know we are practitioners, their attitudes towards Dafa are largely dependent on their observation of us. If we do well, they will say good things about Dafa; if we do poorly, even if they do not say it in front of us, they might oppose Dafa in their minds. When this happens, even if other people tell them that Dafa is good, it can be difficult to convince them.
I have met some of these people. They said that such and such a practitioner died, or a practitioner did something very bad. I usually tried to explain things to them in these cases, while sending forth righteous thoughts. One analogy I made was that a group of students taking the same class will ultimately have different test scores. Another example is a hospital -- even the best hospital or the best doctor may have patients who die, since everyone has their own situation.
This approach of mine sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. I think a better way is simply for us to do well and set a good example. We all know the importance of truth-clarification. We practitioners are actually living examples of the Fa because our appearance, words, and actions will directly influence people, just like truth-clarification booklets. In fact, our thoughts are all very clear in other dimensions.
My husband and I have a small business. We try our best to provide good products and premium service, hoping that this will help us clarify the truth. For a while, however, the merchandise we sold had problems. This made us very embarrassed since issues often came right up after we told customers about Falun Dafa. We tried to find better products, but even the best brand seemed to have problems.
I began to look within. Master said,
“The fact is simply that anyone who really does have an energy like gong will leave traces of it on whatever he or she touches, shining and radiant, without even consciously emitting it.” (“The Sixth Talk,” Zhuan Falun)
Why did the best products I picked still have problems? Upon looking inward, I realized that I had the pursuit of clarifying the truth with good products. I also had the fear that poor quality may affect truth-clarification. In addition, I had the attachment of jealousy.
After realizing this, I remained calm and tried to be honest with both my vendors and customers while explaining my belief and principles. The vendors were impressed and became very supportive. My clients were impressed too. “Since you are doing business with such a high caliber, even the divine beings in heaven will help you succeed,” said one client.
These are my personal understandings. Please point it out if there is anything inappropriate.
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Category: Improving Oneself
