Falun Dafa Minghui.org www.minghui.org PRINT

Remaining on the Righteous Cultivation Path and Validating Dafa at Work Despite Temptations

October 05, 2012 |   By Lu Zheng, a Falun Dafa practitioner in Jilin Province

(Minghui.org) Looking back on my path of validating Dafa over the past 13 years, I felt that as long as I kept walking on the path, the path became broader. I want to share some of my experiences in this regard over the past several years. Please point out and correct any of my insufficiencies.

Becoming Determined in Cultivating Dafa

When the persecution started on July 20, 1999, I had just read through Zhuan Falun several times, and I had not learned all five of the exercises yet. Because I was deceived by the wicked Party's lies, I stopped practicing Dafa for several months.

At that time, I lost my source of employment and thus I had difficulties in my daily life. I followed the advice of other fellow practitioners and started reading Zhuan Falun again. Since I no longer had a job, I spent my time studying the Fa. Sometimes I was able to read through Zhuan Falun in two or three days. I became more and more determined to cultivate Falun Dafa.

My coming back to cultivate in Falun Dafa and becoming a determined practitioner was all because I studied the Fa as much as I could.

Negating the Persecution, I Was Offered Two Jobs at Once

I went to a new employer in 2001. Several weeks after I started working there, the management found out that I was practicing Falun Dafa. They cooperated with the Party and helped them persecute me. I did not try to avoid the persecution by finding connections or going through back doors. When the branch secretary of the Party talked to me, I explained the truth to him openly and aboveboard. When he asked me whether I wanted to continue my cultivation, I told him, “This is my personal belief. It has nothing to do with my work and I have the right not to answer you. Falun Dafa is being persecuted. Those who persecute good people will not have a good ending. It is Heaven's law that good is rewarded and evil is punished!” From then on he never tried to stop me from practicing again.

Once the employer's head boss was disrespectful words towards Master in front of the other employees. I told him, “If you could write a book so that when others read your book they could achieve better health and become kindhearted, and if you could inspire 100 million people believe in you from their hearts, then I would also believe you.” Soon after that they gave me back my original job.

I followed Dafa's principle of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance to conduct myself at work and the management came to trust me more and more. They gave me more and more responsibilities; they asked me to manage the financial accounts and to run the cafeteria. I did not follow what was going on in China and use my position to get any personal benefits through my job. I paid attention to my cultivation of speech. I treated everyone I had contact with equally and kindly regardless of their social status. My colleagues all praised me. My employer's supervisor said that it was unfortunate for me that I practiced Falun Dafa, meaning that my career was in jeopardy because I was a practitioner.

The first couple of times I heard his comments, I did not say anything. I thought that it was said for me to discard my attachment to fame and to discard my competitive mentality. Later I came to understand that it was not said for my personal cultivation and that I needed to validate Dafa. When the boss said this to me again in front of others, I said, “I have been working for you and you know I am talented and capable, but you have not promoted me because I am a practitioner.” He said, “How about I promote you to a certain position, do you want it?” I replied, “Whether you promote me is your business. Whether I take it is my business.” After that he never made comments about me like that again.

In 2007, my elder brother asked me whether I wanted to change jobs. He told me that his friend had a good relationship with the head of the division that supervised my employer and he could help me get promoted. At that time Master's words came to my mind,

“When one insists upon doing things this way, one will take advantage of others and do wrong deeds. Accordingly, that is why cultivation practice requires time and time again that one should follow the course of nature since you will harm others with your efforts. If your life does not have something to begin with and you obtain what should belong to another person in society, you will owe that person a debt.” (Zhuan Falun)

Thus I politely refused his offer.

Last year, my brother's friend recommended me to the owner of a large private business, saying that I was trustworthy. I tried to side-step the matter with the excuse that I did not know the job. The owner said that they could teach me if I did not know the job and they wanted someone reliable. Because the job I was doing at the time only needed me two months out of the year and I was resting at home, I had no excuse to refuse anymore and I took the job offer.

At the new job I conducted myself as a practitioner. I was honest and self-controlled and I sincerely helped others. I felt very comfortable at my new job. I then applied to my old employer to be a employee on leave without pay. To my surprise, my old employer's head boss had the section head call me. They told me that they had raised my pay as well as giving me other compensations and they asked me to go back to work for them. During the phone call the section head kept telling me that they trusted me the most and asked me come back and work for them. In the past several years, they did truly trust me and they did not say anything even after they had learned that I was clarifying the truth about the persecution at work. Although the pay at the private company was several times more than the pay at my original job, I thought that, since they trusted a Dafa practitioner, I should not let them down and furthermore, the head boss had never tried to keep any others when they left the company. If I rejected their offer, they would feel insulted and their misunderstanding would not help save lives and might give them a negative impression of Dafa. So I went to the boss of the private company to resign. However, he did not want to lose me, either. Later both of the companies agreed that I would work for both of them. My original employer agreed that I would only manage their financial accounts and would not run the cafeteria, and the private company agreed to let me take time off to go work for my original employer any time he needed me to work there.

Nowadays it is not easy to find a job. As a Dafa practitioner I now have two jobs. This demonstrates that the people are awakening and they have positive understanding of Falun Dafa. There was another cafeteria manager at my original workplace but he was not a practitioner. My colleagues always compared him to me. A temporary worker at the cafeteria came to me when I was transferring work to the successor and said that if I no longer ran the cafeteria, he would not work there. Everyone said that people who practice Falun Dafa are good.

Saving Lives

I kept telling the facts about the persecution at work. In the past several years most of the people at my original workplace have withdrawn from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. The first person I told the facts to at the new job was the daughter of a fellow practitioner I knew when I was imprisoned. She started cultivating when she was young. After her father was arrested, she came with her mother (a fellow practitioner) to the area to work. They were not able to obtain Master's new lectures or Minghui Weekly, so I gave them to them. When I talked to the director of the new employer, he refused to believe that the CCP would perish soon. I then asked him, “Did you believe that the Soviet Communist Party would step down overnight?” He said he had not. I said, “People are speculating on how much longer the CCP can hold out before it collapses. However, it is better to be safe and withdraw from the CCP now!”

Before I became a practitioner, I was not an articulate person. After I started studying the Fa, my thoughts became clear and I was able to resolve many people's difficult questions when I explained the facts to them. Each time after I explained the truth face-to-face, I looked for my insufficiencies so I could improve and thus save more people. I want to apply everything Master gave to me to validating Dafa and saving more lives.

In my cultivation I still have a lot of shortcomings. Looking back on my cultivation path, I kept reminding myself to treasure the path I have already walked and to treasure Master's salvation. I kept reminding myself that only by being more diligent and saving more lives can one cultivate to Consummation and follow Master to return to our true homes.