(Clearwisdom.net)
Since July 20th, 1999, practitioners in our area have stepped out one after another to clarify the truth to people. Through Fa study and sharing, we have also gradually matured. Some practitioners have come to the realisation that the act of saving sentient beings should not be geographically exclusive, wherever there are people who do not recognize the truth, those are the places we need to go. Additionally, we have already given out a lot of truth clarifying materials in our local area, so there is no need for all the practitioners to stay in the local area. After some inquiries, we found that there were few practitioners clarifying the truth in the nearby districts, so we decided to go there to clarify the truth.
Once a decision was made to go there, we started to prepare material. Since the people there had didn't know the facts of the persecution against Falun Dafa in depth, we selected materials that would be easily understood and accepted. We also started to select practitioners for the effort. We knew that the trip would be dangerous as we were not familiar with the area, and we were going as a group, therefore every practitioner who participated would have to be a good cultivator and let go of their attachments to a greater extent. We had to be responsible to the entire group and to Dafa.
1. "Could we go about it in a way that nothing would go wrong?"
When the decision was made to go ahead with the effort, some practitioners asked if we could go about it in such a way that nothing would go wrong. Then through sharing, we realised that first of all, we had to be clear as to why we were doing it, which was to help save the people there as the sentient beings there needed to be saved. However, there was no one to clarify the truth to them, and we were in a position to do so, not that we were trying to force ourselves upon them. Teacher said:
"The best way to deal with this situation is for Dafa disciples to walk their paths righteously, to try their best not to let the evil or the old forces take advantage of their gaps, and to solidify their righteous thoughts. The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things."(Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston).
If our hearts were truly pure, then the evil would not dare to interfere with us. Therefore we could be assured that nothing would go wrong, the key was whether our hearts were pure or not. Secondly, no one could provide an ironclad guarantee to another practitioner, because if we could, it would not be cultivation.
2. It was up to us to make the vital decision
The evil was at its most rampant as we were making our arrangements. A practitioner who wasn't particularly steadfast learned about our desire to clarify the truth and decided not to participate. At the same time, other practitioners suggested that it was not the optimal time to go. Since the materials and participants were all ready to go, we took some time to consider everyone's opinion before we made our final decision. Practitioners who had signed up for the project shared their understandings, and suggested that practitioners who felt differently need not participate. In the end, the practitioner who initially didn't want to go, discovered his attachment, and decided to participate in the end.
3. Other interferences
On the eve before we set out on our trip, a practitioner dreamed that he and another practitioner were arrested while clarifying the truth on the trip. When he woke up, he immediately sent forth righteous thoughts. He realised that either it was interference or it was the old forces' arrangement. But regardless of what it was, it shouldn't be acknowledged. Teacher is looking after everything, and practitioners are writing history and creating the future. Teacher said,
"As a practitioner, your path of life will be changed from now on. My fashen will rearrange it for you.."(Zhuan Falun)
The practitioner also found his own attachments and improved himself further. There was more interference, but we eliminated it one after another.
When our moral character [mind nature] reached the standard, everything was smooth sailing. Very often, it was just like what Teacher said:
"Have righteous thoughts! However you think something should be handled, just go ahead and do it, and when you run into problems you will naturally know how to solve them. If your righteous thoughts are strong, everything will work out smoothly and it's guaranteed you'll do well. Why do I tell you to do things this way? It seems passive, right? But that's not true, because the side of you that's been successfully cultivated knows everything, and no matter how you do it, it will work, and no matter how you do those things you'll be able to do them well. So you just need to have the thought. When you know what to do, just go ahead and do it, and while you do it your wisdom will continually come forth, because at that time the side of you that's been successfully cultivated will fuse together with the side of you here. That's a God, who's omnipotent! So of course a small issue will be resolved in no time, and your wisdom will come forth--it's different then! And if you get stuck Master will give you wisdom (laughs)." (Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference)
When we came back, all of our attachments that surfaced had to be eliminated in a timely fashion. Although we had achieved some measure of success, we could not harbour such attachments as anxiety, fear, zealotry, or the mentality to show off. At the same time, we had to cultivate our speech, and not disclose our plans casually.
Subsequently, we have travelled to the surrounding districts several times more to clarify the truth, there were some problems, but most of the time things went quite smoothly.
1. Teacher is compassionately looking after us and giving us hints.
On our first trip there, a practitioner whose third eye was open, saw en route that Teacher was looking at us and smiling approvingly. When some practitioners and I chatted idly with the driver, a non-practitioner, Teacher's face looked saddened. Once when we were making truth clarifying materials, a practitioner saw Teacher's law bodies and heavenly guards clearing the way for us. Another time, while sending forth righteous thoughts before we started working, a practitioner saw Gods in heaven praising us for coming to such distant places to clarify the truth simply on our faith in Dafa. It was remarkable, they said. Also, the practitioner saw when our righteous thoughts sent forth, it was really like as Teacher wrote:
"...
The thunder of the Gods explodes, dispersing the dark, dense haze
..."(The Heavens Become Clear Again, Hong Yin collection of Poems)
2. Unselfish and selfless, and displaying the collective power of the Fa as one body.
When we clarified the truth, everyone first thought of others, and held strong righteous thoughts throughout to eliminate interferences and all the evil that tried to break us up as one body. Practitioners who finished the work early sat down to send forth righteous thoughts for those who were still in the process of finishing their work. When we made decisions as a whole, we shared and discussed together rather than relying on any one's idea. In practice, we found that when we could share our understandings harmoniously, the decision was usually correct, whereas decisions made by any one individual usually were prone to problems.
Although we have gone outside of our area to clarify the truth, it is not something "extra" but what we should do. Wherever we go, we find the people very friendly and approachable, some practitioners even have the feeling of deja vu that they had been there before, as nothing feels strange. Perhaps this is because we had made a wish once in history, and the people here need us to save them!