(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Start Dafa Cultivation with Unwavering Faith
I began cultivating Falun Dafa in the spring of 1998. Little by little, I realized that I must treat everyone and everything with the standard of a cultivator. Only by doing so, can one be called a true cultivator - one who truly follows the path arranged by Teacher. If one merely does the exercises and studies the Fa, it is not true cultivation. Without walking the path Teacher has arranged for us, one won't receive anything and we won't change.
In the summer of 1998, for several days my family reprimanded and beat me because I insisted on practicing Falun Dafa. At 20 years old, and unable to bear the treatment, I went to live with an assistant. When my father came to see me, the assistant enthusiastically received him. After some explanations by the assistant and the station head, I went back home with my father and some Dafa books. After that I was allowed to read Dafa books at home. I changed my indolent habits and helped my parents with the housework. They began to understand me better.
I returned to the university in September when classes started. I was very happy to join the group exercises. I then learned that the station head said that I had gone astray. Many practitioners avoided me. Only the assistant still believed in me and continued to help me. I felt very sad, but I remembered Teacher's words:
"Regardless of who or what social forces tell you not to practice cultivation anymore, you then give up your cultivation. Do you practice cultivation for them? Will they give you Righteous Attainment? Isn't your inclination toward them blind faith? This, in fact, is true ignorance. Besides, we are not a qigong practice, but Buddha Fa cultivation practice. Isn't any form of pressure a test to see whether your faith in the Buddha Fa is fundamentally strong? If you still are not fundamentally resolute in the Fa, everything else is out of the question." ("For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I memorized the book Zhuan Falun during the following three months. As I spent more time with my classmates, I clarified the truth to them and loaned them many Dafa books. I am very gratified by the arrangements made by Teacher. If I had not memorized Zhuan Falun, I would have had great difficulty in getting through the tribulations during that time.
2. Validating Dafa and Saving Sentient Beings While Doing Anti-persecution Activities
The persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999. When we went to the provincial government to appeal, we were arrested and taken to a stadium. A policeman scolded us for more than half the day.
In the spring of 2000, I went to appeal for the second time and was again arrested, but this time I was sent to jail. I was imprisoned in a cell with a woman who was over seventy years old. She had gone to Tiananmen Square to do the exercises, had been arrested, and had been brought back to the jail. Her family found some witch doctors to visit her in the jail. She said sternly, "I went to appeal to our government to tell them the truth. How can the government let such people come here to see me?" After listening to her, the officials brought her back and questioned her. They listened to her attentively. She told them that she previously had serious illnesses and was healed after practicing Dafa. She told them that if they didn't believe her, they could ask anyone who knew her. At that moment, I knew that she was walking on the path arranged by Teacher. She showed them the righteousness of Dafa and shattered their plot.
In the autumn of 2000, I went to appeal and was arrested for the third time. The government officials and other related departments knew that Dafa was righteous and that we were all good people. To prevent them from committing crimes, I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. With Teacher's protection, I walked out of the forced labor camp with dignity. Through my anti-persecution activities, my family saw the power of the truth and supported what I was doing. After I returned home, my family stopped worrying about me. I was able to live a normal life and go to work. Of course, I was also doing exercises and studying the Fa as usual.
After 2001, I started to distribute a great amount of truth clarifying materials widely to let people know about the goodness of Falun Dafa and the horror of the persecution. During that year, I clarified the truth to my new colleagues and friends. More than one hundred people then knew that Dafa was good and that the so-called self-immolation had been staged. They actively protected Dafa materials and posters. I knew many sentient beings had been saved. I know now that Teacher arranged it all. If I hadn't fought against the persecution and had stayed in the forced labor camp, I couldn't have saved sentient beings. I would have been walking on a path arranged by the old forces.
Minghui Weekly has reported many cases of Dafa practitioners being persecuted. Because of the ruthless means of persecution, at one time I couldn't bear to read those articles. But I remembered that Teacher taught us the importance of cherishing others. I thus abandoned my own notions and started to read such articles seriously. I thought of how to help people after reading about them. I gradually realized that the helpless feeling I had was the feeling of the old cosmos' lives. I couldn't remain helpless. Instead, I thought of how to actively solve problems.
3. Using the Power of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to Purify Myself and do a Better Job of Clarifying the Truth
In early 2005, both my husband and I declared our withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I felt that the effect of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was so strong that we didn't need to read them any longer. We came to realize that the CCP has done many bad things and we had been deceived by it for so many years. Looking back, the things we thought were correct were despicable lies. I felt I had been cheated and fooled. I felt a great pain and didn't want to face it. Then I remembered what Teacher said:
"The Nine Commentaries aim to save all beings whose minds have been poisoned by the evil, which includes members of the malevolent CCP, those in the CCP's most powerful organs, and the common people. The goal is to help beings in all realms see clearly the factors behind the malevolent CCP." ("We Are Not 'Getting Political'")
We began reading the Nine Commentaries seriously. In order to be able to clarify the truth better, I kept reading the book again and again. Now I am more competent at telling people about the Nine Commentaries. The effect is even better than before. The most important things are:
We can now see the true face of the CCP and find our own source of bad thoughts. When we see its hideous nature, we naturally will not want to retain any of its things. Things like indifference to the lives of others, keeping quiet out of fear when hearing the truth, or being indifferent to moral principles.
We naturally eradicate the evil with all our strength when we send forth righteous thoughts.
When we talk about withdrawing from the CCP, we aren't perplexed. Our thoughts are to save sentient beings and to shake off the evil possession. Through reading the Nine Commentaries, I fully realized the significance of renouncing the CCP. My sense of responsibility told me to do it actively, to expose the true nature of the CCP, to help those people who had been deceived not be taken in again, and to restore people's morals and consciences.
Regrettably, only a handful of people had withdrawn from the CCP even though I talked to so many. Even my own mother-in-law still hasn't withdrawn. My mother-in-law taught CCP theory in a high school. She had heard the facts and read the Nine Commentaries. But she was so afraid of the savageness of the CCP that she didn't dare to withdraw her membership, even using an alias. Later, the classmate of one of her friends was arrested and accused of spying, and her friend was implicated and arrested as well, based on a video recording made by the CCP. My mother-in-law is a person who pursues fame and money. She couldn't stand the sight of my husband and I. She always tried to dissuade me from my beliefs and made negative comments about the existence of higher beings. She only promoted fame and money. I tried to help her understand the consequences of her actions by using various angles. Even with Teacher's wisdom being bestowed upon me, she did not change her opinion. I feel sad that she remains unwilling to withdraw from the CCP. Teacher says in Zhuan Falun:
"There are all kinds of xinxing. One enlightens to however high one can; whoever enlightens obtains."
My father-in-law is a person who embraces ideals. After he read the Nine Commentaries, and after I talked to him, he agreed to renounce his CCP affiliation. He knew about the savageness of the CCP. I could feel that he believes in the power of truth and of Dafa.
After publication of the Nine Commentaries in 2005, I didn't do very much because I had little spare time available, even though I wanted to do more, just like Teacher says in Zhuan Falun:
"With any social status, one can still be a good person. There are different conflicts for people of different social classes. The upper-class society has conflicts of the upper-class society, all of which can be properly dealt with. In any social class, one can be a good person and care less for different desires or attachments. One can be a good person at different strata, and one can practice cultivation at one's own social level."
I utilized the convenience of my job to do whatever I could. When I learned about a speech containing language destructive to Dafa, I persuaded the author to delete that portion. It would not only save her, but also prevent misunderstandings that would leave a bad impression of Dafa. During the period of the so-called "maintaining the advancement of the CCP," everyone was required to write a repentance statement. I wrote about the Nine Commentaries and my withdrawal from the CCP. I deleted any references to working with the CCP from my resume to prevent others from being poisoned. I knew there were other things I could do better and I would work harder. I would not disappoint Teacher.
This past summer I went home to visit my parents. My father told me that someone had distributed the Nine Commentaries in the village and no one had reported it to the authorities. Each recipient took the book home and kept it in a safe place. The villagers are kind people. There are two Dafa practitioners who own a business in the village. They don't defraud others and always help others without asking to be rewarded. They told the villagers to thank Falun Gong and that it was Teacher who had taught them to be good people. Many of the good deeds they performed became the favorite tales of the villagers.
My mother was once strongly against Dafa. She had even said bad things about Dafa and Teacher. During my difficult time, she still intended to send me to a forced labor camp. Because of my relatives continuing to clarify the truth to her and the favorable comments made by the local people, she stopped opposing Dafa and later wanted to study Dafa. When I went home and found that she had an intestinal obstruction and needed an operation that would cost ten thousand yuan, I convinced her to recite, "Falun Dafa is good." After reciting it, she was healed that same day. She had obtained such a great favor from Dafa. We thank our compassionate Teacher!
Many areas were flooded in the regions surrounding our village, but my hometown had good weather for crops. It seems Dafa has brought good fortune to the kind people in our village.