(Clearwisdom.net) I have been cultivating in the Fa-rectification period for more than six years. Although I have done Dafa-related work, and I do the three things Teacher asked us to do, I still have human attachments. Selfishness and these attachments have caused unnecessary tribulations and losses to Dafa. Through my experiences, and the lessons learned during this time, I have come to understand that only by getting rid of human attachments can we do better at saving sentient beings.
The process of Fa-rectification in our area was relatively slower than in some other areas. Not until early 2002 did we set up our first materials production site. Before we had a production site, I would read articles about them on the Clearwisdom website, and I really respected the practitioners who were able to establish them. I felt in my heart: under such harsh conditions, it takes huge courage to make truth clarification materials. This thinking was also a reflection of my xinxing level at that time.
After setting up a site, our many human attachments caused interference to happen. We were anxious to make large amounts of materials, but lacked experience. Besides, practitioner A, who was in charge of distribution, was not careful in following security measures and kept the materials in his home. When other practitioners reminded him to take care of the materials, he did not heed their suggestions and also did not pay attention to security when distributing the materials.
Once, practitioner A was told by others not to distribute the materials in a certain way. On another occasion, while practitioner A was out posting information in a public place, some bad people discovered him. He ran into a field and asked Teacher to help him. Eventually, he was able to escape with righteous thoughts. Four months later, the police arrested practitioner A and another practitioner. The police hung up the two practitioners and beat and tortured them around the clock for ten consecutive days. The two practitioners were on the verge of mental collapse. While barely conscious, they told the police some information that was not related to the production site. The practitioners were sentenced to five and eight years respectively and are currently still in prison.
Practitioner A expressed regret for not being sensible and for bringing damage to our Dafa work. The detention of our fellow practitioners made us realize the importance of the materials production site. Without paying attention to security, our site would be vulnerable to attack by the old forces, which would bring damage to our mission of saving sentient beings. At the materials production site, we cooperated with each other, and every one of us had a different role. One practitioner was in charge of delivering the materials. The practitioners working at the production site didn't have direct contact with other practitioners. Gradually, the materials production site worked smoothly.
The practitioner in charge of delivering the materials was under considerable pressure. On three occasions, he was identified to the police by arrested practitioners. But this practitioner was very diligent in his cultivation. He firmly denied the old force's persecution and remained safe. In consideration of security, it is more suitable for practitioners from the practice sites to distribute the materials. This requires production sites to be set up in multiple places, and that they are independent from each other. In this way, the production sites can run smoothly, safely, and be more efficient at saving sentient beings.
The practitioner in charge of delivering materials experienced symptoms of illness karma all throughout 2003. Sometimes he felt so much pain that he had to lie on the bed and was unable to study the Fa. One night, he felt extreme pain and it seemed that his main consciousness was about to be dragged out of his body. At that moment, he cried out for Teacher and was saved from the hands of the rotten demons. He told me after, "I was almost unable to see anyone again."
All the practitioners working at the materials production site discussed this occurrence and came to the conclusion that this practitioner had serious problems in cultivation and that this was the reason he had been severely persecuted by the dark minions.
When I look back now, I think the real reason was that the security of the production site was a big problem, and we as a whole had a loophole in this respect, which gave the dark minions an excuse to persecute that practitioner. We forgot to look inwards when discussing the situation. Instead, we sought explanations from outside ourselves. The practitioner suffered for a whole year. I feel regret when I recall what happened.
In early 2004, a practitioner suggested that we separate the production site in two, and each location would operate independently from the other. But we were not confident about operating another site. Because the site was running without any problems, we didn't follow the suggestion.
As of late 2004, the site had been running for over two years. The practitioners at the site relaxed in the area of security. In addition, the dark minions and rotten demons were becoming fewer and fewer, so the practitioners felt that the environment had improved, and did not realize that this was a false impression created by the evil forces using the separations in different dimensions.
Human attachments grew among practitioners, and thus, we could not prepare the materials with a calm heart, and put more emphasis on quantity. We did not pay attention to the cultivation of speech. The operation of the productions site was somewhat publicly exposed. For myself, since I did not consider the impact of materials usage and consumption, I bought much more than we could possibly use. Not long after, a practitioner who irrationally distributed the truth clarification materials was arrested. The police tortured her to make her reveal the source of the materials.
The authorities raided and destroyed the materials production site. Two practitioners working at the production site were arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison. I had to leave my home to avoid near certain arrest.
From the time of setting up of the materials site to its destruction, I clearly saw the evilness of the old forces. The old forces are solely attached to their own pursuits. The old forces used ways to damage and ruin practitioners' cultivation and their efforts to save sentient beings. Facing such evil, any irrational action or xinxing problem could bring huge damage.
I looked inside for my attachments and realized that after producing the materials for such a long time, I had become attached to doing things and enjoyed a relaxed atmosphere. I was not in the Fa on every occasion. In fact, a long time before the evil damaged our production site, the faucet in my new house had been leaking. I had looked inward trying to find my attachment, but my sight was blocked by my attachment of doing things. I did not seriously look deep down into my xinxing. Teacher said in the article, "Digging Out the Roots:"
"Cultivation practice is a serious matter. The distance has become greater and greater. It is extremely dangerous to add anything human to cultivation practice."
My heart was very saddened after I became homeless. I had planned to move to another city, find a job, and continue to do the Fa-rectification things when everything settled down. But after looking at our local situation, I changed my mind. I saw that fellow practitioners had a strong attachment of fear, were not willing to step forward, and that the whole Fa-rectification situation was not optimistic. It was not the time for me to leave that city, so I stayed. Using my computer skills, I helped fellow practitioners set up a new materials production site.
To set up the site, we had to start from scratch. I had some plans: one was to help a fellow practitioner learn computer skills; the other was to prepare truth clarification materials together with him. But it seemed impossible for my fellow practitioner to learn how to use a computer. There were several times when he became totally confused after I added a few steps to a simple operation. Under such a situation, I realized that I must be patient and teach him in a way that he could understand. But even so, he could still be confused by a simple operation with only few steps. I started becoming impatient and my voice became louder. Then, I looked inward, found myself moved by human attachments, saw that I was unable to teach the fellow practitioner, and that my actions had a negative effect. I found a shortcoming in my cultivation: I did not have a firm understanding of the Fa and my dimensions were not righteous. To remove this loophole, I spent a lot of time studying the Fa and found that I calmed down. With calm thoughts, I found a better way to teach the practitioner.
Little by little, the practitioner learned some basic computer operations, such as how to access the internet, download materials, burn CDs and print materials. After six months, the practitioner could even work independently. At the same time, the Clearwisdom website published some articles about the experiences of other practitioners setting up materials production sites. Referencing these experiences, I gradually figured out a way to set up a materials site using minimal time and energy, and to simplify the steps needed to make truth clarification materials. Using remote teaching techniques, a practitioner who has never touched a computer can learn how to make truth clarification materials independently in 10 days.
After accumulating some experience, I helped to set up several more materials sites and the local practitioners operated the sites independently. Later, I wrote an article about the experience of setting up materials production sites and had it published on the Clearwisdom website. It is the wisdom bestowed on me by Dafa!
The number of materials production sites increased. I began to worry that I would be eventually exposed to the perpetrators because of the rapid growth of sites. Then, my safety would be a problem. Affected by such thinking, I limited what I planned to do. Later, I understood that such a mentality was not right. Saving sentient beings is the most righteous thing; how could I have such a selfish thought? Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston:"
"The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things."
After I studied the Fa my worry dissolved and then disappeared. I thought: once a materials production site is set up, I will no longer have any contact with the site. Doing it this way removed the security considerations for both fellow practitioners and me.
Several months earlier, another practitioner and I went to another city to set up a production site. That city did not have a regular materials production site and mostly depended on other cities to provide them with materials. The practitioners there had the strong attachments of waiting for others, depending on others, and of asking for materials. Just when we and practitioner B had arranged the details for setting up a production site, the authorities suddenly arrested two practitioners there. After being interrogated for five hours, the practitioners were released, but the incident caused fear among practitioners. Our whereabouts had also almost been exposed. I talked it over with a fellow practitioner and decided to leave that city. When I got home, I studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil force's attack. I planned to return to that city in one month. Within the one month's time my bed collapsed; but I did not think about it much, nor did I take the time to find out why it happened.
A month later, we returned to that city and planned to teach practitioner B to use a computer to make truth clarification materials. But unexpectedly, the evil was more rampant this time; it suddenly launched a city-wide campaign to arrest practitioners. The perpetrators issued a "Criminal Detention" notice to arrest practitioner B. Practitioner B successfully escaped with righteous thoughts. Practitioner B joined us and left the city. The severe persecution in that city was closely related to the cultivation status of the practitioners there. For a prolonged time, that city's practitioners had depended too much on practitioners from another area, and did not fully take responsibility to save sentient beings. All of this gave the evil a place to stay. The damage was very severe. I looked inside myself: during the recent past, it had been very easy to set up the sites. I had a thought to set up more materials sites, but I didn't realize that mixed in with this thought was an attachment to validating myself. Only then did I enlighten to the reason for my bed collapsing. If one doesn't have a firm foundation of cultivation, one may easily fall down. I found that I did not have a firm understanding and did not do things thoroughly. There was a gap in my cultivation, and I was too eager to achieve a result. Our compassionate Teacher really watches my every step in cultivation.
In the Fa rectification, I feel that sometimes I used human notions to do things, which brought unnecessary tribulations and damage. Teacher said in "Expounding on the Fa:"
"As a matter of fact, this results from an inadequate understanding of the Fa by your human side. You have humanly restrained your divine side; in other words, you have restrained the parts that have been successfully cultivated and have prevented them from doing Fa-rectification."
In more than one year of being homeless, I did not follow the path arranged by the old forces. Instead I explored a broader path using my computer skills, and using righteous thoughts and actions.
Today in the Fa-rectification, I have a clearer understanding: Using human notions to do Fa-rectification things will not have the power to save sentient beings. Because the future universe is unselfish, to have sentient beings to be able to enter the future, we have to cultivate towards "selflessness" and "no-self." Only then can we open and establish more living dimensions for sentient beings, and enable more lives to have the chance to enter the future. Otherwise, if we don't cultivate ourselves well, with such heavy human attachments, the sentient beings have no chance at all to choose an eternal life and happiness. In the Fa rectification period, assimilating to the Fa, cultivating ourselves well, and getting rid of various human attachments are the ways to guarantee that we can fulfill our great promises. Just as Teacher said in "Righteous Thoughts:"
"Dafa disciples are now sentient beings' only, sole hope for salvation."
Indeed, if practitioners don't cultivate well, sentient beings will lose the opportunity to exist. How important and critical the responsibility is!
Dafa practitioners, don't leave sentient beings crying in boundless pain because of our attachments to self!