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Thinking First About Sentient Beings and Eliminating Interference with Righteous Thoughts

May 22, 2014 |   By a practitioner from Heilongjiang Province, China

(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Gong in July 1998. After practicing for only 15 days, all my illnesses disappeared. I was so happy! I told people around me that Falun Gong is truly amazing. Not only does Falun Gong heal illnesses and makes one fit, it also helps to improve one's character.

Stepping out to validate the Fa despite the persecution

Jiang Zemin led the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the brutal persecution against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. I didn't understand why we could not practice anymore since it is so wonderful. I wanted to share my personal experience, so I went to Beijing to appeal to the government. On October 5, 2000, seven other practitioners and I boarded a train for Beijing.

One practitioner's family believed in the lies and propaganda about Falun Gong and reported us to the authorities. The police on the train realized that we were on our way to appeal for Falun Gong. They asked to see our tickets, and tried to make us vilify Master and Dafa. Of course, we refused. We were forced off the train at the Shanhaiguan station and arrested by the local police. Six days later, agents from the 610 Office at my company came to collect me. I was detained for 72 days, and was only released after they extorted a large amount of money from me.

When I returned to work, the head of the factory, who was also the Party secretary, asked me if I still practiced Falun Gong. He said, “If you continue to practice, I will not allow you to return to your job.” I said very firmly: “Once I headed for Beijing, I was not afraid of losing my life. Why would I be afraid of losing this job?” As I turned around and started to leave, the director was quick to say, “If you want to come back to work, you can come tomorrow.” So I returned to work, and still carried on validating the Fa.

I felt sad and worried for people who believed the lies and propaganda put out by the CCP about Falun Gong. I wanted people to know the true situation. I had no truth clarification materials, so I made handwritten stickers and wrote: “Falun Gong is wonderful” and “Falun Gong saves people.” I put them up everywhere.

After a while, I was able to get in touch with other practitioners, and they gave me truth clarification materials. I always examined the materials before I handed them out to make sure that they were presentable. At first, my heart began to thump loudly. Distributing them made me a little scared. However, I knew that all sentient beings are waiting to be saved, so I overcame my fear and stepped forward. As soon as I walked out of my front door, I calmed down. Sometimes I went by myself, and sometimes I went with other practitioners. As I gradually let go of my fear, I was able to hand out more and more truth clarification materials.

Before I started to practice, I was divorced and my husband supported our child. I lived with my mother and we looked after each other. Living in an environment of terror from the CCP, my mom feared that I would be persecuted again. She tried to stop me from studying the Fa, doing the exercises, or handing out truth clarification materials. Besides the financial persecution, my living and cultivation environments were very harsh. Sometimes I had no money to even buy a bag of rice. I realized that this was another kind of persecution and that I must not acknowledge it.

I made up my mind to clarify the facts to people from the 610 Office at my workplace. I went to look for the head, but he was not there. I said to the others in the office, “I plan to go to Beijing to appeal to the government.” When they heard this, they called the secretary right away. When people from other departments heard that I practiced Falun Gong, they tried to tell me about the staged self-immolation incident on Tiananmen Square. I told them that it was all made up and said: “Our Teacher taught us that, as a practitioner, one should not commit suicide, as that kills a life and is a sin. As a true practitioner, one would never set oneself on fire.” I took out a flyer printed from the Minghui website, which analyzed the suspicious aspects of the self-immolation incident, and gave it to them.

At that point, the head of the 610 Office arrived. I said to him: “I have a hard time making ends meet now, and my mom can't understand why I practice Falun Gong. I have no other options. I want to go to Beijing to appeal. Didn't you tell me before that I must tell you if I plan on going to Beijing?” He said, “If you go, I'll send you to the detention center.” I asked him why he would do such a thing when I haven't committed a crime. He then took me to see the Party secretary. After I told the Party secretary my reason for going to the 610 Office, she asked someone for a few hundred yuan, gave it to me, and then had someone take me home.

I often clarified the facts to my mom, and she eventually understood about Falun Gong. She no longer stopped me from practicing. My life and cultivation environment has changed for the better. I was also able to get in touch with other practitioners. We worked together to hand out truth clarification materials, validate the Fa and save sentient beings. I have devoted myself fully to Fa-rectification period cultivation.

I have come to experience the miracle of being immersed in the Fa. I had two dreams. In one dream, I was walking down a village road. As I crossed a bridge, I saw rows of ripe yellow corn. Every corn cob appeared completely filled out. A villager grabbed a few and gave them to me. In another dream, I saw a small road by my house. Along the road were a few trees with red fruit as big as tomatoes hanging from them. When I awoke, I enlightened that Teacher was encouraging me, hinting that every Dafa practitioner has attained fruit status.

Clarifying the facts with righteous thoughts

Nearly 200 practitioners from our city were arrested during April and May of 2002. I was one of them. On June 4, I was taken to a forced labor camp, where I was subjected to brainwashing sessions and witnessed many cruel forms of torture. I maintained my belief in Falun Gong and knew that it was correct to clarify the facts and validate the Fa despite the threat of persecution.

I returned home on September 23, 2003, only to find that my company had gone bankrupt, and a working group from the municipal government was dealing with the bankruptcy. I was dismissed from my job while I was at the labor camp. The factory was handing out a one-time settlement fee for laid-off employees. This shocked me. I began to look inward and realized that it was another form of persecution by the old forces.

I went to see Secretary Sun, the person responsible from the working group, and told him that it is not reasonable for the factory's management to dismiss me from work because I was illegally held at a labor camp for practicing Falun Gong. Labor rules stipulate that signatures from both parties are required to break a labor contract. When he heard this, he seemed sympathetic and said that he would look into my case in late October.

When I met with Secretary Sun again in October, he told me that they are not responsible for people whose labor contract was terminated by the factory. After I heard this, I couldn't control myself and started to cry. I told him that this was against the labor law.

I came home in low spirits. Then I remembered a paragraph of Teacher's Fa:

“Wherever there's a problem, that is where you need to clarify the truth and save people. Don't take a detour when you run into difficulties.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conferencein Teaching the Fa at the Conference II)

I kept looking inward and realized my attachment to personal gain and selfishness, which was buried deep down inside.

I began to study the Fa with a calm heart. I tried to rectify myself in the Fa. Then I went and clarified the facts to the relevant departments. I went to talk to the factory's appeals office, the director of the company, the Party secretary, the 610 Office, domestic security division, Judicial Bureau and the city's appeals office. I talked about how I was persecuted and how Falun Gong teaches people to follow the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” to be good people. I also told them that during the 22 years that I worked at the factory, I had been given employee awards many times and made numerous contributions to the factory. During the process of clarifying the facts, I managed to let go of my attachments to personal gain and selfishness.

In mid-December 2003, I called Secretary Sun. He said, “We reinstated your position and decided to regard you as a retiree. So we'll pay you an allowance of 120 yuan every month from now on.” The call surprised me. During that period of time, more than 1,000 employees were laid off. They tried everything to find work but nothing turned up. When people heard about my reinstatement, they thought it was unbelievable. Through this matter, I truly came to realize the miraculousness of Dafa and Teacher's benevolent protection.

Cultivating during the persecution and not slacking off in saving sentient beings

A very shocking incident occurred at Jiamusi Prison on February 26, 2011. Three practitioners were tortured to death within a period of 15 days. Local practitioners quickly took action to expose the persecution and rescue practitioners who were being held there. At around 10 p.m. on March 13, 2011, myself and four other practitioners went to the residential area near the prison. We posted notices to inform people that three practitioners had died in the prison.

We were followed by the local police and were arrested. They beat us and searched us. They then slandered Teacher and defamed Dafa. I held kind thoughts in my mind, as I didn't want them to commit more crimes against Dafa. I clarified the facts to them from my heart and told them to treat practitioners kindly so that they would receive good fortune in the future. I also told them that those who persecute practitioners would be punished.

The officers listened intently and their attitude soon changed for the better. But they would not let us go home when I asked them to release us. One of the police said: “If we were to release you and you did something somewhere else, we'd be in big trouble.” I continued to clarify the facts to them as we were taken away.

I was taken to the local domestic security division on the morning of the 14th day of my detention. At that time, my 78-year-old mother arrived there with other relatives. My elderly mother asked the police why they arrested me, as I hadn't done anything wrong. The police did not pay attention to her and took me to the detention center. I thought to myself that I would not stay there for more than five days.

I went on a hunger strike at the detention center. There were five other people being held there, and I wanted to quickly let them know about Falun Gong. Otherwise, in a few days, I would have no strength left. I managed to help all of them quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

I began to look inward, and realized that on the day of my arrest I didn't maintain my xinxing and argued with a client. I didn't handle the situation well, didn't improve my behavior and was taken advantage of by old forces. I was determined to correct myself, act in accordance with the Fa and negate the old forces' arrangements. I would only follow Teacher's arranged path and go out to save sentient beings.

My life appeared to be in danger on the fifth day of my hunger strike. I lost consciousness, my blood pressure dropped and I had no pulse. The guards at the detention center did not want the responsibility if I died in there, so they reported my situation to the police department and had me released. It was exactly five days since I was taken to the detention center. I realized that I didn't fully negate the persecution, as I shouldn’t have stayed in there at all.

Eliminating the financial persecution

Even though I was reinstated and now regarded as a retiree, my living conditions were still very tough. My monthly salary was slightly over 100 yuan. In order to make ends meet, I looked for more work, no matter what it was I'd take it. I did housework, worked as a nanny, polished shoes and cleaned hotel bathrooms. As I did this work, I was able to meet people with a predestined relationship. I'd try my best to clarify the facts to them and help them to quit the CCP. When some of my bosses learned that I practiced Falun Gong, they tried to fire me because they were afraid of repercussions from the CCP. This made my work situation very unstable. The more money I wanted to earn, the less opportunity I got. I was under tremendous pressure.

I thought that practitioners should have good fortune, and wondered why I always ended up doing work that was of low pay, dirty and hard. Wasn't this a kind of financial persecution? I kept sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the old forces' financial persecution towards me, and tried to think of ways to earn more money. Then I thought that if I became a sales agent I could earn more income. When this thought emerged, it wasn't long before a practitioner introduced me to a sales job.

When I got into the business, I ran into many difficulties. I was solely responsible for my clients and the pay was based on commission. Training was not provided and success depended on one's ability to sell. The management is fairly relaxed and I didn't need to keep regular working hours. The bottom line was how I performed. I wasn't familiar with the hardware and learned from others who were younger than me.

Gradually, I came to understand the process. Within two and a half months I had earned more than 4,000 yuan, which made me want to work even harder. I clarified the facts to both employees and clients. I also helped them to quit the CCP and gave them truth clarification DVDs, which had software to break through the Internet blockade. My client base grew and grew as my services spread by word-of-mouth. Some potential clients called me and said, “So-and-so recommended you.” I didn't even know who that so-and-so was; I just said, “Great.” I enlightened that it was Teacher who brought people with a predestined relationship over to me, to have me save more people.

I once visited a client to make a delivery. After she paid me, I gave her a Shen Yun DVD and told her that it was very good. She lives on the 6th floor. As I was leaving her apartment, I put truth clarification materials under the doors of the other homes and put up posters in the hallway. At the entrance, I saw two men walking into the building. I began to wonder if they would chase after me when they saw the truth clarification materials. I became frightened. I quickly unlocked my bicycle, got on and pedaled away very fast. Suddenly, Teacher's words appeared in my mind:

“The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston” in Teaching the Fa at the Conference II)

Thinking about this, I felt much calmer and slowed down.

The next day an experience sharing conference was held in our area. To participate in the conference, I turned off both my cell phones. When I came to work the next day, a co-worker said that they had been trying to get hold of me all day, and couldn't understand why I turned off my phone.

I was told that a client had come in and slammed a DVD on the table. She was very upset and thought that our company was handing out Falun Gong DVDs. She also said that her husband works for the police. My coworker was very surprised and told her that we don't give these as gifts. Then the client left.

I told my coworker that whoever watches the DVD will receive many benefits. The coworker said: “We all know that. But stay away from people like her.” I apologized for bringing my co-worker any trouble and told them not to worry about me. This incident moved my heart.

On another day, I met five clients and wondered if I should give them truth clarification DVDs. While I was thinking this way, my righteous thoughts came forth. I thought nothing should stop me from saving sentient beings. If I lose this chance, they might not have another opportunity to be saved, so I gave each of them a DVD. I overcame my fear and felt very happy. From then on, I encountered no further interference.

I often go to my clients' homes to provide services, and find I can better clarify the facts to them there. As a result, I have done more than other sales reps. Once, I visited a client to talk about our services and noticed that his home was very luxurious inside. A man in his 30s greeted me. After I introduced the scope of our business, I gave him a truth clarification DVD and told him that it contained software that could break through the Internet blockade. I also told him about some news websites that he could watch, including the Epoch Times. He seemed very interested and said: “I have quite a few family members. Do you have any more?”

When I came back to the office, I told my coworker that this client's name sounded familiar. My coworker told me that he was the deputy mayor of our city but is now retired. The person who I saw was his relative.

I sometimes asked clients to meet in our office. When we finished our business, I would clarify the facts to them and help them to quit the CCP. For those who didn't want to quit right away, I would give them a truth clarification DVD with software that could help them to quit online. I met one client later and asked, “Have you quit online yet?” He said: “Yes, I did. This society is too rotten. It's better for one to quit the CCP.” I feel truly happy for people who have learned the truth.

The Minghui website recommends local material production sites be set up everywhere. Many practitioners wish to do this, but when they apply for high speed Internet, they don't want to use their own ID's, or might not even have an ID. When they tell me their address, I can quickly help them with the installation. In this way, more and more material centers are springing up in our area.