(Minghui.org) The RTC platform is a website where Falun Dafa practitioners work together to call people in China to tell them about Falun Dafa and the persecution, and to encourage them to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliates.
After I began to volunteer my time on the platform, I found many attachments but also formed some attachments without realizing it.
I believed that certain people are more receptive when we talk to them and that certain tools increase pick-up rates. These notions became a type of material substance in my dimensional field and affected the outcome of my phone calls.
I found that I was attached to results, which led to my looking at things from an everyday person’s perspective. These human notions hindered my efforts in making the calls, and I needed to get rid of them.
Another practitioner recently shared her experience on the platform and concluded that we needed to look at things from a higher perspective, which prompted me to examine myself.
One particular case I worked on required calling high-ranking officials in China.
The first person I called was a city court president. As soon as I dialed the number, a message notified me that the number was no longer in use. I didn’t dial the next number on my list right away and instead looked within. I found that I had subconsciously formed a concept that these high-ranking officials were hard to reach and wouldn't answer the phone anyway.
When I noticed this thought was not right, I quickly eliminated it. I changed my thinking: It doesn’t matter what position these people are in, they are here to hear about Dafa. People in high positions especially needed to hear the truth.
I changed my attitude and state of mind before dialing the second number. It was a procuratorate director. He picked up right away but didn’t listen for long. I rung him for a second and third time but got the same results.
I thought that maybe this being was from a high level and wouldn’t listen to me because I wasn’t at the right level to help save him; maybe he had more old forces’ factors controlling him in other dimensions, making it harder to reach his knowing side, or maybe I lacked compassion and needed to improve my xinxing.
When another list of phone numbers came my way, I saw they were all cell phone numbers. A negative thought immediate arose in me: Cell phones have a lower pick-up rate. Even if people do pick up, I thought, they usually don’t listen for long compared to those using landlines.
These were conclusions I had drawn based on previous experience and sharing with other practitioners. I knew that I shouldn’t have such thoughts, but they kept popping up.
I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate them as I dialed the numbers. The first few calls weren’t answered, but gradually people picked up the phone and listened. The duration of the calls increased from seconds to minutes. Eventually, the person on the other end listened for the entire time and asked me questions, which I happily answered.
I believe that the improvement in my calls was because I constantly looked inward and sent righteous thoughts to clear out my dimensional field. This, in turn, helped the other person become more receptive to my call because their knowing side knew that I was truly calling to save them.
I recently realized that if I don’t take negative thought seriously, if I don't suppress or eliminate them when they first appear, the old forces will latch on to the notion and further complicate problems by adding other attachments into the mix.
The thoughts start off like tiny stones, appearing small and insignificant. But if left unchecked, they can grow to the size of a rock, and then a mountain. By the time I realize it, it's already so big that it poses such a huge challenge for me to overcome.
This in turn affects our work in trying to help Master save people.
Master said,
“...your each and every thought is determining the survival of many beings; how you handle things, and whether you do them well or not, is deciding the future existence of those beings. Could they possibly not be concerned, then?” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
One time when I was assigned to make phone calls to people in Beijing, I dialed all the numbers, but only one person picked up. And they only listened for ten seconds.
I wasn't able to talk to anyone all morning. I felt defeated and lost my motivation to continue. I knew that my state wasn't right and examined myself. I found my attachment to pursuing results.
I used to remind myself that “one gains naturally without pursuit.” (Fa-Teaching Given at the Conference in Sydney, 2018 translation)
I felt that I had cultivated well in this area and had already gotten rid of this attachment. However, this situation made me realize that I had not completely gotten rid of it.
Why did I feel defeated? I dug deeper and found my attachment to fame and reputation.
This was my record low when it came to pick-up rates. If I reported this back to the coordinators on the RTC platform, it wouldn’t make me look so good. Such a strong attachment to pride should definitely be relinquished.
I understood that Master had arranged for me to dial this list of numbers to push me to improve in my cultivation. Wasn’t this a good thing? When I turned my thinking around, my dimensional field opened up, and I felt light and great.
I took my assignment the next day with a calm and clear mind, free of attachments. When I made phone calls, the pick-up rate was high, and the average listening time was my personal record. I knew that Master was strengthening and encouraging me.
Master said,
“Whatever you experience during your cultivation—whether good or bad—is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating.” (“To the Chicago Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
I’ve also learned from my experience of making phone calls to China that all problems we run into in cultivation need to be solved by us.
I was once assigned to making phone calls to Liaoning Province. The first day I rang the phone numbers, I got a busy signal for almost every one I dialed.
Something was wrong. I looked within and found my attachment to comfort.
I had just returned from a Fa conference in Taiwan and was tired. I wanted to relax a little. I hadn't been going outside to do the exercises since I got back, nor did I join our Fa-study group.
Since quite a few calls didn’t go through, I had negative thoughts that the next one wouldn’t either. When I found these attachments, I tried my best to suppress them and get rid of them. I also sent forth righteous thoughts to cleanse my dimensional field.
When I dialed the last number on the list, the person on the other end picked up the phone and listened for about four minutes.
The next day, the first few numbers I dialed were not picked up, so I looked within and sent righteous thoughts, just as I did a day before. My next call was picked up, but the person only listened for about 15 seconds.
I was confused. I already examined myself and sent righteous thoughts. Why didn’t it work?
When I finally calmed down, I realized the solution to my problem the day before might not be the same to my problems for that day. How could the answer to all of the tests that Master gives me be the same?
Master wants us to enlighten to different things each time. The answers to our tests at each level are different because each level has its own Fa and requirements.
The more I compared my results to before, the fewer people picked up my calls. I sometimes also compared my results with those of other practitioners, which often led to envy. I wished that I could have high pick-up rates and longer listening times like they did.
I also realized that envy could easily turn to jealousy.
When I first joined the RTC platform, I was a blank canvas, free of notions and attachments, and my thoughts to save people were pure. I could just pick up a script and talk to people. But I started to form selfish notions after a while, and my thoughts were no longer pure.
Now, when I sit down to make phone calls, I try to go back to the state that I had when I first started–not to think about the results or how experienced I am. Instead, I try to make every call with a pure heart, take each call seriously, and cherish each sentient being I talk to.
I think this is the state of “...always cultivating as if you were just starting...” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
In the process of making phone calls to China, facing sentient beings and their different reactions exposed my human notions and attachments. Thus, it has offered me the opportunity to get rid of them and elevate on my path of cultivation.
Only when we improve our xinxing can we make breakthroughs and help Master to save more sentient beings.