(Minghui.org) In my very first year of cultivation, I did very well in studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts. However, I had no clue how to clarify the facts and lagged behind in this regard.
I did know that as Dafa disciples, we must do our daily "homework," the three things Master requires of us.
A year later while helping with the promotion of Shen Yun in another city, I learned how to use a computer to make phone calls to China. Since then I have been calling China every day to clarify the facts to the precious people there. I would like to share my experiences of working on the telephone broadcasting project.
Taking Part in the Telephone Broadcasting Project
I came across an article titled “Every Overseas Falun Gong Practitioner Should Participate in Telephone Broadcasting to Clarify the Truth About Falun Gong” and was greatly inspired. The author is also a practitioner outside of China just like me. She lived in a remote place and had no contact with other practitioners, but she was determined to do the three things well. She figured out a way to make phone calls to China and hoped more practitioners outside China would join her.
I made up my mind to make phone calls to China, too. I knew that was my "homework" and that I needed to do it every day. I understood it didn't matter how much time I spent on this project--the key was to keep doing it.
Master said in Zhuan Falun, “In the future the specialized disciples who cultivate in monasteries will have to go out to wander in the ordinary world.”
Though I never stepped out the door working with the telephone broadcasting project, it felt just like going out to wander in the ordinary world. I encountered all kinds of people on the other end of the line and was insulted, humiliated, hit on, and intimidated. In response, I was overwhelmed with various emotions, from anger and shock to sadness and happiness.
Little by little I managed to get rid of fear, hatred, and the competitive mentality.
Helping People to Understand the Truth Is the Goal
It was not always smooth sailing. Sometimes I was elated when those that answered my calls agreed to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party and its youth organizations without hesitation, only to find out later they didn't really understand the facts about Falun Gong.
There was one man who agreed to have me call back in a few days to help his family quit the Party. However, when I called back as promised, he behaved like a totally different person. He denied everything he had said during our previous conversation and hung up on me right away. I came to see that making sure our audience truly understands the facts was much more important than getting them to withdraw from the Party.
A Lesson Learned
Many people hung up on me as soon as I called in. I kept calling back, but they kept hanging up. It was extremely frustrating. Something that happened to me later changed my mindset.
Ever since I began cultivation, I had neglected to tend to my garden. As a result, there was ivy growing everywhere. Two little trees died after the ivy strangled them. A big tree couldn't escape, either, and it was covered with ivy.
One night I thought to myself I had to remove the ivy from the big tree. It'd be good enough if I just ripped it off the tree without cutting it. That way I could avoid killing the ivy.
When I woke up to send forth righteous thoughts that night, my whole body was covered in a rash. It was extremely painful and itchy. My scalp and soles of my feet felt like they were burning. This reminded me of Master's teaching, “Modern science has recognized that plants have not only life, but also intelligence, thoughts, feelings, and even super-sensory functions.” (Falun Gong)
Before I became a practitioner, I was allergic to ivy. Any contact with it and I would break out in a rash that would eventually develop into blisters. It was a frightening sight to see all the blisters broken. I had to take steroid pills and apply topical cream at the same time. It took more than two weeks for my skin return to normal.
That day the ivy sensed my intention and issued me a warning. But I thought as a practitioner, I shouldn't worry about any rash. I removed the ivy as planned the next day and my rash disappeared in just three days, without any medication.
This experience made me see that all lives have super-sensory functions. Ivy plants do, not to mention a human being. Whatever mindset I have will affect my audience.
Having Righteous Thoughts Is Key
Master said:
“When disciples have ample righteous thoughts
Master has the power to turn back the tide”
("The Master-Disciple Bond" in Hong Yin II)
Master also pointed out in “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,”
“If your righteous thoughts are strong enough, who would dare to do something? So if you are in the right, Master can resolve anything.”
I realized that if I had a righteous thought to save people, the person on the other end of the line would definitely sense it. I imagined using my divine power to open my audience's ears and asked Master to strengthen my determination to save them.
I kept calling back no matter how many times the other person hung up on me. After discovering that people were more receptive to recorded messages, I mimicked the voice of a broadcaster in my efforts. With each succeeding call, I continued reading my truth-clarification materials from where I left off in the previous call. This way, most people eventually heard 80-90% of my message. The longest series of calls I made was more than a dozen in a row to a person who asked to quit the Party in the end.
I was no longer annoyed or bored when people hung me up. Little by little I found I could speak more eloquently and respond much quicker.
I called different kinds of people. Police officers were usually the hardest ones to clarify the facts to. Very few withdrew from the Party on my first try, but I was not moved. I knew that as long as they listened to me, they would eventually quit.
Developing Compassion for Those Who Harm Falun Gong
When I first started calling police officers, my heart was filled with hatred and loathing for them. For them to persecute such kind people often made me cry, and I struggled to pick up the phone to talk to such warped and unworthy beings.
I knew they were also lives to be saved, but I just couldn't treat them nicely until one day I read a fellow practitioner's article.
The author was sent to a labor camp by her local police station. After she was released, she went to clarify the facts to the local police officer who was mainly responsible for her arrest.
Not only did she get the officer to quit the Party, but she also made him feel like family. He indeed treated her like a mother next door. When he complained to her that he still got phone calls from Dafa disciples, she told him a story: “Up high in heaven, many gods wanted to help Master with the Fa rectification, but they had to play different characters when they came down to the human world. Most gods preferred to play good people, but a handful offered to play bad people. Those who offered to play bad people asked the former to be sure to 'wake them up' during the Fa rectification process. You agreed to play a bad cop, so you keep getting wake-up calls from those Dafa disciples.”
This story melted the ice frozen in my heart. I no longer felt unwilling to call police officers. Instead, I had a thought from the bottom of my heart to save them. I often said in my heart while dialing the number, “I'm coming to save you! You've been waiting for this day. Hurry to hear what I have say.”
Do Our Homework Every Day
Homework is something we must do every day, like my telephone broadcasting project. A break of even a day and our everyday people's skills get rusty, let alone doing Dafa projects. I found that interference arose whenever I slacked off. So now I make sure to make a few phone calls every day no matter how busy I am.
There are many different ways to clarify the facts. Be it making phone calls or collecting signatures on a petition to end the live organ harvesting, we need to do our "homework" every day.