(Minghui.org) It has been two years since I joined the RTC writing group and took charge of producing manuscripts that frontline RTC platform callers can use to talk to listeners over the phone.
As the coordinator of the writing group, I liaise with fellow practitioners outside of our group while writing manuscripts of my own. During the first year, I experienced much friction while working with fellow practitioners. After looking inward and with many rounds of frank discussion, we stopped dodging and pushing work away and started voluntarily shouldering burdens for each other. From arguing whenever we faced problems to accommodating each other, we have continued to move forward under Master’s compassionate care.
After two years of effort, our writing group finally produced a package to aid callers in persuading people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. We hope this package can serve as a useful resource for fellow RTC platform practitioners and help them manage different types of people they may encounter during calls.
Throughout the drafting process, we considered the varying personalities and backgrounds of listeners, including how much they might believe the lies spread by the CCP, before carefully crafting our words to make our statements more convincing for all. For those who have hidden reservations, we thought of ways to open their minds and change their hearts, while encouraging them to remain on the call for the longest extent possible. Even the smallest details were subject to much scrutiny and debate. Key topics such as organ harvesting and the Chinese Communist Party’s murderous history exacerbated our interpersonal conflicts so badly that many of us nearly quit the project. It was as if our inability to overcome these tests of our character would impact our efforts to produce an effective manuscript. While the path to overcome each test was painful, the sweet joy of success is indescribable.
1. Diversity in This World
One of the biggest takeaways I learned from this coordination was the ability to find my own gaps through communication and cooperation with different practitioners. Master said,
“The reason is, there are different beings, different sentient beings, and different gods inside the cosmos, and they can’t all be changed into the same thing. You can’t do that, and the cosmos wouldn’t prosper.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around The World Volume III)
The words and actions of fellow practitioners allowed me to realize the different manifestations of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at different levels, and the great wellspring of diversity from which the Creator created life.
2. Looking Inward When Facing Conflicts
After establishing a set of routine arrangements with fellow practitioners outside of our writing group, our project was able to proceed smoothly with minimal effort. Reduced coordination work meant I had more time to write manuscripts, but I found myself facing new setbacks. Despite my self-perceived confidence in writing articles, I found it challenging to produce a good manuscript suitable for phone calls. Although I exhausted all efforts in researching and writing my manuscripts, fellow practitioners remained critical of my work. Some critiqued the shallowness of my written content, others complained that the tone was too formal, while others complained the article was so long they could never finish reading it over phone.
With each critique, my combative spirit, face-saving mentality, and disdain for fellow practitioners would increase. Once during a meeting, a fellow practitioner spoke very rudely to me. Although I remained quiet, this scene kept resurfacing in my mind after the meeting, making me feel aggrieved. I even thought of ways to refute her should the situation arise again. It was difficult for me to write in this state of mind, so I took a break, opened my copy of Essentials for Further Advancement, and coincidentally read a phrase,
“He is on a Providential mission in this world as well as in heaven above. He has bountiful virtue and also maintains a benevolent heart; he is full of great aspirations while minding minor details.” (“Sage,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
The injustice in my heart vanished and I found myself able to face everything calmly again. Master’s teaching helped me understand the insignificance of this conflict when viewed in context of the great destiny awaiting us.
After examining myself, I discovered that my academic achievements had caused me to view myself highly. I had originally believed this to be a good thing, allowing me to better resist any influence from ordinary human society, yet this mindset correspondingly produced a strong desire for fame. I wanted to show off my abilities, yet feared others would look down on me. I also shied away from my own shortcomings. My attachment to fame had caused me to feel angry and aggrieved. Even when my words sounded reasonable, they still stemmed from my attempts to cover up my attachments and my lack of compassion, a vicious cycle of self-deception.
Facing criticism from fellow practitioners, I made up my mind. On this narrow cultivation path, I resolved to put aside any attachment to reputation and saving face and tackle the worst parts of myself head on. In the process of doing so, I found my capacity for tolerance increasing, allowing me to face criticism with a calm mind. When it was valid I would assess and correct myself. When it was invalid I would treat it as part of the process of overcoming my attachments. My improved character began to reflect in my daily life. A colleague once told me he admired my ability to remain calm in the face of our boss’s bad temper and verbal abuse. I knew this was arranged by Master to encourage me.
I also realized that my jealousy had contributed to disputes with fellow practitioners. Feelings of jealousy had led me to turn a blind eye to fellow practitioners’ merits. Although practitioners had given me a lot of help, I still focused on their shortcomings, which generated feelings of resentment. Jealous feelings kept recurring despite my efforts to eliminate them, until it seemed like I could never get rid of it. Each time I detected jealousy during conflict, I would remind myself to learn and pay attention next time. I thought there was no need to share this with fellow practitioners, but on further reflection, I found my attachments also stemmed from feelings of dissatisfaction with fellow practitioners, a fear of having my shortcomings brought to light, and a desire to avoid conflicts and live an easy life.
During a subsequent sharing, I confessed my failings to a fellow practitioner and admitted I owed her my gratitude, which I had withheld because of jealousy. It was just a simple sentence, yet as soon as the words left my mouth, I felt Master removing a lot of bad substances from my body. Since then, I have been largely free of feelings of jealousy and my heart is full of light and joy. In cultivation, understanding must be paired with action to achieve true improvement.
3. How I Persuaded My Father to Quit the CCP
When the time came, compassionate Master arranged for my father, who had refused to listen to the truth or withdraw from the CCP for many years, to visit me in Japan. Previously, in my eagerness to save my father, I had counseled him in an anxious and unkind tone. My efforts had hurt my father. He resisted my attempts to convince him to withdraw from the CCP, and even started avoiding me when I brought up topics related to the Party.
I had now mastered many truth-clarification techniques and learned from the successes of fellow practitioners who clarified the truth on the RTC platform. As the distance between my father and me remained, I knew I could not clarify the truth to him straightaway. The first days after his arrival, I stuck to our regular conversation topics and took him to various attractions, hoping he would feel my warmth and affection for him. At the same time, I intentionally slipped into our conversation some topics that are generally accepted by the populace for discussion, such as China’s poor economic situation and the severe domestic air pollution. No matter what topics we chose to cover, I could always find an angle to discuss facts relevant to truth clarification. The Fa created everything in this world, and so to a correspondingly large extent, the scope of our truth clarification encompasses all aspects of people’s lives.
The night before my father was due to return to China, I begged Master for a chance to clarify the truth to him. Suddenly, a huge and bright galaxy appeared in my mind. I knew this was the corresponding celestial body linked to my father, and not only was I trying to save the person before my eyes, but also the sentient beings living within this corresponding celestial body.
That night, my father brought up the topic of my earlier truth-clarification attempts on his own. “Although we have different political stances, we are still family,” he said. “I have feelings of patriotism toward our country, and I hope you will not try to change that.” I knew then that my opportunity had come. “Everything that occurred in past was my fault. I know you joined the CCP to give us a better life, and you see the membership like a job. It does not erase the fact that you have a kind heart.” I cried as I spoke, and my father also shed tears. I seized my chance to further explain that Falun Dafa practitioners did not involve ourselves in politics, and we viewed patriotism as a good thing. Our only wish was to save innocents from being associated with bad entities. I proposed a pseudonym that my father could use and told him, “I just wish for your continued safety.” My father finally agreed to withdraw from the CCP.
Looking back, the process I used to persuade my father to quit is commonly employed on the RTC platform. Yet these simple words are critical in swaying a person toward salvation or death. Many of my friends and relatives were saved with aid from the RTC platform, allowing me to witness the power of Dafa.
(2024 RTC Platform Annual Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
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