(Minghui.org) Since its founding on June 25, 1999, the Minghui website has been steady and unstoppable on its sacred journey over the past turbulent 20 years. Because of our revered Master’s infinite mercy and power, Minghui has become a trusted and faithful companion to Falun Dafa practitioners worldwide, and even more so to those inside China.
Practitioners in general are very appreciative of the vital support role played by Minghui. It is where articles authored by Master are published; it is a treasure trove of written, audio and video resources for truth-clarification; and it is a major world-wide forum where practitioners share insights and experiences on their cultivation journeys. Minghui has also issued timely and stern warning about any misconduct arising from misinterpretations of the Fa, or any worrying trends, such as when practitioners are not taking the appropriate safety precautions related to the ongoing persecution.
The website also contains extensive technical resources that have taught millions of practitioners who were inexperienced in the use of computers, printers, cell phones and other devices, to not only master the technologies, but to use them safely for their Dafa projects and day-to-day truth-clarification activities. Minghui has long become a necessary part of life for most practitioners.
Several Chinese practitioners who are now living overseas recently reminisced about how fortunate they felt when they were able to access the Minghui website. It has played a critical role in encouraging practitioners inside China to learn from fellow practitioners’ cultivation experiences, and it has helped them keep pace with the progress of the Fa-rectification.
Mr. Zhang, a practitioner since 1996, shared, “Many practitioners from my local area in China were late starters who unfortunately were swept up in the persecution not long after they started practicing. Initially, no one knew about the Minghui website. That is, until Master’s new article ‘Towards Consummation’ reached our area. The article was a tremendous boost to our faith in Dafa. This sent the local authorities into a panic, and they frantically searched practitioners’ telephone records, so they could interrogate them. That was the first time I found out that the article had been published on the Minghui website.”
Mr. Zhang continued, “To me, Minghui is not just a website or a news channel, it is a gift from Master to assist us on our journey of cultivation and saving sentient beings. Master only gives us the best. We have to align ourselves closely with Master’s Fa. Inside China, whenever we felt it was difficult to go on because of the evil persecution’s relentless pressure, the Minghui website would publish a new article by Master, which would help us understand what was going on during the process of Fa-rectification and the overall cultivation situation in China. The discussions by practitioners that followed, and that were later published on Minghui, were also very helpful and encouraging.”
Ms. Ma, a young practitioner who started practicing with her parents years before the onset of the persecution, recalled, “When I first arrived overseas, I became so emotional when I was able to directly access the Minghui website via the internet for the first time. It was a precious opportunity, that I must cherish. It is not as easy to access the Minghui website in China. Since the persecution of Falun Gong, from July 1999 onwards, my parents have been illegally detained in labor camps so I could only keep in touch with Dafa by visiting fellow practitioners in their homes on the weekends. I heard about the Minghui Weekly during that time and have always assumed that the publication was the same as the Minghui website.
“I remember how precious were the copies of the Minghui Weekly to practitioners in my hometown. They were mostly elderly practitioners, so they could only get their hands on copies that were being passed around. Sometimes, the magazines were out of date, but everyone treated it like a treasure when they received a copy. I remember when practitioners from our area organized everyone to send forth righteous thoughts targeting a particular cause. When we gathered in our group, besides sending righteous thoughts every hour, we took turns reading the Minghui Weekly aloud. Everyone listened intently and felt it to be very beneficial. To encourage those practitioners who had been out of touch with Dafa, some thoughtful practitioners would put copies of the magazine in with the fruits and gifts they left behind as they made home visits.”
Ms. Chen, who started practicing at the end of 1998, shared, “I had only practiced Falun Gong for six months when the persecution started. That put an end to the group exercises and Fa study. I lost touch with practitioners whom I knew before, so I was practicing alone, and never saw any of Master’s new articles. Then, one day in 2006, my son (who was not practicing at the time), while downloading some overseas movies using a proxy software, accidentally stumbled onto the main page of the Minghui website. The sight of our website, with the photo of Master sitting on the mountain range, bought tears to my eyes. I was like a lost child who'd found her way home, back to her family. Ever since then, the Minghui website has been a guiding light and a helpful companion to me on my cultivation journey.”
Mr. Zhang said, “As far as I know, the Minghui correspondents in China risk their lives in that treacherous environment to record and report the stories from Dafa practitioners. By doing that, they are exposing the perpetrators of crimes against practitioners, which is often an effective deterrent. I remember one time when Minghui published many true stories of retribution experienced by our local persecutors, collected by local correspondents. It made a huge impact on those who took part in the persecution. They slowly woke up to the fact that doing evil does bring dire consequences to themselves. As a result, some officials chose to adopt a more laid back approach, while others sought to transfer out of their current posts to extricate themselves from the persecution. A few years later, a perpetrator who experienced retribution admitted that what has been reported about him was true. Another Domestic Security Bureau chief also admitted to Dafa practitioners: 'That was retribution for my wrongdoings!'”
Ms. Ma added, “Not long after I left China, my father was illegally detained. At the suggestions of fellow practitioners, I sent any news I had about my father in China to Minghui. Usually, news I sent the night before would appear on the website the next day. Accurate and timely reports of my father’s situation on Minghui appeared to have shocked the officials involved. I also posted many truth-clarification letters to officials involved in the arrest and detention of my father. Most of their particulars and contact details were found on the Minghui website.
“Further, during my father’s appeal, Minghui was quick to publish every new update on the progress of the court case. This constant external pressure caused the judge on the case to reduce my father’s sentence by one and a half years.
“During that time, the police hit my grandmother and the incident was reported on Minghui the next day. That same evening, the Global Rescue Platform’s special case team responded specifically to my father’s case. They started their phone calling campaign and it went on for a whole week. My family members in China told me that after that week, when they went to see the police officer in charge of the case, he said to them: 'You Falun Gong people nearly busted our telephone lines!' Then he pointed to a pile of letters and said they were from both inside and outside of China. He also read aloud some letters from overseas. The policeman’s attitude appeared to have mellowed somewhat.
“The Minghui website, through its reporting and rescue efforts, has been acting as an effective hub connecting practitioners inside and outside China. I am very grateful to practitioners who work at Minghui for their true, accurate, and timely reporting!
“I get on the site every day now. When I am not busy, I send righteous thoughts for persecuted practitioners whose stories appear on Minghui that day. At the same time, I also try to email or mail truth-clarification letters to the authorities or officials involved.”
Ms. Ma further shared, “I joined the young practitioners' telephone calling team when I first arrived from China. People on the team would recommend Minghui articles on the group chat, followed by open discussions. I felt that my cultivation improved quite rapidly during that time because we talked about the Fa and encouraged one another.
“I read the Minghui articles every day and am always moved by fellow practitioners’ many genuine and touching stories and discussions. Whenever I came across a particularly moving article, I would send it to practitioners on other projects and they would do the same in return.
“When I do household chores or look after my kids, I like to listen to Minghui Radio. The readers’ voices are so pure, so they carry good energy. I have noticed that they seemed to have transcended themselves and not let their own mind get in the way as they tell the stories. At times, a voice carries and synchronizes with a story so well that I can hear the story at two levels. On one level, I hear it as if it is told by the original writer, and on another, as if the voice speaks to me on a deeper level. I could feel these two sources of energy washing over me, especially when it came to stories in the ‘Memories of Master’s Grace’ series. In its introduction, the poem giving praise to our revered Master and expressing Dafa disciples’ immense gratitude always conjures up in me an image as described by someone as ‘When the practitioner read the article, it is as if Master was standing right before them.’
“This year among the ‘Celebrating May 13th’ articles, I was particularly touched by an article written by an uneducated elderly practitioner. She has been submitting her articles to Minghui for quite a number of years, and none of them had been published. However, she kept writing and looked within herself for her own shortcomings. After reading that, I decided to write more often to Minghui because I have benefited so much in the past from reading the published articles but never thought about making a contribution. I now submit my articles regularly to Minghui.”
Ms. Chen also shared, “When I was still in China, at times when I failed to pass a xinxing test, the experience-sharing articles on the Minghui website have always been of great help. I remember a particular incident at work, when I was blamed and criticized by a colleague in a way I had never ever experienced. Until then, I was only praised by others. I was so upset that I cried non-stop. Even though I knew that enduring with tears was not forbearance from a cultivator’s perspective. I looked within and found that I'd done nothing wrong. I knew something was not right, but I did not know what went wrong.
“How I wished there were practitioners around me who I could talk things over with. At that time, all I thought about was how wrong my colleague was and I completely forgot about what Master has said about the issue at hand. I could not concentrate on reading the Fa either. I felt that I had been treated unfairly and just could not let the matter go. I cried for a whole week. Then, suddenly, I thought of Minghui. I read through many related experience-sharing articles and finally came to an understanding from the perspective of the Fa. That is, I am a practitioner and I should not judge right and wrong from an ordinary person’s perspective. If she had indeed treated me unfairly, that would have been because I have owed her a debt from the past and it was time to settle that debt. Or it could have been a situation created by Master as an opportunity for me to improve my xinxing. In that case, I should remember what Master said in Zhuan Falun about benefiting in four ways from one single event. I calmed down and did not feel upset any more, and in my heart sincerely thanked my colleague for the opportunity to improve my xinxing. I was also very grateful to Minghui for helping me pass that xinxing test.
“Since then, I visit the Minghui website daily. I ensure that I am keeping up with the progress of Fa-rectification. Back when I was in China, when I did not know how to clarify the truth, the extensive range of truth-clarification resources and many practitioners’ experiences on Minghui was the perfect teacher for me. When I needed printed materials to hand out, Minghui provided the truth-clarification booklets, pictures and CDs, and showed me how to produce them myself. When there was a demand for Dafa books from new practitioners, Minghui taught me how to make them. More amazingly, when I was detained, the 610 Office chief told me that he visited the Minghui website every day. He did nothing uncivil to me, did not say a single word against Dafa, and released me in the end.
“Because I read experience-sharing articles on Minghui every day, I noticed a problem that practitioners who produce truth-clarification material often encounter: their hands often get stained by the printer ink, which is hard to remove and which causes many inconveniences for them. I have also encountered the same problem myself. I discovered by chance that cleaning and rubbing with a polymer sponge can easily get rid of the stain. I sent an article titled ‘How to clean ink stains off your hands’ to Minghui and it did not take long for the article to be published. Since then, I have not found any more articles talking about the trouble caused by ink stains on practitioners' hands.”
Ms. Ma concluded, “One day, during our sharing about the Minghui website’s 20-year journey, I looked at Master’s photo on the Minghui main page and suddenly came to an understanding as to why that photo has always been there – something I have never understood before. Master is there to keep watch on Minghui so no evil elements could meddle with it. Master is also there to keep an eye on practitioners worldwide. Ever since, I have had this feeling of being in a Fa conference every time I visited Minghui. Although I have never seen Master in person, as soon as I get on Minghui I feel as if Master is right beside me, which fills me with happiness and confidence.
“Thank you very much to the practitioners who work for Minghui, for their tireless effort and dedication over the last 20 long years. I am sure it has not been easy for any of you. I thank you sincerely.”