(Clearwisdom.net)

Study The Fa With a Calm Mind

"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts" (Essentials for Further Advancement II: "Drive Out Interference"). Master has already conveyed to us the importance of studying the Fa, but at the beginning, I always treated Dafa work as the most important job for me to do. I adopted the habit of judging one's advancement in cultivation by the quantity of the work one could do and by how much money one could contribute to produce truth-clarifying materials. Since I had not studied the Fa solidly, when I encountered conflicts that deeply touched my mind, my human notions quickly occupied my whole consciousness. I was not able to maintain my Xinxing level and was affected at different levels by many aspects. With the help of veteran practitioners, I realized I needed to merge my efforts in studying the Fa, clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts. Through copious and solid Fa study, a Dafa student can do Dafa work well. Only then can one melt into the Fa.

In the beginning, it was difficult for me to calm my mind when studying the Fa. Quite often, I wanted to get up and attend to some very urgent things I had to do.

In "Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.", Master pointed out:

"when you study the Fa, don't just go through the motions. You have to calm your mind when you read it, and truly study it. Don't let your mind sneak away from you. Once your mind wanders off, you'll be studying in vain. If we look at it from another angle, when you study the Fa and your mind isn't on the Fa, it's not only a problem of just going through the motions, but also that the person studying the Fa is actually not being very respectful of the Fa. How could the Fa reveal itself, then?"

After I better understood these Fa principles, I made up my mind to secure a certain time of the day for Fa study. I told myself that no matter what happens, I still need to finish reading three chapters a day.

That statement was easy to say, but hard to fulfill. When Fa study time arrived, various distractions appeared as well. I had to grit my teeth: one day, two days... A few weeks went by. My fellow practitioners all commented that I had changed a lot. I also felt that the surrounding environment had become more serene, pure and righteous. I finally experienced the joy of melting into the Fa. I then understood understand Teacher's words,

"No matter how difficult your environment is, no matter how busy you get, you cannot forget to study the Fa. You must study the Fa, because it is the absolute, most fundamental guarantee of your improvement." ("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")

Clarifying the truth to my parents and relatives

During the early stage of my obtaining the Fa, my attachment of complacency emerged, and I treated worldly things lightly. During conversations with my parents over the phone, I used terms that my father could not understand. Since he did not agree with my words, inevitably, he was not willing to listen to my truth clarification. I am the only child in my family, and I haven't been back home to China in the last three years. I can easily imagine how much my parents must have missed me. I could tell that my father blamed my cultivation for my failure to return to China for a visit. Later, I enlightened that I needed to embrace their feelings and emotions towards me as a cultivation principle. I also needed to understand them with compassion. This would also enable them to understand me. This would support Dafa as well as support explaining the truth of the persecution. Master said:

"while we're cultivating in the ordinary world we're supposed to respect our parents and be good to them, just as we should teach our kids and discipline them. In every situation we should be good to others and be kind to people, let alone your family members. We should treat everyone the same, be good to our parents and our kids, and always be considerate of others. Then your heart isn't a selfish one when you do that, but a compassionate one--it's compassion."(Zhuan Falun)

After I understood these issues, I started talking about the details of my ordinary study and work during telephone conversations with my family. I also enquired about the health of my parents and other relatives. I asked them about the conflicts they encountered in their work and life. I explained Dafa principles to them and offered to help. I made them feel that their son had matured and changed into a new person through studying Falun Dafa. In regards to not returning home temporarily, I explained that it was due to the persecution, which would not last much longer. More important, I told them that if they could help their son to tell more people that Falun Dafa is good, and about the truth of the persecution, then the persecution might end even quicker. Additionally, the chance of their son returning home would increase. After all, their son is doing the most righteous work in the world: they should be proud of their son. Later, my parents began to understand me and positioned themselves well during this persecution, establishing a bright future for themselves.

Clarifying the truth in Internet chat rooms

Prior to my cultivation, I was very keen on using Internet chat rooms to make friends. After I started cultivation, I began to realize that the Internet could foster many bad attachments for me, so I gradually distanced myself from computers. After I read an experience-sharing article from a practitioner about Internet chat rooms, I began to wonder why I could not do the same as that practitioner and share the facts about Falun Dafa to others through the Internet? Therefore, I retrieved the QQ software that I had abandoned a long time ago and started clarifying the truth over the Internet.

The majority of the people in the chat rooms are young people. Most people use chat rooms to talk about romance and pass the time. Because of their young age, many of them know relatively little about their society. They are easily swayed by the evil propaganda. While in the chat rooms, I have thought of many useful methods, but I also saw many of my own attachments. I feel my heart and mind are being purified and elevated .I noticed that if I study the Fa better, then I can achieve better results in the chat room. If my heart is filled with more compassion, the words I send touch people's hearts more deeply. Quite often, I can sense the gratitude from the bottom of the heart of the being who has realized the truth about Dafa. In the meanwhile, they promise to tell more people about the truth of this persecution. Just as Master has said:

"Your every word, every flyer, every keystroke, every telephone call, and every letter is having a huge impact. Beings that have come to understand the facts become mobile media, and they too clarify the facts. It's had a big impact on society." (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)

"Putting Down the Ordinary Person's Heart" -- Clarifying the truth to classmates

I remember when I began college, most of my Chinese classmates had never met practitioners of Falun Dafa. When I entered a classroom wearing my Dafa clothes for the first time, they went dead silent and quietly looked at me. I knew I needed to use my behavior to validate Falun Dafa in the near future. Everyday I arrived in the classroom a couple of minutes early, cleaned the blackboard and tidied up the desks and chairs in the room. I always warmly greeted my classmates first when meeting them. I never got cross with them, even if they did not respond to me. Next time I met them, I would still greet them first. After a few times, the situation became a lot better. I would offer my warm help if they had any difficulties. When the teacher was giving out reference materials, and there were not enough materials, I immediately offered others my own copies.

As days went by, we were all getting to know each other. Some of my best classmates addressed me as "Fa brother". One day a classmate told me that someone had cheated him, and my classmate was extremely angry. The classmate said he could have done the same back to him. However, he told me that since he had been with me for such a long time, he was able to react differently this time. He just let the situation be this time. I felt so happy for him after he told me the story. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun:

"Only the energy field from cultivating a true teaching can have this effect. That's why there used to be a saying in Buddhism, 'Buddha's light shines everywhere, propriety and righteousness harmonize everything.' That is what it means."

Those classmates who learned the truth also lend a hand to practitioners. Some of our practitioners didn't have jobs due to various reasons and had hard times making ends meet. One of my classmates then helped our practitioners to find steady jobs. Once the local newspaper publicized a photo of us appealing outside the Chinese embassy with me in it. The next day, many of my classmates were happy to see me in the newspaper.

Clarifying the truth to colleagues

I've changed jobs several times during my life, and each time I met a few people with predestined connections. The most common statement they made to me was, "I seemed to have met you somewhere before." I immediately understood why I was to work with them. I tend to smile at them and reply, "I quite often went to the city center to deliver newspapers. Therefore you must have met me there." They also laughed and agreed to this. When we took a rest during work, I quite often told them some facts about Falun Dafa.

Master mentioned in Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference:

"But they are able to understand things like what humankind, today's people, call 'human rights' being squashed and freedom of belief being squashed. So when you're clarifying the facts your words should revolve around those topics, and people will be able to understand and they'll be supportive."

Some of them were really good people, and they could understand the principles very quickly. I also try to awaken their benevolent thoughts by telling a few cultivation stories. One workmate exclaimed, "Falun Dafa is good!" after one of the stories. My tears nearly came down. I knew the best future of a life had just begun.

One of my workmates wasn't' very friendly at the beginning. He hardly spoke to me and often yelled at me during work. Once I was not able to uphold my Xinxing and threw a few words back at him. Afterwards, I stood there feeling so much regret. I asked myself, why did I come here? After I got enlightened to this, I quickly walked towards him without any hesitation and expressed my sincere apology. He also made some friendly comments. Through this encounter, we seemed to have some common ground between us. He started asking me a few questions and I began to answer him little by little. The relationship between us got better and better. One day, I asked him, "What do you think of Falun Gong?" He frankly replied, "I can't say it is bad because you are good person. However, I can't say it is good since I don't know it." I knew that answer came from the side of his life that longed to obtain the Fa.

So I said to him, "No problem, I will bring the book for you tomorrow so that you can have a good read." Later he told me that he knew Dafa was good, but he could not let go of his attachments. Therefore he did not want to cultivate for the time being. He even commented that a cigarette now seemed tasteless to him. I looked at him and smiled. I told myself that Master is already taking care of him.

Clarifying the Truth by making phone calls

The process of making phone calls was a cultivation process for me. Just like Master said:

"he goes from place to place, begging for food and running into all kinds of people who laugh at him, and insult him, or take advantage of him. He runs into all kinds of things. He goes about everything as a practitioner, he keeps his interactions with people in the proper perspective, he guards his character well, constantly improves his character, and he doesn't get affected by all the different kinds of ordinary people's material temptations." (Zhuan Falun)

At the very beginning, I was reluctant to make phone calls to the people from southern China. I didn't really understand their dialect very well. I was reluctant to make calls to the police in China because they would swear at me, and I thought I might start arguing with them. Once I was very reluctant to make a call to a few policemen from Henan province. In the end, they in turn started swearing at me using their home dialect. I burst out laughing while I was sending forth righteous thoughts. They all stopped swearing then. I felt I had passed this test. Since then, nobody has ever sworn at me over the phone.

While making the phone calls, I often felt a chill penetrating my bones. I was shivering all over, and even the heater next to me didn't make any difference. On a few occasions, my left hand was shaking, and I was unable to press the phone button. I had to use my right hand to steady my left hand to press the button. I realized that interference from other dimensions was definitely directed at me before I picked up the phone to confront the evil force. It was crucial to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil in other dimensions.

After I read that a sister of a practitioner living in U.S.A. was persecuted, I rang the local political and legal committee right away and had a long chat with a local official. He was very good at talking. However, the lies fabricated by the Jiang regime could not withstand being tested. When he mentioned that the ban on Falun Gong was based upon the will of the majority, I questioned him, "If Falun Gong was given half an hour on a TV station, do you think that the majority of people would change their minds and support Dafa instead?" Suddenly he stopped talking. I then carefully talked with him about the global spread of Dafa outside of China. He was carefully listening to news that he never had the opportunity to hear inside China. I finally persuaded him to read the book for himself so that he could know what Falun Gong really was.

I once made a phone call to the "610 Office" in Daqing City. After an evil person realized that I was calling from Europe, the first thing he asked was, "What do you want from me?" Then he hung up the phone immediately. I felt a fear deep inside of him. Teacher has said, "Every phone call from our students shocks them to the point that they can't sleep at night." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference")

For a period of time, as long as the Clearwisdom website had some contact phone numbers, I made phone calls to clarify the truth, from Heilongjiang to Guangdong Province, from Shandong to Sichuan Province and from Hubei Province to the midlands. The long sessions could last more than an hour while the short ones lasted a couple of minutes. Almost everyday I would talk to the police and officials from the 610 office. I wanted to let them hear the voice from Europe: "Stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners! 'Good is rewarded by good and evil returned by evil' is the heavenly law!"

From time to time, I asked myself: Dafa is spreading in 62 countries and regions; if even one practitioner from each region made phone calls everyday to a few places crowded with the evil in China, then wouldn't those places receive at least 62 phone calls from various regions and countries in one day? The shock to the evil received would be so immense.

I always carry a shoulder bag with the words, "SOS, STOP PERSCUTING FALUN GONG IN CHINA" while I'm out. I give truth clarification materials to all the Chinese I meet. Many of my friends said to me, "Not many Chinese would recognize you by name, yet if you asked them whether they knew a young lad carrying an SOS bag and delivering newspapers, many people would know that it was you. You have nearly become a Dublin tourist attraction."

In the last two years, I often look back on the path that I have been on and the process of obtaining the Fa; I understand that all my paths are set by Master. Often I was moved indescribably. I can only express my heart by using one sentence: Thank you Master!