(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Gong in 1998, and had only been a practitioner for a year when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began suppressing the practice in 1999.
Before I started practicing Falun Gong I was disabled, but my health soon recovered after I started the practice. I was very thankful to Teacher for giving me a second life. When the CCP suddenly began depriving its citizens of their freedom of spiritual belief and persecuting those who refuse to renounce their faith in Falun Gong, I exercised my constitutional right and traveled to Beijing to appeal at the State Appeals Office. I also wrote to the Appeals Office at different levels of government—as well as government agencies, political committees and the media, to share with them what I had come to know about Falun Gong.
Political leaders and police in my area kept coming to my home to talk to me. I once condemned a representative from the city government, and said, “Where were you when I was disabled and confined to my bed? Did you pay me a visit when I lost my ability to work or provide for my family? My youngest daughter was only five when I became disabled. No one helped me! Now that I am completely healthy because of practicing Falun Gong, you come and order me to renounce my belief!”
I was worn out from such endless harassment, and didn't know how to prevail over the persecution. I was really confused. Fake readings were passed amongst practitioners, but I did not know how to tell which articles were written by Teacher and which were not, because I had just started practicing Falun Gong and didn't have a deep understanding of Teacher's Fa at the time.
One day, I received a printout of an article titled “The Power of Righteous Faith Can Withstand Any Evil,” which was published on the Minghui website. It was very inspirational to me. I no longer became emotional when I faced harassment, and believed that I would prevail over the persecution as long as I have steadfast, uncompromising faith in Teacher and Falun Gong, and conduct myself rationally. As long as I am a practitioner, I believe my fate is determined by Teacher and not by any political leader or their policies. I no longer felt alone. I felt confident. That was the first time I came to know about the Minghui website.
I was also delighted when I received Minghui Weekly for the very first time. I then kept searching for ways to get new issues. The earlier version of Minghui Weekly had only one page, and usually had a lot of creases by the time it was passed to me. Yet I loved reading it. I tried every possible way to obtain new issues, but it was not until I started printing truth-clarification materials at my home that I was able to access the Minghui website on my computer.
I visit the Minghui website every day because I don't want to miss information. It is my partner in cultivation that helps me determine right from wrong. Now, I will never accept articles that were not written by Teacher or join any activities created by the CCP to lure and confuse practitioners. I am inspired and encouraged by articles written by fellow practitioners, and understand that I must catch up with them when I read experience sharings about their righteous thoughts and actions, their elevated understanding of the Fa, their compassion for sentient beings, and the efforts they have made to assist Teacher in Fa-rectification.
Teacher has given us Minghui for practitioners to have a website that they can rely on, and Teacher only publishes His articles on there. So, if there are fake readings in circulation that have not been published on Minghui, then they were clearly not written by Teacher. How can there be any room for confusion? So we should not be curious to read such things. Fake readings are intended to damage the Fa. Curiosity and ignorance together can create opportunities for some people to damage Dafa. If practitioners visit the Minghui website, they will know whether an article was genuinely written by Teacher or not.
In my understanding, there are a few reasons why practitioners in China do not visit Minghui very often. Some practitioners cannot afford the Internet connections or they may be afraid of the CCP's Internet surveillance. There are some practitioners who refuse to read Minghui because they do not agree with some practitioners' understandings or because the practitioners' insights are not in alignment with Teacher's Fa. It is perfectly fine to have different cultivation insights and understandings. Minghui is a channel for practitioners around the world to exchange their understandings of Teacher's Fa. Why would some practitioners refuse to look at the Minghui website and instead pursue “speeches” given locally in China by so-called “elevated practitioners”? That is particularly irrational when there are so many mature practitioners sharing their experiences on Minghui that can benefit everyone.
Several practitioners in our area organized a “speech tour” several years ago, during which speeches were given by a fellow practitioner from northeastern China. Some local practitioners did not think it was a good idea, as it is not safe to organize such a tour when the CCP continues to suppress Falun Gong—and the speeches were also unnecessary. The practitioner from northeastern China could have just published his speech on the Minghui website so that more practitioners could benefit from it. Spending so much time on the road will cost him a lot of money and reduce his time for studying the Fa. It might also encourage practitioners to follow him. Many of the practitioners that organized the “speech tour” ended up being arrested and sentenced to many years in prison.
Minghui is becoming increasingly mature as Teacher's Fa-rectification progresses, and it has a remarkable impact on practitioners. Lately, Minghui has published several articles with Teacher's comments, as well as notices from the editors. How can a practitioner catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification if they do not read Minghui frequently?
As someone who benefits from the Minghui website, I would like to encourage all practitioners to read and submit articles to Minghui.
