(Clearwisdom.net) I am a farmer who started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. I would like to share my humble experiences of cultivation practice with fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate in my understandings.

Traveling to Beijing to Validate the Fa

On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin, his political faction, and the Chinese Communist Party started to suppress Falun Gong. While fellow practitioners traveled to Beijing to appeal for and speak out on behalf of Falun Gong, I had doubts in my mind. I thought, "Teacher teaches us the principles of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance' and the Fa. There is nothing wrong with emphasizing virtue and being kind. This teaching is good for the Chinese people and the Chinese government. Why are they treating Teacher and Falun Gong like this?" This question kept bothering me and kept me awake at night. Through studying the Fa, particularly "The Knowing Heart," I finally attained a better understanding as to what I must do. I realized I shouldered an important mission and decided to travel to Beijing at the end of 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong.

On December 20, 2000, I went to Tiananmen Square and planned to hang a banner that read, "Falun Gong Is Good" on the Tiananmen Square gate. Before I even reached the top of the gate, the police in plainclothes arrested me and took me to the Tiananmen Square Police Station. They said, "You are a farmer. Why did you come to Beijing?" I explained, "I have come here because my Teacher has been wronged by vicious people and because the media is carrying false stories about Falun Gong practitioners killing themselves by jumping out of buildings and destroying our Chinese traditions. So many fellow practitioners and I have come to Beijing. How do you explain that none of us have jumped out of buildings or done anything to harm the nation or the people's interests? It's because we Falun Gong practitioners guide our speech and actions according to Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. We try to be kind and tolerant of others. Don't you think the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance are good?" I repeatedly prompted the police to answer. Finally, they said, "Yes, they are good." I smiled and said, "Since Falun Gong's principles are good, why are you suppressing the good people who are Falun Gong practitioners?" They said, "It is an order." I said with a smile, "In that case, you should report the truth that you have witnessed to your superiors so that they will reverse the false charges against my Teacher and give us an environment where we can practice Falun Gong freely. Then I will go home."

While imprisoned in a detention center in Beijing, I saw more and more practitioners being brought in each day. Every day the police took me out of the cell for interrogation. During one interrogation, I told them many stories of practitioners who cultivated kindness according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance, and how their health and morality improved. However, the police refused to believe that Teacher and Falun Gong were good. Finally I told them, "My Teacher is most compassionate. For the sake of saving sentient beings, Teacher has suffered wicked people's insults and injustices. But our Teacher has truly come to save you all." Then three policemen blamed practitioners for causing them to work on Sundays and to have no time to pick up their children. Then I shouted three times, "My Teacher has come to save you all!" My voice echoed in the room. Then I saw in my Celestial Vision Teacher's Law Body in front of me and the three policemen kneeling down before our revered Teacher's Law Body. I was so excited that tears flowed down my face. I was so happy that I felt as though I were dancing in the air. At the moment I felt that all miracles are possible as long as we have pure faith in Teacher and the Fa.

After the interrogation, I returned to my cell and was sleepless that night. I thought, "Teacher, your disciple has come to Beijing to validate Falun Gong. The detention center is not a place for me. I must return home in a few days and clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people in my area. I will have every person I meet learn how practitioners in Beijing are persecuted." At around 2:00 a.m., I saw my house radiating golden light and all practitioners riding on lotus clouds and soaring into the sky.

At noon the next day, the police told me to collect my clothes and go home. From then on, I started to clarify the truth to save sentient beings.

Clarifying the Truth to Save Sentient Beings

In July 2001, the persecution of Falun Gong in China was very severe. In order to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people, practitioners used many different approaches, including posting messages on walls, distributing truth-clarification flyers and VCDs, and explaining the facts face-to-face.

There are many celebrations at Buddhist temples in the villages that tend to attract a lot of people. I took the opportunity during such celebrations to clarify the truth. At night, I posted truth-clarification messages and distributed flyers. I even posted signs that said "Falun Gong Is Good" on the gates of ancient Buddhist temples. That night I had a celestial vision of another dimension. I saw a towering old tree in full foliage, its branches laden with fruits, including grapes, oranges, apples, and an unknown type of large red fruit. There were many cultivators standing under the tree looking up at the fruit. I asked them, "Do you want to eat the fruit? If so, you must hurry up and pick them." They all told me that the fruits were beyond their reach. I replied, "They grow on lower branches. Hurry up and pick the fruits." I levitated along the tree trunk to a very high branch and saw a fruit the size of a basketball. When I was about to reach the level of the giant fruit, I saw that it was guarded by a giant serpent three meters in diameter. The serpent's saliva was dripping on the giant fruit. It must be the legendary fruit--the fruit with dragon's saliva. I thought about nothing else but taking the fruit. I reached out, grabbed the giant fruit, and landed on the ground. The serpent opened its mouth and came at me. I panicked and said the formula for sending forth righteous thoughts: "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the evil is completely eliminated. The Fa rectifies heaven and earth, immediate retribution in this lifetime." Then I started running for my life. The serpent hit the ground like a ton of bricks. The impact crushed its flesh and all that was left of it was the skeleton. Its body must have been ten miles long. Its skeleton looked like rings of steel coils. It was then I realized that wherever the truth about Falun Gong is spread, the evil there will be disintegrated. Teacher's formula to send forth righteous thoughts has the boundless power of the Fa. Witnessing the destruction of the wicked serpent in another dimension taught me the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. It was then I realized the following passage of the Fa. Teacher said,

"...cultivators who chant incantations can receive protection from higher beings..." ("The Teachings in Buddhism are the Weakest and Tiniest Portion of the Buddha Fa" from Essentials for Further Advancement)

Everything that we do to clarify the truth has an enormously powerful impact in other dimensions.

In August 2002, I repeatedly studied Zhuan Falun and Teacher's new articles. Then I realized it is our historical mission to study the Fa well, validate Falun Gong, send forth righteous thoughts, clarify the truth about Falun Gong and save the world's people. I thought, "I should expand the area where I clarify the truth. I must also clarify the truth well in neighboring areas to complete the important mission of saving sentient beings." At the time I would walk about seven miles alone on an average evening with a load of truth-clarification materials on my back.

In November 2002, a fellow practitioner and I traveled to a mountain region to distribute truth-clarifying materials. When we were leaving a mountaintop, it was already dark. When we had traveled halfway down the mountain, a group of people were following us and interfered with our distribution of materials. The other practitioner and I had a discussion. We had come here to save sentient beings in the area. Why did they increase their pace when we did and stop when we did? I told the other practitioner, "This must be the evil old forces' arrangement to sabotage our work." Then we started to send forth righteous thoughts on a hill. After we finished, the people had disappeared. We resumed distributing the truth-clarification materials. When we had made our way to another mountaintop, it suddenly started to snow, which turned into ice on the ground. It was not easy for us to make this trip, but we were determined to distribute truth-clarification materials to all the people worth saving. We traveled another ten miles. We wrote truth-clarifying messages on every wall and placed a copy of truth-clarification materials under every door. Visibility was reduced to only two meters. We could not see any village or the road. In order to hurry up and distribute more materials, we quickened our pace, but we ended up circling around the same mountaintop. Besides, the paths were narrow and right along cliffs. The battery in our flashlight was running out. Light frost became large snowflakes. I thought, "I must stay calm in the most challenging situation. I must keep in mind Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." I kept thinking of the Fa in Zhuan Falun.

Because we could not go on any further, we each began to search for possible loopholes within. Eventually, we both realized that we just wanted to get things done and over with and that we had set a goal of the number of places we had to visit that night. Therefore, the evil beings from other dimensions exploited our loophole and created a labyrinth of snow showers on the mountain. We began sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate all the evil dark minions and rotten demons on our path of the Fa-rectification and completely eradicate all the evil old forces and all the evil elements. Then we returned to our path. The road had turned into slippery ice, but we both had a steadfast faith in Teacher. I thought, "We shall exit the labyrinth because Teacher always watches over His disciples." We wrote on every wall we saw on the way back. After a short while, dawn arrived. Before we realized it, we had found the road back to our village. Each time we placed a flyer in front of a household, a light would go on inside. It felt as though someone was welcoming us.

After a night of walking, I truly felt that our compassionate Teacher had been next to us the entire time, watching over us. When we were almost at the foot of the mountain, we could see large red characters all over the mountain: "Falun Gong Is Good," "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance Is Good," "The World Needs Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance," and "Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong." I felt infinitely joyous and happy and no longer tired. Then we began another day of clarifying the truth to save sentient beings.