(Clearwisdom.net) In the article “Path” in Essentials for Further Advancement II, Teacher said,
“The path a Dafa disciple takes is a glorious history, and this history has to be created by his own enlightening.”
Along my path of cultivation, I did not encounter any earth-shaking events. With Teacher's guidance, I moved forward steadily, step by step. As a disciple during the Fa-rectification period, I felt honored.
My husband and I practice Falun Dafa. Before we began to practice, we were in poor health and took medicine regularly. Our future looked bleak because our health remained in poor condition. Had we not begun our practice, we could have passed away leaving behind our children and elderly parents. It was Teacher, who gave us hope and provided guidance on how to return to our real home. Since we began our practice, life has improved substantially and our children and parents also joined us in practicing Falun Dafa.
1. Joyfully practicing Falun Dafa and sincerely studying the Dafa principles
A few months before July 20, 1999, a neighbor, who had recovered from cancer, introduced Falun Dafa to me and my husband. (She has practiced Dafa for 16 years now and does the Three Things very well.) At that time, I was listening to the lectures Teacher gave in the city of Jinan. The contents of these lectures can be found in the book Zhuan Falun. When I heard the following statements:
“Our Falun Dafa will protect practitioners from deviating. How does it protect you? If you are a true practitioner, our Falun will safeguard you. I am rooted in the universe. If anyone can harm you, he or she would be able to harm me. Put simply, that person would be able to harm this universe.” (Zhuan Falun)
I was very excited and knew this was not an ordinary qigong.
After I read Zhuan Falun, I knew I had found what I had always wanted and was determined to follow its teachings. I listened to the lectures every day after finishing my housework. Later, I received other books from Teacher and read them all. I learned the five exercises myself by watching the instruction video and fellow practitioners helped me to correct what I missed. I followed the principles as strictly as I could and in less than 10 days, my body was being purified. One Saturday afternoon, I had to go to the restroom at intervals of only a few minutes. This lasted until about 10:00 p.m., and by that time I felt very comfortable. The next day, when I went to the grocery store my body felt very light. It felt as though I was being carried or had wheels on my feet.
All my illnesses disappeared in less than 10 days. I was so grateful to Teacher and could not stop thanking him and my face was covered with tears. Teacher encouraged me further by letting me see wonderful scenes in other dimensions. I also sensed that Teacher purified my body many times during that period. I could feel that my character improved every day.
2. Validating the Fa with great hardship
After I began to practice, I did not contact fellow practitioners for a long time and was not aware of the event on April 25. The evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners on July 20, 1999. I did not have much contact with other practitioners and both my husband and I felt very badly about the persecution. I understood that as a Dafa disciple I should validate the Fa and tell my friends and relatives about my personal experiences. Hence, I told them that Dafa contains the principles of the universe and teaches people to be good.
In January 2001, the evil CCP staged the “self-immolation” incident to deceive people and frame Falun Dafa. Even some of our friends and relatives were fooled and asked us to give up our practice. We knew what we had experienced and were not affected by lies, but we were worried about other people and felt the pressure when we validated the Fa and wanted to save people.
I believed that clarifying the facts to people was most important. I did not go to Tiananmen Square, but I talked to friends and relatives face-to-face, and I wrote an article to validate the Fa by telling people how our family members benefited from the practice, and why the self-immolation was a setup to frame Falun Dafa. I was holding righteous thoughts while writing and could feel the support from Teacher when preparing the article. When I showed the article to my brothers and sisters, other relatives and neighbors in my home town, it was an effective document, which led all of them to recognize that Falun Dafa is good.
3. Establishing a material production center
Along with the fast progress of the Fa-rectification, we established a production center for truth-clarifying materials at home in the summer of 2003. Materials needed were purchased by my children and fellow practitioners. I was the sole operator of the machines and produced these materials. Over the years, I don't know how many CDs, copies of articles by Teacher, and truth-clarification messages printed on paper currency have been produced. I do know that I made over four thousand copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. About two thousand of them were hand-made with a wallpaper knife, awl and thread. We bought a paper cutter and a large stapler. I was also careful to separate money, which was used as truth-clarifying materials, from money for personal use.
When I reflected upon the things I did over the past seven years, it was an emotional experience. I have a large family and my mother-in-law is over eighty years old. I am the only one taking care of all family matters. I believe I have done everything in an orderly manner and never failed to deliver materials to fellow practitioners. On May 22, 2005, Teacher said in “Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference in Toronto” that,
“No matter what, though, throughout the persecution Dafa disciples and I have fully resisted the persecution. So while we completely resist this persecution, to follow your Master's requirements, my requirements, and maintain the unique cultivation state that you have, and to do well everything you are responsible for as a Dafa disciple--that is what it means to be diligent. ”
To me the above statements meant that my job was to maintain this material center. This is also my cultivation path. I must guarantee quality and provide materials to fellow practitioners in a timely manner. Doing a good job, means that I fulfill my responsibility to Dafa, to sentient beings and to my own cultivation.
I always put in a full day's work during the past seven years. Since the day we set up the material production center, I have not taken any vacation. During the day, I run errands, like grocery shopping. In the evenings, I join fellow practitioners to distribute truth-clarifying materials. There is not much time for rest. When lots of materials need to be produced, I literally have to run around in my home. One time, my husband wanted to see what I did at home and I showed him how I was hurrying from one thing to another and we both laughed. We felt pretty bad afterward, because despite the efforts we put in, there are still so many sentient beings yet to be saved. In “Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference”, Teacher said,
“That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.”
I understood from studying these statements that a disciple's main job is to save sentient beings. We cannot separate the material center from saving sentient beings. It is important that I prepare each truth-clarifying material well and focus on saving more sentient beings.
4. Distributing truth-clarifying materials with righteous thoughts
Since I am preparing materials for distribution, I rarely go out during the day. Generally, we go out after dinner to distribute truth-clarifying materials. Before we go out, we send forth righteous thoughts and ask Teacher for support. We distribute them to homes, which have a predestined relationship so that the materials are expected to generate as much positive returns as possible. All of us cooperate very well with each other and we never encountered any difficulty or danger. I don't know how many materials we have distributed and there were times we had blisters on our feet from walking long distances. However, I did not feel bad about that. My understanding is that in order to guarantee good results, we must study the Fa well.
On sensitive dates, the evil CCP often takes desperate measures to preserve its power and intensify the persecution. I view it as an opportunity for us to destroy groups of evil spirits and save sentient beings. During such a day we want to do more than just the Three Things. We need to increase the amount of righteous thoughts in order to destroy evil spirits. I prepare stickers, copies of the Nine Commentaries, CD's, and more, coordinate with fellow practitioners, and distribute and/or post them in targeted areas. Generally, we encounter no problems. I do the same thing on New Year's eve. This year I prepared colorful stickers with the words “Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” and posted about one hundred of them on clean, easy to see areas. For a long time, after the New Year, we noticed that they were still posted. I think as Dafa disciples we bring along righteous thoughts everywhere we go and such thoughts will destroy evil spirits. Hence, the more we do, the better and safer will be our environment. On the other hand if a disciple does not dare to destroy evil spirits, he will be in great danger, because the old forces will see to it that he will be persecuted. We are the disciples during the Fa-rectification period, and Teacher is here with us. Thus, there is nothing to fear. Teacher said,
“...carrying the Fa in your mind, doing whatever needs to be done, and doing whatever you wish to do, as long as Dafa needs it. ” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital”, 2006)
Right now it is important to save sentient beings. Hence, we do everything possible to accomplish this. This is why even on so-called sensitive dates we do what we should, which is to save sentient beings.
Over more than ten years of cultivation, I have learned that we must have faith in the Fa and Teacher in order to hold righteous thoughts, do what is expected of us, become unselfish and without fear, overcome tribulations, and reach our fruit status.
Please point out anything that is incorrect in my understanding.
