(Clearwisdom.net) I enlightened that I have a responsibility to help awaken former practitioners who have lost their way in the maze, and together we can fulfill the grand vows that we had made before history to help Teacher in Fa rectification.
Breaking through one barrier after another, I finally managed to find many former practitioners. However, I lost confidence after talking to them a few times. I felt very sad when I heard how far they had drifted from the Fa in word and deed. I was also faced with the stiff attitudes and sarcastic words of the practitioners' family members. I felt utterly helpless. At the same time, I felt annoyed, and I somewhat resented the former practitioners. Very strong mental interference tried to stop me, "Don't bother. They are hopeless."
When non-practitioners did not understand the Fa, I talked to them very patiently. However, these people had previously cultivated in Falun Dafa. I thought, "How could they have such strong attachments? Forget it! I won't waste any of my time on them. I could use that time to save many other people." By the end of the day I had failed to help to bring any former practitioners back to Dafa. Our merciful Teacher then gave me hints during my dreams not to give up on former practitioners. Later, when I studied the "Fa," I felt strongly that Teacher was asking me to help bring these former practitioners back to Dafa. Relevant quotes of Teacher I read:
"Do you know what I think? I can't leave behind any of the Dafa disciples. Every person is family to me, so how can you treat different members of my family differently?" ("Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students")
"With human beings... when a being can obtain the Fa today in history, it's no ordinary thing--he's so fortunate! But as soon as he loses the Fa, do you know what he faces? It's really horrific, because when he fails to fulfill the major responsibilities and the huge missions that were bestowed upon him, then, accordingly, that's like the inverse of a being's Consummation, and he will truly have to enter the gate of no-life. You folks can't just go and abandon a person without trying hard enough. No matter what kind of mistakes someone has made, or what kind of a person he is, I still want to give him a chance...and we should cherish those who have obtained the Fa." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")
I read articles regarding this issue published in Minghui Weekly that inspired me and helped me to calm down so that I could further discuss the topic with fellow practitioners. Why was this issue so difficult for me? Who was trying to stop me? Were all these thoughts mine? What did it mean to help these former practitioners return? Who would be pleased if practitioners did not care about those who had left Dafa? If we really abandoned those former practitioners, wouldn't we be walking on the path arranged by the old forces? We are trying our best to save non-practitioners, why not our fellow practitioners? Maybe they were kings or lords of universes or colossal firmaments who signed pacts with Teacher. Their cultivation status would most likely decide the rise or fall of a universe or a cosmic system. It was much more than an issue of life or death for just one or a few people. Even though Fa-rectification has progressed to this critical time, Teacher has repeatedly extended the final stage. Why? He has done so because all practitioners reaching consummation or dropping down is far more than a personal issue. Teacher said,
"Wherever you are, within your scope there are pretty huge, gigantic microcosmic beings that correspond to your body. So when a person cultivates, you haven't just cultivated the layers upon layers of your own body, the cells of the layers upon layers of your particles are all in your image. And have you thought about this: after you magnify a cell of a particle, aren't there still countless beings on it? And could there be beings that are in the image of man? So how many cells like that are there? Actually, to microcosmic beings your cell is their planet. And it's not just cells--how many microcosmic particles make up a cell? A cell or a microcosmic particle in your image is the King of all beings in that particle, and all the countless beings in there are governed by it. If you don't cultivate yourself well your cells won't be well-cultivated; if you have cultivated yourself well your cells are well-cultivated, and the beings in the domain of your cells' jurisdiction are well-cultivated. Then think about it, when one being succeeds in cultivation, how many beings are successfully cultivated as a result? ... Think about it, when one person succeeds in cultivation it means that a gigantic, immense system is successfully cultivated." ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
Therefore, it is extremely urgent and important to help those practitioners who are lost in the maze to return to Dafa.
After improving my understanding I tried to start all over again and was determined not to stop until I reached my goal. First, I sent forth the righteous thoughts to thoroughly cleanse their dimensional fields and their surrounding environments and eliminate all the interference leveled at them. I played the video "The Everlasting Story" produced by FGM-TV for them first to remind them of what they had said at a prehistoric time and what they were doing now. We all have waited thousands of generations for this moment. How can we let this opportunity be ruined in one day? I needed to look for them to help ensure that we can go home together. At the time we came down together, we had warned one another and made promises we would not let anyone lag behind. Then, what are the reasons for them to get lost in the maze? Teacher said,
"Talk to him with good intentions and see what his attachments are. He has a mental obstacle due to an attachment, and he has fear, and they are what brought about that state." ("Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students")
Through sharing I found their mental obstacles. Although they had benefited a great deal from Dafa, when the persecution of Falun Gong started, they had a very strong mentality of fear. They feared that they might lose their status, their jobs and their families, and they feared being arrested. When Teacher and Falun Dafa were slandered and practitioners were persecuted, they hid. They dared not step forward to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa. Under pressure they also had written "statements" promising to give up the practice, so they thought they were not worthy of being practitioners any more, and even if they cultivated again, it would not count.
I read them relevant quotes from Teacher's to help overcome their mental obstacles:
"I don't like it when you blame yourselves, it's completely pointless. I'll just repeat what I said: If you've fallen don't just lie there, get up right away!" ("Explaining the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
"How I look at things is different from how you or the world's people do. When a human being sees someone make a mistake he finds it almost unforgivable. But I don't look at things that way. I look at an entire being overall, and even when there's just one thread of hope, I'll give him hope." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")
"The whole cultivation process of a Dafa disciple is a process of removing human attachments. No matter what it is you've experienced, as soon as you realize the problem just correct it immediately; if you fall, just get up and continue to do what a Dafa disciple should do. In that case the mistake you made will just be counted as a test you didn't handle well during your cultivation, you can try to get through it next time, and there will be more opportunities for you to pass the test again. That's all. Master can't count the [wrong] things you do during your cultivation as a big deal." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003")
"Master isn't trying to scare anyone. Whoever misses out on this historic opportunity, whoever misses out on this chance, when you realize what you've missed out on you won't even want to live even if you are allowed to!" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
Teacher's Fa awakened them, and they thanked Teacher for his mercy and meticulous care. I organized a Fa study group so we could study together. We read all the new articles and lectures Teacher published after July 20, 1999. When we were together, we also sent forth righteous thoughts on the hour to eliminate all interference. We also asked Teacher to help them strengthen their righteous thoughts to help them to understand the Fa as soon as possible. It's true that
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive Out Interference" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Through Fa study, they clearly discerned their responsibilities and realized that they must fulfill the grand vows they made before history. The main reason they had become lost in the maze was they had been seriously poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party culture (CCP culture) on top of various human sentiments. To eliminate the CCP's poison, they had to quit the Party's organizations. They studied the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and saw through the evil nature of the Party. This also reinforced our Fa study, and they did the three things in line with the Fa. They strived to catch up with the Fa-rectification process.
They put their righteous thoughts into actions by clarifying the truth and validating the Fa. They redoubled their efforts to make up for their losses by plunging themselves into the one body and helping Teacher with Fa rectification.
After ceasing to practice the exercises, one of the practitioners began to drink, smoke and gamble. As a result, all his illnesses recurred. He was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment and almost died. His family complained a lot about his relapse. He started to practice the exercises again, quit all these bad habits, and his health returned very quickly. Since then, he has guided four predestined people to start practicing the exercises. Among them, three began to read the Fa.
One of the four was a lay Buddhist who has cultivated Pure Land for many years. As soon as he started to practice the Falun Gong exercises, he plunged himself into clarifying the truth and handing out truth-clarification materials. As for changing the characters in Zhuan Falun for the third time, he prepared enough characters for more than 50 practitioners and helped eight practitioners to change the characters. While doing this, he found that the Chinese characters were composed of all different colors, which created a wonderful scene. When he practiced the exercises, his family members could see a rotating Falun filling their house with red light. They said with emotion, "After all, cultivation is better than anything else." They all support him and help him validate the Fa .
When a couple learned of the Clearwisdom website's proposal to "have Falun Gong materials production sites everywhere," they said "let us have them spring up everywhere." After some discussion, the couple reached an agreement to set up a family materials production site. That Christmas Eve gave me much food for thought. That night, we prepared to go out to distribute materials. The weather was very cold, so I said that we should go out the next day.
They resolutely said, "No! It's a very special day today. Many people don't know the origin of Christmas and the truth about the persecution of Christians. The content about Christianity we are going to hand out today will help clarify the truth about Falun Gong. We must hand out the materials today and let them play the role they should play because this is why the fellow practitioners at Clearwisdom compiled these materials." It gets really cold in northern China. With the temperature of 20 to 30 degrees below zero Celsius [up to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit] they braved the cold wind and walked in the snow, advancing with giant strides. They gave out the materials one by one to people they were predestined to meet.
They have awakened, truly awakened! They are now carrying out their grand vows made before history. This is how to help Teacher to validate the Fa. They were grateful for the mercy of our great Teacher. More cosmic firmaments have been saved. After they returned to Dafa, they realized how precious this opportunity is and that they should not miss it. We were determined to find the practitioners who had become lost in the maze quickly. Now these practitioners have all plunged themselves into helping Teacher to validate the Fa.
We should all search our consciences about how well we have fulfilled the missions history has bestowed on us. Think about it: If every practitioner who has become lost can awaken, honor their vows, and take immediate action to fulfill his or her mission, then the evil will disintegrate rapidly. Fa-rectification will accelerate, and the day the Fa rectifies the Earth will arrive sooner. This will also reduce Teacher's sacrifices for us. If everyone of us can find a lost practitioner, and if that practitioner goes on to find another lost practitioner, what would the total be? If all these practitioners return to help Teacher in Fa-rectification, then how many more colossal firmaments would be saved? How many sentient beings will be saved?
