(Minghui.org) Over the past many years, the Minghui website has called for submissions from mainland Chinese practitioners twice every year, one for World Falun Dafa Day on May 13, and one for the on-line Fa Conference for practitioners in mainland China. The practitioners in our area have actively participated in submitting articles. Some wrote the articles themselves, and some had fellow practitioners write the articles for them. Another practitioner and I helped edit the articles and submitted them to the Minghui website.
Gaining Confidence in Writing Articles
We participated in the submission of articles during the early days, but didn’t pay attention to presenting our cultivation experiences. When asked to write an article, practitioners all said that they had never written one and didn’t know how to write. In fact, every practitioner has his own cultivation story, given that they have gone through the persecution relying on their firm belief in Master and Dafa.
They have survived tests within their families and society, and have endured tribulations and life-and-death situations. Their life is rooted in Dafa, and no one can shake their righteousness. They have let go of their attachments time and time again to save sentient beings.
I had only written a few reports at my workplace, but didn’t know how to write experience sharing articles. I reported on current affairs to Minghui sometimes after I began my cultivation. When I was released from detention, a practitioner from the city asked me to write an article to expose the persecution.
The article was published on Minghui after it was edited by a fellow practitioner. So I wrote several more. This process encouraged me. Therefore, I felt that writing articles was not difficult, as long as one had the correct mindset and knew not to validate oneself, but to validate the Fa.
I got rid of the notion that I could not write good articles and began to write them carefully. Looking back on my Fa-rectification cultivation path of more than 20 years, I experienced the tests of letting go of life and death to validate the Fa, the heart-wrenching test of getting rid of attachments to fame and fortune, and the rewards of overall cooperation and improvement. I clearly felt that Master gave me wisdom when I was writing articles.
I gained confidence in writing articles. Fellow practitioners in our town asked us to go to the countryside and find some good stories. When we went there, most practitioners said they couldn’t write. I asked them to describe the things that had helped improve their xinxing, or their experiences of validating the Fa over the years. I would write down their experiences and compile them into an article, or I would help them compile it into an article themselves.
One practitioner described her situation: Her family lived in a bungalow in the countryside for decades. They burned coal and firewood in winter and still were not warm. Finally, her husband’s employer gave them an apartment in town. Others envied them. The apartment in town was worth hundreds of thousands of yuan at least. For working-class people, it would take many years of saving.
But, her husband thought: “Fellow practitioners have set up a Fa-study group at my house. If we move to town, where will they go for the group Fa-study?” Moreover, he was also responsible for delivering the Minghui Weekly and other materials to fellow practitioners. His family played an important role in their area. So, he gave up the opportunity and let other people have the apartment.
This practitioner indeed put Dafa in first place. I really admire his selflessness. There are other cultivation stories of fellow practitioners in rural areas that are also very touching. It seemed that I was not helping fellow practitioners write articles, rather, it was a way to cultivate myself and an opportunity for me to improve. Comparing myself, I still had many attachments to be removed.
Compiling Fellow Practitioners’ Sharing Articles
Once, I was reviewing my husband’s article submission for a Fa conference. I deleted parts that I thought were redundant or inappropriate. After he learned about it, he said angrily, “Why did you delete the part I wrote? That’s what actually happened. That’s what I wanted to say.” I thought, I was doing the first run-through. I felt that it wouldn’t work if I didn’t delete the long-winded part; Minghui practitioners would edit them out too. I was still a bit unconvinced by my husband.
Then I thought, what I was doing was a sacred thing and I should look at myself. I didn’t think that part was important, but that was what he had experienced. So I happily said to him, “OK, I will add that part back in.”
There was a female practitioner who did very well clarifying the truth about Dafa face-to-face. She never did it perfunctorily. No matter how long it took, she always had all the important points covered. During last year’s call for Falun Dafa Day articles, I went to her home and asked her to participate. She said she didn’t want to, since she had written articles many times but they never got published. I said that there were so many articles from practitioners in China, they could not publish them all. I suggested that we read them over in the Fa study group and learn from each other. We would also be reporting to Master that way.
She sent the article to me after she finished it. She wrote about how she and several other practitioners went to a scenic spot to clarify the truth, were arrested and taken to a detention center. She took every opportunity to clarify the truth to the guards at the detention center, and was released after ten days.
I made some cuts when I sorted out her manuscript, since I thought there were places where she acknowledged the persecution. I also omitted some things about the police’s confiscation of truth-clarifying amulets. I thought it was an experience sharing article that should only highlight the parts about clarifying the truth, and we only needed to emphasize the part about clarifying the truth and our righteous behavior.
I showed the article to her after. She disagreed with my revision and said that it was not her true intention. She said the revision altered her article completely, which was disrespectful. I explained to her my thoughts, but she still insisted. I said that I would add back the original text verbatim, but in my opinion, Minghui might not publish the article. She asked me to just submit it as it was originally.
I looked inward after she left. Nothing is accidental. Over the past few years, when compiling fellow practitioners’ manuscripts, I sometimes modified and deleted sentences based on my own understanding. There must be something inappropriate in my approach. I also saw that I am strong willed and stick to doing things my way.
Through the displeasure of those two practitioners, I realized that it was not just the surface phenomenon of my editing the article. This incident helped me find many of my shortcomings, such as being self-righteous, showing off, validating myself, imposing my own views on others, and the hidden indoctrination of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). How could I edit fellow practitioners’ articles well with these attachments? I had failed to fulfill my responsibilities.
Some of the articles I wrote were published and some were not. Minghui made some corrections in the published article. I focused on the problems in the changed places. I felt that Minghui practitioners were so responsible and the corrections were so well done. I learned how to improve myself in later writings.
When I encountered some articles that I thought were badly written, I would finish them hastily and send them to Minghui. At these times I was being perfunctory. In reality, these articles were the reports that fellow practitioners had submitted to Master. Master knew it all, as it already existed in other dimensions. When it comes to my part, I should cooperate with fellow practitioners and do it well.
Master said in the scripture “Stay Far Away From Peril”:
“Don’t think that just because you’ve clarified the truth, attended some Dafa activities, or participated in Dafa projects that you’ve done something for Dafa or for Master. That’s Master telling you to mutually save and help each other, to save others while saving yourself—this is sentient beings saving each other at the end times. This is not done for Dafa’s sake.”
I understand that everything I do is to cultivate myself, not to help others.
After that I corrected my attitude when I sorted out the articles. I read each article carefully, and appreciated the good aspects of fellow practitioners with a humble mind. I was moved to tears when I read their articles sometimes.
In the beginning I felt a little happy about myself and hoped fellow practitioners would see it when my article was published. Sure enough, fellow practitioners praised me for my good writing. Even though I was humble on the outside, I was flattered inside sometimes.
Once, several practitioners visited from out of town. A dozen of us met at a practitioner’s home. One practitioner praised me for how well I wrote an article and how hard the road I had traveled was. Other practitioners all saw that she was complimenting me. I stopped her. I said, “Let’s talk about how we saved people on the front line.”
I realized that it was I who was attempting to show off. I immediately corrected myself from the root, took out the attachment, and eliminated it. I made it clear that writing articles is to validate the Fa, not to validate myself. All abilities are given by Master. The article is meaningful only if it can express the truth of the Fa and allow fellow practitioners to learn from each other and improve together.
Now I am calm, my heart is not moved, and I won’t talk about it anymore when my new articles are published.
Fellow practitioners in our area have elevated their understanding of the meaning of writing articles to validate the Fa. They actively submit articles. Some are for clarifying the truth to save sentient beings, some for fighting against the persecution, and some report that reciting “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” brings blessings. Many have been published on the Minghui website. Fellow practitioners have matured. Those articles are the historical evidence of their cultivation process. They will be the mythical stories of the future people.
Dafa disciples should cherish the time that Master has extended for all sentient beings, making huge sacrifices. Disciples who practice diligently will not waste time. For Dafa disciples, using time properly is a leap of faith; time contains the lives of sentient beings.
Thank you, Master, for giving me the opportunity to improve! Thank you, fellow practitioners, for your trust!
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Category: Cultivation Insights
