(Clearwisdom.net) I am a 70-year-old Dafa disciple. Before July 4, 1999, I was a coordinator of our local Dafa practice site where about three-to-four hundred practitioners study the Fa and practice the exercises. Word of the site spread quickly from person to person. Many people have been spreading Dafa to different places after learning it at our practice site. Master said,
“Dafa is being spread far and wide. Those who hear about it are looking for it. Those who have obtained it are delighted with it. The number of cultivators is increasing daily and becoming countless. (“Seeking Discipleship with Teacher” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
As a Dafa coordinator of a practice site, I remember what revered Master said,
“Your most important task is to create for our students a stable cultivation environment that’s free of disturbances. This is your greatest responsibility.” ("Teaching the Fa at the Assistants’ Fa Conference in Changchun")
To provide a good practice environment, regardless of wind and rain, cold and hot, I arrived at the practice site at 6:00 a.m. sharp to clean the place and set up the exercise music tape player. We started doing the exercises at 6:30 a.m. sharp. After we exercised, we organized practitioners to read Dafa books and to facilitate experience sharing. When encountering questions or problems, we discussed with veteran practitioners who obtained the Fa earlier and had a deeper understanding of the Fa. We all had always been focused mainly on studying the Fa and improving our xinxing cultivation, according to Master's requirements. Since we studied the Fa well and had a solid foundation, many practitioners didn't give up the practice when the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution began on July 20, 1999.
1. Believe in Master and the Fa to Walk the Fa-Rectification Cultivation Path Well
Since I was a coordinator of a practice site, I was one of the CCP's focal points during the suppression and persecution of Falun Gong. They disturbed me and wanted to talk to me every day. I firmly believed that cultivating Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance was right, and that our Master was not wrong. I believed that what the CCP said on television was false, and I was not afraid. I clarified the truth to them righteously, and the old forces were unable to find fault with me, and could do nothing to me.
In May 2000, many practitioners at our practice site came out to validate Dafa publicly. Most of the practitioners were arrested and locked up in detention centers and forced labor camps. Some were illegally sentenced to prison. I was also illegally locked up in a detention center where I was seriously maltreated. At that time I did not understand the principles of the Fa in depth and also heard other practitioners say that the detention center was the best place to help relinquish human notions, so I didn't protest when I was sent to a detention center. Only after I was there did I really feel that it was an evil dark den and not a place for Dafa disciples to stay. After I was released I vowed that from then on I would not go back to that evil dark den. This incident taught me a lesson on my cultivation path, to listen only to Master, to cultivate according to the Fa, and follow the requirements and improve from the Fa. I memorized the Fa, and Master's articles “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples” and “Path”(Essentials for Further Advancement II) along with other articles by Master. I constantly strengthened my own righteous thoughts, extensively contacted practitioners, and distributed Master's articles and truth-clarification materials.
In this evil environment, Dafa disciples have been continuously clarifying the truth to the public. The evil was watching Dafa disciples closely all the time, and illegally arresting them constantly. We all felt the tremendous pressure. To alleviate pressure on fellow practitioners, I collected all the truth-clarifying materials from fellow practitioners. It took me two weeks to finish distributing all the materials. When I was almost done distributing the materials, someone falsely accused me of having a lot of materials on hand, but actually I had given her the materials. During that time, the municipal 610 Office head called almost every day demanding to see me, telling me to cooperate with their so-called "work." I told my family not to cooperate, and not to open the door, even to the ones who we knew. I said to Master, “Many of our fellow practitioners have been arrested, but I will not cooperate. I cannot be locked up, as I have many things to do.” I had been studying the Fa and memorizing it all day for three days.
In November 2001, after the police confirmed that I was at home, the head of the municipal 610 Office had prepared an "arrest warrant" and led more than twenty agents from the 610 Office of Wuhua District and the Domestic Security Division to come to my home and arrest me. My family shouted, "bandits are kidnapping people!" They were unable enter my house. More than twenty policemen were busy trying to find the leaders of my and my wife's work units to "understand" my situation. My wife's and my work unit leaders and colleagues told them that we were good people, the best. At night, our work unit party secretary called us to his office, and wanted us to cooperate with the police. I told him to cooperate and go to the police department himself, but that I would not go to such a dirty place. I told the unit secretary about the physical and psychological changes that my wife and I experienced after we began practicing Falun Gong, and I exposed the crimes of the police, who are illegally persecuting Dafa disciples. The work unit secretary fell silent and left the office. The police said in desperation, “We have so many young and strong police, and it has never happened that we were unable to arrest an old man.” They didn't leave, and finally the head of the municipal 610 Office said “We made a mistake.” All the police then left the unit.
610 Office agents later came with police many times to talk to me. I knew they came to listen to the truth. I wasn't afraid and would not fight with them, and I calmly clarified the truth to them. They never dared to attack Dafa and Master in front of me, and even to me they called Master "a teacher." Since then, under the care of Master, I opened up my own cultivation environment. For more than ten years, I have continually handed out truth-clarification materials and clarified the truth. I have repeatedly encountered interference, but under Master's care, I have been able to overcome obstacles. I can deeply feel the great compassion of Master, who looks after his disciples all the time. Many times I have shed tears of happiness. Only with Master's care, can I walk my path well to this day.
2. We Do What Master Says
From 2001 to 2004 was the worst period of the persecution. Many local Dafa disciples were illegally arrested. Several practitioners from our local practice site were illegally taken away, some were illegally locked up in detention centers and forced labor camps, and some were illegally sentenced to prison or even persecuted to death. We all felt very depressed, anxious, and powerless when seeing fellow practitioners being abducted, but we didn't know what to do. At that time a practitioner came from another province, and she told us that her area was in the same situation as ours before, but they made breakthroughs and walked the path in accordance with Master's arrangements. We subsequently organized Fa study groups and set up truth-clarification materials production sites. After sharing and discussing, a few of our senior practitioners who often got together came to a common understanding to walk the path well in assisting Master in Fa rectification. We must study the Fa well. So the most important thing in our current situation was to organize a group Fa study environment. Studying the Fa together and sharing experiences together to improve and rise up from the Fa as a whole, this is the cultivation requirement from our Master. We started to do it in accordance with the requirements of Master. Gradually the Fa study groups increased. We coordinated with each other to rescue fellow practitioners, expose the persecution, and clarify the truth. We coordinated as a whole, which proved a very effective way of saving sentient beings, and deterring and suppressing the evil.
A Dafa disciple delivered the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party along with truth clarification pamphlets to a unit party secretary, and the secretary not only refused to accept it, but also falsely accused Dafa disciples. The police arrested a practitioner and his family, who notified other practitioners quickly. We organized fellow practitioners and promptly went to the police station demanding the release of the illegally arrested practitioner. Eventually we tracked him to a police sanatorium brainwashing center and demanded his release. A group of Dafa disciples set up an effective rescue plan, exposed the illegal arrest on the Internet, made phone calls, sent letters and materials, and sent righteous thoughts together. The last step was dividing practitioners into three groups to post truth-clarification materials at the arrested practitioner's work unit, residential area and police brainwashing center. On the evening of the sixth day, after we had done the last project, the Dafa disciple was released. Through this rescue period, we all felt the powerful strength as a whole and the effect of sending forth righteous thoughts.
Through participation in group Fa-study, we greatly improved ourselves, and gradually more practitioners came out to clarify the truth and urge people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Practitioners who were afraid of handing out truth-clarifying materials and telling the truth previously, were eventually not so fearful of it and were able to convince people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and to distribute Shen Yun DVDs. Practitioners were able to focus their truth clarification efforts as Dafa particles and save more sentient beings.
3. Coordination Is to Cultivate Myself and Assimilate to the Fa
After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, the cultivation environment and form of practice fundamentally changed. The persecution of Dafa practitioners has come from all directions. In this harsh environment, we must do well in accordance with Master who said,
“Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy.” (“Rationality,” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
We must coordinate in the most effective way and communicate well the situation to ensure the smooth flow of information in a timely and accurate manner. For security reasons we didn't communicate by phone, which could expose the Fa study groups, truth-clarification materials production sites, and fellow practitioners' situations. We communicated by walking to the Fa study groups. It took more than two days to finish reaching all the Fa study groups. To save time, I skipped lunch and just ate a steamed bun with a bottle of water. I often came home after 8:00 p.m. to eat dinner. Sometimes I traveled to counties and cities to study the Fa and share experiences with local practitioners, to improve and elevate together, and to help local practitioners set up sites to supply truth-clarification materials. Although I am over 70 years old, hardship or tiredness has never stopped me. My family sometimes didn't understand and said, “You go out every day, and you are busier than those who work!” I did not get upset by what my family said, and after a period of time, my family became supportive and stopped worrying about me.
Sometimes when I heard criticism and disapproval from fellow practitioners, my heart felt uneasy, but then I thought of Master's great compassion for all sentient beings and the enduring tribulations for Dafa disciples. My own feelings account for nothing, and I should look inward when encountering conflicts as required by Master. In the areas where I have not done well, I need to be in accordance with the principles of the Fa.
Many years have passed, and I have gained a deeper understanding of the coordination of fellow practitioners, which is not work, but cultivation. Coordination is not cultivating others, managing others, and telling them how to perform. It is practically and truthfully cultivating ourselves, and actually doing the right thing. Coordination is not proving our abilities, but is the process of continually eliminating our attachments, including the attachment to self, in the process of assimilating to the Fa. Coordinating is emerging the principles of the Fa and our powerful strength as one body. When we see where things are insufficient or inadequate, we should then act in accordance with what Master said,
“You should quietly take whatever it is that you feel is lacking and do it well. That is in fact how a Dafa disciple should handle it.” ("Be More Diligent")
The above is my personal understanding; please point out anything inappropriate.