(Clearwisdom.net) Due to the many radio stations near the military base where I serve, cell phone reception is very poor. Thus I rarely clarify the truth to China using my cell phone at the base. For a long time, I accepted the situation as a matter of fact, as part of my cultivation in the military environment. There is no group study or practice site at the base, so I was in the state of cultivating alone for long time. Whenever I had a chance to go to the practice site on my days off, I would usually refuse the kind offers from fellow practitioners by saying, "You are not in the military so you wouldn't know the situation there." So I rarely participated in the local group Dafa activities. In fact, I truly believed that military personnel should be like that and treated such isolation as a natural thing.
When I first read the poem, "Don't Be Sad," I thought it was written for practitioners imprisoned in China. But, after repeatedly re-reading it, I realized that this was written for all practitioners in the world. Wasn't I also in a relatively isolated environment? My understanding is that the old forces had more or less made arrangements for practitioners' lives. If a practitioner is not aligning himself or herself with the Fa or does not have enough righteous thoughts, he or she is likely to follow the old force's arrangement and even believe that everything that occurs is as it should be, based on false appearances.
Using myself as an example, I had spent four years in a military school and gone through the strictest military training. On one hand, it gave me a strong disposition and ability to do things independently, and on the other hand, it also planted many degenerated notions in me. Within a few months of obtaining the Fa, my strong disposition that was forged while being in the military helped me to quickly join other practitioners in validating the Fa. However, over time, this character instead became a hindrance. In fact, my real motive in clarifying the truth was that I was trying to identify those people who were against Dafa. When the person started to curse hysterically, I would laugh at this person and think that only with such behavior can one be categorized as an evildoer. As a result, I was only shocking the evil, but not able to achieve the goal of saving sentient beings. People often hung up the phone after I spoke only a couple of sentences. From the perspective of simply exposing the evil, the result was limited.
Other practitioners from the practice site often told me that they hoped I would establish a cultivate environment in the military. Yet I was not able to make any breakthroughs in this regard since starting the practice of Falun Gong. The people to whom I clarify the truth are mostly my subordinates. Truth-clarification to my commanding officers is quite limited. In the past, other practitioners encouraged me to go to Fa conferences overseas, but I always declined due to the rule that lower ranking officers cannot go abroad on non-official business. Then the New York Fa conference came along and this time I decided to go.
I felt I needed to face my attachment to the notion of absolute obedience in the military. So I applied to travel abroad and used the opportunity to clarify the truth to my commanding officers. In the process of applying to travel overseas, my request was rejected three times. I wanted to give up several times but in the end, I held one thought: I am validating the Fa. I then sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the unrighteous elements in myself. As a result, my request was granted. I saw our benevolent Teacher during the Fa conference. When I listened to Teacher speak, I felt that I was a most fortunate being.
During the conference, I exchanged experiences with practitioners from all over the world. Through this I was able to identify my own shortcomings more clearly and also realized that cultivation through group study, exercise, and experience sharing is the fastest way to identify one's attachments and shortcomings. I realized that my mistakes in clarifying the truth in the past were due to lack of compassion.
"But as Dafa disciples, you cultivate kindness, so you should be compassionate. Whether they're receptive or not, you should always treat them with compassion, and you can't get competitive with ordinary people or look at sentient beings with human thoughts. Just do whatever you should with compassion, regardless of whether they're receptive or not. Compassion comes from a person's cultivation, and it's not something that's acted out; it comes from deep inside, and it's not something done to show others. It's something that exists eternally, and it doesn't change with the passage of time or changes in circumstances." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference")
"Dafa disciples should do everything cool-headedly and with Shan thoughts. Whether you're clarifying the truth to people or participating in an activity, you should always have people see the goodness and kindness of Dafa disciples. Absolutely don't do anything that's too extreme. When you save beings and clarify the truth, if you speak in an extreme way it won't have a positive effect. That's because when you lack Shan you won't disintegrate the evil elements that exist in the minds of those people who have been poisoned, so you won't be able to achieve a positive effect. ... I've told you before that Shan isn't something pretended, nor is it a state that's just maintained on the surface. Shan truly comes from within and can only be attained and embodied through cultivation. When you're before sentient beings, as soon as words come out of your mouth and as soon as your thoughts emerge, they are able to disintegrate bad elements and the bad things that poison the world's people and that exist in people's minds. And then people will come to understand, and you'll be able to save them. Without the mighty power of true Shan at work, you won't be able to disintegrate those things, and you won't achieve anything in clarifying the truth. Those who do things in an extreme way, in particular, let me tell you that it absolutely won't have a positive effect. That's because the abilities you've acquired in cultivation won't manifest, and your Shan won't manifest. So, while doing anything, don't have any combative thoughts, that's wrong. Don't go to extremes, even when you go to the consulates and embassies. You should be compassionate to people. But it's different when it comes to evil beings. When we send forth righteous thoughts, we clear away the evil that doesn't belong to mankind, and the demons, ghosts, and monsters that have engaged in the persecution. However you handle those wretched demons and dark minions is fine. But you need to be Shan to people. Aren't we saving people? Since we are saving the world's people, how could you save people if you're not Shan to them?" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference")
The first thing I did after returning to the military was to intensely send forth righteous thoughts to clear away my own degenerated notions. I knew I could no longer cover up my attachments with any excuse. Hence I started to make time for calling China to clarify the truth. At the beginning, there was a lot of interference. The result was not very good because the calls were often cut off or the reception was bad. Nevertheless, after more efforts in sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference, the situation improved. No matter who answers the phone or what reaction the person has after hearing the truth, I only have one thought in my mind: I must save you!
A few days ago at the base, I used my cell phone to call China. When an old lady answered the phone, I initially talked about the Sujiatun concentration camp from the third person's perspective. She then talked about her living conditions, so I carefully listened and sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in her head. Eventually, I helped her to withdraw from the CCP, of which she had been a member for 41 years.
In the second half of our conversation, I didn't even use my prepared notes. Instead, I talked to her with the compassion coming from my heart. I felt the unlimited wisdom flow out from Dafa and the compassion of Teacher.
I'd like to use a paragraph from Lunyu in Zhuan Falun to encourage all practitioners to let go of more notions and save more sentient beings.
"'The Buddha Fa' is most profound; among all the theories in the world, it is the most intricate and extraordinary science. In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary delimited by their own ignorance."
The above are my personal understandings. Please kindly correct anything inappropriate.
April 6, 2006