(Minghui.org)
Greetings, Revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I started my cultivation of Falun Dafa in 1997. I would like to share my cultivation experiences doing truth-clarification and persuading people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the past few years.
After the Epoch Times newspaper published Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the “Solemn Announcement,” the Minghui website published three of Teacher's articles: “We Are Not 'Getting Political'”, “New Year's Greetings,” and “Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World” at the beginning of 2005. I realized that the Fa-rectification period had come to a new era of clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings. During this era the main focus is to spread the Nine Commentaries and persuade people to quit the CCP. I started with my family and relatives and helped some of them quit the CCP. I thought that I had kept up with the Fa-rectification progress, but an incident happened six months later that allowed me to realize my gaps.
One night in July 2005, my neighbor's husband, who had passed away four years before, appeared in a dream. He looked very serious and put a letter in my hand. I was so surprised that I woke up. I guessed that he might have seen in his dimension that some disaster was about to happen to his family, so he came to ask me to deliver a message to them. That message was to quit the CCP, so I took informational materials to his home right away. I had told his wife the facts before and she believed that Dafa was good. When I told her about my dream, the Nine Commentaries, and quitting the CCP, she said sincerely, “Thank you! My husband and I didn't join the Party because we were born into families with bad qualifications (in the past people born into rich families or families with members, who had served enemies of the CCP, were not allowed to join the Party). But one of our children is a Party member and the other three are members of the Youth League. I should let them read these materials and have them announce that they quit these organizations.” Yet, two weeks later she told me, embarrassed, “My children said to thank you but they didn't believe it.” She returned the materials to me.
Two months later, I heard the bad news that the husband of her daughter, who was a Party member, died in a car accident in another city. I went to see her with a heavy heart. She cried, “I can't believe that what my husband told you in your dream came true! Our children were too stubborn. Now it's too late.” I felt very sorry that I had not gone to her son-in-law's home to tell them the truth earlier (I knew them well). Later, though, her three other children declared that they quit the Youth League. I still regretted everything a lot!
Teacher told us:
“Every person you come into contact with in society is someone to clarify the truth to, and what’s manifest in clarifying the truth is Dafa disciples’ mercy and their salvation of the world’s people.” (“To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
In retrospect I noticed that I had not put my whole heart into clarifying the truth to my neighbor's children, as I did to my neighbors. I felt very sorry! After realizing how selfish I had been and how bad my cultivation was, I started to improve in my Fa study and xinxing cultivation.
In the following days, I tried to follow Teacher's words:
“Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy” (“Rationality,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I felt that the most difficult thing for me was to clarify the truth to my colleagues. Many of them were busy making money, fighting for a promotion, or enjoying their lives. They were deeply trapped in these things and were either numb to the truth about Dafa or didn't even want to listen to it. Thus, I focused on clarifying the facts to people outside my workplace. At work, I only talked to those with no power or those who were retired. I kept using the excuse: “Let me wait for the right time” in order to forgive and cover up my attachment of being afraid of difficulties. It was not until an incident in 2011 occurred that I realized my problem.
A retired lady in her 70s, who used to work where I did, learned the Dafa exercises from me four years before, because she had suffered from illnesses for many years. Her illnesses soon disappeared when she did the exercises. Her children saw the miraculousness of Dafa. Last year I thought that I should tell her family to quit the CCP. But when I brought up the issue, she gave me a “time out” gesture and said, “Please stop. We only do the exercises. Do not talk about politics.” I knew that she had been poisoned deeply by the CCP. I should have sent forth righteous thoughts to clear the evil factors behind her and clarified the truth to her at that time, but I had a human thought and wanted to avoid a conflict. I thought that I could talk to her children first. Her children were all very reasonable, highly educated intellectuals who worked in different companies. But the old lady kept telling me that her children hadn't been back to see her (actually she just didn't want me to meet them). I then thought, “Let me just wait.” However, two months later, her son had a car accident. This incident was very similar to the incident five years before. I realized that I had missed another life that I was supposed to save. After I clarified the truth to her family, they all agreed to quit the CCP. I was in tears because I felt so much regret when I got the list of their family names who wanted to quit the CCP.
Why was I so sensitive about the word “politics?” Why did I avoid clarifying the truth to the old lady? It was because I had a deeply hidden human heart – I was afraid that others would think of me as getting political. Behind this attachment was not only fear, but also the attachment to fame and glory. All of them were attributable to selfishness. This attachment had hindered my righteous thoughts and righteous actions. This was the main reason that had prevented me from openly clarifying the truth and persuading people to quit the CCP at work.
After realizing my gap in Fa study and xinxing cultivation, I noticed that I hadn't completely eliminated the CCP's Party culture poison in me. Thus, in addition to strengthening my Fa study, I carefully read the Nine Commentaries. As I kept improving my understanding, let go of my attachments, and eliminated the factors of the Party culture, Teacher removed the substance of fear in my field. Suddenly, I felt that my righteous thoughts were much stronger and I was more benevolent in my heart. I truly had the feeling that
“When our compassion emerges, we will probably find all living beings and every person suffering.” (“The Issue of Killing,” Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
Therefore, when Teacher published the article “The Ultimate Objective of Clarifying the Truth” (2012), I had a deeper understanding about clarifying the facts, clearer ideas when telling the truth, and a stronger sense of urgency and responsibility to save people.
Earlier this summer, I visited my hometown for some business. When I finished my things, I reminded myself with Teacher's words: “You need to think of ways to find the people that you are meant to save.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” 2012).
I wanted to explain the facts to my high school classmates. Suddenly a thought came into my mind: I should talk to a childhood friend who is now a farmer. A kind person told me how to get to her home. When I showed up, she and her husband were so happy! When they heard the reason for my visit and understood the truth, their whole family quit the CCP right away and accepted Dafa amulets. They were very grateful. I told them to keep repeating, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” and say it more especially in critical situations. When I left I also reminded them that they could ask Dafa's Master to protect them in emergencies.
Twenty days after I left, a tank truck full of gasoline caught on fire on the road next to their village. It burned for over 30 hours but didn't explode. Her husband told me over the phone, “Big Sister, after you left, every morning the first thing we do is to repeat the nine words. We definitely believe in Dafa. That day, the tank was on fire and could have exploded at any moment. If it had exploded, it would have been equivalent to the power of 200 tons of TNT. Our whole village would have been flattened. Everyone in our village, over 1,000 people, ran to the west side of the village. Our whole family kept repeating the nine words. I asked Dafa's Master to save our village. I told my family, 'It will be OK. Dafa's Master will for sure protect us!' People in our village worried for over 30 hours. After the warning alert ended, they ran home, excited that they had survived a death threat. They kept shouting, 'Thank you, Heavenly god for blessing us!' while they ran. I knew very clearly that this Heavenly god is Dafa's Master!”
I was moved! A family of farmers used their experience of witnessing Dafa's benevolence and miracle.
I felt fortunate that 20 days earlier, Teacher gave me a hint to change my plan and clarify the truth to this family. Dafa saved this family and their village, too. I was also scared: If I had had a little unrighteous thought at that moment, I might have followed my original plan and used “Just wait” to defer this opportunity to clarify the facts to the farmer's sister, and the result would have been hard to imagine!
I used to hear people say, “It's better late than never to mend the sheepfold after the wolves take a sheep out of it.” It was an encouragement and a consolation to those who have made mistakes and want to make up for it. Let's think, if we don't complete our historic mission well to save sentient beings, when the big disaster comes, is there still a chance for us to “mend the sheepfold?” What will be left will be regret and that forever!
Therefore, we must study the Fa diligently, cultivate ourselves well, and seize the opportunity to clarify the truth and save sentient beings!
Finally, let me express my gratitude to and salute our great benevolent Teacher!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!