(Minghui.org) I read two recently published articles on Minghui.org, “Letting Go of the Notion of Being Persecuted” and “Putting Compassion into Action.” I was deeply touched. The authors said something that I've always wanted to say. Since I am a relatively new practitioner, I didn't know if my understandings were correct or not, so I didn't write them down. Now, I would like to share a few things that have happened to me with fellow practitioners.
Before the New Year, I went out to clarify the truth with a bag of materials. I rode on my electric bike to a village. On the way I stopped at an intersection. There was a lady on a bicycle in front of me. There was no traffic light at the intersection. I looked around and saw no cars on the other side of the street, and cars approaching the other side of the intersection were far away. So, I sped up and passed that lady. Before I got to the other side, my body was hit by something hard and I heard a cracking sound. I didn't know what was going on and asked Master to protect me. Then I fell. A girl in her twenties got out of a black car. She moved my bike and saw I was under her car. She didn't know if I was still alive or not, so she didn't dare to move me. With a trembling voice, she asked if I was OK.
My first thought was that I am a Dafa disciple and I am fine because I have Master watching over me. I must save her—don't miss this chance. So, I got up and said to her, “Don't be afraid. I am Falun Gong practitioner and I follow the teachings of the Great Way. My master told us to be good people with high moral standards and always consider others first. I will not ask you for money. You don't have to take responsibility for this accident. I have my master protecting me. I am fine. Don't be afraid. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have gone across the street like this. I am very sorry. Hopefully the child in your car was not frightened.”
The driver calmed down and said, “I heard about Falun Gong but never met any practitioners before.” I took this chance and told her about the self-immolation incident and the facts of the brutal persecution. I then went on to talk about the evil Party and how the murderers involved in the persecution will be punished by heaven. I also told her to quit the Party for her own safety. She was excited and told me that she was a Party member and was willing to quit her membership. Upon saying goodbye, I gave her some truth clarification materials and an amulet. I told her to remember that Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good. I wished her peace. She was moved to tears. She said that she never met such a virtuous person and asked for my cell phone number. I told her that in the persecution, I don't have a cell phone for my safety. “All you need to know is that I am a Falun Gong practitioner. My master protects us and it is my master who told me to behave like this.” She thanked me again and again and left. A life was saved, and she will tell others about this encounter.
I got on the bike and thought that I should go home. Before I made the turn, a second thought came up: I am fine. Why do I need to go home? Isn't my goal of coming out to save people? My bike was fine, too. So, I went to the village. In one hour, I convinced 19 people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations and passed out all the materials. People thanked me. I knew that I made the right decision, and Master encouraged me with those people's words.
On my way back, I all of a sudden saw that lady whom I passed at the intersection. I thought that she must have a predestined relationship with me and I should not miss this chance to talk to her. So I approached her and said, “We must have a predestined relationship. I am the one who was hit by the black car at that intersection.” She was scared and thought that she saw a ghost. I told her I was fine. She said, “Wow, you are still alive!” She took a good hard look at me. I pointed at my bike and said, “See, here is the dent. I really am that guy.” She said, “I never saw a car accident before. It was so scary. I even took some photos of your accident. I just don't understand how you are fine. Is it because you fell first and the car stopped right in front of you? That is impossible. I heard the big bang and I saw you getting hit by the car.” I took this chance to clarify the truth to her. I gave an amulet and helped her to quit the evil Party.
After getting home, I carefully recalled what happened. I clearly remembered that the cars at the intersection were very far away, and there was no car in the opposing direction. It only took me a few seconds to cross the street. Where did that car come from? At the moment I was hit, a thought flashed in my mind, “The old forces are coming to persecute you.” I immediately had a second thought, “No, they are not. The driver came to me for salvation.” I asked Master to protect me and then I fell down. So when the driver approached me, my first thought was to save her—it is a great chance to validate the Fa. I forgot to check if I was injured—Master is in charge of everything; why should I worry? All I need to do is save people as long as I can speak. Since my heart was righteous, Master protected me.
There was no car around, but I got hit when I tried to cross the street. If it was really persecution from the old forces, I completely denied it. All I know is that the relationship we have with sentient beings is to save them. We must stop the evil from using sentient beings to persecute us. Master told us about outwitting the old forces at their own game and turning bad things into good things. Even if it was persecution arranged by the old fores, we should not get trapped in this notion. We should listen to Master. Master said, “Whatever you experience during your cultivation—whether good or bad—is good,” (“To the Chicago Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress, Vol. III) If it is a good thing, then isn't it possible that the driver needs to be saved by me in this way? Some other people may also get saved by us in special ways, such as law enforcement officers who try to kidnap us. Aren't these all the same thing?
Four years ago when I just obtained the Fa, a practitioner visited my mom. Coincidentally, a few policemen came to ask my mom about her lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. I opened the door and asked them why they were here. The head of the police told me why. I said loudly, “That is a good thing. Everybody knows what kind of person Jiang is. Isn't it normal to file a lawsuit against him? You guys should sue him too.” The policemen were embarrassed—they were afraid that the neighbors heard us. One of them said, “Oh, your mom is not home. We should leave then.” So they all left. The visiting practitioner was scared and hid in my bedroom. I told him it was over.
Later two policemen came again for my mom. She went out to clarify the truth and I was the only one home. I told myself not to miss this chance to clarify the truth to them. So, I told them to come again a few hours later and I would ask my mom to stay at home for them. The policemen thought I was “cooperative” and left happily.
When my mom got back, I told her that two policemen were going to listen to us clarify the truth to them this afternoon. She was also happy and praised me. At 2 p.m., the policemen came. I sent forth righteous thoughts in another room and my mom dominated the conversation. They were listening and didn't say much. In the end, they both quit the evil Party and treated my mom as a member of their family.
Before this incident at group Fa study gatherings, all the practitioners said that we should not cooperate with the policemen. They said we should not open the door for the police or we should flee our homes to avoid them. However, my mom and I didn't treat their visit as harassment; we didn't think that way at all. All we had in mind was not to miss the chance to clarifying the truth to them.
Another time, a fellow practitioner made an emergency phone call to me. The practitioner was saying that a police officer who is related to them saw my mother passing out Dafa materials on a street surveillance camera; the police were going to kidnap her that that night. The fellow practitioner said that my mom should leave her home to avoid them. After hanging up the phone, I thought that the evil's arrangements do not count and that we are only to follow Master's arrangements. The fellow practitioner was concerned for my mom's safety, although I didn't think it was serious enough to make an emergency call. My mom was doing the sitting meditation when I told her about it. She just made a “hmm” sound and continued to do the meditation. Although my apartment is a material production site, I was not scared either. The next morning, she went out to clarify the truth.
A few days later, I brought up this incident during lunch. She said that the other day, she convinced a person to quit the CCP and gave him a booklet about Dafa. When she looked up, she saw a camera above her. A thought of worry flashed in her mind, but she immediately denied the thought. The emergency phone call came to test her because she got worried. Master said that, “material itself does not have any effect. What really interferes with a person is the attachment.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun) It was not the camera that caused trouble; it was the unrighteous thought. There are cameras everywhere on the street. If we don't have righteous thoughts and go out to clarify the truth with this kind of fear, then our safety will not be guaranteed. Similar things had happened to my mom a few times; each time the trouble was caused by an attachment. But each time after she clarified the truth to the policemen, she was released right away.
My mom is 74-years-old and has been diligently cultivating for twenty-some years. Every day she goes out to clarify the truth regardless of the weather. In the last ten years or so, she has convinced thousands of people to quit the CCP. She also convinced police officers from the 610 Office to quit the CCP—the police officers kept saying, “Thank you,” to her. I believe she can accomplish all this because she denies the old forces and the persecution with her actions. She treats the policemen with compassion and walks on the path arranged by Master. That is why she is safe.
Speaking of safety, I would like to share my understandings of safety. Many practitioners think that it is not safe to clarify the truth face to face because street cameras are everywhere nowadays. It is not so. When it comes to safety, we should ask ourselves three questions: are we calm—is there anything bothering us that we cannot let go of? Have we studied the Fa peacefully? And how well are we sending forth righteous thoughts?
I think my car accident was caused by my complaining about a practitioner who worked on a project with me. Also, since I can recite Zhuan Falun by heart I don’t pay close attention and cannot focus when studying the Fa. I was bothered by it—not being able to focus on Fa study is a big issue. Since I didn't study the Fa well, it was hard for me to get rid of my complaints against that practitioner. My heart was not pure, so I could not send forth righteous thoughts well. Sometimes I even skipped sending righteous thoughts at night.
I also had another hidden notion: I always thought that Master is watching over me because I’m a cultivator. I don't even have tribulations anymore. Sometimes I ignored traffic lights when clarifying the truth outside. I thought that I had righteous thoughts and I wanted to have more time to save people. But it was actually a selfish behavior caused by Party culture. It is the same as the person mentioned in Zhuan Falun who wasn’t afraid of getting hit by a car with a copy of Zhuan Falun in his hand. The old forces took advantage of these loopholes to persecute me.
During cultivation, everybody has some loopholes that the old forces can take advantage of. But Master has also taught us how to handle it: outwitting them at their own game and turning bad things into good things. If we follow Master's teaching, we will be able to deny the persecution, for sure.
Master said,
“As practitioners, you will suddenly come across conflicts. What should you do? You should always maintain a heart of compassion and kindness. Then, when you run into a problem, you will be able to do well because it gives you room to buffer the confrontation.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
So, the best way to deal with the things like car accidents is to develop compassion in daily cultivation. With this kind of compassion, we will see that all beings are suffering and that we need to save them. When sudden accidents arranged by the old forces happen, our first thought is very important. The pit dug by the old forces is right in front of us. If we follow their arrangements, we will fall into the pit. Even if we try to rectify ourselves with the Fa and climb out of the pit, it is still like resisting the persecution while acknowledging it. Some practitioners even felt that there was nothing they could do once they fell into the pit, so they actually acknowledged the old forces. Some believe what they see with human eyes and use human approaches to solve problems. Eventually they got buried in the pit. Although the old forces always take advantage of loopholes, as long as we change our thoughts, we will be able to walk on the righteous path arranged by Master.
Some kidnapped practitioners held hunger strikes to protest the persecution. They suffered a lot. Eventually they got released because the evil didn't want to take responsibility for their deaths. I don't quite understand why practitioners go on hunger strike. The practitioners risk death; why don't they eat food and clarify the truth to the police? What is the goal of our cultivation? Don't we want to save people? Can’t we save people anywhere? Why do we have to do it outside of the detention center? Aren't the policemen pitiable beings? No matter how much we suffer, we are beings walking on a divine path. What is the fate of the policemen? We all came here for the Fa, but their fate is horrible. Don't we need to save them? We don't want to be kidnapped, but since the kidnapping has already happened, why don't we outwit them at their own game and turn bad things into good things? Why don't we take this chance to save them? I don't think we should try all means to be released. If we have great compassion, the detention center can only imprison humans and not divine beings.
Some fellow practitioners would say, “You don't know the situation. The policemen there are really evil. They don't listen to you at all. Of course we need to clarify the truth, but the more we speak, the more severe the torture is.” I would question their motivation for clarifying the truth: is it to get released or truly wanting to save the policemen with great compassion? Some practitioners did want to save the policemen, but their truth clarification was not effective. This reminds me of what happened to me at the beginning of my cultivation.
I saw how my mom clarified the truth to people. With a few sentences she can convince people to quit the Party. At that time I thought it was so easy—I talk better than her and I can clarify the truth, too. I tried to have my close classmate quit the Party. My words were almost identical to my mom's. But my classmate not only refused to quit the Party, but also tried to convince me to stop cultivating. I tried on a few other good friends of mine. They didn't accept my words, either. I gave them some booklets and most of them rejected me. One read the booklets, but refused to quit the Party.
I was confused. How can an uneducated old lady do better than me? I spent three months and read all the Fa teachings. I enlightened that there is a war between righteousness and evil—it is not a human affair. My words must have the power of the Fa if I want to disintegrate the evil that controls everyday people. Only by doing it this way can the person can be saved. It is just like what Master said,
“They will teach you these things and claim that by emitting qi one can cure illnesses. Isn’t this a joke? You have qi, and the other person has qi as well. How can you treat him with your qi? Perhaps his qi will overpower yours! There is no constraint between this qi and that qi.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
After I enlightened to it, I started to memorize Zhuan Falun. Within one year, I memorized the whole book and I dictated the book from memory once. My mom also memorized Zhuan Falun in one year. Later when we studied the Fa together, we recited it without the book. When I clarified the truth, it was completely different. Once I ran into my classmate, I said just a few sentences and she was happy to quit the Party. She also accepted the truth clarification materials and she no longer tried to convince me to quit cultivation.
Master told us explicitly, “Therefore, to really heal an illness and completely cure it requires supernormal abilities.”(Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I had a few car accidents before I started cultivation, but I never got injured. I saw the image of a Buddha during the accidents. I already wrote an article about it, so I won’t repeat the details. Master was protecting me even before I started cultivating. I deeply regret that I was lost in the human world for so long and obtained the Fa so late.
My purpose of writing this article is to validate the amazing power of Dafa and express my appreciation to Master for renewing my life. I also hope to share my understandings of this issue with fellow practitioners so that we can encourage each other to walk well on the path to our true selves. It seems that we have all kinds of difficulties, but we can completely disintegrate the old forces' arrangements, get out of the traps of the old forces, do what Master wants, and save more people.
Please point out if my understandings are incorrect.
