(Clearwisdom.net)
Revered Master, Fellow practitioners,
Fa rectification has reached the final stage and the requirements for us have become more and more stringent. Whether we can fulfill our vows during this Fa rectification period depends on whether we can do the three things well, whether we meet the requirements of the Fa and keep up with the progress of the global telephone group. Master said in "My Thanks to Sentient Beings Who Have Sent Greetings," "Dafa disciples are the sole hope of salvation for the beings in each region and each nation." Due to the persecution and lies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), large numbers of Dafa practitioners have been unlawfully jailed, their organs harvested and their lives left hanging by a thread. There are also hundreds of thousands of people who have been deceived by these lies and are now facing extermination. In this type of environment, one righteous phone call can eliminate the evil and save the lives of fellow practitioners. One righteous phone call can clear away the haze created by the CCP and bring hope to the precious Chinese people. We would like to share our cultivation experiences during this project.
1. Walking Our Own Paths in This Fa-rectification Period
I can still recall the first time I made a call. My heart was racing. As soon as the person on the other end picked up the phone, I said hello. Then I totally forgot what I had prepared. Eventually when I had finished stuttering my reason for calling, the person on the other end said "I think you must be insane" and hung up. Another week passed, and not one person withdrew from the CCP. It was same during the second week. Every night I was fearful of picking up the phone. I started to get frustrated and began to think that I must not be suitable to be part of the phone group. I also started to complain about the quality of the phone line. I was complaining a lot. In the third week, one person agreed to quit. All of a sudden, it was like everything had changed. I was ecstatic, like a child who had gotten a good report card at school. That was how I began my path of persuading Chinese people to renounce the CCP over the phone.
Making phone calls is very much a process of cultivating from within. Every time after making the calls and then sharing experiences with fellow practitioners, I would enlighten to something that I hadn't cultivated well. Sometimes my heart was moved, and sometimes I became impatient or was unkind. I know I am far from the standard of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." Master said,
"If every one of you can understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary--the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!" ("Cautionary Advice,' from Essentials for Further Advancement).
There was one time when a lady had answered my call, and after I explained to her what the call was about, I couldn't stop her from talking. From what she said, I knew that she had read Master's books and had been jailed. She had been through a lot. Even though we talked for nearly 30 minutes, somehow I knew that I couldn't persuade her to withdraw from the CCP. On that note, we ended the call. I then cried and realized that I hadn't studied the Fa well enough, which was why I could not persuade her.
As I studied the Fa more, the number of people agreeing to withdraw from the CCP increased. There was one time when I told a man why it was necessary to renounce the CCP, as well as telling him how wonderful Falun Dafa is. He agreed to renounce the CCP and asked me, "Where is Master Li and how is he going to save us?" I told him, "We have all benefited from practicing Dafa and it is Dafa that saves us. Master taught us the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and how to practice these three principles in our daily lives. Now I am telling you about this renouncement and about Falun Dafa. Perhaps this is how Master Li is trying to save all the sentient beings! Perhaps if you could tell your friends and relatives about your choice and feelings about this subject, you would be helping Master to save people." The man was very excited and said, "I also want to read Zhuan Falun." After I heard this, I was overjoyed. I knew that Master was encouraging me. Master could see that I had the heart to help save people and so he arranged all these sentient beings for me to meet. I am basked in Master's enormous compassion. We are the luckiest beings.
Whenever I wanted to make calls, I usually had my 7-year-old son with me. While I made calls, he sent forth righteous thoughts, which I found very effective. During the school holidays, another practitioner's child usually came over and stayed for a week. We would start the day with the exercises, and then we copied and recited the poems in Hong Yin. Whenever we went out, we also recited the Hong Yin poems, and at night, we made phone calls and sent forth righteous thoughts. Sometimes they sent forth righteous thoughts for a whole hour. When the person on the other end of the line agreed to withdraw from the CCP, the two children were so happy, as if they had just received the best present in the world. Sometimes after they sat for a long time, they wondered why their bottoms were sore. Children's righteous thoughts are very powerful. When they send forth righteous thoughts during the calls, there are more people agreeing to withdraw from the CCP. We often chatted about the phone calls and laughed. The whole family is filled with happiness. The two children are not only good friends, they also remind each other to look within.
2. Saving people and rescuing them from being destroyed requires a sense of urgency
Master said,
"Saving beings should permeate every single aspect of your daily lives at this time. If you can all understand and really see its importance, I think you'll probably save more beings." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")
In Master's recent articles, we could sense that the most important thing at this moment in time is to clarify the facts and save more sentient beings.
We all know that Dafa practitioners' main body is in China, and they are experiencing unprecedented persecution. The current Chinese people are not ordinary people. They are beings who came down from high levels with high hopes of being saved by Dafa, so they reincarnated in China. However, because of the lies and propaganda of the CCP, a lot of misunderstandings were created around Dafa, the very basic root of life. The threat of being eliminated looms ahead for them and the beings in their worlds. In order to save these precious Chinese people, we must fulfill our great vows by making use of every minute that we have. We need to put all our efforts and resources into clarifying the facts. If we don't do well, we will not have fulfilled our vows to Dafa, to Master and to sentient beings. For the last few years, every day I have spent at least 1-2 hours and sometimes 3-4 hours making phone calls to China. I have made hundreds of calls. I don't get bothered by the tone of voice nor the attitude of the person on the other end of the line. This doesn't have any effect on me. I am not attached to the number of people who want to do the withdrawals due to my calls. I only carry the thought, "As long as I make the phone calls, it won't be wasted." Every time we clarify the facts, we are clearing the evil from the person. By nature, I am a quiet person but when it comes to clarifying the facts, I talk a lot. Some ask, "Do you get paid?" I say, "No, and I am not lying and I am not asking you to pay or make some kind of effort either. I am using my own money to call you from overseas. Why wouldn't I just take a break or go out and buy something nice to eat? Why would I bother calling you? It is because we are all Chinese people and we help each other. This is for your benefit. Once you renounce the CCP, you will have nothing to fear and you will be safe." Then I usually proceed to ask whether they would like to withdraw, and most of them say yes.
As long as we are making phone calls, there are many who will agree to withdraw from the CCP. Of course there will be many others that refuse. For example, one day I called an elderly person's home. After clarifying the facts, I asked the gentleman whether he ever joined any of the CCP organizations. He said, "I am a retired Communist Party member. I have joined everything." I said, "As a CCP member, you must know first hand the evil of the Party. Take for example the corruption. Which CCP officials are there to serve the people these days? They only extort money from people. The higher in office they go, the more corrupt they are. Many of them send their wives and children overseas, and have their passports ready to desert China if any disaster arises. They don't care about the livelihood of the population. The CCP is so corrupt. The population has no choice of livelihood. The situation cannot continue like this. If humans don't fix this issue, the heavens will. For your own safety, please renounce them!" All this while, he just listened silently. At the end of it he said, "You are right. Can you put in the renouncement for me? Thank you!"
We should remember that we saving people not only while making the phone calls. We should remember this every moment of our daily lives. This way we can actively save more people.
Once, in an elevator at Central Station, going from Level 1 to Level 2, there was a couple in their twenties. I was trying to guess whether they are from China or not, as I couldn't tell from their clothing, I heard them talking in Chinese. I quickly said, "Hi, do you know something?" "What?" "Have you heard about withdrawing from all the CCP organizations?" "Hahaha, we didn't join any!" Very quickly, the lift got to Level 2. I asked, "Have you joined the Young Pioneers League before?" "Yes." "Then quickly renounce it and then you will be safe. Do you want to do that?" "Okay," the girl said. Then I asked the boy, "How about you?" He said, "I didn't join anything." "What about Young Pioneers League?" "No." "Communist Youth League?" He laughed. "What about the CCP?" "No way." I asked, "How come you were not forced to join any?" He said, "When I was young, I was a little thug." I said, "You thugged your way to Australia then." We all laughed. Within two minutes, another person had chosen to withdraw.
When I was at McDonald's, there were mainly Westerners there, but there was also one Chinese couple. When I was going to throw the rubbish in the bin, I went to where they were, to see whether they were speaking Chinese. Indeed, they were. So I just said, "Hi there, I want to tell you something." He asked, "What is it?" I said, "Do you know about withdrawing from the CCP movement?" "No," he replied. "Do you know that The Epoch Times has been publishing articles about the 'Quit the CCP movement?' At the moment, the heavens are destroying the CCP. Withdraw and you will be safe. If you don't, your life will be in danger. You should withdraw now so that you will be safe. Have you ever joined the Young Pioneers or the Communist Youth League? They both said yes. I then just proceeded to ask what names they wanted to use. Both of them agreed to withdraw on the spot.
Although the evil is afraid that the Chinese people will learn the facts, and doing all it can to censor the Internet and media, practitioners within and outside China will be able to get the message through via other means. More and more Chinese people have been able to learn the truth via our phone calls, and be part of the disintegration of the CCP. This group of people will let on to their families and friends about what they have learned, and thus the message will get passed on. However, we fully understand that saving sentient beings is done by Master and Dafa. We are simply using the telephone to bring the facts to them so that they have a chance to choose their own future. Whether they will be saved or not in the end will be measured by Master and Dafa.
3. Letting go of one's self and cooperating as one body
Due to interference from the censorship of television, radio and the Internet, Chinese people aren't able to hear the facts easily. During this crucial time in history, the telephone is our ally. Once, during an experience sharing, an older female practitioner shared that there was one day when she had gotten very hungry and thirsty after a Dafa activity. When she passed a bakery, she wanted to buy the cheapest bread there was, but it was still a dollar, so she just endured the hunger. She said, "I didn't want to spend $1 to buy bread. That $1 can make many phone calls." I was very moved when I heard her sharing. Then one day I had given her a list of numbers to call and they were all mobile numbers. Some phone cards charge a lot for calling mobiles. A mobile call can cost as much as two or three land-line calls. She then asked me for land-line numbers, and I told her there weren't any. A few days later during an experience sharing, she said, "I suddenly found out that I still have attachments toward money and knew that I must improve. If I want to save people, I should not be attached to money. That night all the calls that I made were to mobiles and eleven people agreed to withdraw. The following few days, there were not that many people withdrawing. I told myself that Master must be affirming that my action was correct."
Another time, a female practitioner shared with us about her experience when she first went to the Sydney Opera House to hand out flyers. At the time she wasn't a permanent resident yet, so she could only get money from her daughter. She spent most of that money making phone calls to China. One afternoon, a practitioner asked whether she was hungry and whether she wanted to buy lunch. She said, "I am not hungry" but the truth was that her stomach was rumbling. She said, "At the time, I really didn't have any money to buy anything!"
I was almost moved to tears. I know this female practitioner has continued to make phone calls for years now.
There are a few women living in Redfern. They don't just make the regular calls, they have also made "RTC immediate call back" phone calls for many years now. When the numbers of people withdrawing are down, they contact us and we share our experiences so that we can improve together. This was how I cultivated and improved within this cultivation group. Although I am the coordinator, it is really the strong righteous field amongst the group that drew me in.
In Sydney, we often hear that it is hard to be in a coordinator role. However, we don't seem to have such issues within the telephone group. Although we don't have that many practitioners in our group, we continue studying the Fa on a weekly basis. There are about eight or nine of us in the group, and everyone was able to let go of self, cooperate with each other and work as one body, treating Dafa and the salvation of sentient beings with utmost importance. A younger practitioner who is from Sound of Hope has continued making phone calls for the last few years, even though she is very busy with Sound of Hope. Every time she was asked to help with changing the call scripts, she prepare them on time no matter how busy she was. This has helped practitioners from the telephone group keep up with the Fa-rectification process.
In order to encourage more Sydney practitioners to participate in the telephone group, the Falun Dafa Association has given us a lot of support. Every time when group Fa study is at Burwood, they give us opportunities to share our experiences, but sometimes we were unable to find a speaker. All of us don't feel comfortable speaking to large audiences, including myself. We are scared that we might not speak well, be misunderstood by fellow practitioners, and are scared of losing face, etc. Later when we studied Master's article "To the France Fa Conference,"
"When this is the case, do things according to the centralized planning of the Dafa Association and, regardless of what your personal opinion is, set aside your attachments and cooperate. I hope that every Dafa disciple can recognize that clarifying the facts is what really matters."
We realized that the facts must be clarified to fellow practitioners and not just everyday people. We must let go of self, cooperate with the group and share experiences with other practitioners so that more of us are encouraged to participate. Then all practitioners will be able to improve and elevate their levels via making phone calls to China.
4. Cooperating as one body and spreading the power of encouraging people to renounce the CCP via phone calls
As Fa rectification progresses, microcosmic changes are slowly coming towards the surface. Saving sentient beings is becoming more and more urgent. Practitioners in the telephone group have realized that in order for more practitioners to participate, we need to communicate better with the coordinators at each of the practice sites. We suggested that they organize a time for us to make phone calls with local practitioners during their weekly Fa-study. This is the cultivation way left by Master and we must make full use of it.
We have taken up this task. We participated in the weekly assistants' meeting to share that making phone calls to China is not only essential for persuading people to withdraw from the CCP, but it also plays a major role in assisting other Fa-rectification projects. When we were having trouble hiring a venue for the Divine Performing Arts Shows in Sydney, the practitioners in the telephone group realized that this was because we hadn't cooperated well in our efforts to persuade people to withdraw from the CCP, and thus we were experiencing interference. During that crucial period, the practitioners in the telephone group shouldered huge responsibility. How can we as practitioners make the most of telephones as a tool to clarify the facts, eliminate demons and save more sentient beings? We continued studying the Fa and realized that the Divine Performing Arts shows are where Master personally does Fa- rectification. As Fa-rectification disciples, we all have the duty to assist Master. We should not wait or rely on a few coordinators to get projects happening, as this will affect all of our cultivation levels. We are all responsible for our own elevation. During the assistants' Fa-study and the Burwood's group Fa- study, we shared our understandings of Master's lecture, "Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference,"
"The public presence of a "Party-Quitting Center," or a "center for quitting the wicked CCP," is an endless source of aggravation and exasperation for them. The fact is, it's a powerful place for destroying evil, and that is why they fear it. So if you look at it from a positive angle, what is a Party-Quitting Center? Isn't that a place for saving sentient beings?"
In Sydney we have established a few Party-Quitting Centers. We shared with those who couldn't participate on site that they can make phone calls to China, which is also an effective form of a "Party-Quitting Center." This is because as soon as you lift up the phone, a huge battle begins in another dimension. As long as the phone connects and someone on the other end of the line hears you clarify the facts, even if it is one or two sentences, this will still shake the evil and help to save sentient beings.
If only a few people make phone calls, the effect won't be as powerful. If everyone cooperates and makes phone calls, it will create a huge righteous field pushing towards China. This will not only eliminate the evil's interference with Sydney hiring a venue for the Divine Performing Arts shows, but also saving gods and at the same time purifying our personal fields. If every practitioner's personal field is clean and pure, Sydney's one body will meet with less interference. On that day of sharing with practitioners at the assistants' meeting, we gave out more than 300 phone numbers. We also contacted assistants and participated in the local Fa study groups in the North, West, South and City districts, and demonstrated how to make calls.
With Master's great mercy and the cooperation of the Falun Dafa Association and the assistance of each district, every district has now established their own telephone group. It's like what Master said in Zhuan Falun: "Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master." If you just have that wish, you're all set. When it comes to who's actually doing it, it's Master. There is no way we could do that. As long as we enlighten during Fa study and have the heart to carry it out, Master will be there to arrange everything and give us the opportunity to build up our virtue.
We hope that more and more practitioners will pick up the phone and form one body with practitioners in China to save more sentient beings. This way we can fulfill our prehistoric vows and won't fail to live up to Master's expectations.
Finally, we would like to share with you all Master's lecture in "Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital,"
"No matter what, you should do the final things even better and establish even greater mighty virtue. It is not for my sake or for the sake of Fa-rectification. It is for you yourselves. (Enthusiastic applause) The sentient beings of the future will thank you. (Applause) May your lives shine ever more brightly in the cosmos of the future. (Long, enthusiastic applause)"
Thank you, Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.