(Minghui.org) I used to mainly clarify the facts about Falun Dafa face to face. However, deep in my heart, there had always been a wish to validate the Fa with my writing skills. This was somewhat related to my interest of literature and writing before I practiced Dafa. In my local region, there was a lack of practitioners with good writing skills. Although I had only attended middle school, I wanted to give it a try. During that time I saw a pen in a dream.
With sharing and encouragement from fellow practitioners in 2013, I wrote a sharing paper and submitted it to the Minghui Fahui. I had to pause many times during the writing, but eventually overcame my human notions and finished it. I felt that whether it got selected wasn’t important, because it had helped me cultivate my xinxing. Prior to that, I felt that the Minghui Fahui had nothing to do with me. But, in fact, it was due to my lack of understandings, and human notions that were not in accordance with the Fa.
Later on I wrote another article to share my experience about submitting the paper for Minghui Fahui for the first time. I was thinking about cultivation as I was writing the article. When doing cultivation, one has to truly cultivate.
Master said,
Study the Fa and gain the Fa,on how you study and cultivate,Let each and every thingbe measured against the Fa.Only then, with that,is it actually cultivation.(“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin, Translation Version A)
I felt Master was reciting this poem right next to me at the moment I read it. I turned my head and didn’t see anything, as my cultivation had been in the locked state. But, I truly felt Master’s warm and compassionate energy right there. Previously, when I read this poem, I did not have a deeper understanding of the Fa contained in that poem. But at that instant, I felt that I awakened.
Master also said, “Our Fa conference is about cultivation.” (“ A Congratulatory Letter to the Fa Conference of Europe,” Team Blue Translation) I held a misunderstanding of the Minghui Fahui, because I never measured myself with the Fa, and was never able to achieve it in practice.
At the time I did not have a computer and fellow practitioners helped me to send the sharing papers to Minghui. So I did not know whether it got published or not. However, another practitioner told me that she saw my article in February 2014. She knew it was me, because she was familiar with what I had written. She said, “Your sharing was very clean.” I knew it was Master using her words to encourage me. I was very happy, and it had given me the confidence to continue writing.
Master’s Encouragement
Since I had a desire to validate the Fa with writing, I frequently saw pens in my dreams, and it was not the same type of pen each time. At first I didn’t enlighten to it and was satisfied to finish what I wanted to write. But, I was still dreaming pens and finally, my heart was moved. I thought, “There are so many fellow practitioners in the region who have good sharing and experiences in validating the Fa. However, it is unfortunate that they do not know how to write about them to present Dafa’s beauty to people.”
Master said,
“Actually, though, as a Dafa disciple, if in such cases your thoughts are righteous, and what you are thinking about is cultivation, about being responsible, and about how it’s something that should be done well, then you should quietly take whatever it is that you feel is lacking and do it well. That is in fact how a Dafa disciple should handle it.” (“Be More Diligent,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
“If you can manage to quietly complete what you notice is lacking, quietly do well what you should do, and quietly do something well when you find it to have been done less than ideally, then the multitude of gods will have tremendous admiration for you and exclaim that this person is simply extraordinary. Only doing things this way counts as what a Dafa disciple should do.” (“Be More Diligent,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
After reading Master’s Fa, I enlightened that I should help those fellow practitioners write their sharing. Our region will be able to submit sharing papers. During that year’s World Falun Dafa Day, I wrote two papers for fellow practitioners.
The process wasn’t easy because of the obstruction from my human notions. I only took notes when talking to fellow practitioners and at first I had no clue how to turn that into formal papers. It was getting closer and closer to the deadline date. One afternoon, I adjusted my state and was determined to stay home and write the papers. I first studied the Fa. As I was reading it, I suddenly had a breakthrough.
Master said,
“While we practice, there is a field around us. What field is it? Some people call it a qi field, a magnetic field, or an electric field. In fact, it is incorrect no matter what field you call it since the matter contained in this field is extremely rich. Almost all the matter that constitutes every space of our universe can be found in this gong. It is more appropriate for us to call it an energy field, and so we normally call it an energy field.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
This is a universal Dafa and it contains everything. I suddenly understood how to write articles from reading Zhuan Falun. Master has already taught us. I soon had ideas of how to organize the sharing and finished both papers. In the end of August one of them was published on Minghui.
A local coordinator saw the article that I put together in the Spring of 2015, and suggested that I help more practitioners put together sharing papers for the upcoming May 13 World Falun Dafa Day. I agreed and found another practitioner to work with. She typed the papers and I edited them. Many fellow practitioners realized the importance of submitting papers to Minghui and actively participated.
The editing process was quite difficult at times. Some practitioners could not write, so we listened to their sharing, and then put it on paper. These took us a lot of time. There were also papers given to us that did not clearly explain what they wanted to share. From time to time I would get irritated and didn’t want to edit them. But, the other practitioner said, “We should still edit and submit them. It’s more important to participate, and in the process, it is to see how we cultivate ourselves.” From other practitioner’s words I saw my shortcoming. I was not serious or careful enough and tended to have the “just do what I can” and “take the easy way out” mentality. I was still affected by the Party indoctrination and needed to quickly correct my shortcomings.
Master’s Hints
Several months before the movement of filing criminal complaints against former China’s dictator Jiang Zemin was launched, I was half asleep. I saw a large pen moving around in front of me. I didn’t know what it meant. I said to myself, “What is there to write with such a big pen? Or is there something else that I need to do? Is Master giving me a hint?”
When the movement first began, local practitioners asked me for help. At first, there was no template available. A lot of practitioners wanted to submit documents for a criminal lawsuit, but did not know what exactly to write. So my phone became almost a hotline. As a matter of fact, I did not know anything about law. So, I just researched and learned along the way. I suddenly realized that this was Master’s arrangement for me. Master’s hint was for me to take on this important responsibility and mission.
But I was under a lot of pressure, as I was computer illiterate. I asked for help from another practitioner who I often worked with. Then, I worked on becoming computer literate. At the same time, I kept writing fellow practitioners’ stories about the persecution they suffered.
As more and more practitioners asked for help, I learned how to type. It was very slow, and I had to work until late at night. Suing Jiang was a very time-sensitive matter, so I wanted to move ahead as quickly as I could.
But, just then we had some arguments. Our coordinator believed that we should use the standard template format. But the ones I did previously was in a regular legal document format. My understanding was that format wasn’t important; it would be fine as long as one’s motivation was correct and the lawsuit stated the facts clearly.
During this process, many of our human notions and attachments bothered me, and I wanted to avoid the conflicts and thought to quit. But, as I calmed down and thought about it from the point of the one body, I realized that it was a crucial time where my skills could be utilized. Many fellow practitioners’ xinxing are already there and the only thing blocking them was that they didn’t know how to put things on paper. So I told myself that I must not be moved by human notions and must continue to help. I knew this was Master’s arrangement and I must do it well.
In the end, I helped prepare the majority of the lawsuits in our region, and it could not be done without fellow practitioners’ selfless cooperation. I became more and more computer literate, which made me more independent, and I could use my newly learned skills for other projects.
Improving Xinxing While Working on Sharing Papers
For the past several years, when Minghui called for sharing papers for the May 13 World Falun Dafa Day, I would take the initiative to share with other practitioners, and encourage them to submit papers. I think that this is a magnificent event for Dafa practitioners and it is a great opportunity for all of us to form the one body and to present Dafa’s beauty to ordinary society. For those practitioners who couldn’t write, I would talk to them and record our conversation, then type and edit it. It was a process of cooperating with one another. I also tried my best to have the papers as clear as possible, so that Minghui editors wouldn’t have to spend so much time revising them.
The papers sent to me for editing were very rough for May 13, 2016 articles. The handwritings were really hard to read, sentences were often incomplete, and in a lot of the papers I couldn’t figure out what they were trying to say. Looking at these papers, I said to myself, “This is just so painful.” Then I thought, “What is cultivation about? Isn’t it about cultivating one’s heart? If everything was so easy, then how could we cultivate?” So I talked to fellow practitioners one by one and clarified the parts I didn’t understand. I remained patient, held my xinxing, and carefully edited each paper. In the end, one paper was selected and it was even put as a feature article on Minghui. That paper was then used for our local truth-clarification materials.
Addressing the Persecution in a Nearby City
Last winter I dreamed that the persimmons in my backyard were very large. After I woke up I thought that something major would happen soon. [In Chinese, the pronunciation for persimmon is the same as the pronunciation of “event,” “thing,” or “matter”].
Then, a practitioner asked me to help write a sharing paper about the large numbers of persecution cases in a nearby city. That city has had three cases of large-scale arrests of Dafa practitioners and the total number of arrests lead the entire country. Fellow practitioners wanted to reflect on this to find shortcomings and negate the persecution. But, they didn’t know how to approach this subject and came to me.
I realized that this was again something that required cooperation between Dafa practitioners. We are one-body and there are no regional boundaries. The persecution suffered in that region is not just their matter, but it affects me too.
However, since I didn’t understand their situation, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle everything correctly. Thus, I went to see a local practitioner in that city so we could share face to face. She gave me a draft and I came back home to edit it. When I had things that I didn’t know how to handle, Master would provide me with hints on what to do. In the end I was able to finish it with my level of understanding, and it was published on Minghui.
Then, I found out that the communist regime planned to set up brainwashing centers in that city, but aborted the plan. It was because the evil factors in other dimensions were eliminated. This isn’t to say that an article could have such power. As a practitioner we cannot take credit or have the mentality of validating oneself. Master said, “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
Master is doing everything and Master does not allow the old forces to persecute Dafa disciples. When practitioners look inside, the evil factors would get disintegrated.
Minghui has provided a large platform for Dafa practitioners around the world. On this platform, when there are issues we are able to share with each other in a timely manner and then improve together. As we are one-body, it is our responsibility to provide first-hand persecution materials to Minghui and cooperate with Minghui practitioners.
Dealing With Interference from Within and Without
These past few years local fellow practitioners have referred to me as “writer” and “editor” and said that the papers I edited for them have a high chance of getting published. But in fact things do not always go smoothly for me. Sometimes when I sit down to start typing, my head would all of a sudden hurt, I wouldn’t be able to open my eyes, and sometimes my entire body would be painful. There are other times when I already have great ideas in mind, but as soon as I sit down, my brain would go blank. These are due to both my own issues and outside interference and factors. But no matter what happens, I would always negate the old forces, because no one can stop me from validating the Fa.
My goal is to selflessly present the cultivation experiences of our local practitioners to Minghui and to share with all the Dafa practitioners around the world.
As the articles get published, I would sometimes have a sense of accomplishment. Without me even noticing it, these human notions begin to come into my mind, including attachment to fame, validating oneself, showing off, and zealotry.
Master said,
“A Dafa disciple's responsibility is to validate the Fa. Validating the Fa is cultivation, and what you remove in the cultivation process is none other than the attachment to self; you can't, instead, go and exacerbate the problem of validating oneself, even if you do it unwittingly. When you're validating the Fa and cultivating, that is a process of removing self, and only when you do that are you really validating yourself. That's because ultimately you have to let go of all your human things, and only after you've let go of all your human attachments can you step out from the throngs of everyday people.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VI)
Cultivation is for eliminating one’s human notions and purifying oneself. I realized that when I face these human notions, it is because I start to subconsciously think that it was me accomplishing something. But in fact, without Master, I would not be able to do anything. What Master wants us to be is completely selfless.
Master said,
“Ren is a powerful thing, and it surpasses Zhen and Shan. Throughout the entire cultivation process you are asked to exercise self-restraint, to mind your character, and to not take rash actions.” (Chapter III, Falun Gong)
Once I realized my issue, I was able to “Forebear”, uphold my xinxing, restrain all bad thoughts, and have a pure mind to write. When I edit a sharing paper, I could see fellow practitioners’ different states of mind, as well as attachments, and I have realized that all of these are opportunities for me to improve. I treat them with a compassionate and peaceful mind and I learned to “Forebear” and be humble.
I have never thought about achieving something or becoming someone myself, or obtain something from Dafa. As a Dafa disciple, it’s my responsibility to walk my own path in this ordinary world and validate how great Dafa is.
Master is Always Beside Us
I have learned a lot on this path of writing and editing sharing papers for the past few years. Just from a thought I had to validate the Fa this way, Master arranged everything for me on this path. Even though I’m the only one doing it in our region, and sometimes I feel quite lonely, but I have also experienced the joy and pleasure in cultivation. Master is always beside us. I felt like it was needed, so I have picked up the pen to fulfill what Master wanted.
In the process of writing, I have experienced Dafa’s power when one is able to break through one’s ordinary notions. It is really about whether one believes, “Good or evil comes from that instant thought.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun) When one is able to improve one’s xinxing, believe in himself, let himself be moved towards the state of divine, then Master and Dafa will provide him with whatever he needs. This is exactly the process of believing in Master and in putting the Fa into practice.
