(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
1. Our purpose in life is to fulfill our historical missions
My wife and I are elderly. When we were young, we worked diligently and were successful . After retiring, my wife contracted a serious illness that lasted for several years.
My wife passed out several times in the hospital. The doctors gave her an injection to strengthen her heartbeat, but said they didn't hold out any hope for her recovery and suggested that we check out of the hospital. After returning home, a friend suggested that we consult a doctor who practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine. He gave us a prescription, which took over 30 hours to prepare. She took dozens of prescriptions, yet her condition did not improve. She then tried several qigong practices. Initially her health improved somewhat, but nothing could cure her illness.
A friend suggested that we convert to Buddhism, since medical treatment and qigong were ineffective, so we became lay Buddhists. We piously worshiped at temples, burned incense, donated money, freed animals from captivity and recited Buddhist scriptures. We wished to find a Master to guide us on the path of cultivation and out of the world of human suffering, but we did not find what we were looking for and were greatly disappointed.
We will never forget the day in November of 1994, when I went to the market to find medicine for my cough and met a Falun Gong practitioner. This is how we found the teacher that we had been searching for and started cultivating according to the Great Law of the universe. We diligently practiced the exercises and studied the Fa, and gradually understood the meaning and purpose of our lives and our prehistoric vows. It is our historical responsibility and sacred mission to assist Master in rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings.
2. The long and bloody path
At the time we obtained the Fa, Dafa was spreading widely.
Master said:
"Dafa is being spread far and wide. Those who hear about it are looking for it. Those who have obtained it are delighted with it. The number of cultivators is increasing daily and becoming countless." ("Seeking Discipleship with Teacher" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
We were fortunate to be able to read Master's books, including Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun, Zhuan Falun Volume II, Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa, and Essentials for Further Advancement, as well as all the lectures that Master gave before July 20, 1999. We watched videos of Master's lectures in Jinan, Dalian, and Guangzhou and hand-copied Zhuan Falun, and Zhuan Falun Volume II. We also wrote experience-sharing articles. By consistently studying the Fa, we strengthened our belief in Master and Dafa.
When the Guangming Daily defamed Falun Gong in 1996, we wrote letters to correct the report. In 1998, several local newspapers posted articles defaming Falun Gong. Along with fellow practitioners, we went there to clarify the truth and requested that they correct the reports.
On September 5, 1999, my wife went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, and shortly after that I joined her. We had really let go of the attachment to life and death, had no worries and did not even think about returning home. Our only purpose was to go to Tiananmen Square and tell people: "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!"
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used all of the state media to tell lies about and defame Falun Gong. However, the truth will eventually come to light, and sentient beings are waiting to learn the truth. The first time I was interrogated, a police officer took me behind closed doors and asked me what Falun Gong is, why I practice Falun Gong, and why I had come to Beijing. After learning the truth, he smiled and said, "Oh, now I understand !"
In December 1999, my wife and I were both released from a detention center. We were sent to a brainwashing center set up by a local neighborhood association, where we were "educated" daily for two months. We were told that China is governed by people, not by laws, that the Constitution is just for show, and that the children of Falun Gong practitioners cannot join the military or the CCP. Some suggested that I practice Tai-Chi instead, but more wanted to hear about my experience practicing Falun Gong. I explained that I became physically and mentally healthy through the practice and no longer pursued fame and profit. My thoughts had also become clearer and my wisdom increased. I made tremendous progress in teaching and performing research, wrote several professional books, published more than 30 papers and won five awards. Faced with this information, the brainwashing people understood that the CCP was wrong and that Falun Gong practitioners are good people.
The director of the neighborhood association asked me, "The CCP tells lies every day, so why can't you just tell one lie? Why can't you just say that you will give up practicing Falun Gong?" I told her, "I am an elder and a teacher. How could I set an example for the younger generation to tell lies? Can a teacher lie to his students? Is it human nature to tell lies every day?" She had no reply.
My wife's company sent workers to the brainwashing center numerous times to try to "transform" her. Some of them knew that her illness had been cured after she started practicing Falun Gong. She had also saved a lot money because she no longer needed to buy medicine. They said: "You are a good person. I trust that you won't break the law. I just came to visit you today." Some of them pleaded with my wife: "Why can't you just say that you will be 'transformed'? Everything will be over then." One of the leaders in her company said, "Falun Gong is based on faith. Brainwashing will not resolve anything." Later, when my wife was illegally arrested and persecuted in a brainwashing center again, he personally went there to request her release.
We treated the brainwashing center as a site for our truth clarification, showed the CCP officials the beauty of Dafa and offered them the opportunity to better position themselves in relation to Falun Gong. We let people know that Falun Gong is not easily crushed, but is actually a diamond that can never be broken.
Shortly after our release, we attended a big experience-sharing conference in our area. We shared our experience in Beijing and heard many stories about other practitioners letting go of the attachment to life and death and overcoming huge pressure in order to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. They suffered severe and bloody tests in order to validate Dafa. At that time, many practitioners, including pregnant women, women carrying young babies, and very young practitioners, came from all over China to Tiananmen Square, which became the focus of truth clarification.
3. Clarifying the truth
We began clarifying the facts about Falun Gong by giving friends and relatives the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and encouraging them to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
We first visited a couple who are our friends. They are both in academia. We introduced the content of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the inevitable collapse of the evil party, and told them that they should clearly separate themselves from the CCP and its affiliated organizations in order to ensure a bright future. They then indicated that they wanted to read the Nine Commentaries and expressed their wish to withdraw from the Party.
Once we met an old colleague who was the head of a government agency. He knew that we practiced Falun Gong and invited us to his home. We arrived at his home on time, but he failed to keep the appointment since he had taken his grandson out to play. His wife was not friendly, but we understood their anxiety and worries. We patiently waited for a few hours and when he returned home, we gave him the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and truth-clarification materials. During the New Year holiday, we gave his grandson a gift according to tradition. He and his wife apologized to us and insisted on giving us a gift of their own. We hoped that their whole family would understand the facts about Falun Dafa, and that they would make wise choices. A couple of years later, we met this former colleague and his wife by chance on the road, and they happily agreed to withdraw from the CCP.
There was a veteran Party member that we know. He had been a self-proclaimed atheist, but began to believe in Buddha after his wife became blind in both eyes from diabetes and his children lost their jobs. We brought the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to him and told him about withdrawing from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. His whole family withdrew from the Party after reading the Nine Commentaries.
We also gave the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to a middle school teacher. After he understood the true situation, he started to recite on a daily basis, "Falun Dafa is good!" He also told people he met that Falun Dafa is good and Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good, and advised them to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. One evening, he was feeling uncomfortable and went to the hospital. However, when he saw that the doctor appeared to be very tired, he decided to return home. When he got home, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to recite, "Falun Dafa is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" He started reciting these phrases over and over again until he fell asleep. A few years have passed by, and he remains healthy and has had no need to visit the hospital since then.
One time I met with an old friend, who was recuperating after breaking his leg. As soon as he read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, he said that everything written there is true and he readily withdrew from the Party. That same evening, he recited more than 600 times without a break, "Falun Dafa is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" The next day he said that he felt very energetic, and the next time I saw him, he no longer needed his walking stick. Afterward, he advised friends and acquaintances to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and many did.
One day a student came to me, seeking advice regarding her academic thesis. I said to her: "Perhaps you don't realize that today you primarily need to be concerned about your safety and that of your family, and only secondarily about your thesis. Writing a thesis is easy, but safety is hard to come by." I then proceeded to clarify the truth to her. In a day or two she came back and said that she would go home to Beichuan right away in order to give her family the truth-clarification materials. Soon afterward, a major earthquake struck there. She subsequently told me that her relatives and friends in Beichuan remained safe because they sincerely recited, "Falun Dafa is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good!"
When we were eating Spring Festival dinner in 2009, a colleague said she wished to thank me for telling her the facts about Falun Gong the year before. Her husband had contracted lung cancer. Both Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine proved to be ineffective. They had spent a lot of money on treatments, but there was no sign of improvement. He then began to quietly, with concentration and devotion, recite every day: "Falun Dafa is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" His lung cancer was subsequently miraculously cured.
Truth-Compassion-Forbearance are heavenly principles, and Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa. Sincerely reciting "Falun Dafa is good! Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" brings blessings. In the process of saving people in recent years, we have witnessed many extraordinary, miraculous, and stirring examples of this.
4. Breaking through xinxing tests and saving the world's people
We have encountered obstacles and difficulties in the process of clarifying the truth and handing out Falun Gong materials. When some people hear the words "Falun Gong," they get scared of being implicated or criticized. Some people say that they will remember in their hearts that Falun Dafa is good, but some people return the truth-clarifying materials to us without even looking at them. Some people are so deeply poisoned that they regard Dafa as the enemy, and some have turned our truth-clarification materials over to the 610 Office. This has brought up our attachments of worry, fear, anxiety, and resentment. When meeting acquaintances and friends, we still sometimes ponder: "Is this person trustworthy? Is he able to accept this?"
Once I met an elderly man in a wheelchair at a park. When I said to him, "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good," he nodded in agreement. But as soon as I said, "Falun Dafa is good," he became enraged and shouted abuse at me.
We brave the sun, wind, and rain in order to give people truth-clarification materials and save them, but they are often indifferent, cold, and detached, disdainfully walking away from us and saying, "I don't want it!" Some even look at us with contempt, or try to intimidate and verbally abuse us.
Everything that we face while living in this environment is a test of our xinxing. Sometimes it is hard to avoid mulling over matters repeatedly in our minds or avoid becoming agitated and angry. The two of us will then return home and calmly study the Fa. By studying the Fa, improving our understanding and xinxing, cherishing compassion and showing it in how we look and act, we are able to offer people salvation and blessings. All living beings have come for the Fa. As the mighty force of Fa-rectification moves forward, more and more of the world's people are able to see through the evil nature of the CCP and accept truth-clarification materials.
Many people acknowledge that our words are reasonable after hearing the facts about Falun Gong. They say that they do not want to be deceived by and die for the evil, so they quickly withdraw from the Party and its affiliated organizations. A senior engineer told us that he had wanted to withdraw from the CCP for a long time but didn't know where to go. After we helped him to withdraw, he was very excited and thanked us. A scholar who had withdrawn from the Party a few years ago brought over her husband so that we could tell him the facts about Dafa and help him to withdraw too.
A university classmate who I had not seen for a long time came to our area for a visit. A group of us got together to welcome him. After speaking with everyone for a while, he asked to chat with me privately. He said he had examined carefully the truth-clarification materials that we had sent him and wanted to learn more about the situation.
Over the course of meeting thousands of people in various places over the years, including strangers and acquaintances, relatives and friends, former teachers and students, people from our hometown and others, our hearts have been filled with benevolence. We tell everyone we meet the facts about Falun Dafa and hope that they will have blessings in the future. We want all of the world's people to have a glorious future. When we say farewell after clarifying the truth to people, we silently thank Master for his great benevolence. We urge all practitioners to do the three things well and save more sentient beings.
5. Concluding remarks
Only through Master's great benevolence, blessings, and protection, and the guidance of Dafa, have practitioners been able to squarely face the trials and tribulations and make it through to today. We are far from meeting all of Master's requirements for us. Sometimes we don't pay attention to Fa study or the strength of our righteous thoughts falls short. We haven't cultivated our thoughts well enough and have not let go of many attachments yet. There are countless sentient beings waiting for us to save them. The historical responsibility that Dafa practitioners bear is great. During this final moment of Fa-rectification, we need to cherish the time, genuinely cultivate ourselves, help Master rectify the Fa and do even better to help save sentient beings.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners! Heshi!
