(Minghui.org) I have read many sharing articles about Falun Dafa practitioners with technical skills on Minghui.org. I have been steadily walking on this path for the past 13 years and would like to share my personal experience.
I believe that the cultivation paths of many practitioners with technical skills are getting narrower. So it is key that, while doing Dafa projects to help Master Li save sentient beings, one must continually improve their xinxing and enlighten to the Fa principles.
Right before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, our local material production sites were all destroyed by those working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Many practitioners from these sites, as well as the technical personnel, were arrested and sentenced. As a result, we no longer had materials to distribute.
Starting from scratch
Under that dire situation, and seemingly by coincidence, a fellow practitioner bought me a used laptop. He basically just taught me how to turn it on and off, and how to access the Minghui website. That was as much as he knew! I had no prior knowledge of using computers or printers.
My family situation was not ideal. I was in my late 20s at the time, and my son was very young. My parents and my wife were ordinary people, and they were opposed to my practicing Falun Dafa. We lived together in an apartment that was about 600 square feet. I worked in a factory, and my wife was in charge of all the money. With no technical help from fellow practitioners and a stressful family environment, I tried to walk a path of validating the Fa step by step.
I bought a small printer and made my first attempt to print Dafa informational materials. When I carried that batch of pamphlets and distributed them to people, I felt as if I was awakened to a mission that was deeply hidden in my heart; it pushed me to strive forward on this path.
The next issue I faced was I could not let my family know what I was doing. What should I do? As soon as I had that thought, my wife told me that her company opened up a new office in a nearby city and asked if I would let her apply for the managerial position; I agreed.
Her application process went very smoothly, and she got the job. Just like that, she came back home only once a week, which made it much more convenient for me to work on producing Dafa materials.
I then got a faster printer and began to provide materials for the practitioners around me. For me, the hardest thing was to resolve technical issues, because I didn’t know much about this type of thing, and no one around me did either. I had to spend a lot of time after work to resolve these issues and had very little time to sleep.
A small problem would often take me a long time to figure out, but within several years, I was able to make all kinds of materials such as stickers, amulets, DVDs, and booklets. I also figured out how to use cell phones for clarifying the truth. For each Dafa project, I first tested the equipment myself before distributing it to the practitioners around me.
I often encountered enormous resistance. For example, for clarifying the truth using cell phones, I saved money for several months, and bought the cell phones of a model according to practitioners’ recommendations on an Internet forum.
When I brought them home, however, I found out that they did not have the functions needed for clarifying the truth. I suspected this was because the CCP had realized that Dafa practitioners were using this model, so they had the manufacturer take away that function. It hit me pretty hard financially but, luckily, I was able to give timely feedback on the forum so that other practitioners didn’t waste more money.
After several more tries, we finally were able to begin this project successfully and have other practitioners get involved. Gradually, we began to have a good variety of projects for saving people.
I started as a complete beginner, but became an expert after all these years. It was because I saw this was going to play an important role in saving people, which gave me a strong sense of mission and helped me push through all the obstacles.
Facing pressure from my family
My family didn’t know what I was doing for several years. But my wife eventually found out, and she was scared that I may be harassed or arrested by the authorities.
The conflict grew and grew, and I had no way to resolve it. I then faced two options: One was to give up cultivation and live an ordinary person’s life. The other was to continue to walk on my path and face divorce. We ended up divorcing.
My parents also opposed my practicing Dafa. These conflicts were also intense, and we were all very exhausted from them. I then had a thought: have another practitioner clarify the truth to my parents to help them understand Dafa. Then my dad suddenly said to me, “Have your best cultivated practitioner around here come to our home. I want to see how they are.”
So I found several practitioners who were great at clarifying the truth face to face. They visited my home one evening while others sent forth righteous thoughts. After they talked with my dad, he quit the CCP without hesitation. From then on, my parents completely changed and fully supported me. They said that I was doing great things and accumulating virtue!
The Importance of Following Safety Procedures
I noticed that there were only a few material production sites in our area, so I began to help establish more. I went to share my thoughts with practitioners in each nearby town and village and, eventually, we established several dozen production sites.
As the Fa rectification progresses, our local environment seemed to be getting more relaxed. Several practitioners who had been making materials for a long time gradually became less careful about security. As a result, several material production sites were exposed and taken down by the CCP.
I looked inward and found that I did not pay enough attention to sharing my understandings on security issues with fellow practitioners. The fact that practitioners were arrested had something to do with me because I was the one who installed their computers.
From then on, I always shared about security concerns with practitioners and asked them to strictly follow safety procedures. For example, after making the materials, they must hide everything, including the leftover materials, as well as the printers and computers.
After making sure that every site followed these procedures, there has not been another incident. Several times, CCP personnel went to practitioners’ homes to conduct searches, but with Master's protection, those officers couldn’t find anything.
Things work well with righteous thoughts
When I cooperate with fellow practitioners on a Dafa project, I always first make an intention for what I’m hoping to accomplish. I think that when my thought is righteous enough, it can bring along many positive factors. With Master’s help, I was able to break through many obstacles and help projects be successful in the end.
For example, during the CCP’s 19th National Congress, several dozen practitioners were arrested, causing uneasy feelings among our entire group. I had already made tens of thousands of calendars, but facing this sudden pressure, the practitioners cooperating with me became fearful and hesitant about getting involved. Facing this dilemma, I decided to strive forward.
After I had this thought, I just proceeded to distribute the calendars to other practitioners. It turned out that year we gave out the most calendars, and this had a great effect in eliminating the factors of the old forces. Not a single practitioner was arrested for distributing the calendars. I deeply felt that when my wish resonated with the wishes of the countless sentient beings in the universe, many divine beings would join in and would make our effort successful.
Each project we do has factors in it for us to improve. When we complete a project and make a positive impact in saving sentient beings, our next step comes naturally through Fa study. The Fa will show us the inner meanings that we are supposed to know and guide us to better save people. On the other hand, if technical practitioners only focus on the technical part of their role instead of cultivation, it will limit our improvement as one body.
Breaking through obstacles
As practitioners who are technically skilled, our fundamental goal is to ensure the smooth operation of material sites. We need to fix the machines when they are broken; when fellow practitioners call us, we go and help. If we can’t keep up our cultivation and harbor many ordinary notions, then eventually, we will feel like repair workers in an ordinary job, which gives the old forces an excuse to persecute us.
So what should we do? We must break through this state. I feel that I have made strides on my cultivation path little by little, and now I only need to spend a small amount of time on the equipment to ensure the normal operation of these production sites. The majority of my time is now spent on cooperating with other practitioners on various projects.
I have seen some technically skilled practitioners who often try to resolve an issue within the issue itself, which doesn’t solve the root problem. If we always do things the same way, we may not be able to keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification.
For example, when we see that a material production site is overloaded with tasks, instead of trying to find a way to produce more, we could try to find another practitioner to establish a new materials site to relieve the burden. In this way, production needs can be met, and this is also a process where the practitioners involved can become more selfless. When we have the wish, Master’s Fa will guide us to accomplish it!
As another example, the machines usually start to have issues more frequently as they get older. These machines take more of our time and also have an impact on providing timely materials. When this happens, it’s often best to replace them. But because this involves money, it can expose some cultivation issues and needs coordination among practitioners.
There are some practitioners around me who are very willing to contribute the funds, but, sometimes, the practitioners at the sites feel that they need to spend their own money in order to gain more mighty virtue. In my opinion, this is an issue of selfishness.
With some tactful coordination, everything can be resolved. In addition, the practitioners who provide the funds get to contribute in this effort, while the practitioners at the material sites have an opportunity to eliminate their own attachments. If we don’t take these necessary steps and only focus on repairing machines, we may get into a bad cycle.
I think that the highest realm for a technical practitioner is being able to spend the least amount of time and energy, while keeping the material sites operating without issues. Our time should not be spent constantly repairing machines.
There is also a need for more practitioners to distribute materials. So we should spend the time to awaken those practitioners who have not come out yet to help with this, or find practitioners who are willing to help awakening them.
When we are able to do well in this aspect, then there will be more practitioners getting involved, more materials needed, and we will have a bigger impact in saving sentient beings.
As we move forward, we may see more Dafa projects being created. We should then look for practitioners around us to train for technical support roles. We can have them work on a few projects at first, while providing support, until they become mature and can do things by themselves.
Moving on in this way, we may find that our role in the region has changed. We would just look for areas that need help and quietly do what is required. It's possible we could even find that we are no longer playing a main role, and other practitioners may no longer think that we are so important. They can just treat us like any other practitioner. By this time, we have helped others to fulfill their missions while fulfilling our own.
I still have shortcomings in many areas. When seeing fellow practitioners go out to clarify the truth face-to-face every day, I sincerely admire them from the bottom of my heart.
Master has been enduring so much for the little time we have left, and I truly hope that all practitioners will be able do better and have fewer regrets in the future.
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Category: Improving Oneself
