(Clearwisdom.net)
1.
I started to practice Falun Gong in March 1999. Over the last several years I led six of my family members into cultivation. The duration of my cultivation before the persecution was short, but I cultivated very diligently. I strictly followed Teacher's teachings and cultivated my character carefully. At that time, I had only two books, Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement. Later, I heard from a fellow practitioner that "Hongyin" was a good book to read, so I asked him to lend me a copy. I said, "Please let me keep your book for two days. I will copy it by hand. It will not take any time away from your studying it."
He agreed to lend me the book. When I worked in the daytime, I placed the book in front of me and tried to memorize the verses in the book page by page. The Fa, like a clear stream, flowed into my mind, which made me feel like I was melting into the Fa. Incredibly, I accomplished my work and memorized and copied the Fa by hand simultaneously within only two days. It was really miraculous for me, as I only have an elementary education.
During the very short time of three or four months, Teacher purified my body, gave me a precious Falun, and positioned me at the highest level of my cultivation. I knew Teacher did these things because he was worried that I might fail to pass the tests in the hard times to come. Teacher, I understand your compassion toward Dafa practitioners.
2.
On July 18, 1999, after we finished our group practice in the morning, I heard two practitioners talking in low voices, "Falun Gong will be banned soon. Police say they will arrest us if we continue to practice. Let us not come here tomorrow." I had found the practice site only about ten days before. Because I was a new practitioner, other practitioners did not talk much to me, so I did not yet know what had happened on April 25. I asked them, "Are you coming tomorrow?" They said, "No." I said, "I will come. I will come even if there is only one practitioner here. The days I can do my morning exercises here is the best time of my life. I really do not want to leave here."
The next day, as I expected, several practitioners came to do the exercises as usual. After we finished, I heard a practitioner say, "Many practitioners went to appeal for Falun Gong today." I asked one of them, "Are you going, too?" He said, "I will go right now." I asked him if I could go with him and he agreed. Then I went home in haste and told my family what I was going to do. My brother, who was visiting my home, said to me, "You'd better not go. It is somehow like the Tiananmen Event in 1989. The authorities may kill you Falun Gong practitioners like they did the university students in 1989." I said, "Don't worry. I will go anyway." They gave up their efforts to stop me. However, before we set out by taxi, the family members of the practitioner I was to go with came and dragged him home. Not knowing what to do, I returned home after standing there for a little while.
After July 20, 1999, many veteran practitioners were put on a blacklist for having gone to appeal for Falun Gong. They were harassed constantly and were forced to sign statements to denounce Falun Gong. However, I was not disturbed much, and I was not really afraid. Teacher gave me hints, inspiration, and wisdom to validate Dafa. Having no materials to distribute, I wrote and sent letters to people and posted notes about Dafa in public places. Because I was good at making and putting up banners, many practitioners from other regions came to learn from me.
3.
In 2002, we established a Fa study group at my home after we realized that group Fa study is the way left by Teacher for us to improve together and that we should study the Fa together. All of us felt it was really good and cherished the environment arranged by Teacher very much. In such an environment, we were compassionate to each other and helped each other to let go of our attachments. It was really a land of purity. We elevated together in the Fa. As a result, we were able to cooperate closely as a whole body when we went out to validate the Fa in various ways in small villages, towns, fairs, city streets, residential areas, municipal governments, and even prisons. After we became mature in our cultivation at a certain level, Teacher arranged opportunities for us to exchange our cultivation experiences, letting fellow practitioners who had not yet understood the importance of group Fa study join us in our study.
Before 2003, we got all our truth clarification materials from practitioners in other cities. To reduce their workloads, I bought a photocopy machine and we worked with it by ourselves to print the "Minghui Weekly" and other truth clarification materials for the more than 40 practitioners in my region. Seeing the truth clarification brochures ready in stacks, the three of us were very happy. We knew very well that all these materials represented hard work and we cherished them very much.
4.
One day at a wedding banquet, I met an elderly practitioner from another city. In our conversation I learned that there were many practitioners in his city. He told me that in his city, when a practitioner got a copy of Teacher's latest Fa lecture, they had to read it one by one and it might take a month or two for everyone to read it. They did not have any access to the Minghui Weekly or any kind of truth clarification materials. They even did not have any idea about establishing a Fa study group. Knowing this I anxiously said, "You cannot be like that. You must read Teacher's latest articles on time, and everyone should have his or her own copy. You should read it over and over so that you can measure yourself against the Fa in everything you do. You don't even have a Fa study group, and you cannot read the experience sharing articles in Minghui Weekly. How can it be like that? How can you save sentient beings?" I came up with a series of complaints, which made the other practitioner anxious, too. He said, "Then you tell me what we should do." All of a sudden I realized that I had been too anxious and might have gone to extremes, which might disturb Teacher's arrangements. I told him, "Since the time today is limited, you can leave me your telephone number, and I will contact you later. Today, I will give you all of Teacher's articles and the copies of Minghui Weekly that I have. You can take them home and distribute them among the practitioners in your city." Very grateful, he said, "We must have some predestined relationship since Teacher has arranged our meeting today. It is very good." "Yes, it is arranged by Teacher," I commented, "but we should not be too engrossed in that, and we should mind what we say." After I saw him off, I was in a strange mood, not knowing whether I should be happy or sad. I just felt that I was shouldering a heavy burden, which brought me a deeper understanding of the difficulties of Teacher's compassionate salvation of sentient beings.
After I went home, I studied the Fa, calmed down little by little, and decided to increase the production of truth clarification materials. One week later, I contacted the other practitioner and made an appointment to see him at his home. After we talked for a little while, he mentioned to me a fellow practitioner, Mary, and said he would take me to see her. He told me that Mary cultivated well and that practitioners in her region were always willing to go to her when they had problems. After a little consideration, I agreed to go with him. Mary and I talked about the cultivation situations in our regions. She admired us very much when she learned that we had set up a Fa study group long ago, that we were not short of truth clarification materials, and that fellow practitioners always did the three things actively. I told her, "Don't worry. Today, it has been arranged by Teacher that we meet with each other, and we must have something to do to cooperate with each other. Your situation here is quite similar to what ours was like before. We also met with many difficulties in the beginning and encountered much disturbance, but we made breakthroughs step by step. Even now we still have many things to improve. You can make it for sure if you have the motivation and willingness to be responsible to practitioners as a whole body. "Cultivation is up to yourself, gong is up to master." Master will help us. Just as we did when we set up a Fa study environment at my own home, you will also be able to set up a Fa study group of your own." After exchanging our experiences, the two other practitioners were quite inspired. After that, I went to see them weekly, and I came to know two very diligent elder fellow practitioners.
Through studying Fa lectures and reading Minghui Weekly, practitioners improved quickly. Each time we exchanged I talked most about how to establish a Fa study group and its benefits. We studied the Fa together, sending forth righteous thoughts around the clock. If there was some free time, we did the exercises and talked about how to cooperate to form a whole body to save sentient beings. I suggested that they motivate themselves right now to set up a Fa study group. Several practitioners agreed with me. To my delight, the next time I visited them, they had already formed a Fa study group. I then asked if it was possible to call all the practitioners so that they would know to participate in the group Fa study. Mary then talked to me about the cultivation status of some fellow practitioners, indicating that it was quite difficult. Almost in tears, I said to her, "It does not matter. Just try. Actually, every genuine cultivator is eager for the environment. It is just that they are blocked by some attachment. If you remove the blockage in their minds, they are bound to come out to study the Fa. The problem now is that there is no one to coordinate this. I think you can do it and coordinate the whole thing well." She said firmly, "Yes, I am willing. Then let everything be arranged by Teacher." From then on, every time I went there, I talked with Mary about the establishment of a Fa study group. She went often to other practitioners' homes to talk with them personally. Some of them realized that they should participate in group Fa study but, out of fear, dared not. Some, out of fear of being found out by neighbors, refused to open their door when Mary visited them. Sometimes she was thrown out by their family members. Some practitioners said she was motivated to come see them by an attachment of showing off because she thought she was at a high level of cultivation already. Despite all this interference, contradictions, and tribulation, Mary let go of her ego. Later, with the help of Teacher, she was able to form a Fa study group with the fellow practitioners in her region.
5.
Seeing that the practitioners already had their own stable Fa study group and were improving in their cultivation, I asked Mary if she wanted to make truth clarification materials. She said, "Could I do that? Is it difficult?" I repeated the same answer as before, "If you are willing to do that, Teacher will help you." Finally, she agreed. I told her I would provide her with machines and materials. Amazingly, Mary was then able to produce copies of Minghui Weekly and truth clarification materials for the local practitioners with her tiny photocopy machine. To reduce my workload, she bought materials herself. Later, she bought a new machine and established several new truth clarification material sites.
In 2005, a practitioner who cooperated with me was arrested. To expose the evil right away, for the first time, I asked Teacher to help me break through the hindrance of my lack of education so that I could write an article to expose the truth of the persecution in my city. I typed the article on another practitioner's computer. The next day, the article was published on the Internet, which made me more confident. However, because the truth clarification materials came out several days later, our rescue of the fellow practitioner was somewhat delayed. I thought it could have been much better if we had a computer. In addition, I thought it would be perfect if we could make color copies of Minghui Weekly, because the nice-looking materials would certainly be more attractive, even for those who did not understand the truth abaout Falun Gong. With this thought, Teacher arranged for me to meet Jack, another fellow practitioner, who mentioned to me the convenience of a computer, including Internet, CD burning, and printing. I asked, "Can I learn it? I only have an elementary school education." Smiling, he said, "You are a Dafa practitioner. You can do it." I also smiled and said lightly, "Indeed. Why did I say that?" We smiled at each other, understanding that Teacher had arranged another opportunity for me.
Painstakingly, Jack started to teach me computer techniques. In fact, it should not have been that difficult, as I had been working on making truth clarification materials for long time and I knew well that it was a serious thing that requires good xinxing and Fa study. However, I felt it was so difficult for me to learn these techniques this time, because it was not only a process of learning new techniques, but also a process of improving xinxing, which required my elevation as a whole. Jack was very strict with me, hoping I could learn everything all at once so that I could do my job independently as soon as possible. He prepared everything for me, including the computer, printer, CD burner, hard disks, color inks, writing board, mobile phone, Internet devices, CD-ROM and CD-ROM sleeves. He also explained Internet security connection issues to me. Faced with so many things to learn, I was hindered by my human notions and felt very depressed when he taught me. At the same time, I encountered a lot of interference. In particular, in the first three months I was trying to learn, the printer always broke. It usually took us a whole day to dismantle and repair it. We spent so much time on it that we almost had no time to work. During that time, Jack always told me to look inside myself, but I just became angry with him. Although I did not complain to him directly, I thought angrily, "That is easy for you to say. The printer was already broken when you bought it. It has wasted so much of my time and caused so much delay in my making truth clarification materials. When you study the Fa or send forth righteous thoughts, you just sleep. It is you, not I, who should look inside himself, as you are so seriously disturbed by the old forces." In the end, I decided to abandon that printer and bought a new one. As a trick of the old forces, the new printer worked fine, which convinced me that Jack's printer was broken and that we had wasted much time on it. Later, when we had problems cooperating, I simply looked inside myself and sent forth righteous thoughts. If it did not work, I would think, "Maybe Jack failed to install the computer properly, or maybe he has forgotten something. Perhaps it is not my problem." Then I started to complain in my mind, "You see, we wasted several days more on this again. You only tell me to look inside myself and send forth righteous thoughts, but it just does not work. You cannot fix the problems this way." With the stubborn attachment to finding out who was right or wrong in everything I encountered, I failed to genuinely look inside myself. For quite a long time, I always argued with Jack, sometimes so acutely that I felt that I could not cooperate or exchange experiences with him any more. Several times, I even wanted to leave him and seek help from others, but I knew that I was trying to avoid conflict. When my attachment was exposed, I did not try to let go of it. Instead, I tried to find excuses to hide and cover it up. Later, I invited Jack to participate in our group Fa study at my home, which offered us more chances to exchange our understandings in cultivation and greatly improved the cooperation among local practitioners. I improved quite a lot since we no longer restricted ourselves to technical issues in our exchanges. Later, when Jack came to teach me, he sometimes failed to solve my problems. Seeing him leaving in dismay, I blamed myself from the bottom of my heart, because I knew that all this happened because I had failed to improve my xinxing. To help me, he even had no time to study the Fa and was under great pressure. Had it not been for his compassion, tolerance, and sense of responsibility to the Fa, he would have long before given up on me. At this point, I want to thank Jack: "My fellow practitioner, you have been working hard."
Later, I read Teacher's Fa lecture "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles." Teacher said:
"When Dafa disciples make mistakes, they do not like to be criticized. No one can criticize them, and when someone does, it sets them off. When they are right, they don't like others bringing up things they could improve on; when they are wrong, they don't want to be criticized. They get upset as soon as others criticize. The problem is becoming pretty bad."
"Some people have become like matches--one stroke and they ignite. They're like land mines--one step and they detonate. [They are acting like,] 'You can't criticize me. I can't take any criticism.' They no longer listen to any expression of disapproval or disagreement, whether it was meant out of good or ill will, was intentional or unintentional; they reject everything flat out, and even less do they examine themselves. It has gotten quite severe."
of Los Angeles," Teacher helped me remove many of such bad substances. Now I have improved quite a lot and learned how to look inside myself. As a result, I can easily use all Fa instruments.
Teacher said:
"Whatever you experience during your cultivation - whether good or bad - is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating." ("To the Chicago Fa Conference")
I accumulated many experiences through repairing machines. Now I am able to repair printers and solve many common technical problems. I also learned to reinstall the operating system in a computer. Although I am not as good as Jack technically, I am good enough to keep our truth clarification material site running smoothly, because I can do everything from the standpoint of the Fa. In the process of my maturing, Teacher arranged for other practitioners who are in urgent need of establishing material sites to cooperate with me. To reduce the workload of fellow practitioners working on techniques, I tried to learn the lessons from my past experiences with Jack and kept everything running in good order along with other fellow practitioners. Although I still have many things to improve on, or even when I find it difficult to let go of my attachments of ordinary people, I believe that I can let go of them now that I am a good student of Teacher. Yes, I am a good student of Teacher and I can let go of my human attachments. I will return to my home with Teacher with a full complement of saved sentient beings.
