(Minghui.org) I am a Falun Dafa practitioner who has continued to clarify the truth to people in person throughout the past years. Some time ago, many practitioners I knew were reported and arrested, and all three practitioners I was associated with were arrested. I was also reported, but I was able to escape. All the practitioners in our area were affected. One was afraid and asked if she could distribute Falun Dafa informational materials with me. I agreed but faced some conflicts.
Facing Conflicts
For example, I approached a group of municipal construction workers and started to explain the facts about Falun Dafa, which is also called Falun Gong. No one listened or took our brochures. Then a young man got out of a car nearby and asked, “What are you giving out? Is it Falun Gong?” I said it was and gave him a brochure. The young man said, “Isn’t that great? Guys, come and get one!” Some of the workers came over and each one grabbed a copy. It was a very moving experience. Besides praising the young man, I said, “What you are doing today is a testimony for your future.”
The practitioner who had come with me corrected me. She said that I should not use the word “testimony,” because ordinary people would not understand it. I said, “This person seemed to be aware.” She said that people in rural areas that dressed well were not necessarily cadres. In short, she always seemed to be against me rather than happy that sentient beings had been awakened. I replied that we were one body and should not have conflicts, that we must not be fooled by the evil. We moved on.
Another time, I explained the facts to a group of people while she spoke to just one. She made no progress. After everyone I spoke to had quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I turned to the person she was talking to. After a few words, that person also quit the CCP. Then the practitioner said, “We cannot talk about the CCP’s corruption. People don’t like to hear that. Maybe they too are corrupt.”
I asked, “If they didn’t want to hear it, why did they quit the CCP?” As a matter of fact, this practitioner’s family had some connections locally and was powerful. I told her, “The little that corrupt officials make in rural areas is really nothing compared to what those high-ranking officials pocket. They embezzle shocking amounts of money. Those people are really hopeless.”
Experiencing Trouble
Because of fear, she always put her own safety first and did whatever came to her mind. Sometimes after I clarified the truth, I couldn’t find her. Sometimes she sensed something dangerous so she took off. Things like this happened every day. I always looked inward but didn’t find anything I needed to let go of.
At home, she also looked inward, knowing quite well that she did not behave correctly. She apologized over and over again. She said that when she was anxious she got lost and asked for my forgiveness—then she did it again. I thought that she needed to improve her xinxing. It is not something that one can do right away after becoming aware of one’s mistakes. Thus, even if I thought I didn’t want her to come with me anymore, I realized that she’d had the courage to step forward, which was great. Master told us to improve as one body, so I kept going out with her.
Even if we did well and people quit the CCP, she never offered a word of encouragement. I told her, “When things go well, you ruin the moment. When our righteous thoughts fight each other, we are making the evil happy. Just like on the battlefield, I am fighting the evil with all my strength, while you are shooting arrows into my back. When I clarify the truth, at least you could help by sending righteous thoughts!”
I believed that her wrongdoing was not her true intention, that it was an acquired concept. Her innate true self is in line with Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Why did these acquired concepts appear in my dimensional field? There had to be some corrupt material in my dimensional field. It wasn’t really the right or wrong of the matter but the factors behind it.
Setting aside the matter itself, I thought that there might be something that was not in line with the Fa when I interacted with her. For so many years, she has been very caring and helping me. In the past, my life was difficult because of the persecution. When I went to her house, I was allowed to eat anything she had. After a long time, I took this for granted. Sometimes she also gave me clothes, and I shouldn’t have accepted them—I wasn’t strict with myself.
It’s not that she looked down on me, it was the evil that looked down on me. Gifts blind our eyes. It’s because I didn’t hold myself to the standard of the Fa that the evil took advantage of my attachments, created tribulations for me, destroyed our relationship, and interfered with our clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. It would be such a pity if our efforts to save sentient beings were interrupted by not cultivating ourselves well. After I sorted out the logical relationship behind this, I refused to take anything she gave me, be it food, clothes, or anything else.
Although our cooperation improved a little, disagreements still happened from time to time. I wondered what the problem might be and found another attachment, jealousy, and a belief that fellow practitioners looked down on me. Everyone grows up in different circumstances and acquires different habits. I grew up in a city and paid more attention to self-cultivation and etiquette, while this practitioner grew up in a rural area. She also belonged to a powerful family, so her words could be very hurtful and her way of handling things could be extreme. So I looked down on her due to her behavior. Even if I told her about those things, she might not be able to change. Also, I did not think she was diligent.
Other practitioners told me something else. A practitioner was going to have her house renovated, so she rented a place and paid a deposit. Then the practitioner who clarified the truth with me insisted she rent her relative’s house. “She has conflicts with everyone,” I was told, and the renter advised me not to team up with her anymore.
An Irreplaceable Part of the Whole Body
I went home and thought about it. There was something not right! The evil kept changing its tactics—when it failed at one, it came up with another. Its goal was to destroy us as a whole. The evil took advantage of the attachments that fellow practitioners had and interfered with us. If we excluded her, she would be more isolated. If she were persecuted, it would be a loss for us all. Because of her efforts, her hometown turned a blind eye to Falun Gong affairs. If she was persecuted, would things in her hometown change for the worse? Every Dafa disciple has an irreplaceable role in the whole body, and we all need to improve.
When I saw this clearly, I suddenly smiled, and it all ended well. Another practitioner who lived closer to the one who had been coming with me teamed up with her to distribute Dafa materials, so she stopped looking for me. Master also arranged for another local practitioner to accompany me. We encouraged each other and cooperated well .
I know that the old forces arranged these tribulations, but Master beat them at their own game. After I rectified all my attachments, Master did not allow this kind of thing to happen again. Everything was the best arrangement.
Master said, “For a cultivator, looking within is a magical tool.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
During the Fa-rectification period, looking inward is not limited to only personal cultivation. We also need to be able to look inward from the perspective of saving sentient beings. This allows us to think more broadly about the issue and look at the bigger picture.
If anything is not in line with the Fa, please compassionately point it out and correct me.
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Category: Improving Oneself
