(Clearwisdom.net) More than a year ago I made dramatic improvements in my cultivation. Starting from only daring to talk to one person at a time about Falun Gong, I am now able to talk to anybody. Letting people know the facts about Falun Gong is now a part of my cultivation and daily life. During the process of clarifying the facts, I was able to let go of a lot of attachments, but more importantly my life has been elevated and my physical body has fundamentally improved. People tell me that I look like I am getting younger and younger each time they see me.
Turning point
Teacher said:
“... the number of lives to be saved before the final moment arrives has not reached the amount it should; and that there is still a portion of Dafa disciples that hasn’t kept up. That is the key reason why the end of this undertaking still hasn’t been enacted.” (“Be More Diligent”)
I belonged to the portion of Dafa disciples that hadn't kept up. Before reading this article, I had still been in the state of cultivating in solitude.
In the summer of 1998, I met a practitioner who gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun. When I read the book for the very first time, I had a feeling of excitement and found that it was something that I had been searching for. I made up my mind to follow Teacher and cultivate to the end. Since I had been undisciplined and carefree for a long time, I did not go to group Fa study or participate in the group exercises, which left me with much regret on my cultivation path.
The same practitioner then brought me a copy of Teacher's latest article. However, we soon lost contact with each other because of the escalation of the persecution. I remembered what Teacher told us, “... you must take the Fa as the Master” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia”). So I kept practicing on my own. I believed that the Fa brought numerous benefits and didn’t do harm to anyone. Therefore, I kept doing the five sets of exercises in the park, even during the most horrifying days of the persecution. I encountered some trouble twice but I came to no harm under Teacher's compassionate care.
An important turning point on my path of cultivation was in the summer of 2010. When Teacher saw my long anticipated wish to cultivate He arranged for practitioner A, whom I had never met before, to come into my life. I was doing the exercises in a park one day, when practitioner A came and talked to me. I felt as if I was seeing a long lost relative, and wave upon wave of warm currents filled my whole body. When practitioner A learned of my situation, she gave me her contact details. Through her, I obtained all of Teacher's articles published after July 20 1999, and eagerly read them all.
After intensive Fa study I rediscovered the enthusiasm that I had when I first started practicing. I came to understand the true purpose of my life, and learned that I was a practitioner with a mission to assist Teacher to rectify the Fa. I found the gaps in my cultivation, and learned the importance of my mission and responsibility. I was determined to catch up quickly on my cultivation path.
Stepping forward to clarify the facts
When I first started to talk to people about Falun Gong, I would only talk to those with a similar mindset as mine. I had fear and was shy when talking to people, which was the result of my selfishness and lack of a deeper understanding of the Fa. As a result, my success rate in helping people to awaken to the truth about Falun Gong was very low, and I was worried about it. However, when I read the following paragraph of Teacher's Fa, I was really touched. Teacher said:
“Then if you, as a cultivator, fail to carry out this task and just study the Fa, have you not considered the purpose of studying the Fa? It is for your own success as well as to save sentient beings. By studying the Fa you gain the Fa yourself, but do you only want to gain—to gain the benefits of Dafa? In other words, if, while Dafa disciples are being persecuted and Dafa is being maligned, you won’t stand up and say a few words of support, are you worthy of gaining the Fa? That’s the idea.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference”)
It was Teacher who dragged me from the clutches of hell with a body full of karma and cleansed me, and it was Dafa that helped me understand the real meaning of life. If I did not step forward to speak up for Falun Gong and validate the Fa to save sentient beings, I would not be worthy of obtaining the Fa.
Initially, I clarified the facts together with practitioner A and paid attention to learning from fellow practitioners. I also read more experience sharing articles from Minghui Weekly. Then I gradually rectified my every thought during the process of clarifying the facts and eventually walked on the path to validating the Fa by myself. When I went out of my home to talk to people face to face, I always remembered not to be affected if people do not want to listen to me or are rude to me.
I had many unforgettable experiences over a period of more than one year of clarifying the facts. I was once talking to a sanitation worker on a very cold winter's day, and asked him if he would like to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. Everything went smoothly. I asked him if he would like to use an alias to quit, and he was very pleased to be able to do so. After he left I felt a sudden excitement brewing and tears kept running down my face. I was touched by a sentient being's longing to be saved and was thankful to Teacher for not letting me lag behind in my cultivation.
I was full of confidence as I entered a small shop, and began to tell the shop assistant about Falun Gong and the persecution. He was counting money at the time. He smiled but did not speak. I was determined to save him. I didn't care how many customers were there or who might be listening, as I spoke to him about Falun Gong. He then wanted quit the CCP.
Quite often I would get choked up when I talked about how Teacher is suffering in order to save sentient beings, and how the CCP tries to incite hatred against Him. I knew it was a noble and upright practitioner's responsibility to help Teacher in Fa rectification.
Helping an agent from the 610 Office quit the CCP
When I went to a park to talk to people about Falun Gong, I saw a man about 60 years old hobbling along with a walking frame. I went up to him and asked, “I can see your health is still pretty good, but why do you need the aid of the walking frame?” He told me that he was recovering from a brain hemorrhage. When I asked him if he had heard about quitting the CCP, he quickly replied: “You must be Falun Gong? Look at my clothes, don't you know my profession? I am from the 610 Office.”
I remained calm and was not afraid. I was sure that he must have done something very wrong to be suffering like this, so I continued to clarify the facts to him. He was very stubborn and questioned why he would want to quit the CCP when the CCP pays his salary. He also emphasized that I should not talk about Falun Gong to other people, otherwise he would arrest me. I told him that practitioners only want to be good people and follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I also told him that good will be rewarded and evil will meet with retribution, and that it was a great sin to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. However, he still refused to accept what I told him.
On returning home I thought about how difficult it is to save people. But Teacher saw my heart in wanting to save this agent from the 610 Office, and so created another opportunity for me to meet him.
When we met again in the park, I greeted him and said, “The two of us really have a predestined relationship to be meeting like this.” However, he tried to downplay it and said, “In such a small park, of course there is a chance to bump into each other again.” This time he seemed more relaxed and there was less tension between us. But he was quick to remind me that he was from the 610 Office. I was not moved at all, and told him that he was one of the sentient beings that our Teacher wanted to save.
He asked, “Where is your Teacher?” I smiled at him, but did not answer. I continued to talk to him about Falun Gong. When I asked him, “What is most precious to you?” He answered instantly, “Life, of course.” Then I told him that quitting the CCP is truly cherishing one's life. He started to agree with me. While we were talking I continually watched over my every thought, eliminating my attachments to showing off, to holding a grudge against him and to fear. I showed concern for his health and encouraged him to do more exercises. Finally, he decided to quit the CCP.
An old friend agrees to bring his younger sister back home
I was talking to an old friend of mine about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Everything was going well. However, when I asked him if he would like to quit the CCP, he said, “You are Falun Gong aren’t you?” It seemed that he had something else to say, but then stopped. I said, “If you have anything on your mind, you can talk to me. Just think of me as your younger sister.” He then told me that his younger sister is also a practitioner, and that she used to take him lots of truth-clarification materials and asked him if he would like to quit the CCP. He continued to say, “At the time I thought she was against the CCP and was getting involved in politics, so I severed relations with her. Not long after, she was arrested and imprisoned. Her husband died from depression and her daughter became homeless. Her husband's family later paid a large amount of money to the authorities to get her released. However, she lost her job and now she lives a very difficult life.”
I explained to him that his sister was only trying to help him to choose a good future for himself, and said, “Your sister risks her life to save people and do good deeds, but you severed relations with her.” He seemed to agree with what I had to say, but he still did not understand the practitioner's way of doing things. He asked, “You clarify the facts to people everyday like this, aren't you afraid that you will be arrested, beaten, sentenced or even your loved ones could be implicated?” I told him, “Our Teacher taught us to be good people who should always put other people's welfare before ourselves. What we are doing is the most righteous and best thing, so there is nothing to fear. But of course we will pay attention to safety.” I then told him that it was the CCP that was harming his loved ones. Finally, he agreed to quit the CCP, and also said that he would bring his younger sister back home.
Long live Falun Gong
When I was clarifying the facts to a middle-aged man, I told him that quitting the CCP can help him to stay safe. He said, “You don't need to tell me that, the CCP is extremely bad. I have worked very hard for the CCP, but since I could not tolerate their behavior, I was expelled from the Party. You must be Falun Gong?” Then he shouted, “Long live Falun Gong!”
Since I began to clarify the facts, I have met various people, some of whom would not listen to me, some would be sarcastic and some would be thankful, but I had never met anyone who shouted “Long live Falun Gong!” in public. The people around could hear him very clearly and some people cast a furtive glance. The loud, clear and earthshaking voice echoed around my ears for a long time. It was pure, sweet and delightful.
At this precious moment in history I sincerely hope those practitioners who have not stepped forward and joined the current of Fa-rectification will soon do so.
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