(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. I never truly realized that practitioners carry the mission to save sentient beings until 2015 when I started talking to people about Falun Dafa at tourist attractions. In 2020, the world was hit by the COVID pandemic. We switched to clarifying the truth to Chinese people through phone calls.
Just as I was feeling lost and unsure of what to do because tourist sights were closed due to COVID, a practitioner said that a new project was launched to help us clarify the truth through software. We just had to click a few buttons without even saying anything. I was very excited, and I joined the project’s first ever training session. Now almost three years have passed. I’ve experienced the state of wanting to quit but I struggled to carry on. I now know this is what I will continue to work on.
The software was developed in a short span of time to help practitioners clarify the truth. Regardless of where we were from and whether we could read or speak Chinese, we could tell people about Falun Dafa by playing sequences of audio recordings while making Internet calls.
All of us who attended the training session were divided into groups. None of us were adept at using the software back then, so we all tried to familiarize ourselves with the different recordings while making calls. Initially, I was very confident in using the software — only to find myself frustrated weeks later when I failed to persuade even one person to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
Every night I spent two hours making calls, after which there would be a sharing session among the participating practitioners. As I listened to the others talk about how they helped Chinese quit the CCP, I felt the sting of losing face and I felt frustrated. I felt that I had been wasting time and all my efforts were in vain. I lost confidence in saving people through making Internet calls and wanted to do something easier. I felt conflicted, however. It was a platform for us to save sentient beings, and I could interact with people from mainland China through the phone calls. Should I avoid the challenges? I questioned myself if my urge to leave was due to the shortfall in my xinxing and my failure to save people.
Master said, “The Daoist sage Lao-tzu once wrote that, “The Way may be spoken of, but it is not a common way.” The Way wouldn’t be precious if it were something so readily available it could be found in the streets, and anyone could take it up and succeed at it.” (The Eighth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I knew that cultivation was not meant to be easy; we need to improve ourselves despite the challenges in order to establish our mighty virtue. Thanks to the sharing by other practitioners involved in the project, I realized that while we clarify the truth to people through the calls, we are also cultivating ourselves by walking the path arranged by Master, and catching up with the process of Fa–Rectification. Many of my attachments surfaced when I made the calls. I was impatient and full of complaints. I was afraid of losing face and did not want to be rejected. I could sense my jealousy and my desire for compliments. I would only be able to eliminate these attachments by diligently studying and assimilating myself to the Fa.
I told a fellow practitioner that I usually did the five sets of exercises in the morning before going to work, and I would read one chapter of Zhuan Falun using chunks of time throughout the day. The practitioner pointed out that I should study the Fa using my best time of the day, and I should finish reading one chapter without stopping. I said that morning time is the best time of the day for me. The practitioner replied that I should then study the Fa in the morning, and that I could do more of the exercises when I had time and do less if I had a tight schedule. The practitioner also told me to read the Fa slowly, word by word, to ensure the quality of my Fa study. The practitioner said that if I read the Fa fast, it would be difficult to gain a deep understanding, and would be disrespectful of the Fa. Following the practitioner’s suggestions, I changed my way of studying the Fa, and now I always study the Fa in the morning when I feel most clear-headed.
I also joined the group Fa study and exercise sessions on the RTC platform. We send righteous thoughts on the platform and make Internet calls together. We also host sharing sessions on the online platform. I have gradually changed and my xinxing has improved. When making the calls, I can now smoothly play sequences of audio recordings, and it sounds as if I am telling the truth to people myself.
My calls reach people from all walks of life in China. Some swear at me, some ask me for money, some say they’ll call the police to locate me, some say they want to immigrate overseas, some accuse me of being unpatriotic. Over time, I was no longer hurt by their words, and I was able to reach more and more people. Those who picked up my calls listened longer as well. I also talked to people who were willing to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I now deeply feel that the group Fa study and group exercises are a cultivation form left to us by Master to help us cultivate in a group, learn from each other and help each other to be more diligent.
One needs to have firm righteous thoughts and a strong wish to save people to be able to persist in making Internet calls every day. Interference often occurs. Busy work schedules and tedious housework can all be hindrances. As ordinary as they might appear to be, these are all interference preventing us from focusing on saving people and cause us to have no time to make calls.
Every day, other practitioners and I log into the RTC platform on time to send righteous thoughts first, and then we recite On Dafa together before we begin making calls. When we aren’t able to reach many people or when people quickly hang up, we adjust ourselves before continuing. We listen as other practitioners make calls, or we send righteous thoughts, or read the Fa to strengthen our righteous thoughts. The pickup rate usually increases.
Other practitioners often say, “We need to persist in making calls to clarify the truth to people. Regardless of whether they quit the CCP and affiliated organizations, so long as they hear the truth, we are saving them.” We formed one body on the RTC platform to save people. For those Chinese people who listened to the audio recordings we play, yet haven’t quit the CCP, their phone numbers are passed to the group of practitioners who phone China. We help pave the way so they can understand the truth.
I have been persistent in making the calls, and I cherish the opportunity Master gave me to improve my cultivation and to save people. Every call we make helps eliminate the factors that interfere with the salvation of sentient beings and deters the evil. While persevering in making calls in the past three years, we witnessed each others’ xinxing improving rapidly, and our efforts in saving people have intensified.
The phone calling software was developed to help practitioners clarify the truth to Chinese people with the aid of pre-recorded audios that can be played during the calls. Many practitioners are able to clarify the truth by speaking on the call themselves over time. I have become very familiar with the content of the truth-clarification recordings. At the beginning of the year, I was also able to clarify the truth by speaking over the phone after participating in the training with a few other practitioners. While making the calls, I often felt Master’s help, which gave me wisdom and helped me to tell the truth clearly.
Once, I first played truth clarification recordings to a Chinese person using the call making software, and then I switched to speaking on the call myself. He said, “You should help me go overseas.” I said, “Going overseas is our right, yet the CCP won’t let Chinese people go abroad. I just read a piece of news that someone was at Shanghai Pudong Airport and his passport was cut during the security check, preventing him from going abroad. People in other countries are free to travel overseas, and no one restricts them. So why does the CCP restrict Chinese people? The CCP also blocks and censors information on the Internet. Chinese are not allowed to surf the Internet freely. Why does it do this?”
I told him, “The CCP is afraid to let the Chinese know how many truths it has covered up, how many lies it has told, and how many Chinese people have been killed. This is why the CCP is restricting our access to the Internet in China.” I told him the truth about the June 4th incident, the history of the Korean War and then I told him about the persecution of Falun Dafa. I told him that the Tiananmen self-immolation in 2001 was fake for the purpose of inciting hatred toward Falun Gong with slanderous propaganda. I told him that between 1992 when people in Changchun first started practicing Falun Dafa and 1999, nearly 100 million people in China practiced Falun Dafa, which helped improve people’s morality and health. I told him that Falun Dafa is practiced in more than 100 countries around the world, and has received more than 5,000 awards from various countries. I asked him to think for himself whether it is good or not. He finally understood and was saved.
After I learned what to say during the call without playing the recordings, I faced the choice of whether to continue in the project of playing truth clarification recordings or join the practitioners who speak on the call. Should I make more phone calls to people to persuade them to quit the CCP, or should I stay and help new practitioners learn to use the software? I felt conflicted. While I really wanted to persuade more people to quit the CCP every day and accomplish my mission of saving people, I felt that if more practitioners could participate in using the call-making software to clarify the truth to the Chinese, our efforts in saving people would multiply.
A fellow practitioner told me that our responsibility and mission is to bring in more practitioners to the project and help them use the software. I felt deeply that it indeed is my responsibility. Another practitioner told me a story about a cultivator digging a cave. The cultivator was digging a hole in the mountain for himself to stay in and cultivate inside. When he was about to finish, another cultivator came and said, “Your cave looks really good. Can I have it?” The cultivator agreed. The cultivator began to dig another hole elsewhere. When he was about to finish again, another cultivator came and said that the hole looked very good and asked if he could have it. The cultivator agreed again.
Just like that, the cultivator dug the third, the fourth, and the fifth hole, and ended up giving all the holes he dug to others. Finally, one day, he was old and had no more strength to dig another hole. His master brought him to the heavenly realms. Thanks to the story, I realized that we should think of others and try to form one body. We should cultivate ourselves to become someone who can always put others first. In the end, I chose to stay in the project to help those who just joined familiarize themselves with the software, so that they can clarify the truth on their own and save more people.
Reflecting on my cultivation in the past three years, I’m infinitely grateful to Master for his arrangements. Through the project, Master created a cultivation environment for us. I was able to understand the Fa more, and my xinxing was also elevated during the process.
Under Master’s guidance, with the coordinated help from practitioners who were in charge of tech support, text editing, voice editing, and recording, everyone worked hard together to make this precious life-saving platform possible.
I am grateful to Master for his merciful salvation. I must fulfill my vows and live up to Master’s great compassion.
My personal understanding is limited. If there is anything that is not in line with the Fa, fellow practitioners please help to correct me.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2022 Singapore Fa Conference)