The Difference of One Thought

(Minghui.org) When one runs into something, one's first thought can result in a huge difference in the outcome. For practitioners, we need to keep righteous thoughts and have righteous actions at all times. We must be able to look inward when running into tribulations, and we need to consider the overall body of practitioners.

A few years ago, I went with some other practitioners to the hometown of the head of the 610 Office to hand out truth-clarification flyers. We divided ourselves into three teams of two. Each team was responsible for covering one area.

Near the end of our day, a practitioner had only two flyers left and wanted to finish handing them out, so she went away from us. Unfortunately, she was seen and reported.

I heard someone say, “People who practice Falun Gong have guts,” and “Someone even came to our village to hand out flyers and got arrested.”

I was in a panic, and I couldn't locate this practitioner. When a few of us finally got together, we were all at a loss for what to do. Eventually we decided to head home and transfer the truth-clarification materials and Falun Dafa books out of her home to another, safer place.

Back then, none of us had enough righteous thoughts. As a result, this practitioner was beaten while in custody. Later, she was transferred to a detention center, then held in a forced labor camp for more than a year.

At that time, we didn't look inward. Instead, we thought that since the persecution situation was still quite severe, we would have ended up being arrested if we were to demand her release.

Now thinking back, I feel that we also shoulder some responsibility. As a team, we should not have left her alone or allowed her to endure the tribulation all by herself. I have seen this selfishness in myself. After I realized this, I felt a profound sorrow deep down inside.

With these feelings in me, I stood in front of Teacher's portrait. “Teacher, I did wrong,” I said. “I didn't do well last time. Now I know what attachments I need to get rid of. From now on, I will do things on the basis of being responsible for other practitioners and the Fa.”

A few years have passed since then. The other day, I saw banners slandering Falun Dafa up on the wall of a neighborhood village. So I went to find two practitioners to go with me to take them down.

That night the moon was bright and clear. We went to that place and kept sending forth righteous thoughts. The banners were about over 30 feet long and 3 feet wide. After we took them down and were about to rush back, a man on a motorcycle suddenly came after me and grabbed my shoulder.

I heard the motorcyclist shouting at me, “What are you doing here? Are you trying to steal things?” At that moment, I had one thought pop up: “Teacher, please help me!”

I turned around to face him. “Do we look like thieves?” I asked. “We are good people who follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We are here to do good things. And, for you and I to run into each other is a not a coincidence. Let me tell you that having these banners up here is not good. They poison people's minds, and by taking them down, it's good for both you and me.”

He told me that he was in charge of watching the banners. He also said that he should have all of us arrested. I held kindness in my heart for him. “Young man,” I said,” I see you as someone kindhearted. You look like a good person to me. You do this for the sake of carrying out a duty, and I can see that. Do you have any elderly people at home?”

“I don't think you want to have us arrested,” I added. “How about if you just pretend that you didn't see us at all? By doing this, it's good for you and your whole family as well.”

He thought for a while. Then he said: “Ok, off you go, then.” We returned home safely.