(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa during the spring of 1997. Since then, my lumbar herniated disk and other ailments have been healed. I was very joyful and grateful that Teacher gave me a second chance in life.
I'm an enthusiastic person and like to help others. I often take care of spreading information and communicating amongst practitioners. Therefore, in the past ten years, practitioners have asked me to be the coordinator of our local area. Under Teacher's protection and with practitioners' help, and my faith in Teacher and Dafa, I have come this far. If I did a good job, it was because Teacher was behind me. And when I did poorly, it was because I had attachments or neglected to do things based on the Fa, thus taking a lot of detours. I'm ashamed of when that happened.
Since the Minghui website was established to provide a platform for practitioners in China to exchange our insights and experiences, I have been submitting sharing articles, but they were never published. I never cared whether these articles were published or not. I saw it as part of my cultivation and wanted to fulfill Teacher's requirements. Thus, I decided to submit another article.
This sharing article is about my cultivation experience when I coordinated the effort to rescue a practitioner from a detention center.
At the end of 2009, the home of a fellow practitioner was surrounded by twenty domestic security agents and police guards. They forcibly took the practitioner to the city detention center.
After I heard the news, I visited the family of the practitioner, and persuaded them to work with other practitioners to demand the release of the detained practitioner. I also coordinated practitioners to submit the information online to expose the persecution, to make adhesive fliers for posting around the neighborhood, and to send righteous thoughts as a group. Despite our efforts, the guards did not release the practitioner. Later, I coordinated practitioners to make phone calls and send truth clarification letters to the detention center without any results.
In the summer of 2010, I asked several practitioners to accompany me to the detention center, to send righteous thoughts, and request the release of the practitioner. Since I did not coordinate well, had an attachment to fear, and expected the detained practitioner's husband to talk to the guard he knew, we were not allowed to see the practitioner even though we sent righteous thoughts.
We shared on the way home. Though we did not see the practitioner, we were able to send righteous thoughts at close proximity to the detention center and eliminate bad elements. This is something we couldn't have done from our homes. We also needed to look inward to find our attachments.
Teacher said,
“When you are doing things with other Dafa disciples, it's inevitable that you have arguments, and it's inevitable that you have differences of opinion. Why? Your attachments have to somehow be displayed so that you can get rid of them. But if you refuse to give ground after arguing for a long time, then it's a problem, and it's because you didn't look within and you didn't look at your own problem. You all want to be responsible to Dafa, and your intentions are good. But often you don't mind yourselves, and it's very possible you have some ordinary human attachments.” (“Touring North America to Teach the Fa”)
During our sharing, some practitioners said they found attachments to dependency, “Rescuing practitioners is an important task, and all the coordinators should have gone, but so-and-so was not there. I was not happy about that.” Another practitioner shared, “I'm older and had an attachment to fear. Though I did not want to go, I went because I did not want to lose face.” I looked inward and found the reasons why I did not coordinate well, “I had the attachment of seeking results and wanted the guards to release the practitioner. I failed to discuss with practitioners about how to accomplish this task based on the Fa, eliminate human notions, cultivate ourselves well, and rescue the practitioner with a pure state of mind.”
After we found our attachments, we sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the bad elements. We also sent righteous thoughts for one week to clean our own fields and all the bad elements that were interfering with the rescue efforts. We asked Teacher to help us get rid of all the evil spirits and black demons that were around us.
I said to practitioner A, “Both of us should go to the detention center to send righteous thoughts and to demand the release of the practitioner.” The second time we went to the detention center, practitioner A, myself, and several other practitioners talked to the head of the detention center and silently sent righteous thoughts. Other practitioners stayed outside of the detention center to send righteous thoughts.
The head of the detention center gave us a hard time, “The practitioner's health is in serious condition and she would not take any medication. If I let you visit her, she might cause more trouble for us. So I think it's better that you don't see her.” We knew that was an excuse. Right then, I remembered Teacher's words,
“No matter what you do, you aren’t thinking that you’re doing something for Dafa, about how you should do things for Dafa, or 'how can I do things well for this Fa.' Instead, you are placing yourselves in Dafa. Like a particle of Dafa, [you feel that] no matter what it is, you should just do it.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America”)
I realized that as particles of Dafa, we should negate the old forces' arrangements and validate the power of the Fa. We should ask to see the practitioner and ignore the detention center head's words. We said to the head, “We came from far away to see this person. If you deny our request, we will inform your superior.” With Teacher's help, the head of the detention center allowed practitioners A and B to visit the detained practitioner. She was encouraged by our visit and was determined to strengthen her righteous thoughts.
In order to “transform” the practitioner, the guards tried to force her to give up her faith and secretly sentenced her. They attempted to send her to jail twice, but the jail refused to take her because her health was poor. The third time, they secretly sent her to jail.
When we heard the news, we lost confidence in trying to rescue her. We thought that it was harder to send righteous thoughts, visit her, and get her out of the jail. Our determination was weakened and we somewhat accepted the arrangement.
Facing the situation, I thought that a coordinator must not be moved or confused by the illusion. I should share with fellow practitioners, analyze the situation based on the Fa, and truly negate the old forces' arrangements. The process of rescuing a practitioner is also the time to cultivate ourselves well, including every single thought we have. We should do what we are supposed to do and continue to send righteous thoughts, utilize our supernatural abilities to rescue her, and not think about when she could leave the jail.
Things became clear to me, “Teacher only looks at our hearts.” Since then, every evening, when we sent righteous thoughts to clear the local area, we included the detained practitioner in our thoughts. Because we continued to eliminate our human notions, the detained practitioner was quickly released due to her poor health. We were very surprised, but at the same time, it was something we expected. This was because practitioners in the area continued to rid themselves of human thoughts and coordinated well with each other. Of course, Teacher was behind all this. It was also a sign of encouragement from Teacher that we had elevated our hearts.
Not too long ago, three practitioners in our area were taken into custody by the police. Practitioners did not do well obtaining the evidence, exposing the persecution on the Internet, and demanding the release of the detained practitioners. Though I did not say anything to them, I blamed them for having attachments to fear. When I noticed my thoughts, I realized I should not harbor these thoughts. No matter what we encounter, we should look inward, cultivate ourselves, and not give the bad elements any opportunity to divide us.
Teacher said,
“I have thus said before that Dafa disciples, being cultivators, should view problems in the opposite manner from how human beings do. Some people are unhappy when they meet with unpleasant things. Then aren’t you a human being? How are you any different? When you encounter unpleasant things, it is precisely time to cultivate yourself, to cultivate your mind.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa”)
While “practitioners were unable to collect evidence of persecution” seemed like an unpleasant thing, it was actually an opportunity for me to elevate my xinxing and cultivate myself. Once I realized that, I stopped blaming practitioners and happily went out to verify and collect the evidence. I submitted the article to the Minghui website to expose the persecution. Very soon, the three practitioners were released and went home.
In the past year, during the process of rescuing detained practitioners, although I was doing the coordination work, I benefited greatly from the process. From cultivating my heart to elevating my xinxing, I experienced things I hadn't before I began to coordinate. I understood that the process of rescuing practitioners is also a process of cultivating oneself. It is also a process to see if I can maintain my xinxing level. Regardless of what happens on the outside, we should not be moved and continue to do what we are supposed to do. It is also a process to see if practitioners can come together as one body, trust each other, strengthen our righteous thoughts, and work together well.
Above are my current understandings. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.