(Clearwisdom.net) A practitioner who had been arrested and placed under enormous pressure revealed my name to the police as the one who had given him the truth clarifying materials he had been distributing. As a result, I was arrested. Prior to the arrest, my situation of studying the Fa was not good.
Practitioners, friends and family all reminded me to be careful about my safety, but I did not listen, thinking that since my righteous thoughts were strong I would be safe. In fact this was the shortcoming I discovered as soon as I was arrested. I made up my mind to recover the losses and firmly resisted the persecution. I refused to answer any questions during the interrogation, and was quickly released.
On my release a fellow practitioner asked me whether I hated the practitioner who had given my name to the police under pressure. I answered, "No." Then the practitioner commented, "You do not hate him. This is your Buddha side. However, did you also see your demon nature from this experience?"
As I continued to study the Fa diligently and send forth righteous thoughts every day, I gradually settled my mind and heart. I then recalled some facts about the practitioner who got arrested initially and revealed my name to the police. The practitioner had asked my opinion about whether he should go to Beijing to appeal. My response at the time was that Master has asked us to make good use of our time to clarify the truth and suggested that we hand out truth clarifying materials together. Soon after, Master published the article, "Teaching the Fa at the Washington DC Fa Conference." This practitioner became very impatient saying, "Master says that those who do not step out are wrong. I never went to Beijing. What should I do?" I told him, "Then go right away." Another practitioner said to me at that time, "That practitioner recently gets headaches whenever he reads the Fa, but you told him to go to Beijing?"
While participating in Fa-rectification this practitioner did not ever have his own views. He was totally dependent, and I always played the role of telling him what to do. I unintentionally made an obstacle for him, while thinking that I was helping him. Actually, at that time, my behavior was just like the old forces. I thought that what I did was the most important, forcing others to agree to my opinions, and controlling others. If I had instead discussed the Fa principles with the practitioner, he could have decided what to do by himself. He could have done much better.
Master has mentioned repeatedly that each Dafa disciple has to walk their own path. From this experience I realized that Master has arranged the best path for each of his disciples. Any extra things imposed from the outside are interference. Every Dafa disciple is an independent being. Each of us is being refined by the Great Law, and every one will be a great deity in the future. If a practitioner can stick to studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts, no matter what he enlightens to from the Fa, as long as it conforms to the Fa principles, probably that is what he should do. Master also taught us that practitioners should cooperate with each other and harmonize each other. I now understand that we should consider each fellow practitioner as a principal part of the whole, and respect their selections. At the same time,
"If there's something lacking in it they'll unconditionally and quietly supplement it to make things more complete and perfect."
(Teaching the Fa at 2002 Fa Conference Philadelphia, U.S.A.).
Practitioners in Mainland China have suffered greatly through tribulations to come to where we are today. We must not forget to look inward when facing hardships.
