(Clearwisdom.net) Incidents that occur during our cultivation paths sometimes may seem to be accidental or quite common. However, Teacher has said that there is nothing accidental on the path of cultivation and that everything is arranged for our advancement. I encountered an incident which seemed to be just a common occurrence, but I was greatly moved by it. I would like to share it with my fellow practitioners.
I went shopping at a supermarket one weekend. It was very crowded and noisy, with a lot of people pushing and shouting. I pushed my shopping cart down a narrow aisle and tried to avoid bumping into others. But others still pushed me and gave me some unfriendly looks. Then I stood aside to let other people pass. After the traffic cleared and I was about to move, a black gentleman came down the aisle from the other end. I stopped to let him pass. He stopped, too. Stepping aside, he smiled and nodded at me with a hand gesture as if to say, "Ladies first." People looked at us with surprise. Then I pushed my cart to pass. My heart was greatly touched by a feeling that I had not had for quite a long time.
On my way home, the two contrary images kept appearing in my mind. One image was the crowd rushing to get stuff; the other was the polite, foreign gentleman. I said myself, "Teacher must have used this incident to tell me something. But what was it?"
All of sudden I understood its meaning, and a wall that had blocked me from advancing for quite a long time suddenly collapsed. Holding back tears, I felt great joy and gratefulness for our great benevolent Teacher's thoughtful arrangement. This incident made me realize the mistakes in my understanding of truth-clarification due to my own attachment.
For quite a long time, I had not done well in face-to-face truth-clarification. Since the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I was not able to make much of a break-through in persuading people to quit the Party. Even though sometimes I spent a couple of hours clarifying the truth with people by talking about the CCP's persecutions in the past; the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989; the persecution of Falun Gong; then back to the Nine Commentaries and renouncing the CCP membership, people were still confused. Some people accepted the truth about Dafa but would not renounce their CCP membership because they didn't feel they were related. One day I brought the truth-clarification material to my boss (he usually would listen to it and accept what I told him), hoping that he could understand the truth about Dafa thoroughly. But even after I spent two or three hours trying to persuade him, he still refused to read the materials. I asked myself several times, "Was it my problem or was it due to the fact that the other party could not be saved at all? Was this the best I could do after practicing Dafa for nearly ten years?" I gradually started to lose my confidence.
But the scene at the supermarket woke me completely. Think about it: didn't the black gentleman see the crowds of people and their substandard behavior? Of course he saw it. But he kept his conscience as a human being. No matter how other people behave, I will follow my own standards and principles.
This made me realize that I had lost the diamond-solid and unshakable righteous thoughts that a Dafa practitioner of the Fa Rectification period should have. During my truth-clarification, whenever the other party had some objections, I immediately thought that maybe he could not be saved. Or when I heard that the other party was a CCP member, what I thought first was not that I should eliminate the evil factors behind him, but rather that he might have been poisoned too much by the evil CCP and would not listen to me. If I started to worry and used my postnatal notions to presume what the other party was thinking when discussing something, then that person would for sure think that way and refuse me. Then I would tell myself, "See, he is just like that. It's not that I didn't try to save him." On the surface, it looked like I was doing the most sacred thing in the universe by using my benevolence to save people, but actually I was using human thinking to face the issue and letting my postnatal notions of self-abasement, melancholy, and doubt take over.
From another angle, even though I kept saying that I should completely reject the old forces' arrangements, these warped notions were in my mind. They had yet to be rectified by Dafa and to a certain extent still followed the path arranged by the old forces. Thus, the old forces grabbed the opportunity to fulfill their selfish goal of eliminating and destroying sentient beings. They could argue that if even you, a Dafa disciple, thought those people could not be saved, then they were justified in making them ignore their conscience more.
Teacher said,
"There's something I said before, which was, 'If the heavens want to have something change, nobody can stop it.' (Applause) Then how about you, that puny wicked party? What does it amount to? If Dafa disciples' cultivation were to end today, if just this many people were to be saved ¡V if the number of the world's people to be saved was just this many ¡V and everything were to end at this point, it would take less than a day for the evil party to disintegrate. (Applause) That's because the purpose of its existence, the reason history created it in the first place, and the process of sustaining it all have been for the sake of Dafa disciples validating the Fa today. That is what the old forces arranged. When it's no longer of any use, why would it be kept? It is nothing in the universe." ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital")
Teacher also said,
"The Fa-rectification will definitely succeed, and Dafa disciples will definitely succeed." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference").
How daring! How confident! Isn't everything in Teacher's hands? My postnatal warped thinking suppressed my divine side, preventing me from using my divine side to save people. Now, thinking back, I am very regretful. It was my warped, human thinking that blocked the sentient beings from being saved.
When I understood this, things changed right away. I met a lady during my interview. Even though she was only in her 30s, she looked much older. Her husband served in the Army and she had brought her kids up by herself. The toughness and distress of her life were reflected in her face. I felt that she was a very honest and kind person during our conversation. So I told myself that I must save her. For sure, the opportunity came. I had the chance to sit next to her on a bus on my way home. I talked to her about the Nine Commentaries and Dafa truths, and I also kept sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil rotten spirits behind her that kept her away from the truth. We only sat next to each other for a little over ten minutes. I kept myself focused on truth-clarification and I could see that her mind went through tremendous changes. I mentioned three times renouncing the CCP membership so that she could be saved. She was moved, but bad thinking immediately controlled her again, and she said that there was no need to do it because she had not been a real CCP member for many years. I did not accept this and kept sending forth righteous thoughts. I firmly believed that I must and would save her. Finally, when we were saying good-bye to each other, I solemnly said again, "Let me use the name 'Little X' as a pseudonym for you to post a message about quitting the CCP." This time she was moved to agree and said, "Good, good, thank you!" The change in her attitude was quite dramatic. Seeing another life saved, I tried to hold back my tears. Everything is so simple.
I read Teacher's "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference" when I got home. I finally understood that persuading people to quit the CCP will not be done by lengthy preaching or by debating, but only through a benevolent and pure heart. This is necessary if we are going to save people. We must maintain diamond-solid, unbreakable righteous thoughts. Actually, everything is just the embodiment of Teacher's mighty power.
Above is my experience. I was greatly moved but could only express this much. I know what I have done so far is far from what Teacher wants. Now I know how to do it in the future: I must remember to "really save the people if we want to save them." I hope that my sharing can help those practitioners who might have a problem similar to mine.
August 6, 2006