(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa for nearly three decades. I recently took on a new challenge drafting legal documents to help wrongfully persecuted practitioners and their families seek justice. With the help of my team lead and practitioners on the Justice Forum (an initiative for raising awareness about the persecution), I’ve gained legal knowledge and improved myself in the process.
Taking on the Challenge
A practitioner passed on a message that the local coordinator was looking for me and asked me to pay her a visit. I felt somewhat anxious about the request, as I mostly kept to myself and didn’t interact with the coordinator very often. I wondered why she needed to talk to me.
When I arrived, the coordinator told me, “There’s a project that could use some help with formal writing. I’ve read your opinion articles and know you have the skills, so I recommended you to the team lead, Tian. He’s on his way to meet us and go over the project with you.”
Tian shared a lot of information about the project and filled me in on the progress the team had made and the challenges they’d faced over the past few years. “What would you like me to do?” I asked.
“You would be helping us draft legal documents,” he replied. My immediate response was I didn’t think I would qualify—I knew nothing about the law and had no background in the field. I didn’t think I was the right fit for this role, so I declined.
Tian calmly replied, “Don’t say you can’t do it. That would be placing a limit on yourself. We are cultivators. We have Master and the Fa. As long you try, you can and will do a good job. I didn’t know anything about all this at first, either. There is a forum on the Minghui website with discussions on all kinds of topics. There are Q&A’s, case studies, document templates, and legal information—anything you can think of. You can also get in touch with legal professionals and experts on the platform that will give case specific advice and suggestions.”
Tian helped me to see beyond my limitations, and I no longer felt helpless. I came to understand how fellow practitioners can overcome obstacles to move forward one step at a time. I was no longer reluctant to accept the offer—I wanted to be part of the project and take on the challenges of using legal means to clarify the truth, counteract the persecution, and save sentient beings.
On my way home, thoughts raced through my mind. I felt a lot of pressure and didn’t feel confident that I could do a good job. I didn’t want my lack of skills to affect the project and hold others back. My mind circled back to what I initially said to Tian: “I can’t do it.” This had been my default mindset for a long time—whenever I faced something challenging and difficult, my first thought was always: “I can’t do it.”
But then I decided it was time to change this tendency. As a practitioner, I have to overcome self-imposed mental blocks and a passive mindset. As soon as I learned about the project, my first reaction was that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Isn’t this giving up without trying and leaving myself with no options? There are no coincidences in cultivation—maybe Master had arranged this.
I reminded myself, “From now on, you cannot say ‘I can’t do it.’ Look at those practitioners in their 70s and 80s. They’ve learned how to use a computer to produce Dafa information materials. With Master and the Fa, I’m not scared of anything. I have no option but to stride forward courageously.”
Exposing My Deep-Seated Attachment
The first case I worked on was to help Yang, an elderly practitioner, seek justice for her husband, who had died as a result of torture while he was incarcerated for practicing Falun Dafa. Yang had ample righteous thoughts. She went to the prison and other judicial and law enforcement agencies in person to clarify the truth about Dafa. She also made phone calls to different authorities.
The team had an in-person meeting to discuss ways to contact the procuratorate with jurisdiction over the prison where Yang’s husband died. After the meeting, Tian shared with Yang the things we went over. Yang said she wouldn’t be able to remember everything and asked if I could write them down so she could review them later. Back home that night, I listed everything we’d covered and emailed it to Yang.
Tian emailed me a few days later, asking that I change the list of items into a formal Letter of Complaint. My heart sank—I have never seen a Letter of Complaint and had no clue how to write one. I would have to do a lot of research to turn that list into formal writing that complied with the formatting rules, and I just didn’t want to bother with it. I replied to Tian, suggesting that we skip the Letter of Complaint.
After clicking the send button, I started to have second thoughts. I asked myself, “Why are you saying ‘no’ again and trying to avoid hard things? Haven’t you promised yourself not to do that?” It was a simple suggestion to Tian, but behind it were my excuses for not wanting to draft the letter. My tone was also harsh, unacceptable, so I opened my “sent” folder and deleted the email.
I now had no option but to start working! I created an account on the Justice Forum on Minghui and searched for related topics. I found a sample Letter of Complaint composed by another practitioner and copied the format. I drafted the letter and edited it before I sent it to Tian. He replied the next day and gave me a few suggestions to make it better. I felt slightly annoyed but knew it was my notions and attachments at play.
I calmed my mind, analyzed my emotional reaction, and found my attachment to seeking recognition. What is the core of such an attachment? It’s a sign of my show-off mentality and unwillingness to reveal the side of me I didn’t approve of, which consisted of shame and wanting to hide away from the world.
This mentality, however, did not align with the Fa. It did not reflect Truthfulness. Because trying to hide away and showing off are two sides of the same coin—wanting to show off is precisely why one wants to cover up something else. Only when I remove my notions of good and bad can my true nature emerge. When I finally arrived at this conclusion, my heart was calm again.
Tian soon told me that Yang had called the Procuratorate several times but couldn’t get a hold of anybody. She then called the mayor of the city where the prison was located, and the staff told her to submit a formal request so they could inquire about the case with the Procuratorate. That was why Tian asked me to draft the Letter of Complaint.
Tian pointed out a few things that I could change. First, legal documents should have a different format than a persecution article submitted to the Minghui website. It is best to eliminate questions, especially rhetorical questions, altogether. He suggested that I think of it as sitting across from our target audience and knowing that the simpler and more neutral our language, the more receptive the other person will be. We shouldn’t position ourselves in opposition to the public security, procuratorial, and judicial authorities. We should keep in mind that, while this is an opportunity to seek justice and counteract the persecution, the ultimate goal is to clarify the truth and save these officials.
After hearing Tian out, I realized the rhetorical questions in the letter reflected my own emotions at the time. I was overly passionate and couldn’t maintain a neutral tone. This was my shortcoming, and I needed to work on it.
During another meeting, Tian pointed out that I should try my best to follow the format of the Letter of Complaint, use legal terms, and write from a lawyer’s perspective. He was absolutely right.
I was so thankful to Master and fellow practitioners. I was also fortunate to have discovered my deep-seated attachments and to be able to change my mindset. We had a pleasant discussion, and I was receptive to the suggestions of others without harboring any resentment.
I realized that, when working with other practitioners, I should let go of my self-centered way of thinking and humble myself. Whenever I feel irritated due to interference from my own notions, I have to look inward. Only then can I work well with others and harmonize with the one body. And only then can I improve myself. I cannot do whatever I feel like. This will only keep me trapped within the confines of selfishness.
Posting Legal Documents on the Justice Forum
When I first joined the project, I felt bad that I had to ask Tian about everything I encountered. Besides working a 9 to 5 job, he was involved in quite a few Dafa projects. The team usually communicated through email and only met in person every other week. After going over the project with everyone, Tian took the time to answer any questions I had on the part I worked on. Instead of helping him, I felt that having me on his team was creating more work for him.
To get myself up to speed, I downloaded a ton of documents from the Justice Forum. If I still couldn’t find the information I was looking for, I direct messaged the practitioners on the platform. The forum is accessible to practitioners across China. I can’t imagine how many questions the practitioners with legal expertise get each day—they have to be very busy. I considered most of my inquiries “dumb questions” and wondered if I really needed to ask them. But I did get stuck on some basic things, and nobody around could help.
I eventually got over myself and stopped worrying about looking “dumb.” If I didn’t understand something, I just asked and expected to hear back whenever the practitioners on the forum had time. What surprised me was that I almost always got a reply within 24 hours. It really helped me continue making progress with my writing. Whatever issue I ran into, the practitioners always patiently answered my questions.
They also included links to related information so I could reinforce what I had learned. In between our meetings with Tian, I received help from practitioners on the forum. This helped me learn faster and build up my confidence about writing legal documents.
When a practitioner with legal expertise read a complaint that I drafted last year, he said I must have come a long way in cultivation to be able to produce such detailed legal documents. Of course, this practitioner wanted to encourage me, but I know I still have a long way to go.
Finding a Flaw in My Character
I had always believed that I could handle tight deadlines and considered it a good thing to not procrastinate. However, when I started writing legal documents, I realized the tendency to complete tasks quickly doesn’t always produce the best results.
Whenever I was assigned a task, I jumped right in and tried to get it done as quickly as possible, even to the point of skipping Fa study and doing the exercises. It’s a sign of impatience to want to get the entire thing done in one sitting. Although I often had quick turnarounds, I also made many errors. There were times when I didn’t even fully understand all the requirements before I got started. I then found out later that I had misunderstood the assignment and wasted my time. This caused delays and truly demonstrated the saying “Haste makes waste.”
I realized impatience is not the right state for a cultivator, and I had to rectify it. I needed to be in a state of constantly “emptying the mind and regulating the breathing” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun). So now I’m not always rushing to finish the task at hand.
In hindsight, joining the project was Master’s arrangement to help me remove my deep-seated attachments. They were so hidden that I would not have noticed them if I didn’t have to interact with my team and experience discomfort. I only realized my notions and attachments when I suffered mental agony. If not for such an arrangement, I would have no way of identifying my attachments and demonic nature.
I thank our coordinator for recommending me, my team lead Tian, and my team members for helping me. I’m also grateful to the practitioners on the forum for guiding and pointing me in the right direction.
My thanks to Master Li for compassionately saving me.
Category: Improving Oneself
