(Minghui.org) I am a veteran practitioner who started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I want to share my recent cultivation experience of how I was fired from my workplace and took it as an opportunity to improve myself and help save more people.
When I was able to walk my path righteously, the magnificent power of Dafa revealed itself.
Suddenly Fired from my Workplace
I worked as a high school teacher and was suddenly fired because I practice Falun Gong. The school's Party secretary was very angry at me for encouraging my colleagues to withdraw from the Communist Party and for telling my students about the persecution of Falun Gong.
Faced with the sudden persecution, I was very calm and I remembered a sentence Master once said:
“Whether you’ve done well or not; whether or not you’ve been susceptible to being persecuted; whether or not you’ve handled things correctly and to what degree you have been persecuted—all of this is directly connected to how you have walked your path and how you have thought about things.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple”)
Looking Within
I thought to myself, I need to study the Fa well and look within.
I spent three days reading all the lectures that Master published after 1999. In the past few months, I have been clarifying the truth to people almost every day. But how well did I do it? Did I do everything with a righteous mind? And was I able reach the Fa's requirements?
I learned that my introverted character had become an obstacle for me in clarifying the truth to people in my daily life.
Under most circumstances, I only talked to people I knew, such as my colleagues; students at school; family members; or people in the shops that I frequented on the weekends.
Among all the people I talked to, some agreed to my offer to help them withdraw the Communist Party and some did not. I really admired those diligent practitioners who were able to persuade dozens of people to withdraw from the Party in just a few hours. I felt unsatisfied with myself, but didn't know how to break through.
I realized that I didn't treat those I approached equally. Human notions and fear were blocking me. When I clarified the truth to people, I picked only those who seemed to be kindhearted and honest to talk to and intentionally avoided talking to people who seemed to be shrewd or sharp.
Why did I discriminate in this manner? Didn't I feel that those kind people were relatively easier to talk to? I was shying away from difficulties with the pursuit for a high “success rate.”
But if I picked easy things to do, wasn't I leaving the hard part to others? This exposed a selfish mentality on my part.
Sometimes, I didn't directly ask people to quit the Party, as I was planning to do it gradually. But this also revealed my mentality of wanting to “reduce the risk,” which demonstrated that I still had fear in me?
When I met government officials, I also avoided talking to them. This was also an attachment of “protecting myself.”
After the persecution started, I dropped-out of my cultivation practice for several years and fell behind with the progress of the whole body of Dafa practitioners. So when I started reading the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party earlier this year, I felt very nervous and scared due to the remaining notions of the communist regime's culture in my own mind.
I read the book several more times and those poisonous factors were gradually being eliminated.
But I found myself feeling reluctant about distributing copies of the Nine Commentaries, because I was concerned that people might have objections or think that practitioners were getting “political.”
This issue was another indication that some of the Party's cultural substances within me had not been fully eliminated. After realizing these shortcomings, I was able to eliminate them with righteous thoughts.
Taking Righteous Action and Seeing Tribulations as an Opportunity to Improve
I decided that I needed to clarify the facts to the school's principal and Party Secretary. This opportunity would not have presented itself under normal circumstances.
I worked at that school for more than a decade and did an excellent job. Now they decide to fire me just because I practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance?
I sent forth righteous thoughts before I talked to the school's Party Secretary and asked Master to strengthen me during the conversation.
I spoke with her for almost four hours. She had been very loyal to the Communist Party her whole life and felt having a “Falun Gong practitioner” at her school would ruin her “political future,” so she had been very upset.
While maintaining a pure heart, I felt I was a large divine being; she became just an ordinary person sitting in front of me that needed to be saved. Her social status didn't mean anything anymore. I talked to her with great compassion and thoroughly explained the truth about the righteous nature of Falun Gong.
She gradually calmed down and began to ask me questions. I knew she began to question the Communist Party's deceptive propaganda, which she firmly believed in all these years.
She finally understood that Falun Gong practitioners are good people and their persuading people to withdraw from the Party is truly a good thing for them. She hoped we could remain friends.
She tried her best to minimize the negative impact of my departure and compensated me with two months' salary.
Setting the Record Straight
In the past, I overheard some of my colleagues being sarcastic and laughing at practitioners distributing truth-clarification materials. Now I, someone they know as a good person, was a real-life example of the persecution. They began to believe that the persecution is real and what was said on the fliers was truthful. They were shocked!
During my classes, I told my students about the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and how the Communist Party destroyed traditional Chinese culture. That created many positive changes in my students.
My sudden disappearance was a mystery to them. I vowed to make up for the part that I haven't completed: Ask them to withdraw from the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.
I invited all my students to a farewell party. Many students who I originally thought wouldn't attend came with small hand-made presents. I seized this precious opportunity and thoroughly explained the truth to them. They were all very touched.
This experience is exactly like what Master said:
“...when you meet with ordeals, it is the perfect opportunity for you to improve. If you are able to look inside, that trying situation will become instead an opportunity, something to overcome and a chance to enter a new state.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference”)
Cultivating Compassion Toward My Husband
After leaving the job, I spent two months at home taking care of my family and studying the Fa.
With a calm mind, I was able to see through the chaos of my life and what
Master’s real arrangement was for me.
The first thing I needed to do was cultivate compassion toward my husband. In the past, I didn't clarify the truth to him very well and lacked compassion.
My husband doesn't work and has “enjoyed” being a homemaker. After I lost my job, he began to panic and blamed me for not caring about the family because I went out all day to help people quit the Party.
No matter what he said, I maintained my temper and didn't argue with him. I decided to do more housework and became more attentive to his needs.
I understood that he was under a lot of mental pressure as a result of the persecution, so I used my compassion to dissolve the resentment in his heart. Now he is no longer sarcastic or finds fault with me when I study the Fa or do the exercises at home.
Making the Best Use of My Time
I also decided to attend a school reunion party in another city, which gave me a precious opportunity to clarify the truth to my old classmates and teachers.
I also had time to write personal experience letters to many of my friends and family members to explain the truth to them. Some of them are businessman and government officials, as well as scientists or scholars. I hope they can now truly understand the evil nature of the Communist Party.
It took me a relatively long time to write those letters. Without those two months at home, I wouldn't have been able to finish that task. Thank you Master for your perfect arrangements for me.
A New Job Finds Me
My husband and friends were worrying that it would be difficult for me to find a new job with such a fiercely competitive job market.
Master told us several times:
“Don’t be fooled by the fact that everything seems to be business as usual here in this world, or that each nation and peoples are carrying on and interacting just as usual, for all of this exists in fact for Dafa.” (“Be More Diligent”)
Practitioners are playing the leading role in society. The stage is set up for us to assist Master in Fa-rectification and assimilating into an altruistic way of being. I know my life's path has been arranged by Master.
I posted my resume online and applied for a few positions. I really didn't spend any time polishing my resume or researching interview techniques, but focused on studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, saving people, and doing the housework.
Miraculously, I found there was a meaningful connection between my truth-clarification efforts and finding a new job.
The day after I had the farewell party for my students, I received an interview invitation from a big company for a fairly high position. And I didn't even submit my resume to that company!
Without much preparation, I went for the interview. It was the first round, which involved a test of my professional skills.
After I finished the test, I had lunch with two students of mine who missed the farewell party. So I spent the entire afternoon explaining the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution to them.
On the next day, I received a call from that same company saying that I passed the first round of interviews and was being invited to the next round.
After I came back from the second round of interviews, I organized a batch of phone numbers for fellow practitioners to use to make calls and clarify the truth.
Two days later, I was notified that I was selected for the final interview.
My husband was really delighted. But I knew the situation very clearly: Master had made these arrangements for me a long time ago.
More interestingly, after I persuaded two teachers from my old school to withdraw from the Party, I was immediately hired by another company without even an interview.
Now it can't be more clear: Helping save sentient beings is more important than being overly concerned about things from ordinary society.
Master said:
“If viewed in historical terms this is indeed such a major thing, then consider what kind of preparation it would have called for. The arrangements that were made were, in fact, quite detailed, to the extent that how each Dafa disciple would walk his path; what situations each would meet with; how each would advance or fall back; and how things would be handled when inappropriate states eventually came about, was all meticulously arranged.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching”)
As a Dafa disciple, we need to see through the various illusions in this ordinary society, walk the path arranged by Master and fulfill our prehistoric vows.
