(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings Revered Teacher! Greetings Fellow Practitioners!
I'd like to take this opportunity to report to Teacher and share with fellow practitioners my experiences in raising my level in cultivation. Please point out anything that is improper. Heshi.
Establishing an Informational Materials Center
When my husband and I retired we returned to our hometown to start our own business. In August 1997, we hired a truck to move all our belongings back home. The truck driver was a Falun Dafa practitioner and, on the way, he told us of the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa. We later found out that our neighbor also practiced Falun Dafa. So soon after, we started practicing too. My husband and I would go to the village square to do the exercises at 5 a.m. every day, and we listened to Teacher's Fa lectures at home. As a result we became more and more energetic. Within a short space of time all the diseases that had been troubling us disappeared. My wife and I became more diligent and true believers in Dafa.
On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin and his group of evildoers started to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. As we are practitioners, and my home was a place used for Fa study, we were illegally arrested by the police and they ransacked my home. They also extorted nine thousand yuan from us before we were released. However, this did not shake our determination to cultivate in Dafa.
The material center in our area was also destroyed by the police. As a result, there was a shortage of truth-clarification materials, which created a big loss for us. We were very worried to see that Dafa disciples could not receive information on the progress of Dafa and had no resources to help save sentient beings! Many times, my husband and I discussed what we could do, but we were blocked by our human notions, in that we could not help much because we were too old and were not well educated. Later we learned that other practitioners from our village were able to learn computer skills and download materials from the Minghui website, the Chinese version of Clearwisdom. We also knew that having material centers everywhere is what Teacher wanted. What should Dafa disciples fear? Nothing could block us if we believed in Teacher and believed in the Fa. If we have the Fa in mind, "The Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts" ("Drive Out Interference," Essentials for Further Advancement II). We then decided to establish a materials center at our home.
In July 2003, we bought a computer, but did not know how to use it. For Dafa practitioners, nothing that happens is by chance, as everything is all arranged by Teacher. We soon realized that producing truth-clarification materials is also a part of cultivation. Fellow practitioners invited practitioners from far away who knew about computers to visit our village to help train us. Twice, I also visited places that were several hundred miles away to learn from practitioners there. We continued to learn by trial and error, and eventually learned how to download materials and print them. Our material center was established and started operation. We produced a lot of materials and, through the use of these Fa instruments, practitioners were able to help save sentient beings.
Dividing the Land
When it was decided to grow crops in the village orchard, the village leaders divided the land among the villagers. All the good areas of land were taken, and there was only a 1.6 acre plot of land left. It was full of weeds and tree roots, pitted with holes and had a pathway running through it. My husband talked to the village leader about leasing the land. We spent quite some time and money to flatten the land, and in the end, the crops grew well, matching the production of the other, more arable, plots of land. Five years later, the lease expired and the amount of land given to each person was readjusted. Accordingly, we should have received an extra 1.2 acres of land, but our land was given to someone else, and we were only given a 1 acre plot of land. It was a triangular shape, with uneven surfaces, a deep ditch and bushes.
That night, my husband and I sat down to study the Fa and we discussed the situation regarding the land. I said to him, "We are already old. The incident with the land is to help you get rid of your attachment to growing crops. As a practitioner, you should measure yourself with the high level principles. Don't look at an issue from a non-practitioner's perspective. You are a supernormal person who cultivates Dafa. Should you fight with non-practitioners for personal interest? Are we able to let go of the attachment to fame, interest, and competition? Teacher is testing us. Let's look inward when facing a problem. Let's get rid of these attachments and raise our xinxing." We understood the Fa and why this incident was brought about.
Our neighbors felt that the division of the land was unfair to us. Some pointed their fingers at my husband, and said, "Why have you become this dumb fool? Although you are a Falun Dafa practitioner, the village leader should still give you the land that you had before. How can he not give you that plot of land? Isn't he taking advantage of you?" Another said, "Fairly speaking, since you came here after retirement, every time that we built a road, school, and dam in our village, you donated hundreds or thousands of "yuan". What the village leader is doing now is totally unacceptable!" Before practicing Falun Dafa, my husband would always fight with people when he felt he was treated unfairly. Someone said to him, "Let's go to the village committee to ask for justice!"
With a big smile, my husband said calmly, "It's not easy to be a village leader. Even though this piece of land is not a good one, someone still needs to take care of it. Our Teacher told us that a cultivator should think of others first, and himself last. We need to cultivate selflessness and altruism. Cultivation directly points towards our heart. In the face of personal interest, sometimes cultivators need to encounter loss. I am following our Teacher's requirement, as I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. If I plant this new, smaller field, I can still make it highly productive." From this incident, all our neighbors and villagers were very impressed. They said, "Look! Those Falun Dafa practitioners will do what they say." They all understood the wonderfulness of Dafa and many of them quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.
It is a tradition in our village for people to voluntary participate in a performance for Chinese New Year. On the morning of the Chinese New Year, the voluntary performance troupe had more than seventy people, and many audience members came to our home to say Happy New Year. It was very lively, with the sound of gongs and drums in the air. Actually, they all came to know the truth. My husband brought out gifts that we carefully prepared and wished everyone good fortune in the new year. They all happily took the beautiful Dafa gifts, greeting cards and truth-clarification materials. Holding the truth-clarification materials above his head, the leader of the performance troupe shouted, "Let's all remember, Falun Dafa is Good! Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is Good!"
We brought the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa to many homes.
September 29, 2008
