(Clearwisdom.net)
The police commented, “You are just a housewife without a high education, but you can make such beautiful things. Dafa practitioners are truly amazing, we admire you.” I know in my heart that Master had helped me with everything.
- From the author
Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
This is the second time I have submitted an article to share for the Internet Fa conference. Reflecting on my cultivation path, I know it is far from what Master requires. Along the path, many attachments have been removed with help from Master and fellow practitioners. During the process, I realized that when I feel something isn't possible or can't be done, it is all because of my notions. When I can truly put myself aside and follow Master’s requirement, it is just like what is said in Zhuan Falun,
“When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find: ‘After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!’”
I would now like to write down my experiences to report to Master and share with fellow practitioners.
Walk the Path Arrange by Master
I went to live with a relative after I was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution. My cultivation state was poor at that time and I couldn’t calm down when I studied the Fa. My mind was like overturning rivers and seas with everything surfacing. When I was alone in a room, I had all sorts of odd thoughts and ideas. I felt very tired and uncomfortable. My own notions also affected other people. Because my relative’s family didn't understand Dafa, I heard various accusations and was under pressure from my family and relatives. I thought to myself, “What should I do? I can't continue like this. How can I change my current state? I am walking the path of godhood, I can't be idle like this.” I remembered that Master had repeatedly told practitioners to take the Fa as teacher and to read the Fa more. The only thing I could do was to read the Fa. After reading Zhuan Falun several times and Teacher's lectures, my heart was as calm as water. I was a new person. When a practitioner studies the Fa and assimilates to it, he/she will feel no suffering.
Master arranged for a fellow practitioner who also happened to be my childhood friend to find me at my relative’s home. She told me that both her husband and son were working in a different town and asked me to move in with her. I was very happy. The next day, I said good-bye to my relative and moved to the practitioner’s home. She worked during the day and when she returned home, we studied the Fa together and discussed our understandings. My xinxing continued to improve. She shared with me that Master has hinted to her in her dreams several times to make Dafa materials. I enlightened, “I am a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. I should listen to Master and do what Dafa requires of me no matter what situation I am in. This practitioner’s home is such a good environment, I can't just hide here and pursue comfort.” After we had a discussion, I decided to set up a materials production site at her home. I then contacted the local coordinator, Practitioner A. I was told there were many practitioners in my city who didn't have materials to distribute since there was only one materials production site making materials for every one. Several years ago, Minghui editors had suggested practitioners set up a family production site, but we were not there yet. I decided to start with myself. We told our plan to Practitioner A and got her support. She helped me purchase a computer and taught me how to get on the Internet.
At first, I couldn’t control my hand when holding the mouse and it took me several days to learn how to get on the Internet, to download and to copy and paste files. Practitioner A jokingly said, “You are very smart with everything else, but not with a computer.” During those several days of trying to learn the basics, my head felt like it was going to explode and my vision became blurry. Practitioner A encouraged me to not give up and to learn from the practitioner in the article, “From a Farmer's Hoe to a Computer Mouse.” I was determined as well. I wrote down every step in a notebook and practiced them repeatedly. Soon I learned to type, to make a booklet and to edit and layout local news. When Master's new article was published, I made it into a small booklet and distributed it to practitioners in the surrounding area. Finally, our family materials site was set up and running.
When I first started making Falun amulets, I couldn’t align the front with the back and the color wasn’t bright enough. After I cut the A4 sized-paper, the front and the back sheets easily separated, so practitioners didn’t want them. They gave me a sample from another area and I showed it to several practitioners. However, they didn’t know how to make it either. Someone said that I needed a software that could make the changes. When I asked the practitioner who knew the technical stuff, he said he didn’t know much about it and asked me to wait until he figured it out.
I also had issues with printing truth-clarification messages on paper currency. I followed an example I had downloaded on the computer, but practitioners said that the characters were too big and didn't line up correctly. Furthermore, the color didn’t match. Some even said, “You need to consider fellow practitioners’ safety when using thia money.” I was very sad after hearing this. Why didn’t I think of that? Master has told us to consider others first whenever we do anything. Yet I never considered if others could take it. Practitioners in their 60s and 70s ride their bike hundreds of miles to distribute DVDs and other truth materials in the scorching sun in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. Some even have blisters on their buttocks from bicycling so far. How come I couldn’t make something that could make them happy? I felt so ashamed and I cried when I thought of that.
I then remembered Master’s words,
“However, during the course of cultivation you cultivate yourself to become more and more kind, to the point where you think of others whenever you think about anything, thus succeeding in becoming a selfless being. Cultivation is about you cultivating yourself: You reach Consummation and at the same time succeed in becoming a great living being who thinks of others and can make sacrifices for others.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference”)
Saving people can't wait, so I started asking both practitioners and non-practitioners for help. I was able to finally find two people who could help me—a practitioner’s son and a relative of mine. One taught me how to use a software to adjust pdf files to solve the issue with the amulets. Another taught me how to use pictures and document preview to help solve the problem of adjusting position and texts when printing on bills.
I can now use document draft to copy, cut and paste freely to produce jpeg files. I can even make greeting cards for Master. After seeing the amulet and truth-clarification bill and booklet, even the police commented, “You are just a housewife without a high education, but you can make such beautiful things. Dafa practitioners are truly amazing, we admire you.”
I know in my heart that Master had helped me with everything. I want to thank Master for giving me the wisdom and protecting me. I also want to thank the practitioner who had given me such a good environment to cultivate and her son for his technical help.
Setting Up More Materials Sites
One time, Practitioner A said to me, “You should teach practitioners who want to learn how to get on the Internet.” I knew Master was giving me a hint through her. I thought it must be part of what I should do to help Master in Fa-rectification. Although I didn't have much education and I wasn't very technical, I knew I could do it well with Master and the Fa here and help from fellow practitioners.
Beginning in 2010, I began to encourage practitioners who had a computer at home or were financially capable to learn how to log on to the Internet and set up a family materials site. Initially, several practitioners were afraid, felt it wasn't safe to use the Internet and worried that their family would be against it. I continuously encouraged them and shared with them from the Fa’s perspective to help them have a deeper understanding. I told them, “Having materials sites everywhere is what Master wants us to do and it is a need for Fa-rectification. The evil is afraid of us setting up a materials sites everywhere. If we can all get on the Minghui website, that’s one less Minghui Weekly we need to print. Then we can make two more booklets to save people. How nice is that. Furthermore, Master has given us such a high honor. When the Fa rectifies the human world and it is time for you to return to your world, you will go empty-handed without any Fa instrument. When the sentient beings in your world ask you for something, you'll say, 'I don’t know how; I don’t have it.' You'll have to go to another world to ask for it.” The practitioners would usually smile at my analogy and agree to try getting on the Internet. I worked with Practitioner B, who is a coordinator and is technical, to help other practitioners set up their computer systems. Practitioner B carefully wrote down every step. I then taught other practitioners following his instructions. As a result, many practitioners were able to get on the Internet and copy, paste and download articles from the Minghui website. Some were able to make truth materials themselves. Several more materials sites were set up like this.
It is my responsibility to keep my home materials site operating steadily. Although the environment at the home of the practitioner I am staying with is very good, we still need to take safety seriously. We agreed to, “Keep it a secret; cultivate our speech; only download articles from the Minghui website; don't edit any articles ourselves; align with Minghui’s position on important matters; and only look at Dafa websites on the Internet.” In order to make sure the site operates properly, I must truly cultivate and do the three things well. This way, Master and gods can help us in every way.
Cultivation is a process of continually improving oneself. In 2011, Master gave me another opportunity to improve myself. After the Chinese New Year, practitioners started to wait for the Shen Yun performance DVDs. Some materials sites bought writable DVDs so they were ready to make copies of the show as soon as it became available online. In the past, we always got our copy from other areas since the ones we downloaded had quality issues. I was so excited to see the link for the 2011 Shen Yun performance. I asked Tongtong, the fellow practitioner's son, to help me download it. Tongtong wanted to help because his mother often lets him read the Minghui Weekly and other Dafa-related materials. We also got together often to have discussions. I waited for Tongtong to download the files. After two hours, we still hadn't downloaded anything. I thought to myself, “Master is leading the Shen Yun project. Even one day of delay can result in many people not being saved. It can't be un-downloadable.” I then sent forth righteous thoughts with Tongtong's mom. Tongtong saw that I was anxious and said, “Don’t worry. It takes time to download large documents. After downloading, it still needs to be merged.” So I went to study the Fa and send righteous thoughts. The next day, Tongtong showed me the downloaded DVD and I watched it carefully from beginning to end. The image was very clear. Tongtong quickly burned copies of the DVD. I then took them to all the material sites and the our coordinators. When I saw practitioners giving out the DVDs to people and heard people praising how beautiful Shen Yun was, I felt great joy in my heart. I thought about how many people are being saved because of it. I did something I was supposed to do.
Refusing to Acknowledge Old Force Persecution
One time, a practitioner asked me to help make a few copies of the Minghui Weekly and take them to a different practitioner that evening. As I was walking down the stairs holding my one-year-old granddaughter, I missed a step and fell. The child was thrown out about a meter away and I rolled down the stairs myself. I went over to pick up my granddaughter who was crying and said, “No problem, no problem. The Fa rectifies the cosmos, destroying all evil. I am doing the most righteous thing, no one can stop me.” I took my granddaughter upstairs to check up on her. She was ok except for a bump on her head. So I cleaned her up and was ready to go back downstairs, but my legs suddenly started to hurt.
It was close to the time I was supposed to meet the practitioner and the place was far away. I then hurriedly went to see another practitioner who lived on the fourth floor in the same building. I asked her to give the materials to the practitioner I was supposed to meet. After I gave her the materials, I looked at my ankle and saw it was swollen and there was a big bump above it. My lower leg was also black and purple. I put my granddaughter to bed and tried to go to the kitchen to make formula for her. However, I could hardly move my leg.
“We have said that good or evil comes from a person’s spontaneous thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences.” (Zhuan Falun)
I kept thinking, “I can walk, I can walk.” Then, I slowly walked to the kitchen. When it was time to send righteous thoughts at midnight, I couldn't put my legs in the double lotus position. The next morning at around 3:40 a.m., I forced myself to get up and do the Falun Dafa exercises. I could only put my legs in a single lotus position during the fifth exercise and it was also a little hard to stand up to do the other exercises. I kept reciting,
“'When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.'” (Zhuan Falun)
I knew Master had suffered for me because the pain wasn't so severe. With Master’s help, I was able to walk downstairs the next day. My sister had a similar accident—she twisted her ankle getting off a bus. However, she ended up staying in a hospital and had to put a cast on. Through this accident, everyone around me witnessed the wonders of Dafa.
When submitting this article, the old forces tried to interfere with me. When I saw the article calling for articles for the Eighth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China, I knew this was a once a year opportunity for practitioners in China to focus on how they study, cultivate, make up for their shortcomings by learning from other’s strong points and improve together diligently. I debated if I should write anything. I felt that I was still far behind other practitioners. While I was still indecisive, the old forces took advantage of my loophole. Suddenly, practitioners began to ask for more truth-clarification materials than usual that kept me very busy. As a result, Fa-study became a formality because I couldn’t calm down. My mind was blank and I didn’t know what to write. I thought to myself, “Not this time, I will write next time.” Then one day, when I went to deliver Master’s new article to a practitioner’s home, I ran into Practitioners A and B unexpectedly. During our conversation, they asked me, “Is your article ready?” I said, “I don’t know how and what to write about. And there is not enough time anyway. You can help me write it.” They replied, “You must write it yourself. The process of writing an experience sharing article is also a process of improving ourselves.” Practitioner B said that she participates every year, not to pursue having her article get published, but to just participate. She said, “When the Minghui [editors] report on the number of articles submitted to the conference and if that number includes one from you, isn’t that also validating the Fa?” Practitioner A said, “If you don’t know how to write, just write down what you say. If that still doesn’t work, just record what you say and write down one sentence at a time. Make the best use of your time. I will help you edit the article when you are done.” When I got home that day, I enlightened that Master was giving me hints through fellow practitioners. Was I being lazy and selfish? I was asking others to write for me and I only wanted to gain from the Fa. I didn't want to put in any effort, so my fundamental starting point was wrong. I then quickly turned on the computer and decided to write an article even if there was only one week left. It was time to make a breakthrough and let go of myself. I should report to Master and share with practitioners even if it was just a small part of my cultivation. I asked Master to strengthen me and give me the wisdom.
I finished the first section in one afternoon. I stopped at around 7:00 p.m. because I needed to be at a practitioner’s home an hour later. I quickly checked my email to see if there was anything I needed to take care of before leaving. I saw an email from another practitioner who asked me to go to her home the next day. That practitioner lives far away. I had already delivered the materials she asked for to the practitioner who was her contact, so why does she still want me to go to her home? (When I had delivered the materials, her contact wasn't home, so I left them with another practitioner who lived next door.) I didn’t think about dinner and rode my bicycle to the home of her contact. However, no one was home when I got there. My heart was moved and I became resentful. I then felt very tired; that it was difficult for me to ride my bike. I didn’t pay attention to my thoughts or look inward. I thought to myself, “Tomorrow is the Mid-autumn festival. I needed to take two practitioners’ articles to the coordinator and I also had planned to visit my relatives with my children. What can I do with just one day?” When I mentioned to my children that I couldn’t go visit our relatives with them, they weren't happy. They angrily said, “They are your relatives, you decide!” I didn’t say anything back, but sent righteous thoughts in my heart to eliminate the evil factors behind them. When they stopped talking, I said, “You all know Dafa is the most important thing in my life. Master has published a new article. I must go to her home. You can visit our relatives and put in few good words for me. If I come home late tomorrow, just go ahead and get the presents, and help me light the incense for Master.” They replied, “You are busy, go ahead.” They were no longer upset with me. When I went to the practitioner’s contact's home for the third time, I still didn't see her. My resentment became even bigger. I went to her neighbor's house to see if she had gotten the materials. The neighbor said she had just left. I then hurried back to her home. Finally, I remembered to look inward. This is to help me get rid of my attachments, such as feeling resentment, doing things, afraid of hard work, selfish, etc. Master’s words came to me,
“Don't get resentful when things are tough, and don't think that you need to have people see what you're doing. Master can see everything you do, and so can all gods. When you have done well that's your own, eternal mighty-virtue.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students”)
Suddenly all the bad things and notions disappeared and my xinxing improved. I finally saw the practitioner, but I wasn't angry at all. As it turned out, she had an errand to run and left me a note on the door. However, I didn’t see it, so she thought I didn’t come. She went to visit the other practitioner herself since she thought she wouldn't be able to find me. The problem was resolved and I didn’t need to go to the other practitioner's home any more. All of these were illusions. After I let go of my human notions, I was able to finish this article quickly.
After cultivating for more than ten years and reflecting on my own personal experiences, I feel that the fundamental basis of being a practitioner is to cultivate solidly. Whether you are a coordinator or just a practitioner who distributes flyers, a boss with money and social status, or someone who lives in an impoverished state and works for others, it is nothing but an illusion that will pass in no time. Only when you study the Fa and truly cultivate, can you raise your xinxing and reach the standard of the new cosmos.
I have learned much from writing this article and my understanding of the Fa has become clearer. No matter where my path leads to, I have only one thought, “Everything depends on the need of Dafa and the one body of our local area. Let Master arrange everything. My life is created by the Fa, everything I have belongs to Dafa. I must immerse myself in the Fa and do my best to help Master with Fa-rectification, save sentient beings, and fulfill my historical vow.
Due to my limited understandings, I have many shortcomings. I hope to exchange my understandings with fellow practitioners. Heshi.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
