(Minghui.org) I listened to Master Li’s (Dafa's founder) recorded lectures back in 1995. However, due to laziness and other reasons, I didn’t start Falun Dafa cultivation right away. It wasn't until September 2018, that I began to study the Fa and do the exercises.
Then a great tribulation hit my family. Because my father refused to give up his Dafa cultivation, he was illegally arrested, and then sentenced to three years in prison.
Leading up to my father's trial, I couldn’t stay calm. At that time, my fear and attachment to leisure were very strong. As a result, using the excuse of “feeling under the weather,” I didn’t dare to demand the release of my father from the relevant departments. Instead I passively endured the persecution.
What I most regret is that I even acknowledged the evil persecution. I thought my father didn’t cultivate rationally enough, which may have caused him to be arrested. Soon after, my indifference towards my father led to my being persecuted; I kept receiving vicious phone calls.
The party secretary in my department at work came to talk to me twice. He asked me to write the so-called three statements. On the surface, I remained calm. Yet deep down, I felt a bit scared. Therefore, as soon as I saw him, I tried to avoid him.
Seeing that he couldn’t achieve his goal, he sent my boss, a 57-year-old woman, to talk to me. I knew that a fellow practitioner had previously helped her quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. Thus, I felt more courageous about talking to her because the evil factors behind her had been cleaned up to a certain extent.
During our talk, I clarified the facts, and she listened the whole time. I covered how my father was arrested, how the police, Procuratorate, and judiciary tarnished the constitution and how my family members were persecuted. She showed understanding and sympathy during our conversation.
After walking out of her office, I felt very light-hearted. While I was driving home, I turned on the music. Right away, these lyrics appeared in my mind:
“The last page of history has arrivedThe brilliance of Truth, Compassion, Forbearance illuminateshigh mountains and vast seasThe contest between good and evil unfolds, stirring the soul”
(“We Know,” Hong Yin III)
I began to calm down and reflect on myself. Then I realized that I didn’t do well enough, as all I did was reason with her, without showing any kindness and compassion.
The next day, the true test came. She came to ask me, “If you aren’t going to cooperate with us to make a video, you will be dismissed from work. Which means, you can’t teach anymore. That said, will you change your decision?” I shook my head firmly, as I only had one thought in mind: “Only Master is in charge of me.”
After that, she sent the party secretary who talked to me before to talk to me again. This time I was more compassionate when I talked to him. I told him about my decision with a smile on my face. Afterward, I said, “If there isn’t anything else, I’ll go back to doing my work.”
So I went back to teaching my students as usual.
At noon, my boss called to notify me that administration will come to see me. At that time, I felt totally exhausted. After I returned home, my mom said I shouldn’t cooperate with their persecution, nor go to see the administration staff. So I stayed home for the whole afternoon.
That night, unexpectedly, my eldest sister invited my uncle and his wife to come for a visit. After hearing about my stance, my uncle completely lost control of himself and began to yell at me like crazy. His wife also tried to persuade me by analyzing the pros and cons of not giving in. However, no matter what they said, I only thought to myself, “I’ll leave all the arrangements to Master.”
At the same time, I kept adjusting my tone. I went from shouting back, to thinking, “Why don’t I take this opportunity to awaken their consciences?” I calmed my mind and began to tell him, “I know you are concerned about me. However, I want to treat you even better than you are treating me, as I’m here to awaken you. We can’t be in partnership with the evil, and you have to safeguard your life. Can you please listen to me for two seconds?”
Since my tone had changed for the better, our conversation went a bit more smoothly. In the end, he still couldn’t let go of his worry for me. He said, “As long as you can get it settled, then I’ll listen to you.”
His words made me confident. I thought, “I can deal with it, as I have Master. I must be able to save him and help him accept what I have to say.”
The next day, after I arrived at work, I continued sending forth righteous thoughts from 8:30 a.m. through until 10:30 a.m.. Then I suddenly felt the atmosphere brighten up before my eyes as if a gray substance covering my head was removed. I seemed to hear a voice near my ear saying, “Your disciple had strong righteous thoughts. We didn’t dare to touch her.”
The following day, the manager who previously spoke to me said, “This thing is over. You can resume your work.” Under Master’s protection, and with the cooperation of fellow practitioners, the evil vanished instantly.
I kept reflecting on what helped me to pass this trial and the many realizations I had in the process. Master said,
“Therefore, you must truly follow our xinxing requirements—only then are you a genuine cultivator.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
I asked myself. Did I conduct myself as a true cultivator? In a relaxed environment, I slacked off on Fa-study and doing the exercises. Thus, when experiencing a trial, I felt I lacked strength. Moreover, when pressured by family members, I felt exhausted and helpless even to the point of being desperate. Moreover, I never thought about practitioners who are detained. What kind of tremendous pressure do they have to face every day? As a practitioner, how could I be so relaxed?
Master said,
“And the persecution of Dafa disciples is even less straightforward. A human being can’t do much of anything. [What has happened] is due to evil in other dimensions playing a guiding role.” (“2012 International Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital”)
Through this trial, I began to pay more attention to sending forth righteous thoughts. This experience also made me realize that it’s so important for every practitioner to pay attention to sending forth righteous thoughts to dismantle the evil in other dimensions and to strengthen the righteous thoughts of those practitioners who are imprisoned, so as to help them get released as soon as possible.
During this trial, I also kept improving myself. I went from wondering how should I avoid this interference, to stumbling due to fear, to gradually becoming more clear-headed. I could understand the standpoint of people who came to talk to me and could see they were in a difficult situation. When interacting with my relatives, I remembered to awaken their consciences as well.
When I let go of selfishness, bit by bit, my situation changed. I also felt the evil became weak and eventually had to back off after I started to think about others during this tribulation.
Thank you, Master!
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Category: Improving Oneself
