(Clearwisdom.net) When I review my period of personal cultivation, I feel embarrassed at not having made enough effort. After July 22nd of 1999, I strengthened my belief in Dafa, and started to clarify the truth to people and promote Dafa in all kinds of environments. Teacher said in the "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference," "Clarifying the truth isn't a simple matter--it's not only a matter of exposing the evil. When we clarify the truth we are saving sentient beings, and at the same time it involves the matter of your own improvement and your elimination of attachments during your cultivation, and the matter of Dafa disciples being responsible to the Fa in their cultivation, as well as issues like how you fill and enrich that paradise of yours in your final Consummation." I enlightened that clarifying the truth is a process of upgrading my understanding of the Fa, and using my understanding of the Fa in the human world is showing compassion to the people. Now I shall talk about my understanding in Fa-rectification in three aspects.
One: Clarify the Truth with my Own Words and Behavior
I'm a medical assistant. When I started to work in my current clinic, 90% of the patients were Chinese; among them, 70% were elderly. I was quite happy and I believed that this was not accidental. Any environment is a test for practitioners to improve. When each patient steps into the clinic, I use different methods to mention Falun Gong and clarify the truth. I talk with at least 25 people a day. Once, one patient complained to the doctor that I was talking about Falun Gong to them. When I was about to take off from work, the doctor talked with me. He said that I talked too much about Falun Gong and that this is not a place for promoting religion, so please give it a thought. At that moment I thought, "Since they talked to me about this, I must check where I've not done well." It was possible that sometimes I talked too high for people to accept what I said, or I was complacent and did not really consider others. I thought, "The patients coming to the clinic care most about their health. When I talked to them about Falun Gong, did I control the time and were my words good enough?" When I looked inward, I found I had been very selfish. Looked at superficially it appeared that I was compassionately clarifying the truth to them, but deep inside was the attachment of complacency and the show-off mentality, such as, "Oh, I've told more patients the truth." I should truly consider others. Had I done well, they would not have complained to the doctor.
Teacher said in the Boston Fahui (April 27, 2002), "In your efforts to save sentient beings you've labored so hard to allow people to have a new understanding of us. So when you don't do well, it's quite possible you are unwittingly undermining the efforts you've made and some of the things you plan to do. You are cultivators, whose conduct is [supposed to be] pure and righteous. There are so many people who think you're great just by having seen how you act. If we don't pay attention to our own behavior in our daily lives, everyday people will see our actions and, since they can't get to know you at a deep level such as by studying the Fa, they will just look at how you act. And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unsavable or convey a bad impression of Dafa. We need to think about these things." Teacher's word gave me a deeper understanding that our words and behavior must be better than even people's role models.
We are cultivators, so our words and behavior directly impact Dafa's image. I did not rectify the environment around me. I did not tell the doctor directly about the truth. Once, when we were about to leave from work, I started talking with the doctor. We started talking on the topic of work, then family, then the US and China, then society and morality. Then I told him why I insist on practicing Falun Gong. I told him my own cultivation story: "I used to be weak and easily got sick. After I heard Teacher's lectures, I started to cultivate Dafa. My health and my mind changed tremendously, and also I got many supernormal capabilities, such as tianmu [the third eye], clairaudience, remote sight, and precognition and retro-cognition. In the past, I only believed in science and now I have gotten onto the path of cultivation." He was very interested in what I said and asked some questions. I explained to him using ordinary people's language, and the result was very good. Because at work I was always kind to the patients, I was never irritated, no matter how much the patients asked of me. The patients told the doctor, "You have a very capable assistant who is always patient with us, and very knowledgeable; we all like to talk with her, and this is a good luck charm for us patients." The doctor thus learned from my behavior that Falun Dafa is good.
Once, a patient during a return visit told me that I looked younger. The doctor overheard this and replied with a smile, "That is because she practices Falun Dafa." From that simple sentence of his I felt that Dafa disciples' words and behavior are very important. What we do and what we say are the best examples of validating Dafa and clarifying the truth to people around us.
Two: Clarify the Truth to Different People
The people that I meet in the clinic come from many different nations, social statuses, careers, and stages in life, and represent many different personalities. When I ask the patients for their health histories, I also ask them about careers, education, current physical condition, and what concerns them the most. Then I would start a conversation based on their concerns. Once, a patient said he really cared most about keeping himself healthy, so I started to tell him about diet, medicine, exercise, and through careful conversation analyzed his mental and physical condition. I gave him some medical guidance and then said, "It's always 30% medical and 70% self-care. So don't be angry when you see bad things, but tolerate them instead. Otherwise, the benefit of two hours of exercise can be lost when you lose your temper at home afterwards. Then your heart disease and high blood pressure return, and so your exercise will be useless, right? If you're too excited, then your hormone levels change, and that causes a negative impact." As I said these things to him with a true heart, he patiently listened. Then I started to talk about the relationship between disease and morality, which is the most advanced study in medical research. Then I talked about health and exercise, qigong and Falun Dafa. I told him Falun Dafa cultivates Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance, and then I told him about the severe persecution in China. We had very naturally come to this topic. After he understood the truth he was very sympathetic, and expressed his dissatisfaction about the persecution.
Another time, a middle-aged man came for an examination. He studies science.
What a good opportunity. So I told him that science is advancing quickly nowadays, but all kinds of strange ailments and diseases that cannot be cured appear inexplicably.
Modern medical methods can only give partial relief. Many people, though, who practice qigong, have recovered miraculously. In fact, Falun Dafa teaches a broad understanding of many phenomena which science cannot prove, for instance X-rays, ultrasonic waves, infrared and ultraviolet waves, and the like. The patient said, "You know a lot! I'm really interested in what you've said. When I get home, I will find and read Zhuan Falun." For elderly patients, I take this as an opportunity for them to learn about Dafa. I thought, maybe they have been waiting for Dafa, and that is why they have lived to such an old age. I should let them know that Falun Dafa is good. This is the characteristic of the universe. The elderly patients' relatives kept thanking me for my kindness to their elders. I give them some medical guidance and tell them that I host a health-topic show on the radio serving the Chinese community, and that they were welcome to listen in.
I'm a cultivator. Whatever I do is open and aboveboard. I told patients my cultivation story. Many patients have some beginning understanding of Falun Dafa, and feel sympathetic toward Falun Dafa. Some have started to do the exercises and read Zhuan Falun. Patients often ask me some questions about cultivation or about the persecution in China. Once, an older man came to the clinic and told me, "Fifteen of us went to Tiananmen Square. We did the meditation and shouted 'Falun Dafa is good.' We put our US passports on the ground in front of us, and the policemen dared not to even touch us, so we came back." I asked why they had gone to Tiananmen to do this. He replied that he knew from newspaper reports that many Falun Dafa practitioners had or wanted to do so, and since they too wanted to be Falun Dafa disciples, they went.
Three: Clarify the Truth over the Internet
Practitioners have started to clarify the truth in Internet chat rooms. The first time I got onto the Internet I heard only the sounds of cursing in the voice chat-room. Frankly, I had never heard such foul language in my whole life. I felt very embarrassed and very uncomfortable with it. Then I heard a voice telling me, "Did you know that in order to save you the Buddha once begged for food among everyday people? Today, I once again make the door wide open, and teach this Dafa to save you. I have never felt bitter for the numerous hardships I have suffered. Then what do you have that still can't be abandoned? Can you bring to heaven the things deep down inside that you cannot let go of?" These are Teacher's words in "True Cultivation" (Essentials for Further Advancement). In the past, I was very arrogant and disliked hearing others talk about me. I thought, "This is the time to get rid of this attachment. I must press onward." Most of the "chatters" are young people: 90% are aged 15 to 25. They are just about my daughter's age, but they are growing up in such an environment. Even good kids would turn bad. I felt very sad about this. So I started talking with them with a mother's voice, giving myself the name, "Angel."
At the beginning, I told them I was a Dafa disciple, at which they started cursing. Some even ridiculed Dafa practitioners to ridicule Dafa. When I heard them cursing at each other I felt really sad. When they cursed Master, I almost could not put up with it further. They did not know anything, as being controlled by evils, they thought whoever cursed the worst would be considered to be the best in the group. Today's Chinese young people express their discontent regarding family and society in a high-tech chat-room using such low language. When I was given the chance to talk in the chat-room, I would tell them, "All Chinese are brothers and sisters, and you are cursing endlessly among yourselves like this! Why don't we talk about personal life, study, and work? When other curse you, if you can tolerate it, that would be the best." Then someone said "Her voice is very nice, is she from the radio?" Some others said, "Don't listen to her, she's Falun Gong." Then everyone turned towards me, some to curse Dafa and some to hear me. At my next chance to talk I said, "Everybody, I do want to talk with you, although I cannot see you, this is our predestined relationship. I only smile when you curse me, and refuse to curse you back. One point: everyone has both goodness and evil in him. When your goodness overcomes your evil, you will not curse, you will consider others. In fact, when you curse others, you are also hurting yourself. I believe that you are actually all kind-hearted, and only want to express things you are unhappy about. Am I right? If you want to talk with me, we can chat privately. I can answer your questions." Then they all started calling me "Angel Sister" sincerely and wanted to chat privately. One young woman is studying in medical school. After hearing my cultivation story, she changed completely. She said, "Because everyone curses, so I follow along to curse. I did not mean to curse you." She later told everyone, "What Angel Sister has said is really good. Falun Gong indeed is good. Please do not curse at her." Another young man asked for a private chat. After he learned the truth about the "self-immolation," he said that he's listened too much to the TV and radio and so got a bad impression about Falun Gong. Time passed quickly in this chat-room, as everyone heard the truth and changed their attitudes regarding Dafa. I felt surges of hot energies through my body as I talked with them easily. I sang to them and read poems, and we became friends. Some gave me their numbers and wanted to chat again later.
Another young man in the chat-room is a graduate from Shanghai's Fudan University. He works in a trading business. I talked with him for a half-hour on many questions regarding Falun Dafa. He said, "I know very well about the society and how it is." Then I said, "We should then start with ourselves, being good people. Don't harm others when doing business." Then I talked about modem science, prehistoric culture, the truth of the "self-immolation," and my personal cultivation story. When he talked with everyone in the chat-room again, he said that Angel Sister practices Falun Gong and what she says is really correct, so let's no longer curse. Yet another young man said, "Please let Angel Sister talk more. I really enjoy listening to her. She is really different from us, and she knows a lot." Then I started to read some of Master's poems to them, and a few of Dafa disciples' poems. I sang them "Falun Dafa is good." In this chat-room there was no more cursing. They took turns asking me questions and handing me back the microphone. I really felt the power of Dafa. They came to understand what is good and what is evil. I forgot about the time and soon five hours had passed. Clarifying the truth to the Chinese over the Internet, I have felt that this is the most urgent thing. It is our responsibility in saving people.
