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Paying Attention to Our Words and Behavior

Nov. 21, 2007 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) I recently enlightened to the importance of conforming to the way of ordinary society. This is an issue that cannot be ignored while Falun Dafa practitioners clarify the truth to the world's people and save sentient beings.

My son got married in early October of last year. I thought my daughter-in-law came to our family to learn the truth, and to perhaps obtain the Fa. Her mind was poisoned with propaganda, so she was very annoyed with Falun Gong. So I tried to show her how Falun Gong practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in our daily lives. I tried to let her experience the sincerity, kindness and tolerance of practitioners, as well as practitioners' selflessness and consideration of others. I subtly tried to teach her how to become a good person, a moral person, like human beings should be. I also teach her principles contained in the lines

"But honest and kind were the ancients,
Calm and balanced,
fortune and longevity were their lot" (Hongyin)

and that "good is rewarded with good and evil with evil".

The morality of today's people has declined dramatically. Many young people in particular are degenerate and pursue violence, promiscuity, and so on. They have dropped far below the proper standard of morality. This contrast between worldly people and Falun Gong practitioners has helped my daughter-in-law to not oppose Falun Gong.

I asked my daughter-in-law why she was annoyed with Falun Gong. She told me two incidents. She said, "Once my mother was riding a bicycle and someone suddenly tapped on her shoulder and surprised her. That person then told my mother how good Falun Gong is. She was very annoyed and said something bad about Falun Gong."

"There was another incident. I walked into my sister's clothing store and saw someone muttering to my sister. That person saw me come in so he left. I asked my sister who that was. She said that he was a Falun Gong practitioner. I said, 'Why would he behave so secretly and cowardly?'"

I patiently explained to her: "It wasn't like that. Do you think I am like that?" She said "No." I told her, "Falun Gong practitioners feel the urgency to save people. They may have not done well in certain aspects, but they are doing it out of good hearts. They wanted you to know the truth so that you can be saved." I later talked to her family and explained the facts about Falun Gong to them. Our Dafa disciples are one body. We should harmonize as one body no matter what. "Full of great aspirations while minding minor details" is something that we should follow.

I have also encountered another incident. I went out to clarify the truth and caught a taxi. I started talking to the driver about the decline in people's morality and the evilness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The driver listened and asked me: "Are you saying only Falun Gong practitioners are good people?" I immediately realized that some practitioners already tried to tell him the facts, but did not do it well and may have hurt him. I answered, "I did not mean that. I am not saying that you can only become a good person by practicing Falun Gong and that you are not a good person if you don't practice Falun Gong. I am only saying that Falun Gong can change people and teach them to be good people. Falun Gong can make people healthy and raise their morality." I then told him my big changes after practicing Falun Gong. I used to suffer serious illness and could not even get out of bed, but now I am as energetic as a young person. I used to be selfish and narrow-minded, but now I am open-minded and not attached to fame and self-interest. People around me think that I am a good person.

I also told him the about the dictatorship of the CCP. The CCP allows their officials to commit crimes while not allowing ordinary citizens to have rights. The CCP is corrupt and exploits the Chinese people. They kill people and sell our land. Since the establishment of its regime, the CCP has been provoking Chinese people to kill each other, because it promotes fighting with heaven and the people. Good people like Falun Gong practitioners are arbitrarily arrested, sentenced, and put into forced labor camps. Falun Gong practitioners are tortured to death, or worse, their organs are harvested and sold for profit, and their bodies are then cremated. Yet the perpetrators are not brought to justice and they are promoted to higher positions. I did not have enough time to tell him to quit the CCP, but the driver has learned the truth.

He sincerely thanked me. While we clarify the truth, we must pay attention to our words and behavior. We must not push away people simply due to our wrong words, because people do pay attention to our words, attitude and behavior.

I once clarified the truth to a person who collects recyclable items. I did not get the chance to say much before he impatiently said, "Don't tell me this. There is a Falun Gong practitioner in my village. She does nothing at home. She does not work in the field and does not care about her child going to school. She only wants to hand out flyers. Her husband now actually wants to divorce her." I felt sad listening to that. Our fellow practitioners, didn't Master ask us to rationally validate the Fa and use our wisdom to clarify the truth? If our families don't even understand us, who else would say we are good people? They will think that Falun Gong practitioners behave this way, and that they will not want to practice Falun Gong. If that's what they think, who else would want to listen to our clarifying the truth? We cannot save people this way and will instead push them away. Master has asked us to maximally conform to the way of everyday people while cultivating, because our path is to be left for the people of the future. We are creating a true path toward divinity.

Please let us remember Teacher's words,

"No matter how busy you are, you have to see yourself as a Dafa disciple; no matter how busy you are, you have to consider how you might affect those around you."

"You are cultivators, whose conduct is [supposed to be] pure and righteous. There are so many people who think you're great just by having seen how you act. If we don't pay attention to our own behavior in our daily lives, everyday people will see our actions and, since they can't get to know you at a deep level such as by studying the Fa, they will just look at how you act. And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unsavable or create a bad impression of Dafa. We need to think about these things." ( "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")