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Validating Dafa through My Work in TV News

April 15, 2013 |   By Lian Cheng, a practitioner in China

(Minghui.org)

Greetings, esteemed Master!
Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I am a Falun Dafa practitioner working in television news in mainland China. I started studying Falun Dafa after learning about it from one of my colleagues. A decade has passed since the Fa-rectification began. I feel that every step in my work and cultivation has been carefully arranged and protected by Master. Following are some of my experiences while validating Dafa at work. Please kindly point out any mistakes or flaws in my understanding.

Letting Go of Attachments to Fame and Wealth and Saving Sentient Beings

I first stepped onto the path of cultivation practice in Falun Dafa in an attempt to heal my illnesses. I had rheumatoid arthritis, gynecological disease and other health conditions. I tried all kinds of healing methods including Western medicine, Chinese medicine, acupuncture and folk remedies. They could only manage my pain for a while, but none of them could cure my diseases. In 1998, when I was suffering from my illness and exhausted both physically and mentally, one of my coworkers (who started practicing Falun Gong in 1997) introduced me to Falun Dafa. She told me that my diseases could not be cured by medicine, and that only Falun Dafa could help me get rid of them.

Qigong was not strange to me. When I was in high school, I read the magazine Discover UFO and some other science books and magazines. I learned about Qigong as well. Some articles referred to Qigong as a “Human Science.” I was at college in Changchun City, Jilin Province in 1992-1993. At that time, Falun Dafa had already become very popular in Changchun. There were large groups of people practicing Falun Dafa every morning in the Changchun Culture Square located in front of the Geological Palace of our college. Although it was not my fate to learn Falun Dafa at that moment, I realized later that Master had already made arrangements for my obtaining Dafa later. So I gladly accepted my colleague’s advice and started practicing Dafa.

I improved fast through systematic study of the Fa and all my illnesses disappeared within a short time. At the same time, I validated Dafa both at home and work. Dafa gives me wisdom. It is fully reflected in my work as well.

During my first few years of practicing Dafa, I was a reporter and in charge of the post-production at the local TV news department. Because I studied the Fa and cultivated diligently, I became outstanding in my department. My manuscripts came to the attention of the leaders at my workplace. Soon, one of the leaders assigned me as the “Chief Editor” to modify and edit manuscripts for other reporters. As one of the few college students in the department, I was highly regarded and famous on TV as well. I was studying Dafa then and I did not regard fame and wealth as very important. I was also not complacent in my cultivation practice.

I persisted in practicing Falun Dafa even after Jiang’s regime began the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. I started to validate Dafa at work. Leaders at all levels in the department, from the department director to the secretary, pressured me to give up my belief so as not to lose my position at work. I took this opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to them and showed my determination to keep practicing. At last, the leaders found that I would not be persuaded. They decided to transfer me from the News Department to the Wired Network Technology Department. From then on, I worked with part-time employees in that department. I got up early and came home late. No matter what the weather was, I walked the streets in the cities and villages and installed the cables for users. It seemed that my job fell from the peak into the trough, but I never felt upset. Actually, I felt fortunate because I could clarify the truth to my colleagues and I could pass out the Minghui Weekly and other materials to my customers. I could also use these opportunities to tell people the truth about Dafa face to face when I installed the cable. I realized that it was Master’s careful arrangement. Through this transfer, I could let go of my attachments to fame and wealth, and I could save people at the same time. Also, my colleagues became aware of the truth, so that made it easier to persuade them to quit the Chinese Communist organizations later. I realized that I could pass this test because the foundation of my cultivation was solid. I paid little attention to fame and wealth and placed saving people as my first priority. Actually, this was not a test at all, because my Xinxing level was high and I had no attachment of fame and wealth. As a practitioner, who would care about it? I was calm in my heart, and my family did not care about my job transfer. So there was no interference from my family at all.

Validating Dafa at a Brainwashing Center

On March 8, 2003 (Women’s Day), there was a trip for all the female workers in our department. I talked to the colleague who introduced me to Dafa about using that day to go to the remote countryside to save more people. So we both requested that day off. We took hundreds of brochures and CDs of truth-clarification materials with us. We arrived at the countryside by bus. One of us carried a Dafa banner and sent forth righteous thoughts and the other was in charge of passing out the materials. Due to our cooperation and strong righteous thoughts, all went well. We finished visiting several villages and when we were almost done, we had different opinions on how to go about our task and we argued. We did not look inward at ourselves in time, nor did we cooperate with each other. We passed out materials by ourselves and did not send forth righteous thoughts. This loophole was soon taken advantage of by the old forces. We were reported by people who were not aware of the truth. The village committee called the police.

Several policemen came in a police car. They took us to the local police station. We did not give them our names, addresses or company. We followed the Fa teachings, “No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates.” (“Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

We kept clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts. We asked Master to protect us. With Master’s protection, an interesting thing occurred. During the two days we endured torture and attempts at forced confession, the policemen experienced stomachaches and could not get up. We also discovered that their houses were flooded inexplicably, and they also experienced other problems. I told them that this situation was an example of “immediate retribution for evil actions.” They were shocked and believed us.

The police secretly took a photo of us while we were clarifying the truth and they used it to search our backgrounds through the Internet. They were surprised to learn that we worked for the TV station and we were highly educated. After they realized they could not get a confession from us, they sent us back to the local authorities. They locked us in the detention center for 15 days and then kept us in the brainwashing center for ten months. The leaders and the local 610 office was about to lock us up for a longer time to force us to compromise and sign a guarantee statement. They wanted to damage Dafa and destroy the sentient beings. The evil slandered and libeled Dafa and Master through TV and other media while we sought to uncover the lies of the “Self Immolation Hoax” from a professional view. We knew we should validate Dafa via our TV work. We would never betray Master or Dafa.

At the brainwashing center, we slept on plywood (there was no bed), ate only salted vegetables (no main dishes) and we were forced to use the only available toilet – a little plastic basket in the room. The window was left open at all times for the guards to monitor us. Therefore, there were mosquitoes and flies in the summer, and cold wind blew in in the winter. There were locks and an alarm system on the door in case practitioners tried to escape from the room.

At the brainwashing center, we suffered all kinds of cruel tortures, such as: one hand cuffed onto the window lattice while standing on tiptoes; sleep deprivation; beatings with a paper roll or rod. One of my toenails turned purple and came off as a result of a police beating. Later it grew back. I didn’t feel pain. It must have been suffered by Master. There were many practitioners who experienced the same and they did not feel any pain. How merciful our Master is!

We were sometimes forced to squat for long periods. Practitioners were also forced to watch video programs slandering Dafa and Master. However, none of the tortures could sway our confidence and belief to keep practicing and validating Dafa. We knew that if the evil succeeded in “transforming” us, due to our TV notoriety, it would have extremely bad effects on Dafa. From another perspective, however, if we did not accept “transformation” and insisted on practicing till the end, all the people at our TV station and other institutions in the city would take a second look at Falun Dafa. It would also help lay the foundation for people to know more about the truth in the future.

My fellow practitioner and I decided to break the old forces' arrangements via our righteous thoughts and deeds, and let go of the attachments to fame, wealth, emotion and fear of death. We let go of attachments to our fear of death more than once. We went on a hunger strike for half a month. We lost a lot of weight, but did not become ill. We also regarded validating Dafa and saving sentient beings as our duty and mission. We saw everyone as relatives of Dafa practitioners. We treated every person that we met with mercy, including officers in the 610 Office and authorities at the brainwashing center. We clarified the truth to them patiently and used different ways to reach them according to their needs. At the same time, we sent forth righteous thoughts to clear out any evil that might try to control them and prevent them from knowing the truth.

We also paid attention to our behavior and words in everyday life in order to let them know the kindness and pureness of Dafa practitioners. They saw the beauty of Dafa through us and so they were able to rid themselves of bad thoughts towards Dafa.

The power of mercy disintegrates the evil. There was one security guard whose name was on the list of evildoers on Minghui.org. By our influence he developed more positive thoughts about Falun Dafa. There was another officer from the 610 Office who secretly brought us Master’s new scriptures and even watched out for us to let us practice the exercises undisturbed. The deputy director of the 610 Office was also on the list of evildoers. He was deeply poisoned by the evil. Both my fellow practitioner and I talked to him about the truth many times. We recited Master’s scriptures and articles to him as well. The power of Dafa and the mercy of practitioners eventually melted the ice. He ordered others never to torment us again. He downloaded the new articles from Master for us and secretly influenced the director to give us each a copy of Zhuan Falun. We were able to study the Fa at the brainwashing center every day and send forth righteous thoughts. We were able to create a positive cultivation environment there.

We are very grateful to Master. If it was not for Master's guidance, how could we survive in such an evil environment? Eventually, with Master’s protection and fellow practitioners' cooperation, we went back to our workplace without signing any “guarantee statement” after the director of the 610 Office coordinated with the leader of the department. Nothing about our work or benefits changed. During this period, we validated Dafa strongly. We laid a solid foundation for truth clarification and for convincing others to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the future.

Clarifying the Truth at Work to Show the Boundless Supernatural Power of Dafa

In 2007, I told most of my colleagues about the truth of Falun Dafa. After I persuaded them to quit the CCP, Master artfully arranged for me to work in the office of the Television Bureau. The office is the core department of the bureau. I had a lot of opportunities to have contact with the leaders. I realized that it was the time to persuade the leaders and other officers to quit the CCP. When I first got there, the evil blocked me from doing so. Thanks to my strong thoughts of saving sentient beings, the cooperation from a fellow practitioner at work and raising my Xinxing level, I finally became an officer there. I was a clerk at the office and the accountant of the canteen in the bureau.

I obeyed the standards of Dafa practitioners at work at all times. I used the opportunities at work to clarify the truth and validate Dafa. During work, I explained the facts to the leaders at all levels and all officers in the bureau. Except for one vice executive chief, everyone quit the CCP. I also clarified the truth to the people who have close contact with the officers, such as canteen contract workers, chefs, property security guards, attendants, and servers. Most of them quit the party. As the core department of the evil party, workers at the TV station are most affected by the culture of the evil party. However, Dafa has boundless supernatural power that can influence sentient beings. As long as we obey Master and believe in Master and Dafa, we can do the same. I always felt that the environment was created by Master, and people were saved by Master. We simply carry out the task with our words and actions.

In 2009, after I finished my mission of saving people at the office, I was transferred back to my original TV News position. I was in charge of the post editing and production for a program. I knew it was an arrangement made by Master. I was there to validate Dafa and save sentient beings that were deeply poisoned by the evil party.

When I first came back, I felt a huge pressure. At first, the pressure was from work. I had been gone for about ten years, during which time all the facilities were updated. I had never used the non-linear editing system (NLES) before. I had to start from the beginning. Then I had pressure from colleagues. They were argumentative and jealous. The leaders were abusive. I could not adapt to it at first, but I thought that as a practitioner, I should look within myself whenever I met any conflict. If I have no evil around me, my righteous field can control them.

I used my work position to weaken the culture of the party. For example, I deleted the content that falsely represented the party while editing, and cut the flag of the party from video footage. At the same time, I made sure to work on my Xinxing. I looked inside and cultivated myself. I didn’t count the gain or loss of fame and wealth, bore hardship without complaint and treated everyone kindly in order to cultivate my compassion. After years of hard work and the influence of practitioners’ compassion, all of my colleagues came to understand the truth and quit the CCP. I gave them software which allows them to log onto overseas websites. The office is in harmony now and the leaders are no longer abusive. The boundless supernatural power of Dafa is reflected in all of them.

When we practitioners cultivate well, the environment will change. Not long ago, I was chosen to be the chief editor of the program at the TV station. Dafa has opened my wisdom. It is reflected in my work at this job. The pieces that are edited by me do not have any factor of the evil party. They have fluent, logical and artistic words and are full of positive power. My leaders and colleagues look at me with new eyes. Ever since I became the chief editor, the quality and the audience ratings of the program have soared and the program has received great attention from local citizens. This has had good effects on validating Dafa. I know it’s an honor from Master for us to validate Dafa.

Validating Dafa with wisdom and purifying the environment is something I believe all practitioners should do. I am still far from meeting the requirements of Master and the Fa. Please kindly point out any shortcomings.