(Clearwisdom.net) I started reading Zhuan Falun in January 1997, and that is when I started practicing Falun Gong. I would like to share my cultivation experiences with other practitioners.
Clarifying the Truth, Saving Lives and Assisting Master in Fa-Rectification
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong, I was illegally detained and persecuted for a month for going to Beijing to appeal for justice. Later, I was sentenced to one-and-a-half years of forced labor by the CCP because I participated in a group practice of the Falun Gong exercises. After that I came to understand that it was my strong mentality of self-validation and my attachment to lust that were taken advantage by the old forces to persecute me. How could I not encounter problems when I had a strong mentality of showing-off when going out to do Dafa validation work?
During my time in detention, one fellow practitioner was tortured to death. This shocked me profoundly, and I fell into deep thought.
"Cultivation practice is extremely arduous and very serious. If you are being careless for a moment, you may stumble and become ruined at once." (Lecture Six in Zhuan Falun)
Through this thinking, my mind became clear, and I calmed down. After I was released, I read Master's new writings, and my mind became clearer still. However, my feeling anxious to catch up in a short period of time stirred my mind. I managed to quickly calm down, and I kept reading the Fa. Master does not acknowledge the persecution and gave me a second chance to cultivate again. I was determined to treasure the opportunity. A fellow practitioner helped me, and I started going with this practitioner to a public area to put up posters that said, "Falun Dafa is good," "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good," and so on. I also often went to informational materials centers to obtain truth-clarification materials. After work, I went to distant residential areas, riding my bicycle to distribute the materials by myself.
The residential areas are usually quite large, and the materials I obtained were far from enough. When I first started distributing the materials, my heart pounded, and I was quite afraid. As I continued to cultivate, my mentality of fear gradually lessened. I kept reading the Fa, cultivating myself, and discarding my attachment of fear. I became calmer and calmer. I am a project engineer in my ordinary job. I direct some workers, and I also often hire temporary workers. I used such opportunities to tell these people the truth about Falun Gong and how it is persecuted by the CCP. Many of these people with predestined relationships learned the truth. In the process, my attachment of fear was further reduced. In the process of telling people the truth and cultivating myself at the same time, I further understood Master's teaching,
"Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy--this is establishing the mighty virtue of an Enlightened Being." ("Rationality" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
In the process of doing Dafa work, I became more and more rational and calm and less impulsive. When I was out of town for business, I often printed informational materials and distributed them to people. I thought that, wherever I went, I would bring the truth with me and tell the truth there.
Material Production Centers
Before 2004, my limited truth-clarifying materials came from large production centers. Later, for various reasons, I could no longer get materials from them. I felt anxious as I thought about printing the materials myself. I then bought a general quality printer. At that time I had serious insufficiencies in my cultivation. With my substandard cultivation status, I could not harmonize my cultivation environment. My family members did not know much about computers, not to mention how to operate a computer to print materials. When I came back from a business trip, the printing head was seriously jammed, and the printer could not be used anymore. After this experience, I came to understand that doing such a project is not a one-sided wish and cannot be done in haste. One must have patience; this is a basic quality that a practitioner should have, which can only be achieved by elevating one's xinxing. Therefore, I gave up using a printer because I often go on business trips. Instead, I started copying truth-clarification CDs to distribute.
In 2006, 2007, and the first half of 2008, I copied informational CDs and Shen Yun CDs to distribute. However, I felt that it was not enough. In October of last year, I came to understand that the label of a CD can also be effective in saving lives. I then spent more than 1,000 yuan to buy a new printer. I printed CD labels and copied CDs at the same time and improved the effect of saving people. I also printed some booklets, including the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and some of Master's lectures. Every day after work, I took care of my child and cooked our meals. After that I accessed the Internet to download materials, read the Fa, and read fellow practitioners' articles. Afterwards I spent time making truth materials and then distributed them. Sometimes I thought that I did not have enough time. However, time waits for no one, and there are still so many sentient beings who do not understand the truth. Regardless of how hard it is, I must do this. I must undertake the responsibility of a Falun Gong practitioner.
In cultivation, many things are connected. Since I treated my family members with kind thoughts and the benevolence I achieved through cultivation, my family members understood me very well. They never tried to stop me from doing the three things, and I have never been short of money for buying the consumables used for Dafa work. I am very grateful. This also helped me to understand that harmonizing the family environment is also very important to a practitioner, and that we must do it well. Otherwise, we will have significant interference from our families and be trapped in endless troubles.
Operating a materials center requires that we have a high xinxing, and the process of running a material production center is a process of improving xinxing. While running my materials center, I kept eliminating my impatient mentality. When I encountered problems, I recited in my mind, "Calm down, calm down, and don't be impatient ......," "I am a Falun Gong practitioner," and so on. I firmly believed that I could get through the difficulties, and, indeed, I walked through all of them.
To do Dafa work well, we must study the Fa well. We should keep studying the Fa, even if only for a few minutes a day. We should not only read Zhuan Falun, but we should also read Master's new lectures, and we should also read fellow practitioners articles on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. By doing so we continue to strengthen our belief in Dafa and strengthen our determination. We must believe in Master and Dafa. For example, when we send righteous thoughts, we should have a firm belief that the righteous thoughts are effective and powerful. Recently, through reading fellow practitioners' articles, I came to understand a point very important to me. Before, regardless of how much Dafa work I had done and regardless of how many times I had read the Fa, I still had a deeply hidden selfishness in my mind, and I was validating myself, knowingly or unknowingly. I did not validate Dafa with a pure mind. I also came to understand that a Dafa practitioner is a particle in the Fa and, as a particle in the Fa, one should guard and validate Dafa instinctively. I also came to understand that, although I do a lot of things to save people, it is actually Master and Dafa who are saving people. All the things I had encountered were for my cultivation. Surrounded by Master's enormous grace, I feel that I am maturing gradually.
February 12, 2010
