(Minghui.org) I am 67 years old. I used to have many health problems, such as migraines, arthritis, and so on. But I recovered from all of them without another visit to the doctor after I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. Instead of being selfish, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, and mercenary, I became open-minded and helpful.
Establishing an Informational Material Production Site
After I was released from a forced labor camp in March 2004, I found out about that local practitioners were involved in projects to clarify the truth. However, Dafa informational materials were scarce. Also, some practitioners could not read the Minghui Weekly and Master’s new lectures in a timely manner.
That prompted me to think about making such materials myself. But I was briefly homeless due to the persecution and then my wife, also a practitioner, had a stroke and became bedridden. I took care of her for two years, until she died. So my desire to set up a production had to be set aside.
My house was demolished in 2008 and I moved in with other practitioners. Life got simpler, and with the support of my son, also a practitioner, I did set up a family material production site. It was not easy, and we had many difficulties.
I was already 65 years old. I had spent most of my life in a village and had only gone to school for six years. I did not know English and or how to use a computer.
First, I had to find enough money to buy the equipment. I had 2,000 yuan that relatives gave me when my wife passed away, but that wasn’t enough. My daughter was imprisoned for her faith in Falun Dafa and had left money for me to visit her in prison every month. I used that money and, with the help of fellow practitioners, I bought a computer and a printer.
Neither I nor the practitioners I lived with knew anything about computers. After we found a computer literate practitioner, we realized that the computer lacked the required software. After finding practitioners who could help install the programs, we had to acquire the programs and then find a technically skilled practitioner who could install them. Once we had overcome that hurdle, I realized that I did not know how to connect the printer to the computer. After all that was taken care of, I had to find someone to show me how to use the computer and printer. I finally learned how to use all the equipment and made a truth clarification booklet.
Then I ran into another obstacle. Due to safety reasons, the practitioner that had first helped me no longer could. But I met a technically skilled practitioner when I was buying consumables. With his help, the production site got up and running. This all helped me to understand that Master has always been watching over me.
Master said,
“So just put in the effort needed and leave the rest to your teacher. The intent that you have to develop higher energy and make progress will suffice. It will be your teacher that does the real work, and it will be beyond anything you could possibly do.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
After some time, I learned how to go online, download, print many types of materials, submit the list of people who quit the CCP, and so on.
More and more practitioners were clarifying the truth, so the need for Dafa materials was increasing. Building on what I’d learned, I found out how to copy discs, make keepsakes, override the firewall, make stickers, print Dafa books, and so on.
I will make whatever materials practitioners need to clarify the truth. With their help, I even learned how to install computer systems and helped other practitioners upgrade their computer systems.
Not Afraid to Help Prepare Criminal Complaints
With the rapid progression of the Fa rectification, the movement to sue Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime, started to spread across China in 2015. Many practitioners sent in their criminal complaints to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Supreme People’s Court using their real names. I sent in mine on June 3 and received acknowledgment of its receipt.
Many practitioners who did not know how to write their criminal complaints asked me to help them. I followed the template published on the Minghui website, helped prepare the documents, and printed and mailed them. As the Minghui editorial asked us to do, we also e-mailed a copy of the criminal complaint to Minghui.
During that time, many people came to my house so I could help them with their criminal complaints. But Minghui reported that many practitioners were being monitored for filing criminal complaints against Jiang. Then I thought to myself, “Since I dared to sue Jiang Zemin, what else did I need to be afraid of?”
My small wish turned into a bountiful harvest, as my small material production site flourished. I even helped other practitioners to set up four small material production sites. Most of them are elderly and had a hard time learning technical skills. So I focused on the main points from my own experience, and they improved very rapidly.
Experiencing the Power of Dafa When Believing in Master and the Fa
In operating this production site, I often experience Dafa’s power. A practitioner’s thoughts are very important. One should avoid negative thoughts. It is best not to think of anything but just believe in Master and the Fa. If we do not do wrong things intentionally, Master will help us where there are difficulties, and Master will definitely protect us when there is danger.
Sometimes I’ve had problems with the printer and didn’t know how to repair it. I would send forth righteous thoughts to get rid of the interference and study a chapter in Master’s lectures before I restarted the printer. The printer would then work.
From the day I started to produce Dafa materials, I only had the wish to do so and everything else came about due to the wisdom Master gave me. Whenever I had problems, I would send forth righteous thoughts and ask Master, and Master would help me resolve it. I just depended on my righteous belief in Master to do what the Fa-rectification requires.
Escaping Trouble
When I went with my son to get the printer repaired, the practitioner who was going to fix it was not around, and a stranger was tending the store. He claimed that the practitioner had to leave to take care of something but would be back shortly. He asked me to look after the store so he could go out for a smoke.
I declined and went to another store, where I overheard two people discussing the arrest of the practitioner from that shop. I then realized that the person in the other shop was a police officer in civilian clothes. I told my son that we should leave immediately. We ran to the elevator with the police chasing us. Too many people were waiting to take the elevator, so we took the stairs down from the 9th floor and escaped.
Another time I went with a fellow practitioner to buy a DVD burner. As I was paying, I noticed that someone in the opposite shop kept looking at us and thought he must be a spy. I immediately send forth righteous thoughts and asked the shop owner to help me take my purchase to the other exit. I told the other practitioner to go home and told the delivery man to take another route. That spy walked off, talking on his phone. The shop owner took me to the other exit where a cab was waiting that took me home. I avoided danger once again.
There was a great demand for DVDs when many people wanted to see the Shen Yun performance—almost a thousand DVDs a month. When the price was good and to save time, I once bought 3,000 discs that the shop owner put into six cardboard boxes. In the elevator, a man kept looking at my boxes and wanted to know what was in them. I thought that he is a spy, so I send forth righteous thoughts to make him leave, which he did when the elevator got to the sixth floor. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts until I found a taxi. Master protected me again!
Looking Inward and Improving Xinxing
When coordinating with other practitioners, we often run into conflicts. A practitioner asked me to help her download a document that someone needed urgently. At that time, I was using the DVD burner to burn a disc and two printers to print the labels. If I went online to look for the document, I would have to stop what I was doing. I told her to download it herself. She got more and more angry and raised her voice.
After she left, I kept remembering all that I had done for her. All of a sudden, grievances, feelings of being treated unjustly, and so on welled up in my heart.
After cooling down, I remembered what Master said:
“ Isn’t it true that nothing you come across is by chance? Aren’t you traveling the path to divinity? Do you really believe that cultivation is only appealing and you can only elevate when what graces your ears are pleasing things and when Dafa disciples only say things that resonate with you? ” (“To the European Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
When I looked inward, I realized that I didn’t want to be inconvenienced, that I valued saving face, and most of all, I was much too selfish. I did not think of others’ needs first. If she could have resolved the problem by herself, would she have asked me for help?
I did not think about the fact that someone needed those documents urgently—I just didn’t want to be inconvenienced so I was not willing to do it. Not only was I not willing to help, I was even complaining about it. No wonder she was upset. Wasn’t it my attitude—so unlike that of a cultivator—that caused her to be angry? If that was the case, how could I still be angry and think that I was being treated unjustly? I could see that I did not do things out of pure kindness. I did things with conditions: “Since I helped you, you need to treat me well and respect me.” That was actually asking for returns. This made me feel remorse.
Master said,
“I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism.” (“Non-omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Despite cultivating for so many years, I was still thinking about myself when I ran into problems. Furthermore, that little bit of knowledge I had was given by Dafa and Master, so what was there for me to be so proud about? Master arranged this incident to wake me up.
Master said, “Whatever you experience during your cultivation—whether good or bad—is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating.” (“To the Chicago Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
Thank you, Master, for awakening me through this incident. A few days later, that practitioner came to my house, and I apologized. She was quite happy, because both of us looked inwards and got rid of what created problems between us.
While working at the material production site, there were many incidents when I had to go through xinxing tests with fellow practitioners. Now I know that this process is also the most reliable and fastest way to cultivate.
Master said,
“I want the environment to be one in which everyone can accept criticism and at the same time look inside themselves. If everyone cultivates himself, everyone looks within, and everyone cultivates himself well, won't the conflicts be few? ” (Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles)
Cultivating ourselves well is of the utmost importance. Only when we cultivate ourselves well will we be able to do well the three things that Master wants us to do.
Recalling the 11 years I have operated the material production site, I see the process has been full of difficulties and turmoil. It is only because of Master’s protection that I’ve made it this far. Master has given me so much! It is hard for me to express my gratitude. The only way is to cultivate diligently and catch up with the Fa-rectification requirements!
Category: Improving Oneself
