(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Fa-Study and Sending Righteous Thoughts
Before July 20, 1999, over three thousand people practiced Falun Dafa in my county. When Jiang Zemin's large-scale suppression reached the pinnacle of viciousness, many Falun Dafa practitioners in my county went to Beijing to appeal or informed the local people of the truth about Falun Dafa. Some Falun Dafa practitioners lost their jobs, and other practitioners' wages were withheld. Some were taken in for interrogation from time to time, sent to brainwashing classes, randomly harassed and arrested by the police, illegally detained, sent to forced labor camps, illegally sentenced, brutally persecuted, and so on. Even under such enormous pressure, with unshakable righteous thoughts in Falun Dafa, practitioners in my county continued studying Falun Dafa and practicing the exercises at home, or studied the Fa [Falun Dafa teachings] and shared their experiences in a group of about a dozen people. We seized all possible opportunities to explain the truth about Falun Dafa to relatives, friends, colleagues, supervisors and policemen. We used our experiences of improving our xinxing [moral character, heart or mind nature]and health to tell people that Falun Dafa is wonderful, magnificent and great.
After July 20, 1999, we secretly studied the Fa and shared our experiences together in groups of about a dozen people. Amidst the Fa-rectification, gradually we became more rational and mature. Now practitioners at all the practice sites around the county study the Fa and send righteous thoughts as a group in an upright and dignified manner. Whenever Minghui Weekly [a compilation of informative Falun Dafa articles published on Minghiu.net but blocked in China]and other materials arrive, we study together to see how practitioners in other areas do the three things Teacher told us to do well; (1) moreover, we also look for gaps in our understanding. When we have disputes or conflicts, we search inside ourselves for our shortcomings and we are tolerant of each other. Through studying the Fa, practitioners' level of awareness as a whole has elevated; they volunteered to spend money that they saved through pinching and scraping on making truth-clarification materials. A practitioner who is in his seventies has a monthly income of eight hundred yuan [500 yuan is the monthly salary for an average urban worker in China.]. Except for eating two very simple meals a day, he spends the rest of his money on making truth-clarification materials and spends the rest of his time studying the Fa, clarifying the truth and sending righteous thoughts. He often goes to countryside to distribute truth-clarification materials. Whenever he is on foot or on the bus, he is always clarifying the truth. He clarifies the truth wherever he goes and a lot of people with the karmic relationship were saved because of his efforts.
We also helped practitioners who have not stepped forward to step forward. We helped practitioners who had served illegal forced labor terms and "enlightened" along an evil path to awaken by giving them Teacher's new articles, lectures and truth-clarification materials. We told them miraculous stories of Teacher benevolently protecting Dafa practitioners who maintained righteous thoughts and righteous actions. We let them step forward after they made improvements.
One day in October 2003, two Falun Gong practitioners took a lot of truth-clarification materials with them and distributed flyers on the street. After being spotted by a leader from the "610 Office," [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] they were beaten and kicked by the leader. The practitioners did not groan in pain once, instead, they immediately sent righteous thoughts and shouted, "Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa teaches upright principles! There is nothing wrong with following Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance to become a good person!" At the time, more than one thousand people stood there and watched what happened. Some said, "Falun Gong is remarkable indeed!" Some berated the brutal "610 Office" official and shouted, "What kind of sick stunt are you trying to pull by beating up elderly people!" Knowing that he had been exposed and was in the wrong, the official dared not to hit the practitioners again in front of the crowd, so he handcuffed both of them and took them away. He hung them by their cuffed hands on the police station's window for the night. The next day he took them to a detention center, where the two practitioners erected their palms and sent righteous thoughts. The official was scared to see that and fearing to obtain karmic retribution he left in a hurry. The practitioners who were home all sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil's persecution, helping the jailed practitioners to return to the grand current of clarifying the truth as soon as possible. They held a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. Several practitioners went to the detention center to see them. Practitioners encouraged them to maintain righteous thoughts and righteous actions and to not cooperate with the evil. Practitioners also told the guards, "If anything happens to them, you won't be able to escape the responsibility." The two practitioners did not eat or drink for three days, yet they did not feel hungry. They slept without a blanket, yet they did not feel cold. One of them had a dream, in which she saw a coal fire burning under the bed. "Ah! It is Teacher protecting us!" In this way, with righteous thoughts and righteous actions, they walked out of the detention center in three days.
There is a Falun Gong practitioner who constantly sends righteous thoughts and wherever she goes she remembers to send righteous thoughts. One day, in the beginning of March, 2004, she sent righteous thoughts while returning to the store after making a delivery. After returning to the store she felt a little achiness in her body, so she went home to lie down. Once she got home, she began to ache all over her body, and the pain was unbearable. She called out for Teacher, and at that moment, with her third eye she saw Teacher come to her. After sitting with her for a little while, Teacher left. Her pain immediately disappeared. This practitioner appreciated Teacher's compassionate protection very much. Stories of Teacher protecting practitioners who maintain righteous thoughts and righteous actions inspires both veteran and new practitioners to do better in studying the Fa, sending righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth.
2. Clarifying the Truth
In 2000, local practitioners started their truth-clarification efforts to save sentient beings. They sent their first truth-clarification material to different levels of supervisors in the county and put the materials under the doors of everyday people's home. As their Fa-rectification cultivation deepened, practitioners in the county have become more rational and mature, and they have had a higher understanding of the "three things" that Teacher talked about. They realized that this persecution against Dafa and Dafa practitioners is a persecution against Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance and an attack on mankind's nature and conscience. Clarifying the truth can save sentient beings, and this is our responsibility. We seized all opportunities to inform people of the truth: while dropping in on someone, while grocery shopping, while visiting relatives and friends, while visiting patients in the hospital--none of these things is a simple activity; instead, we are clarifying the truth to people and saving sentient beings with our hearts.
One time a fellow practitioner went to a village and saw several dozen people chitchatting by the road. She took the initiative to ask them if an acquaintance of hers was home. Then she struck up a conversation with them and changed the subject to truth-clarification. She said, "Falun Gong practitioners are all good people. Their health conditions all improved after they practiced Falun Gong." Some villagers raised some questions and she answered them one by one. Before she left she told them, "The TV tells lies to slander and defame Falun Gong. Don't believe any of it." With a rational and peaceful mentality, she dispelled a group of strangers' confusion and made them understand that Dafa was great.
A practitioner told a neighbor, "Recite 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is good and Falun Dafa is good' with your heart and your health will improve." The neighbor recited it constantly and her lower back problem disappeared, and she was able to straighten her back again. She said," Thank you!" The practitioners said, "Don't thank me, thank my Teacher." Another practitioner went out to grocery shop. She told an old man who was selling water chestnuts, "Recite 'Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is good' with your heart; you'll be blessed and your health problems will disappear." This old man said, "A Falun Gong practitioner already told me. My wife also began to recite it constantly, and now her partial paralysis is cured and she is able to walk." The practitioner said, "Tell others about this too, then you'll be blessed." The old man immediately told the old lady who was selling shoes next to him. In this way, Dafa's beauty and wonder is spread from person to person and from heart to heart.
In 2002, a Falun Gong practitioner in a village was arrested for distributing truth-clarification material. The wicked police hung her by her cuffed hands from the beam of a dark room (a special room to torture Falun Gong practitioners) for a whole day. She was beaten and wounded all over until her face was covered with bruises and swollen. However she persisted in resisting policemen's forceful interrogation and did not tell them the source of her truth-clarification materials. Afterward, she was detained in a detention center, where she constantly sent righteous thoughts. Three times she was able to open the handcuffs and shackles with her supernormal capability. All the people in detention were convinced that Falun Gong was miraculous. They stopped torturing her and she was able to practice the exercises. After returning home, she had no fear and continued letting her husband ride on a tricycle with a lot of truth-clarification materials and went with him to neighboring counties' streets and villages to post truth-clarification flyers and materials. For a long time her father, who is in his seventies (also a Falun Gong practitioner), has been carrying truth-clarification material with him and going to different villages to post and distribute them. In this way, Falun Dafa practitioners in our county all clarify the truth with their hearts. Whether it is in the town or countryside, now people are all saying, "I've also received Falun Gong's red envelope [practitioners use these envelopes to wrap truth-clarification material; traditionally, red envelopes containing some pocket money are given to children during the Chinese New Year and represent good fortune and blessings.]."
During the day Falun Gong practitioners clarify the truth and distribute the "red envelopes" and at night they write truth-clarification messages. Some post signs that they have written ahead of time on the walls; some use their hands to dip in starch paste and spread the paste on the walls before posting the banners; sometimes their hands are cut by the nails left on the wall, yet they do not complain. The wicked policemen became scared and erased their messages. Even though they erase them today, they reappear the next day. Some policemen erased signs that read "Expose Jiang Zemin" and simply stopped erasing others. Some store owners asked Falun Gong practitioners to post the sign reading "Falun Dafa is Good" and said, "I too want to be blessed."
From now on we will definitely do better studying the Fa, clarifying the truth and sending righteous thoughts. Lastly, I would like to encourage everyone with Teacher's words:
"For the sake of all living things, for the sake of validating Dafa, stay diligent on the path to godhood!" (Master's New Year's Day 2004 Greeting to Dafa Disciples, December 31, 2003)
(1) Study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth.
