(Clearwisdom.net) Since July 20, 1999, I have been detained, sentenced to prison, and taken to the brainwashing center in Wuhan City. I lost six years of cultivation. After I resumed Dafa cultivation in November 2009, I felt a sense of urgency.
I spent two months reading Master's 38 books. I read Minghui Weekly, participated in group study three times a week, sent forth righteous thoughts, and kept doing the exercises.
Through studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, I improved my understanding of the Fa and knew how to look inward. I was able to calmly listen to the opinions against me. I was determined to go out to clarify the truth and save sentient beings.
On the first day I went out to clarify the facts, I helped 26 people withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I knew it was Master encouraging me. In the following several days, I was able to help more than 10 people withdraw every day.
One day when we were sharing experiences in group Fa study, a fellow practitioner said that I sometimes went to an extreme. I realized it was Master's hint through this practitioner. I went home and calmed down to study the Fa. Master said,
"In our school of practice, those who practice cultivation among everyday people are required to practice cultivation precisely in ordinary human society, and to fit in among everyday people as much as possible. You are not really asked to lose anything materially." (Lecture Four in Zhuan Falun)
I thought about my situation while studying the Fa: I didn't have a regular income and didn't have much savings. I asked myself, "Are you able to go out everyday to clarify the truth while you cannot even support yourself?" I realized that I should not ask for money from my children while I was still able to work.
My fellow practitioners provided some good suggestions for job options. I decided to do shoe repair. Choosing this job itself was a process of eliminating my own attachments. I used to be a company manager. After being detained and jailed, I lost my job. Now I was over 60 and had to work for myself. In my previous job, others worked for me. Now I would work for others and, moreover, depend on others. Through Fa study, I realized my attachments, such as a fear of losing face, fear of ridicule, fear of being looked down on, and the feeling that I was above others. The used shoes were smelly. I also needed to get rid of the attachment to fearing dirt. When others pointed their finger at me, I needed to get rid of my competitive mentality. Master said:
“Think about it, everyone: Isn't it you who suffers knowingly? Isn't it your Main Spirit that sacrifices? As to what you have lost among everyday people, haven't you knowingly lost it? Then this gong should belong to you, as whoever loses, gains. Therefore, this is why our school does not avoid practicing cultivation in this complex environment of everyday people. Why do we practice cultivation amidst the conflicts of everyday people? It is because we ourselves are going to obtain gong.” (Lecture Eight in Zhuan Falun)
I regarded myself as a practitioner and studied the Fa every day. I was determined to get rid of all those human mentalities. Master helped me constantly eliminate those attachments. "The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I rode a bicycle through other towns and talked with people. While providing shoe repair service, I could clarify the truth face to face easily and help people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. Whenever I sat down to repair shoes, eight or ten people would stop by to listen to me and then leave after agreeing to quit the CCP. I knew it was Master who guided those people with predestined relationships to come to me. All I did was just talk.
If there was no business on a given day, I would distribute truth-clarifying CDs or materials door to door and clarify the truth. In this way, I could help eight or ten people a day quit.
Of course, sometimes things did not go smoothly. Once a fellow practitioner and I went to clarify the truth. When we visited a family in a village, the man of the house was very violent and picked up a heavy hammer to drive us out. He refused to listen to us no matter how nicely I spoke to him. We had to leave. The other practitioner asked me whether I would ever go back to this family again. When I said I would, he asked why. I answered, "We are still influenced by the evil Party culture sometimes, even after we have cultivated for over 10 years. He has been ensnared in the lies of the evil Party since he was born. If we don't save him, who will? Maybe I owed him in my previous life. Today I paid back the debt. Next time he may be able to listen to me."
During an experience sharing in the Fa study group, I recalled what Master said,
"I only hope that this blow with a heavy hammer will wake you up. I do it for you, not for me--your Master--and certainly not for those fellow cultivators who made you upset. Be diligent! This is your vow. This is your responsibility. And this is your road to Consummation!" ("To the European Fa Conference")
Master has arranged everything we should do. We just need to do it. Before Fa-rectification in the human world, some fellow practitioners may have saved thousands of people, and some may just have saved several. When reaching consummation, while there are many beings gathering in crowds in other worlds, your world is empty and open. Will you feel regret?
Not long after, Master's new lecture "Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa" was published. I studied it again and again and understood more and more. Master said:
“I can tell you that your fundamental being understands things even more clearly than I'm putting them. The reason is, Master is now using the language of human beings to speak, whereas your true selves are very much aware, only it's that postnatal factors of the Three Realms as well as those bad things have given rise in you to notions, experiences, and accumulations of things, burying you like dirt would, and preventing your true thoughts from coming back to the surface. So you have to cultivate. You have to climb out, wipe away those contaminating things, and wash yourself clean. That is precisely what you do in the cultivation process, and at the same time, while amidst ordeals, you must save people.” ("Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa")
I realize that I must wash myself constantly during cultivation and do things according to the Fa standards I have enlightened to. Do what Master asks us to do.
Now I follow Master's requirement to do things. Every day, I study one to three chapters of Zhuan Falun, practice the exercises, send forth righteous thoughts as much as possible, and think about saving sentient beings. I feel like a happy child with a pure mind, doing what a Dafa disciple should do.
Thanks for Master's merciful care! Thanks for fellow practitioners' help!