(Minghui.org)
Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Having practiced Falun Dafa for 22 years, I have experienced Master Li’s (the founder of Falun Dafa) immense compassion in saving me, encouraging me, and protecting me on my cultivation journey.
My gratitude to Master is beyond words and I know I can never repay his compassion. I can only do well what’s required of a Dafa disciple.
Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Dafa in July 1999, I have worked hard to let people know how awful the CCP really is and how it has lied about and defamed the practice.
Distributing Materials
Not a year after I began to practice Falun Dafa, then CCP leader Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide campaign to do away with it in July 1999. Other practitioners and I distributed informational materials to explain what the practice is and why the persecution was illegal.
Other than banners and amulets, I made all other truth-clarification materials myself. I usually got them ready at night and then distributed them near my workplace at noon the following day. Occasionally, I went elsewhere to distribute them after work instead of returning home right away. On weekends, I took the bus to places a little further away to distribute materials. I only had one thought: to distribute more materials to help more people understand the facts about Falun Dafa and see through the CCP’s lies about the practice.
Although my husband is not a practitioner, he supports my belief and often drove me to faraway places to distribute materials. After we had covered every corner of our city, we moved on to other towns and cities. If a place was too far away, we even stayed in a hotel overnight and returned home the following day. We did this for more than 10 years and things went well.
Even though it was a lot of work during the harsh persecution, those were very memorable years for me. I could also sense Master’s compassionate help. For example, we sometimes heard notices about traffic jams, but when we got there, the traffic would be moving just fine. My husband even asked if the radio stations had misinformed us. “No, they didn’t,” I would reply. “Master is helping us.” After this scenario was repeated many times, my husband believed what I said.
For safety reasons, we often took side roads. When we asked local residents for directions, I would give them materials or DVDs. Once when I was distributing materials in a village, a woman said, “I just watched the DVD you gave me—it’s great!” It turned out I had given her materials a while ago when I asked her for directions at the entrance to the village.
Very often after leaving a village from a side road, we were surprised to see the side road connected to the main road, which soon led to the highway. It was miraculous. Sometimes it was still early and, when leaving a village, we could see the beautiful sunset across the open fields. It was a magnificent sight and I was thankful for Master’s help along the way.
Validating the Fa at Work
When the suppression first started, I had only practiced for a few months and did not know what to do. After reading the Falun Dafa books, however, I realized that Dafa was righteous and decided that I would continue to practice openly and with dignity, no matter what happened. With this thought, I felt enormous energy, which I knew was from Master. Strong righteous thoughts emerged in my mind and I was determined to validate the Fa under any circumstances. I came to see that, as a Dafa disciple, my mission was to validate the righteousness of Dafa no matter where I was.
Nonetheless, there was tremendous pressure. Sometimes my coworkers gave me strange looks or made casual remarks that hurt my feelings. They even isolated me. Once it was very busy at work, and everyone but me was called to work overtime. Normally I would have been happy if I didn’t have to work overtime, but that incident did make me feel particularly isolated.
The following Monday when I returned to work, people acted as if I didn’t exist and talked about fun things that happened while working overtime over the weekend. I thought that this was not simply ignoring me, that it was more an attempt to destroy my willpower. Looking back, I realize that my colleagues probably didn’t act that way on purpose, but back then I did feel very hurt since I hadn’t had a deeper understanding of the Fa yet. I remember I didn’t want to go to work for a period of time.
Despite my struggles, fortunately I kept in mind Master’s teachings and worked hard to remain unmoved. I’d study the Fa before work to strengthen my righteous thoughts. When I read “Perfecting Your Character” in Lecture Four in Zhuan Falun, I realized that I needed to treat whatever happened at work as opportunities to improve myself and show others what Dafa really is.
After that, I unconditionally looked inward to see what attachments I still had. As soon as I identified an attachment, I worked hard to relinquish it.
I was diligent with my assignments at work, and whenever I wasn’t busy, I would put on my headset and listen to Master’s audio lectures. As I let go of my human notions, things became simpler to handle. I realized that everything I encountered was arranged for my cultivation.
The situation also began to change. My manager and the company leadership trusted me and acknowledged my work performance. Within several months, my salary doubled and I was promoted to be a team leader. This is just like what Master had said, “You put in the effort and your teacher will handle the rest.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Later I began to talk to my coworkers about Falun Dafa. “If you say you are a Falun Dafa practitioner, I know this practice must be good,” one of them said. I was very moved, as if surrounded by a strong energy. I knew Master was encouraging me in this way.
One time another coworker said, “You are different from what the television said [about Falun Dafa practitioners.]”
“You know, those are all lies that deceive people,” I replied. I also realized that our own words and actions are the best way to show what Falun Dafa is.
Validating the Fa at Home
Although my husband was not against my practice, he was deceived by the defamatory propaganda in the early days of the persecution. “If I cannot even help my husband see through the hate propaganda and realize that Falun Dafa is good, who else could I possibly persuade to believe me?” I thought.
Because my understanding of Falun Dafa was shallow at the time, I often ended up arguing with my husband whenever I tried to tell him that the persecution was illegal. After I enlightened to more principles of the Fa, I talked to him more, but we still ended up in debates.
In the meantime, I began to look inward to improve myself to have more compassion and patience. Later on, I saw that, although he still argued with me, he had listened to what I had told him earlier. When I explained to him my newer understandings, however, he became confused again and started arguing with me again. I see that he is changing as I continue making progress in my cultivation. We still argue today from time to time as I share new understandings of the Fa with him.
As a result, my family environment is generally supportive. My husband even told people that he did not see any of the CCP’s false claims about Dafa play out in me. From this, I saw that my husband was kind, which made me realize how powerful clarifying the truth is. I also thank Master for encouraging me to clarify the truth to my husband. Later on, my husband not only gave me rides to faraway places to distribute materials but also helped me wherever I needed him.
One day, a police officer called me at home and I was stressed for a few days. “No worries. You can count on me,” my husband said. Very often after such phone calls, police or local community officials would show up at practitioners’ homes claiming to be verifying household registration records or checking the utilities. My husband often handled such visits.
Several people from the neighborhood committee once came to verify household registrations and IDs. My husband gave them the information they requested, but they came back soon afterward to take a picture of me. My husband declined to allow that.
“If you do not cooperate with us, the police will come,” one of them threatened.
“You can tell whoever you choose about this,” my husband replied as he shut the door. “I have not violated any laws and have no time for this!”
I was not deterred, either. I looked within to see if I had any loopholes. Those officials never came back. This experience gave both my husband and me confidence in Dafa. My faith in Master and Dafa grew even stronger.
Another practitioner and I once went out to remove a defamatory poster, and my husband gave us a ride. As we were removing the poster, however, someone saw us and reported us to the police. As the police were arresting us, I saw my husband in the crowd smiling at me as if to say, “No worries.” I was moved by his support.
At the police station, I kept sending forth righteous thoughts and knew I did not belong there. I said to Master in my heart, “Master, I am sorry. I didn’t do well. I’ll rectify my omissions in the Fa, but I do not acknowledge any persecution using my omissions as an excuse. Please help me get out of here!”
Master helped me and the other practitioner walk out of the police station after about an hour.
Outside the station, I saw my husband, who had followed the police car and planned to rescue me.
“How did you get out?” he asked in surprise and happiness.
“Master helped me,” I replied. I truly felt Master’s protection.
After this incident, my husband never criticized me or reminded me to be careful. Instead of pressuring me, he tried to assure me: “This incident is over. If there are any consequences, I will take care of them.” I was very happy for his support and sense of right.
Calling Cards
Calling people to clarify the facts is another effective way to clarify the truth. For security reasons, however, we have to change calling cards from time to time. I started to do this in 2013 and have intensified my efforts since 2015.
In the beginning, more than 20 people quit the CCP every month after I talked to them on the phone. Later on, the number increased to between 120 and 200 per month. In 2017, however, the calling cards were often blocked. I wasn’t deterred and started looking inward to see what I hadn’t done well that might have resulted in the calling cards being blocked.
The calling cards were inexpensive in 2015 and 2016, and many practitioners started to participate in the project. Because refilling a card was of little benefit, we often discarded the card after we’d used it up. In late 2016, however, it became difficult to buy cards. I looked within and realized that I’d failed to fully cherish practitioners-provided resources when I discarded the cards and thus brought tremendous pressure to the practitioner who supplied me with calling cards.
One practitioner bought me four calling cards in late 2017. I used the cards to make phone calls on two cell phones for about 7 to 10 hours a day for almost two years, during which time I helped 90-150 people quit the CCP each month.
In December 2018, all four cards stopped working. When I looked inward to see where I could improve, I realized that I had zealotry, complacency, and an attachment to comfort. I contacted my sister, who is also a practitioner, in another city. “They have stopped selling cards here, too,” she said. “Maybe you should take a break to continue reflecting on your cultivation.”
I intensified my Fa-study. I came to see that I often made excuses to cover up my attachments in the name of clarifying the facts and saving people. But this was not what a practitioner should do, so I made up my mind to let go of all these human notions.
Several days later, my sister told me she had purchased new cards for me. In fact, the vendor allowed her to purchase whatever she needed. Both she and I were grateful for Master’s compassion.
Master said, “Only by doing the three things well can you purge that stuff and turn around all of the Party-culture-wrought thinking that you have—including fear.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Western U.S. Fa Conference”)
After the pandemic broke out, people were locked down at home and I could sense their relief when I called and told them how to stay safe and healthy. I often shed tears thinking about Master’s immense compassion. I also cherished the ability Master bestowed upon me to be able to talk to people effectively.
Besides studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts, I spent the rest of my time making phone calls as I really felt the urgency of saving people. Sometimes I made phone calls until 10:30 at night because many people were listening. Between February and August 2020, I was able to help about 150 people quit the CCP organizations each month. Even those who did not quit listened to the entire phone call.
There were also opportunities for me to improve. One of my phone cards had issues in July 2020. I paid little attention to it. About one month later, two more cards stopped working. When looking within, I found that I was still harboring attachments to comfort and ego. But somehow I felt I still had deeper attachments.
More of my calling cards got blocked. My heart was moved and I felt overwhelmed by worries and other negative thoughts. I had to stop making calls, something I had become accustomed to doing at set times every day. Then it dawned on me that my habit of making phone calls had become an attachment. That thought had actually flashed through my mind when I had issues with the first phone card, but I failed to think more about it. I charged ahead with my phone calls, only to see more cards blocked. I realized that my insistence on following my habit of making phone calls without first identifying my attachments had been exploited by the evil, which imposed more negative thoughts on me. I felt like I was being pushed into a dead end and was very sad for several days.
Then I remember what Master said:
“Everything that the evil has done has actually targeted the attachments and fears that you have not let go of. You are future Enlightened Beings who are becoming Buddhas, Daos, and Gods, and you are not concerned with the losses and gains of this world. So you should be able to let go of everything. If you weren’t attached right now to reaching Consummation, the evil would not have been able to take advantage of this last gap.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s),” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I had a thought that I had to relinquish all my attachments and that I’d start anew, as if I was a brand new practitioner. I kept looking inward and realized that I had a heart to relax and slack off. Having cultivated for so many years, I’d been doing the three things smoothly because I had faith in Master and Dafa. Then what did I do wrong that resulted in the current situation of my calling cards being blocked?
As I painstakingly searched for any deeper attachments, Master gave me a hint when I was doing the exercises one day. I realized that I had been affected by the prediction “Heaven will eliminate the CCP.” In fact, I was drawn to any news about that. As I watched and read things about it, human notions got into my mind. As a matter of fact, I had warned myself years ago not to be fooled by the illusions in the human world, but I failed to do well and still got carried away when it came to this.
I felt sad about having let down Master, but I was also immensely grateful to Master. This experience will serve to motivate me to rectify my omissions, relinquish my remaining attachments, and strive forward in my cultivation.
Right now, I have come to understand that, no matter what happens in this world, we practitioners need to stay focused on our cultivation and improving ourselves. This is because the opportunities for us are unprecedented and we have to make the best use of them. I feel extremely honored to be a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple.
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