(Clearwisdom.net)

Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/27/54977.html

Excerpts from the article...

Some of the fellow practitioners had the attachments of treating Dafa work as ordinary people's jobs. Some of them wanted to "lead" others. Some of them displayed strong jealousy. Some of them updated truth-clarification materials too frequently based on their personal preference instead of explaining the facts logically and consistently. In my heart, I couldn't accept those fellow practitioners. I tried to share my opinions with them. However, it didn't help much since I was trying to impose my personal views on them. Those practitioners didn't recognize what I said. Conflicts started among us.

I felt sad. I said to Teacher in my heart, "How am I supposed to get along with them when they are so attached to their own ways." I didn't realize that I was also being too attached to my views. My xinxing level didn't improve. Therefore, what I said didn't have the power of the Fa and couldn't help others to change accordingly. I struggled, trying to look inside to improve myself. However, I got trapped in the notions implanted by the old forces. I couldn't resolve the conflicts. Finally, I came to realize that I needed to change myself before trying to change others. I spent fourteen days reciting the whole book of Zhuan Falun from the beginning to the end. Meanwhile, I read fellow practitioners' experience sharing papers. ......Then I dug out those notions.

(Continued)

Auntie A, who I got to know in Beijing, introduced me to a city several thousand kilometers away from my hometown at the end of December 2001. In that big city, most of the local practitioners were in a state of not being able to step forward to validate the Fa. Few of them could get access to materials from the Clearwisdom website. I immediately knew my mission in this city. Auntie A wasn't a veteran practitioner, and she only knew one practitioner in that city, practitioner B. With B's help, I got to know other local practitioners.

I went to talk to them one by one. I recited Teacher's new articles for them. I told them the Fa-rectification progress in other areas. I shared my understandings of the Fa-rectification process. I emphasized on how to rationally understand the Fa and how to step forward to validate the Fa. I told them my views on what the old forces' arrangements were and how to completely deny them. We also talked about the relationships between individual cultivation and Fa-rectification cultivation. We all agreed that clarifying the truth wasn't a job but cultivation. We clarified what true compassion means. We discussed the need to clarify the truth and what our attitude should be when clarifying the truth. We knew we needed to constantly keep righteous thoughts. After sharing with each other, we knew more clearly the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. We came to know that we were supposed to assume major roles at this stage of history. However, we need to concentrate on minor details while we are full of great aspirations. We talked about many topics including what Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples should be like etc.

I cherished every opportunity to talk to those fellow practitioners. Specifically, I had to gain their trust when first meeting with them. Otherwise, their attachment to fear would stop them from talking to me any more. At that time, they suspected everybody else was a spy. It happened a few times that their families didn't understand me and tried to drive me away. Once, one of them even tried to call 911. No matter how difficult it was, I clearly knew that they were the old forces' arrangements to try to stop sentient beings from learning the truth of Falun Gong. While improving my xinxing level, I completely denied the path arranged by the old forces. After a lot of effort and talk, I gained the local practitioners' trust. We became a cluster of indestructible Dafa particles. Very soon, we set up a distribution site for truth-clarification materials. When there was a problem with one of us, instead of blaming him or her, we recognized that it was a sign of our omissions as one body that we all needed to look inside. When we dug out the root cause, we wouldn't hesitate to rectify ourselves. For example, some practitioners regarded me as a leader and would agree to anything I said. I knew it wasn't right. When I looked inside, I found I had an attachment of showing off which was buried deep down and that I hadn't realized before. In Dafa work, we can't let ourselves have the attachment of leading others. We are all Dafa particles, assuming different roles and working on different kinds of Dafa work. No one is qualified to command anyone else to do anything. Also, we can't use our own notions to judge others regarding how we should proceed with Dafa work since it is more important that we put our heart into the work rather than simply trying to follow a certain formality.

Personally, I believe that one of the most important things for practitioners is that we need to understand each other. When I just arrived at this city, I met a lot of difficulties. Once, an auntie brought me to visit practitioner D. However, he suspected I was a spy. Just when I began to talk to him, one of his friends came from abroad to visit him. I got a chance to send forth righteous thoughts from another room. After a while, his friend left. But then, the auntie's husband who wasn't a practitioner hurried to D's home, trying to drive me away. I wasn't affected by the superficial interference. I'm determined to cherish each and every sentient being. I started to clarify the truth to him. I told him how I validated the Fa. I told him that practitioners didn't have any selfish goals when stepping forward to clarify the truth. Our sole purpose is to help people get to know the truth of Falun Gong. Yet, what are we facing when doing this? Some practitioners got detained or sentenced to imprisonment, or tortured. Some practitioners even lost their lives. In the end, he said, "You are magnificent!" Practitioner D didn't suspect me any more. We opened our hearts to each other. From then on, he actively came out to validate the Fa.

I wanted to talk to the Falun Gong assistant in that city before the persecution began. Police have been closely monitoring him ever since. He hasn't been in contact with any fellow practitioners. At first, I passed a note to him, asking him to talk to me, a fellow practitioner who was visiting from thousands of miles away. He sent a note back to me, but didn't want to meet in person. Then I went to his home. However, he wasn't at home. I left him a long letter. When I went to his home again, I saw him. We talked for a long time. I took him a truth-clarification VCD. He watched it five times with tears in his eyes. After this, he determinedly walked down the Fa-rectification path arranged by Teacher.

Some fellow practitioners had the attachment of treating Dafa work like everyday jobs. Some of them wanted to "lead" others. Some of them displayed strong jealousy. Some of them updated truth-clarification materials too frequently based on their personal preference instead of explaining the facts logically and consistently. In my heart, I couldn't accept them. I tried to share my opinions with them, however, it didn't help much since I was trying to impose my personal views on them. They didn't recognize what I said. What I said didn't have the power of the Fa and couldn't help others change accordingly since I didn't improve my xinxing level in time. Conflicts started among us.

I felt sad. Teacher said,

Every time I saw Teacher emphasizing that practitioners needed to treat each other with tolerance, understanding, kindness, and immense compassion, I would say to Teacher in my heart, "How am I supposed to get along with them when they are so attached to their own ways." I didn't realize that I was also being too attached to my personal views. I knew it wasn't a correct state. However, I didn't improve my xinxing level and dig out the root cause in time. Therefore, the conflicts among us became more serious. I struggled, trying to look inside to improve myself. However, I got trapped in the notions implanted by the old forces. I couldn't resolve the conflicts. Finally, I came to realize that I needed to change myself before trying to change others. I spent fourteen days reciting the whole book of Zhuan Falun from the beginning to the end. Meanwhile, I read fellow practitioners' experience sharing papers while looking inside.

Finally, I uncovered a notion that I had been holding onto for too long, which is that I always believed I was right and I was very attached to my own likes and dislikes and other practitioners' attachments. One of the reasons that the old forces arranged the persecution was to use the old cosmos' principles to judge Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners. They did so because they thought their notions were right. The old forces, the twenty percent of the sentient beings at each level of the old cosmos, created separation among practitioners by implanting this notion.

Teacher said,

I came to realize that the notions a being is attached to are truly dirty things. Also, tolerance doesn't mean to encourage others' shortcomings, but to kindly understand them. When we keep a heart of compassion and are willing to look at things from others' perspectives when handling our differences, we are then able to reach the standard of Dafa practitioners. Otherwise, if we simply hold on to our personal opinions and notions, the old forces will take advantage of us and create separations among us. Our cooperation and coordination as one body would not go smoothly.

(2) Get rid of attachments and clarify the truth whole-heartedly

As a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, we need to continuously break through ordinary people's notions and get rid of our attachments as we realize them. Some practitioners were afraid to clarify the truth to others face to face. The ultimate reason for this is the attachment of fear. We need to ask ourselves what we fear. Are we afraid that we might be arrested, tortured, detained, or endure hardships? Are we worried that our families will suffer because of our acts? Are we too attached to our vested interests? We need to dig out the root cause of our fear.

Therefore, our notions that don't accord with the righteous principles of the universe are tangible materials in other dimensions. They are from the degenerated beings in our systems that haven't been rectified and assimilated to the Fa. When we improve our xinxing level, we are offering salvation to countless beings in our systems. Therefore, we need to clearly know the origin of our thoughts so we can tell whether the thoughts are based on the Fa or implanted by the old forces.

In order to do well in our truth-clarification work, we need to walk each step down the Fa-rectification path well. We need to be strict with ourselves. Our xinxing improvements have to be solid and steady. We need to take clarifying the truth as a part of our life. Personally, I believe we can make rational evaluations about others, however, we absolutely cannot use our notions to make judgments whether one person is savable or not. We need to try our best to save as many sentient beings as possible. We should not have the attachment of differentiation when clarifying the truth to different people.

Some practitioners got complacent with themselves. They thought they were pretty good already. They didn't require of themselves the Fa's standards at different levels. They were actually trapped at one realm instead of striving forward along the Fa-rectification cultivation way. It's time for us to seriously think about how we can be truly responsible for ourselves as cultivators. There are several things that can affect whether we are able to strive forward diligently: Whether we can study the Fa with a peaceful heart, whether we can constantly keep in our mind that we are practitioners, whether we can be strict with ourselves using the Fa' requirements at different levels, and whether we put our heart into the three things that Teacher asked us to do (study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to the world's people).

I have a story to share. In 2002 when I was away from my hometown, I lived in a fellow practitioner's home. Once we met a spy who claimed to be a cab driver. He tried to collect information about the practitioners who worked at the truth-clarification materials distribution site. I stayed calm. He didn't get anything from me. Before he left, he set up another appointment to talk to me. A fellow practitioner was very nervous. She wanted to leave. I told her not to since it might make the spy suspicious. I need to be responsible for my fellow practitioner's safety too. Also, our truth-clarification work just started and it looked very promising in that area. Many things needed to be done. I needed to be responsible for the sentient beings that were waiting to be saved. Besides, we need to completely deny the evil old forces arrangements. We need to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate interference. Running away is not a solution to me. Teacher said,

That spy was also a person waiting to be saved. Therefore, shouldn't I treat him as someone I am supposed to save? For him, maybe that was the only chance for him to directly interact with a practitioner. I wanted to offer him the opportunity to position himself for the future. I didn't want to regret later that I didn't help him to make a correct choice. I couldn't let a being be destroyed because of my attachment of fear. As a Fa-rectification disciple, I needed to do what I was supposed to do and not to worry about the final results.

My fellow practitioner insisted she go with me to the appointment. A few days later, we went to the restaurant where we would meet with the spy. We were quite relaxed since we didn't consider ourselves at all. I wasn't afraid as I had the Fa in my mind. When the spy came, we started to explain the facts of Falun Gong to him. I started with some very basic things, like Falun Gong teaches people to follow Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. Falun Gong practitioners are good people with high moral standards. I told him how the media had been used to fabricate stories against Falun Gong. Then I shared my understanding on the differences between suicide and reaching consummation. He simply sat there quietly, listening to me. Occasionally, he asked me a few questions and quoted some slander against Teacher. I got a little frustrated, but I quickly adjusted my state of mind. I calmly but solemnly clarified the truth about the malicious lies. We talked for a long time. Eventually, he said that he had invited a friend to join us. Just then, another spy arrived at our table. He looked at us and said, "She is really good."

I still clearly remember this. My purpose of telling this story is to remind fellow practitioners of improving our xinxing level. At that time, I didn't have any ordinary people's notions in my mind. I didn't take any chances or try to make things go my way. With Teacher's kind help, I broke through the old forces' arrangements. Therefore, it's very important for us to keep a calm mind state when clarifying the truth, which is a result of solid individual cultivation.

(3) Being attached to one's notions is being selfish

There was one time when I successfully finished a task, I felt very good about myself. Then a fellow practitioner said, "It was the power of the Fa that made it happen." I immediately felt ashamed of myself. Why did I always think of myself? Actually, being selfish was the essential reason that the old cosmos degenerated. We should know that whatever went successfully or smoothly, it was because of the power of the Fa and it was a manifestation of Teacher's immense compassion in the cosmos. What we can do is to maximally let go of our attachment to self and ordinary people's notions. Of course, some notions have been in the cosmos for a long time.

Teacher said,

(4) Being attached to formality shows a heart of trying to do things intentionally

Deep down in their hearts many practitioners admired their fellow practitioners who worked at truth-clarification materials distribution sites. Some practitioners who worked at the sites felt proud too. However, these are all ordinary people's notions. Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance, the righteous principles of the cosmos, are the only standards to judge what is good and what is bad. Some practitioners who worked at the site thought that they could only catch up with the Fa-rectification progress by expanding the site. They wanted to simply make more truth-clarification materials and banners.

Actually, "large" or "small" is not the standard to judge what is good and what is bad. Every practitioner has a different cultivation path. Every area has a different cultivation path. There is no role model. We will be able to closely follow the Fa-rectification progress when we improve our xinxing level and rectify ourselves by the righteous Fa principles. Then we will surely know what we should do and how we should maximally use the wisdom we have obtained from the Fa. Imitating others is ordinary people's way of doing things. The superficial magnificence is the manifestation of the power of the Fa. Meanwhile, how to help people learn the truth of the Fa depends on our continuous efforts. We should feel free to use any formality as long as we can rationally clarify the truth. As cultivators, we need to consider others first. We are here to save sentient beings. Therefore, we need to maximally accord with ordinary people's attachments and ways of living. Some areas are very quiet when doing Dafa work. However, the practitioners in those areas put in a lot of effort so that many people in that area already learned the truth of Dafa. We should not attach to formality since it's an ordinary person's attachment.

(5) A quick review of my past five years' Fa-rectification efforts

I have braved many storms along the path of the past five years of Fa-rectification. When I review what I did, my heart is calm. Teacher has been protecting me during my validating the Fa. I had many regrets and many achievements. When I look at myself, I think there is still a big gap between what I did and what I was supposed to do. What should I do next? I need to get rid of all my ordinary people's notions and attachments. I need to study the Fa well, solidly improve my xinxing level, break through evil's arrangements, and make the best use of time to do those three things well. Together with all the practitioners around the world, we will study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth. Let's brave the storm with our heads up high.

Best regards to our magnificent Teacher!

Best regards to my great fellow practitioners!

Finally, I'd like to thank the Clearwisdom website for hosting the first written experience-sharing conference in China.