(Minghui.org) Given our predestined relationship when it comes to Falun Dafa cultivation, Ms. Gu and I were like siblings. We helped and encouraged each other to move forward diligently in cultivation. However, amidst the trials, tribulations, and tests in cultivation, and in the face of the evil persecution and defamation experienced by Falun Dafa, because of the different choices we made, our outcomes were vastly different.
This sharing is for the purpose of validating the beauty and preciousness of Dafa, as well as letting people know about Master’s immense compassion. As for practitioners who went down a deviant path I felt deep regret. I wish that every practitioner who is not steadfast enough in his or her belief can use my commend as a mirror, so as to save them from making the same mistakes. I also wish that every practitioner who went astray can treat my remark as a serious lesson, and hurry to get back on track as soon as one has realized that one got lost.
Predestined Relationships Among Practitioners
I began practicing Falun Dafa while living in Beijing in 1998. I went back to my hometown in early 1999. During that year, I lost contact with other practitioners, including local practitioners; thus, I cultivated alone. Because of it, I always felt worried. Especially after July 20, 1999, when Dafa was facing persecution, I felt it was even more urgent that I find fellow practitioners and form one-body with other practitioners.
Once, when I was clarifying the facts about Dafa to people, an elderly lady told me she had a relative who practiced Falun Dafa, and who lived in a village about 20 miles from where I lived. It was said that there were a great number of practitioners in that village. Upon hearing that, I couldn’t wait to go there and ride my bicycle to find her relative. That person said, “I’m a village official. Even though I knew Dafa was good, due to great pressure, I had to give up my cultivation at the beginning of the persecution. I know there are people who still practice in secret. First, let me make sure they are not afraid to meet you.”
So I waited anxiously at her home. Soon enough, she came back and said, “Follow me, she wants to see you.” Then as soon as I went into the courtyard entrance of Ms. Gu’s home, I saw her standing there, overjoyed, and welcoming me with her hands in the Heshi position.
Ms. Gu is 10-plus years older than me. She was close to 60 then, but she looked much younger than that. She gave me the impression that she was quite shrewd, neat, warm, and thoughtful in dealing with people and her speech was impeccable. Under the very severe situation at that time, this very rare meeting made me feel more excited than seeing my sister, whom I had not seen for multiple years.
We were like friends and chatted a lot. From then on, we seemed to have a very strong predestined relationship as fellow practitioners. I often went to her home to share with her. She then introduced me to Ms. Xin who is a few years younger. From Ms. Xin, I learned that there were quite a few practitioners who didn’t give up their cultivation despite the persecution; however, under the high pressure, they just practiced alone.
She and I began to go from place to place to share with practitioners and set up a group Fa-study for them so that they could study the Fa in a small group and share. After that, as suggested by Ms. Xin, I got in touch with the former coordinator in the city so we could get those we knew connected to form one body and follow the Fa-rectification process. Of course, everything we were able to do was because of Master’s indispensable, ingenious arrangement.
Ms. Gu Running Into a Family Tribulation
Prior to her cultivation, Ms. Gu was very ill. Even though she went all over the place to try to find a cure, it was in vain. When she began Dafa cultivation in 1997, she recovered from all her illnesses. Both her husband and children felt the beauty and the miraculous nature of Dafa, and they were very supportive of her cultivation. Her children were married and didn’t live with her. Her husband is two years younger than her. Given his skills, he opened up a small workshop in the city. His business went well and he hardly came home.
What caught Ms. Gu off guard was that she knew them to be a loving couple who had been married for nearly 40 years and had a lot of grandchildren, but it turned out that her husband was cheating on her. Her husband had a mistress who was younger than her. They were together but kept her in the dark. Ms. Gu couldn’t accept this harsh truth, and her impulsive feelings replaced the rationality of a practitioner. She ended up going to the city to fight and drive the mistress away. Out of concern that they would still get in touch, she decided to move to the city to watch her husband.
This test of sentimentality was in the way and she couldn’t get over it. As a result, her relationship with her husband worsened, and it interfered with her Fa-study and doing the exercises. Thus, a variety of illness karma illusions followed. When her family realized this, they suggested that she seek treatment.
We tried multiple times to help her improve based on the Fa principles. However, her tribulations piled up. She also knew that only by studying the Fa intensively, could she improve her level and make a breakthrough. However, the demon of sentimentality wrapped her up and got her confused, so she couldn’t take the Fa into her heart. Meanwhile, her illness karma made her suffer and undermined her will. In the end, she gave up on making a breakthrough in this trial and ended up going to the hospital.
Given the great tide of bringing Jiang Zemin, former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader, to justice, she didn’t want to lag behind. So she still followed others to participate in bringing Jiang to justice. Soon enough, the evil came to find, scare, terrify, and threaten her. They told her that if she didn’t give up cultivation, it would negatively impact her grandchildren in terms of their going to the next level of education, joining the army, getting a job, and so on. Her relatives were terrified and used all kinds of ways to put pressure on her.
She had a strong sentimentality toward her grandchildren to begin with, and being muddle-headed, her fear gained the upper hand over her righteous thoughts. She was also led by biased ordinary notions and thought that if her cultivation impacted her grandchildren, then it meant she was too selfish. If she brought harm and loss that couldn’t be regained by her grandchildren, she’d have done something terribly wrong to her family. Misled by that thought, and under an extremely struggling and complex mindset, she chose to give up her cultivation, which would lead to divinity. This was for the sake of having her grandchildren pursue their future in the human world.
She fell into the trap set by the evil old forces. They not only destroyed a practitioner but also ruined the future of her family. She had cultivated for so many years and had received so much good fortune and blessings from Dafa. How could she not have remembered this “...with one person practicing, the whole family benefits?” (Teachings at the Conference in Australia) How was it so easy for her not to believe in the universal principles?!
Her health then deteriorated. She could no longer help her husband to look after his workshop; moreover, her husband had to close his business to go back home to look after her. Her relatives also developed negative thoughts about Dafa, especially her husband. Since then, he has firmly opposed and stopped her from returning to cultivation. He once made it clear to Ms. Xin to stop practitioners from seeing her. In addition, he also asked Ms. Xin to pass a message on to me, and threatened me not to go see Ms. Gu. Thus, she was completely locked in a “Family Jail,” and cut off from her connections with Dafa and practitioners.
A few years later, her husband passed away, which caused great inconvenience and pain for her. That very smart, capable, clean-cut woman had become a slurring, hobbling, unkempt old woman.
What’s pitiful is that given the cruel situation where the red terror was rampant and the persecution was severe, Ms. Gu broke through it with her belief in Dafa and Master. Yet, she was tormented by sentimentality. Driven by her fear, she was confused by the evil Party’s deceptive intimidation and threats. Ms. Gu lost the cultivation opportunity that she had waited eons for. She not only harmed herself but also the sentient beings in her heaven, as well as her family in the human world.
This all traces back to the evil Party’s crimes; this is the goal of their high-pressure intimidation, cruel torture, transformations in a brainwashing center, framing and planting evidence, hypocrisy and seduction, signing the guarantee statement, etc. It has used all its evil means, with the fundamental purpose of undermining practitioners, to achieve the goal of destroying sentient beings.
Every Trial Can Be Passed with Faith in Master and Dafa
Regarding my cultivation. For a while in the beginning, I deeply felt and experienced being alone, cultivating alone, and not forming one body with other practitioners. After I connected with local practitioners, and was inspired by Dafa’s principles, I took the initiative to walk on a coordinator path to organize practitioners to set up Fa-study groups, hold small-size sharing meetings, set up family-based material production sites, carry out other truth-clarification projects, hand out informational materials face-to-face, and clarify the facts to people.
I mainly enlightened to the following: As long as one has faith in Master and Dafa, there is no trial one cannot pass. As long as one can properly understand “...cultivate while conforming as much as possible to the way of everyday people’s society...” (Teachings at the Conference in Singapore), cherish a grand cultivation, pay attention to the details in one’s daily life, be a living example by forming an upright image of a practitioner, then one will be able to create a good cultivation environment.
Since I began practicing, I have experienced great transformations, both physically and mentally. Because of these, my family has acknowledged Dafa.
In 1999, when Dafa was subjected to an unreasonable crackdown, we were under tremendous pressure. Out of fear, my wife attempted to stop me from cultivating. I said to her firmly, “I can give up anything in life. However, as to my path of Dafa cultivation, I will never change my mind. I will for sure use my life to protect my belief. No one can break this.”
With this firm thought, there was seldom resistance and trouble from my family. Often enough, I gained my family’s support and help. They knew that all of them came for the Fa.
My son also began to cultivate in Dafa. Three years ago, both my son and I were arrested by the evil. That left only my wife, daughter-in-law, and two young grandchildren at home. My family encountered great difficulty, unlike anything they encountered before.
Facing such a disaster, my wife and daughter-in-law wept in secret. They also comforted and encouraged each other whenever they saw each other, without a trace of complaint toward me or my son, nor any complaint or misunderstanding toward Dafa and Master. They understood that our choices were correct. They believed that Dafa is good and righteous, and Master Li Hongzhi is great. They understood that we were innocent and wronged and that the evil CCP was the root cause and a demon persecuting kindness.
They repeatedly asked the children to recite the two phrases, “Falun Dafa is wonderful! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is wonderful!” and asked deep down for Master’s help to get us out of the tribulation. My wife sometimes sat in the lotus position and erected her palm, following how we sit when we send forth righteous thoughts. She said she used to try to get away from demons in her dreams and shouted: “The Fa rectifies the cosmos; the evil is completely eliminated.” Then she would wake up immediately. Thus, she used this sentence to send forth righteous thoughts herself. It was truly miraculous!
My wife not only helped to babysit two granddaughters and one grandson who were all under 10 years old, she also took care of our household chores and did heavy fieldwork. Although she suffered great mental pressure and sadness, she has been in good health.
In order to avoid being looked down on by others, my daughter-in-law took over the business that my son and I ran. In order to rescue us, she went all over to seek help from relatives and friends and went to the police department and court. During the process, she experienced a lot of difficulty and hardship. She kept a diary about all that she had to suffer. The most touching entry was, “Every time I ran into difficulty, I sincerely recited the phrases, and begged for Master to help me solve it. When I was very sincere, I saw the situation turn around immediately. I felt truly grateful to Master.”
When we were detained, it was only by reciting the Fa, that we strengthened our righteous thoughts. We sent forth righteous thoughts to dismantle and eliminate the evil. Facing the evil’s coercion and torture, we were never moved, nor did we give in. We weren’t deceived, nor did we let Master and Dafa down. After having been tempered for close to two years, we managed to get out of the detention center in an upright manner.
At that time, the evil threatened us and tried to confuse us by saying, “You are too selfish, you only think about your daydream of so-called consummation, without considering that your family is suffering for you. The future of your children and grandchildren will also be seriously impacted by you.”
As to their nonsense, I immediately refuted him righteously, “You can’t distort the facts and mislead people. Their suffering has nothing to do with me. Since I began practicing Dafa, I went from someone who had a variety of illnesses, to a healthy person; from one with morality that kept drifting with the current tide, to a person with high morality. Our cultivation, for our family, and for the entire society is absolutely beneficial. Whoever knows me knows this is a fact. Feel free to check that.” They left after having been defeated.
I came to understand some Fa principles: Due to interference from the old forces and factors of the evil CCP persecuting practitioners, it could cause practitioners’ families and friends to suffer some pain. However, it’s far less of a loss than the wonderful future that they’ll bring to their relatives, friends, children, and grandchildren.
It’s been a little over a year since we were released, and our family is doing very well. We are all very healthy, my granddaughter got full marks on the exam in her first year of kindergarten, my grandson was in grade two, and my oldest granddaughter was in grade four, and both of them excelled in school. My other granddaughter was in the university at that time. After she graduated, she was admitted to a graduate program at her desired university. All these things were blessings they received from their believing in and being respectful to Dafa.
Distinguish Between What Master Wants Versus the Old Forces
What my greatest enlightenment was: On our cultivation path, whenever we made a judgment or decision, first of all, we should distinguish between what Master wants vs. the old forces’ arrangement. Master’s arrangement usually was as if climbing up a mountain that seemed full of hardship and danger, and required a great deal of determination, faith, and perseverance; yet its future is sure to be immensely bright.
However, as to the old forces’ arrangement, it’s often the case that the first thing that happens is that you’re drenched in ecstasy-laced wine, and then you’re pushed off a cliff. Thus, no matter how hard it is, we must walk on the path arranged by Master without hesitating.
Master said,
“The Fa’s rectification of the Cosmos has finished, and now a transition to the Fa’s rectification of the human world is taking place.” (“Wake Up”)
I personally enlightened that the “transition” is a stage, a process, and a period. During this period, it is Master who uses his immense compassion to give us an opportunity to continue to walk on our cultivation path well, to make up for the shortfalls and our mistakes. Especially for some of us who made mistakes, went on a detour, or a deviant path, since the persecution is not over yet and the truth is not uncovered, this is the greatest opportunity to get back on the right track. Fellow practitioners, including myself, please wake up!
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