(Minghui.org) I am a retired school teacher and began practicing Falun Gong in 1997.
Our family suffered a lot of hardship after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
Realizing Cultivation is Based on Fa-rectification Principles
The passing of my wife pushed me to study the Fa wholeheartedly and to look within. I realized that I had been cultivating with a focus on consummation instead of on Fa-rectification. I was following the old force's arrangements.
I wondered how I should cultivate in order to follow the correct path. One day, I recalled an incident that happened in 2007.
Several fellow practitioners and I went to a village to distribute Falun Gong pamphlets. Someone reported our activity and we were picked up and sent to a county 610 Office. To protect the practitioners from out of town, I insisted we'd found the pamphlets on the side of the road. A 610 officer said to me, “You are making things up.” He asked if I practiced Falun Gong. I replied that, according to the constitution, citizens have freedom of spiritual belief, therefore, I was not required to answer him.
The officers asked me the same question again and again. I just repeated my reply.
Two weeks later, I was told I would be sent to a labor camp for 18 months for possession of Falun Gong-related materials and for having previously been to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. These decisions were made without my knowledge or involvement.
One day, looking up at the ceiling of my cell, in my mind, I said to Master, “Master, I came to assimilate to the Fa, not to be persecuted by the old forces. I mustn't have met your expectations. I realize that I am here because I am not understanding the Fa correctly. I don't care if I am sent to a forced labor camp or elsewhere; Master will allow me to go home when I live up to your expectations.”
I was released from the 610 detention center a few days later.
Looking back at the incident, I found that my thoughts that day were selfless. I did not accept the persecution. I treated perpetrators from the viewpoint of Fa-rectification. I regarded the incident as Master's way of helping me improve.
So I came to understand that to meet the standard of a Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period, one needed to cultivate according to the principle of unselfishness—a fundamental requirement of the Fa-rectification. When one meets the standard, difficult situations will turn around. My mind became clear on this point.
Cultivate Based on Fa-rectification
A year later, my nephew told me to sign the three statements at the school where I used to work. I went to see the school principal. He dialed the superintendent's phone number and handed me the phone. The superintendent said that all I needed to do was to write, “I believe in science and will not join a cult.”
I knew what he meant and refused to write the statement. He emphasized that it was mandated by the 610 Office and I would be sent to a brainwashing center if I didn't comply.
I refused to sign and said that I would expose everyone I knew who had participated in persecuting me. The superintendent softened his tone, “I cannot make this decision. You will have to talk to the Department of Education.”
Three days later, I met the school principal and the chairman of the Department of Education. They tried everything from persuasion to threats to make me comply—still, I refused to betray my belief. Finally, I said to them, “I live my life according to Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I treat everyone around me with honesty and fairness. However, people like me are sent to detention centers. My son isn't allowed to attend college. What is the cult here? As I see it, it is the CCP.” They left the room without responding.
I moved into town a year after my wife passed away. Under Master's protection, practitioners and I have been safely delivering Falun Gong informational materials in our town and to surrounding villages.
Once, we were talking to a family about Falun Gong some 180 feet from a police station. The woman of the house was initially angry as soon as we mentioned Falun Gong. I begged Master for support: “I have come to save them. I cannot leave them with bad feelings about us.” I apologized to the family: “We are sorry to upset you. Please allow us to explain.” We gave them facts about the persecution of Falun Gong and how the CCP had staged the “self-immolation” in Tiananmen Square. Their attitude toward us changed and the family members denounced all ties with the CCP's organizations.
Another time, a police car followed us when a few practitioners and I were passing out Falun Gong informational materials in a village. The police officer rolled down the car window and asked us what were we doing there. We didn't reply. With strong righteous thoughts, he went away and our day proceeded safely.
I rarely focused on eliminating attachments, because they usually disappeared after I elevated my understanding of the Fa. One day, I thought about how the Creator had created the universe and me, and how Master had given me everything. I suddenly enlightened that the money I had to spend for my son was not from my efforts, it was given by Master. My resentment toward my son for having to spend my money disappeared. Then I thought that even if my son signed a contract with the old forces or for some other reason, his initial intent must have been to help me succeed. He must have put in a lot of effort to help me succeed. How unselfish and magnificent he was when he signed such a contract to help me succeed. At the thought of this, tears fell from my eyes like raindrops.
With my xinxing raised and after reading other practitioners' sharing on the Minghui website, I found the root cause of my son's behavior—which had caused conflicts between us—over the last ten years. It was caused by the things I had said to him over ten years ago, full of negative notions I had developed about him: “I tell you to be a good person, but you just refuse. Yet you come to me when you are in trouble.”
This loophole was taken advantage of by the old forces. I was shocked by how serious cultivation is. I immediately eliminated my negative notions. I looked up to the sky and said with emotion, “My son will only listen to Master.”
My son changed for the better after that, and he even resumed cultivating Dafa.
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Category: Improving Oneself
