(Minghui.org) I was giving away Shen Yun Performing Arts DVDs recently when a man in his 30s took one, and then he told me that he was an officer in a local police station. With one hand he held onto my bike, and with the other hand he was about to search through the basket on my bike. I had more than 30 DVDs in my basket and I didn't want him to take them. While I stopped him from searching the basket, I looked at him and sent forth righteous thoughts to remove the evil spirit influencing him. Quickly, he let go of my bike and said, “You can leave now.” I immediately got on my bike, yet before I could leave, a police vehicle was coming towards me. When it got within a foot of me, it turned onto the sidewalk and left.
I shared my experience with a fellow practitioner the next day, and she said, “Next time don't give DVDs to people in their 30s.” I thought her advice was reasonable. Based on my own experience this age group did not want to take DVDs anyway and some had a bad attitude. While returning home Teacher's words from the “Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference” popped into my head,
“But what I hope is that after taking a fall, you will all learn something good from it. Don’t always take away bad things from your experiences.”
At this point I realized that I was taking away bad things from my experience. If I followed the advice of my fellow practitioner, I would be choosing the people I was trying to save. I should be careful and not give up on people in their 30s.
From this recent experience I have learned what is stated in the poem “The Master-Disciple Bond” in Hong Yin Vol. II,
“When disciples have ample righteous thoughts Master has the power to turn back the tide”
Due to the interference and destructive actions of the old forces, we will have difficulties when saving sentient beings. The key point is to hold onto righteous thoughts no matter what kind of difficulties we face. As long as we do this, Master can help us.
Many practitioners in our area were recently illegally arrested. Their homes were ransacked and some of them had to leave home in order to avoid persecution. According to a report on the Minghui website, this was a large-scale persecution by the Chinese Communist Party. We know the evil spirits have been reduced substantially at this time, so why did this happen? I think one reason is the lack of progress in improving our character or being unable to let go of an existing attachment.
The other reason might be that when a practitioner faced a crisis, they did not let go of negative thoughts, such as worry or fear. By allowing these thoughts instead of having righteous thoughts can lead to disastrous results, because Master cannot help us under such circumstances. On the other hand, when we let go of fear, hatred, desire to win over others, and instead have thoughts of kindness, compassion and willingness to help others, Master will be able to remove whatever is blocking us from doing our job.
Regardless of what environment we may face in the future, our objective is to strengthen our righteous thoughts and hold onto them at critical moments. If so, we can overcome the arrangements made by the old forces. This is also the power Master has given us.
The above is my personal view. Please point out anything that is improper.
Category: Improving Oneself
