(Clearwisdom.net) I am an older Dafa practitioner from a rural mountainous region. I was born into a poor farmer's family and was in poor health. After marriage, I realized that my husband was a very aggressive person, and I frequently cried and had no one to talk to about my suffering.
I began Falun Dafa cultivation practice in 1997, and became free of illness after studying the Fa and doing the exercises. My view of life and values also greatly changed. I gave up my bad habits and began doing things according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I began cultivation as an everyday person who endured tribulations through tears, but I gradually reached the level of a true practitioner and was able to endure hardships without hatred or resentment. I began to have more good will toward and be more tolerant of others. I also became more cheerful and optimistic day after day, and I had never felt so enriched and optimistic in my whole life prior to cultivation.
On the day the persecution began, July 20, 1999, two police officers came to my home and asked my husband why I wasn't at home that day. (They knew that I took a tape player to our local practice site every day.) I went to the provincial capital and also to Beijing to validate Dafa, but felt that I hadn't accomplished what was needed. Although I stepped forward to validate the Fa, clarify the truth, and save sentient beings, I couldn't let go of the attachments to an easy life, family, children, and personal interests. I couldn't let go of the attachment to life and death, and could not bear the pain of the persecution.
Since I had been identified as a key person on the government officials' black list, police called my home and asked me to attend some kind of a meeting on every sensitive date or holiday. They harassed me in several different ways, especially when I went to the provincial capital and Beijing. My husband became more strict with me than before. He even scolded me when I came home late after grocery shopping. Although I encountered all these difficulties, I still studied the Fa and did the exercises at home in an upright manner. I didn't hide anything from my husband, except for those things that might make him afraid. I understood that this was my cultivation environment and that I must handle it. I patiently clarified the truth to my husband, paid extra attention, and cared for him. However, I clearly explained to him, “I have chosen to practice Falun Gong. I won't give up my practice, no matter how badly you treat or abuse me.” He saw that I was capable of enduring hardship and was firm in my heart, and he knew that I meant what I had said. Later, he wouldn't allow my fellow practitioners to come to our home. I felt pity for him at times, especially when I saw how uncomfortable he was or heard unreasonable words coming from him. All I could do was to patiently explain the facts and clarify the truth.
On September 1, 2004, Teacher published a new article “Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People.” After practitioners in our region had a discussion, we decided to distribute truth-clarifying materials in our region. We live in a mountainous area, so we had to walk to places where we couldn't ride our bikes; some of the villages were quite remote and many were undeveloped. I often went out to distribute truth-clarification materials early in the morning and came home late at night. I sometimes didn't return home for several days. My husband could not bear it. One morning as I was getting ready to leave to distribute truth-clarifying materials, he stopped me and wouldn't allow me to go out. He said, “I have to cook for myself even though I have a wife. What's the point of having you at home? Today, you will not go anywhere. I want a divorce.” I knew that this tribulation came to interfere with my effort to save sentient beings. I calmly told him, “I will not divorce you. There are many sentient beings waiting for me to save them. I have to go today. I promised that I would go and I have to keep my word.” Each time I went to clarify the truth, I took only two steamed buns and an apple, as I didn't have much opportunity to eat meals during these trips. Previously when I came home, my husband would verbally abuse me, so in order to avoid trouble, I sometimes went to sleep without eating upon my return. Eventually, however, he stopped verbally abusing me since I never responded in kind. This time, I got home very late, since I had to walk a very long distance, and he didn't say anything abusive, and didn't mention anything about a divorce.
From this event I realized that as long as our actions are in accord with the universal law, we should go ahead and do them righteously. Evil will never win over righteousness. As long as our mind nature meets the Fa's requirement at different levels, Teacher will resolve all obstacles. I also realized that we are doing the most righteous thing in the universe – clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. Evil forces in other dimensions will do everything possible to interfere with us. My husband behaved so stubbornly because he was being controlled by the evil in other dimensions that was trying to disturb me. When we consider things with the concepts of divine beings, have righteous thoughts and behavior, and don't accept the old forces' arrangements, the evil forces in other dimensions will be disintegrated.
My environment subsequently became more relaxed. The police station also stopped making harassing phone calls. I knew that Teacher had helped me resolve these issues because I improved my xinxing. I then understood that if we measure our actions based on the Fa and don't think about them using human concepts, and pay attention and continuously adjust our thoughts, then we can step out of the old forces' arrangements and do the three things well. I broke through the old forces' arrangements with regard to my home environment and my personality, and walked on the cultivation path arranged by Teacher. As a result, I also achieved pretty good results when I distributed truth-clarifying materials and clarified the truth to people.
Several times while walking on the village's mountain road, I felt a very thick pole above my head, which was as tall as the sky. Whenever I took a break, I felt that there were some beings from other dimensions near me. It's really hard to express how wonderful it felt. My whole body was embraced by warm energy. Originally, I was cultivating without seeing any supernormal capabilities. However, on two occasions when I was a long distance away and very tired, I saw white and bright Falun rotating very fast. I knew that Teacher was always by my side and that He was encouraging me by letting me see those things. Another time, I saw a circle of light that looked like a rainbow.
I went through a lot of difficulties during that period. A fellow practitioner and I rode our bikes for over 100 miles on the mountain road, we visited over ten remote villages, and I was so exhausted that I couldn't walk for the next several days. This was one of the times when I saw Falun rotating. We once encountered a snowstorm. We weren't wearing warm clothes because it was relatively warm when we left. Therefore, when the temperature plunged during the day, we became quite cold. The fellow practitioner drove a small vehicle which constantly broke down. We later had to walk, and we encountered great interference. Sometimes, we had to walk dozens of miles over the hills. It was very strange that although we were very tired from walking, we immediately became energetic as soon as we entered a village. We distributed truth-clarifying materials, explained the facts about Falun Dafa door-to-door, and felt very happy.
No matter how much pain we suffered, we didn't mind. We visited over 20 townships and 800 villages.
Through all of these experiences, I realized that evil forces are monitoring our every thought and movement. Any unrighteous thought, or even a thought that was not righteous enough, brought great interference, allowing evil forces to take advantage of us and interfere with our effort to save sentient beings. Sometimes this occurred when several fellow practitioners gathered together, if one of us had some kind of thought obstacle or if several practitioners didn't have the same understanding about something. In cases like this, we didn't accomplish our goal due to the interference. Therefore, we realized the we must clearly cultivate every thought and every behavior, and adjust ourselves so that we don't acknowledge the old forces' arrangements. Only by doing this, will we be able to better assist Teacher in Fa rectification and saving sentient beings.
Since I was on the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) black list, the police station, residential committee, and my husband's work unit monitored me very closely. However, I didn't take it seriously and only had the Fa in my heart. I often clarified the truth to the chief and deputy chief who were directly responsible for monitoring me. I persuaded them to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and they stopped monitoring me after that. The head of the township from the residential committee was also assigned to monitor me. In order to keep his position, he often came by to talk to me and even asked me not to go to Tiananmen Square. I patiently clarified the truth to him, but he wouldn't listen. As soon as I began clarifying the truth, he would leave. I then gave him some truth-clarification materials that I had prepared earlier, but he didn't dare to accept them. I suggested that he read these materials at home, where he felt safe, and explained that reading them would help him understand the truth about Falun Gong and give him a better idea about Falun Gong practitioners. Before the Beijing Olympic Games, the residential committee sent two officers to harass me. I clarified the truth to them, and they both withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Since then, the residential committee has caused no more trouble for me.
When Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published and the movement to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations started to spread, we had some difficulties in transporting copies of the Nine Commentaries to distant locations. I used the money I had saved to print them, but I then had less money remaining for printing other materials. Later, when the Nine Commentaries was published as a book, I only needed to pay the basic book cost and was able to print more of the other truth-clarification materials for distribution. Fellow practitioners coordinated with each other about how to best utilize the materials, and practitioners who could make copies less expensively would do that. Many people learned the truth as we distributed large quantities of truth-clarification materials and persuaded people to withdraw from the CCP. Those who read the Nine Commentaries included senior leaders and college students. Many of them stated that the book was very well written, explained the truth, and was accurate and comprehensive. They said that it removed the CCP's mask, and its author had to be a very intelligent person. The book communicated the facts so clearly that after reading it, people saw no reason not to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
During this process, I realized that it was really not easy to help a person to truly understand the truth and withdraw from the CCP. I had to identify that person's attachment and speak to it, and also had to have a huge capacity to endure. There were times when I encountered people who strongly opposed Dafa or did not respect Dafa, or who disliked me on a personal level; however, I needed to save those people, too. One person who personally disliked me was my husband's ex-girlfriend. I clarified the truth to her whenever I saw her, but she didn't accept it. Instead, she said that what I was doing would impact my family and that she was not surprised that my husband didn't treat me well. It was strange that I constantly ran into her. I later realized that I might have some cause-and-effect relationship with her, and that these were opportunities for me to improve. Therefore, I decided to give up all sentimentality and calm down. I insisted on clarifying the truth and not giving up on any sentient being. I knew that we came here to save sentient beings, and that I shouldn't care about gains, losses, love, or hate. On the road to saving sentient beings, if we aren't successful the first time, we should try a second time, and a third time. As long as Fa rectification is not completed, we shouldn't give up. By adjusting ourselves well, we should continue our mission of saving the sentient beings to the end. I don't remember how many times I tried to clarify the truth to her, but she finally decided to withdraw from the CCP. Later, she also helped her family to withdraw.
I sensed that some fellow practitioners had developed different degrees of enjoyment, showing off, and carelessness during the process of clarifying the truth and persuading people to withdraw from the CCP, since everything up to that point had gone smoothly. Later, several practitioners took a taxi to clarify the truth in the countryside. They were reported to the authorities by someone and arrested. The driver was also subsequently arrested. Due to the media exposure and phone calls from fellow practitioners abroad, the police station and the detention center came under scrutiny and announced that they would find who had exposed them. The situation intensified. Under these conditions, fellow practitioners outside of the detention center had many of their human notions exposed. The group Fa study was temporarily stopped. Some even stopped visiting other fellow practitioners. One practitioner heard that another practitioner inside the detention center had not been able to endure the persecution and identified us, and upon being released, this person hid and later encountered severe illnesses karma. Some practitioners tried to persuade me to hide, but I spoke out, “Hide? China is ruled by the CCP. Where can you hide?” I didn't think about hiding at all. I firmly believe that the things we do are supernormal, not ordinary human things. Therefore, these things are accompanied by supernatural principles. As long as we have enough righteous thoughts, miracles will happen. Later, staff members from the evil Party arrested those fellow practitioners and announced that they would hold court hearings. I realized that in order to rescue them, we had to resume our group Fa study. We knew that with the foundation of good Fa study, we would be able to send forth righteous thoughts and eliminate the evil. We needed to develop the power of a unified body and eliminate the evil forces. We had to prevail over the evil and not allow them to have the court hearing.
After a discussion, we finally resumed our group Fa study. We sent forth righteous thoughts every afternoon for over a month. During the court hearing days, we sent forth righteous thoughts over longer periods of time, and from a short distance. Meanwhile, we distributed a large quantity of truth-clarifying materials. After the court hearing, three practitioners received six-month sentences, and two others were sentenced to two and three years, respectively. The probation requirements were then implemented outside of the court proceedings, and subsequently, all of the practitioners were released six months later. From this event, I realized that as Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period, no matter what happens, we should measure everything from the Fa's perspective. Even the slightest deviation would not work. Rescuing fellow practitioners is also our responsibility. Sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate evil forces is one of the three things that we must do. The process of rescuing fellow practitioners is also a process of forming a unified body, and an opportunity to clarify the truth and save sentient beings. In addition, it also reflects the level of selflessness that we can reach, and shows that we put into practice the saying “his things are also your things.” It is also a manifestation of our cultivation levels and demonstrates whether or not we can improve ourselves.
In order to save many sentient beings, we needed to prepare more materials. Materials transferred from the provincial capital could not meet our local needs. Additionally, it took quite a long time to send the name list of those who withdrew from the CCP and affiliated organizations to the provincial capital. Even when we distributed truth-clarification materials in large quantities, we also saved some backup copies and made copies at reliable print shops. Later, some fellow practitioners solved the printing issue, so we used the backup copies. We couldn't set up our own materials production center. From the Fa's perspective, we understood that we couldn't wait or rely on others to support us, and that we should set up our own materials center. However, due to a variety of reasons, we weren't able to accomplish this task. I was worried, and constantly thought about how to solve the issue. After I made several efforts, including doing some manual labor, I finally solved the funding problem. Just when it seemed impossible to solve the technical issue, changes occurred at my home that enabled me to leave the little mountain village. I then went to the provincial capital to learn some technical skills. Later I realized that only when I had truly decided that I wanted to solve this issue, wanted to devote myself to Dafa, and wanted to take responsibility for saving sentient beings, did Teacher arrange everything for me. Then, impossible things became possible. Although I began with minimal understanding, after a period of training I was able to use the Internet to download materials, design layouts, and do the printing and binding myself. We finally set up our own materials center in early 2009.
We should all let go of our egos and firmly follow Teacher's arrangements, using compassion to forgive the shortcomings of fellow practitioners, and letting those shortcomings melt in Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts. When we can do these things, will the evil be able to separate us? Think about it clearly. Why did we come to this human world, which is full of filth and suffering? What is there to fight for, here in this world? Does it still matter who is right or who is wrong, who is good or who is bad? Aren't we supposed to eliminate the attachment to fame, gain and human emotion? Aren't we supposed to let go of everything in this human world? Since we are disciples of Teacher and came to save sentient beings, to rectify the Fa—and only for this one reason—we are required to coordinate and cooperate well with each other. If we are filled with righteous thoughts, adjust every thought, and behave with compassion, then we will be able to save infinite sentient beings. How sacred and important this is! How can we let human notions, selfishness, and sentimentality proliferate endlessly? Even when fellow practitioners did not do well or wronged me, I needed to be sympathetic, so that I could form a unified body with them and face the difficulties together with them. It is the old forces that wanted me to push them away, exclude them and let them be eliminated. Didn't we promise before we came down to this human world that if someone gets lost in the human world, those who have a clear mind should remind them? We've walked on the cultivation path for many years, and we need to continue helping each other, supporting each other through tribulations, and walking together. The predestined relationship between fellow practitioners is truly a most divine relationship. We should value that, work together in coordinating, assist our Teacher in Fa rectification, and save sentient beings, for this is the true meaning of having such a divine relationship.
Practitioners should consider others in every situation, and let go of selfishness and the attachments of competitiveness. We won't experience interference from the evil forces if we follow Teacher's requirements and consider others in all situations. We will then be able to negate all arrangements made by the old forces and step out of the persecution. When I let go of my selfishness and was totally considerate of others, a stream of intense warmth ran down from my head through my whole body, and my entire back felt warm.
Since we chose to be practitioners, we should behave as such. Our levels will improve when we solidly practice cultivation. Only when we cultivate ourselves well will we be able to assist our Teacher in Fa rectification and truly do divine things, including saving sentient beings and validating the Fa.
I still have many attachments that I need to eliminate, especially related to eliminating my ego, and getting up early in the morning to do the exercises. For many years, I've felt proud of myself for going to bed only after sending forth righteous thoughts after midnight. I still have a lot to learn about preparing truth-clarification materials. Teacher has told us that at a certain level, technical improvement is also the improvement of one's level, so I should also improve my skills in that regard. In this final stage of the Fa rectification, I still need to study the Fa well, cultivate myself well, improve myself, and truly apply righteous thoughts and behavior. I will then be able to accomplish the mission of assisting the Teacher in Fa rectification and saving sentient beings, and living up to the expectation of our benevolent Teacher and sentient beings.
