(Clearwisdom.net)
As the Fa-rectification continues forward, Dafa practitioners are more rational and determined. It is an honor from our great Teacher for Dafa disciples to create a glorious future for sentient beings. It is also the best opportunity for all sentient beings to decide their future. Here we would like to report to Teacher on our recent situation in validating the Fa. By exchanging experiences and understandings with fellow practitioners, we hope to walk the final steps better together.
1. Fa-study is indispensable for every step
From our own experience, we have learned that studying the Fa is critical for becoming an enlightened being. Fa-study is a prerequisite for our elevation step by step. In fact, Teacher established group Fa-study as a form for us to cultivate, and it is essential for us to improve as a group. Especially in China where the situation is harsh and complicated, many practitioners are isolated at home for a long time. Without diligence or sufficient understanding of the Fa, it is very easy for them to fall behind. There are some practitioners who also do the three things on the surface, but in their hearts they are still trapped by human notions. However, group Fa-study is like a mirror that reflects our shortcomings so that we can improve together and do the three things more harmoniously. Since July 20, 1999, the cultivation environment in China has been damaged. Teacher has used the Minghui/Clearwisdom website for practitioners to exchange information and understandings, so that practitioners can improve their understandings globally. The articles on the website demonstrate fellow practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions, motivating more practitioners to step forward diligently. Many of us soon realized our shortcomings, strengthened our righteous thoughts, and broke through our human notions.
Right now, there are many Fa-study groups in our area. Practitioners come together to study the Fa and share understandings. Many practitioners are also memorizing the Fa. Through looking inward and cultivating xinxing, practitioners rectify their thoughts and break through barriers set by the old forces, so that we can improve together. In such an environment of strong righteous thoughts, many practitioners improved significantly both physically and mentally. There was a practitioner who used to stutter when speaking. After joining the group Fa-study, she came three times a week and never missed once. Right now, her pronunciation is very clear, and she is able to read Zhuan Falun quite fluently. Her change was so dramatic that after witnessing Dafa's great power, her husband started to respect Dafa. He went with her into the streets to tell people about Dafa's wonderfulness as well the facts of the persecution. Every time she distributed the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, people would come to her and accept it.
There is a female practitioner who is almost 80 years old. She lives in a very small house with seven or eight other practitioners who sit on the bed to study the Fa together. The elderly lady has never gone to school even one day, nor could she read even one word. Still, during Fa-study she held the Dafa book respectfully in front of herself. The magnificence of Dafa was manifested: the words in the books were golden and shining. She was able to read the Chinese characters and could hear it as well. She could also read traditional Chinese characters, which many young practitioners cannot do. Considering her elderly age and potential difficulty in correcting words, some practitioners offered to take her Dafa books and make the corrections for her. After realizing that making the corrections that Teacher asked us to do is also a process of cultivation, she took back the Dafa books and carefully made the corrections herself. Although every day she has to do household chores, look after her grandson and prepare truth-clarification materials, she can still finish correcting one book in two days. She knows Dafa is boundless. Right now, she also helps other practitioners--who have many Dafa books--to make corrections. One day, she fell down on the ground. Her whole body was in pain and it was hard for her to stand steadily. She asked Teacher to help her eliminate the evil interference. Immediately she felt better, and her body was no longer in pain. A tribulation disappeared just like that.
Cultivation is serious, and every thought differentiates a god from an everyday person. Through long-term group Fa-study, she has strong righteous thoughts. Being assimilated into the Fa, she can completely oppose the old forces' arrangements. She lives in a small and simple house, but it is a place for practitioners' group study.
As her xinxing improved, the environment also changed. Her daughter-in-law, who used to work out of town, suddenly came back and bought a new house. The new house not only improved the living condition, but also made it easier for fellow practitioners to come for Fa-study. Right now, several dozen people around her have started to practice. Even those who have not started to practice also help with Dafa work. During the New Year or other holidays, she always took lots of truth-clarification materials back to her hometown and distributed them to residents there. She often clarified the truth to the guests during weddings as well. After hearing the truth, many people in the village quit the CCP and its associated organizations. Sometimes, she was invited to go back to clarify the truth. In this way, more and more people have come to know the truth.
2. Getting rid of human notions, neither waiting nor relying on others
After the arrest of a practitioner who was familiar with technology, several truth-clarification material sites were negatively affected. Fewer truth-clarification materials were produced. After deep retrospection, practitioners realized the importance of establishing material sites everywhere. If we do not have omissions as one body, the evil cannot find loopholes to take advantage of. Because we have human notions of waiting for others or relying on others, the evil can easily interfere with us.
Practitioner Auntie Mei asked several younger practitioners to help establish a materials site in their home. But due to lack of support from their families or being too busy themselves, no one was able to do this.
Auntie Mei did not complain, but instead looked within according to the Fa: why ask younger practitioners? This is an attachment of relying on others--thinking they have higher education and can catch up faster with the techniques. Isn't this a human notion blocking us?
For practitioners, no matter how young or old, highly or poorly educated, the extraordinariness of Dafa will be manifested once we follow the Fa and can meet the requirements of the Fa. After realizing this, Auntie Mei established a materials site herself. She bought a combination printer-copier and started to learn how to operate it. Those practitioners who knew the technique also started to help her and downloaded materials for her to use. Many materials continuously came out including Minghui Weekly, pamphlets, the Nine Commentaries, which meet the need of 60 to 70 practitioners. The printing of the Nine Commentaries is labor-intensive. As a result, the machine keeps very busy all the time.
Auntie Mei is 65 years old now, and she is not well educated. Still, she has overcome many barriers and let go of many human notions. The local residential officials and police station once listed her as an important target to monitor. She was illegally detained twice after July 20, 1999. Her husband and children were worried all the time, unwilling for her to take the risk. At the beginning, she had to wait until her husband and children went to work before preparing truth-clarification materials. As the vicious elements were continually purged out, together with her constant truth-clarification, her family changed its attitude towards Dafa. They began to sympathize, understand, and then support her by buying things for her like printing paper. Her machine's menu display is in English. As a practitioner, she overcame the difficulties one by one. Right now, she can open up the drum and replace the toner on her own.
There are also some ladies here who are in their 60s, but are able to go online and prepare Dafa books. There is one couple who are in their 70s. Everyday they prepare the Nine Commentaries until late in the night. Auntie Lian is 73 years old, and Uncle Wang is 76 years old. They are very energetic, with healthy complexions. They never stopped Fa-study or doing the exercises. They come several times every week to get truth-clarification materials, and sometimes even have to transfer buses. They often brought some truth-clarification cards or CDs to help the small material sites. With various types of truth-clarification materials on hand, they can always find the appropriate ones needed and it is very convenient. After "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005" was published, there was bad weather in Dalian City: a snow storm lasted one day and one night, leaving deep snow on the ground. As soon as copies of the lecture were printed, the elderly couple did not wait, but immediately went out to distribute them to fellow practitioners.
They did not consider themselves as elderly people, and they appeared as young ones. Whether preparing materials or distributing materials, these practitioners do not wait for or rely on others. When there are insufficient amounts of materials available, the practitioners who distribute materials do not just wait, but instead hand-write posters, clarify the truth by writing letters or making phone calls. During cultivation, they let go of the notion of showing off. Everyone is responsible for the Fa, considerate of each other, and pays attention to his or her speech. Whenever possible, they will sit down to send forth righteous thoughts every hour. Family-based truth-clarification material sites are becoming more and more common. Most of them are able to run smoothly.
3. Clarify the truth with righteous thoughts and righteous actions
The evil is scared of the Nine Commentaries' spreading, and once rampantly arrested practitioners. With Teacher's guidance, the voice of universal truth is unparalleled. Truth-clarification materials are everywhere in our area: on the bus, in the shopping market, on the street, in residential areas, and even in government offices. Practitioners have been to all these places to clarify the truth. In the face of interference and misunderstanding by everyday people, practitioners are very calm, and they use wisdom to open the hearts that have been poisoned by lies. The road of Fa-rectification is becoming wider and wider, and the evil can no longer resist it.
The Nine Commentaries has become a hot topic of discussion among relatives, friends, and colleagues. Dafa practitioners have experienced many hardships, and every step is steadier. One practitioner constantly clarified the truth. With dignity he asked people to quit the CCP and its subsidiary organizations. More than 1,000 people have already quit in this way. One day, he clarified the truth in public. One person took out an ID from his pocket: "Do you know I am a policeman?" That person was about to call the police by cell phone upon saying this. This practitioner immediately sent forth righteous thoughts to stop him from doing a bad deed, and told him, "No matter who you are, I shall be compassionate to you." The policeman retreated.
No matter what happens, practitioners remain undisturbed, and continually do what they are supposed to do. There is one practitioner who was very thin and frail. When she asked others to quit the CCP and subsidiary organizations, some laughed at her. Later, she let go of human notions, and the effect of her truth-clarification became better and better. Last autumn, she went to visit her nephew who lived far away. Upon leaving, she had one thought: I am going there to save people, Teacher, please help me. She suddenly felt as if she was very big and strong. Her nephew was a policeman working at a railroad station, and had arrested Dafa practitioners in the past. She told her nephew, "You have arrested so many good people. Won't you lose de (virtue)?" Her nephew said, "What can I do?" She said, "From now on, stop doing those bad deeds, but instead fully support Dafa practitioners. You can also ask your whole family to quit the vicious CCP and it subsidiary organizations." Her nephew agreed. She then clarified truth to those who did not want to quit the CCP. In this way, more than 30 people quit the CCP. From this experience she felt Teacher's benevolence and the greatness of Dafa. As long as Dafa practitioners have strong righteous thoughts and keep their hearts in the Fa, they are walking on the path towards godhood.
Ms. Li is over 80 years old, and she often clarifies the truth face to face. After one person has come to know the truth, she will make a mark on the wall. Right now, she has already made several hundred marks on the wall. Ms. Ren is a retired teacher, and she often helps students with their schooling and clarifies the truth to them. The students who accepted the truth improved significantly in their schooling. Upon hearing this, many parents sent their students to her. Other than basic living expenses, she put all her money toward validating Dafa. In the past several years, she spent more than 100,000 yuan to prepare truth-clarification materials. Ms. Sun also did a lot of Dafa work. Sometimes she only slept one hour per night. She wrote many truth-clarification letters to government officials at various levels. She also traveled about 1,000 li (equivalent to over 300 miles) back to her hometown to clarify the truth to police and post office officials there. At a relative's birthday party, she distributed more than 100 greeting cards. That town used to be notorious for persecuting practitioners; however, now no practitioner is detained there anymore.
A high-level law-enforcement officer used his job to clarify the truth. As a result, many people who came for lawsuits were able to know the truth. In a lecture given to several hundred people, he started with the topic of traditional virtue. With wisdom, he told people to follow the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and be a good person. The talk lasted one-and-a-half hours. The audience liked it so much that a government officer invited him to give another talk to a government agency somewhere else.
There was a Dafa practitioner who was fired because of practicing Dafa. The practitioner went directly to his former workplace's Party Secretary to clarify the truth and asked him to quit the CCP. That person refused initially. This practitioner told him seriously, "You have already known the truth. You future is in your hands." He then turned around to leave, but was stopped by the Party Secretary, who said: "Is what you said true?" "Dafa practitioners do not lie," the practitioner said. This Party Secretary, who is in charge of the enterprise of about 10,000 people, thus made the right decision: "Then please help me quit the CCP!"
In one unit of a factory, Dafa practitioners clarified the truth together with righteous thoughts and righteous actions. Some employees and their families quit the CCP and its subsidiary organizations. Some employees, although not yet practitioners, went together with Dafa practitioners to clarify the truth door to door. The retired union leader read the Nine Commentaries nine times consecutively. In addition to going out on the streets and going to the police station to expose the evil party's nature, he also recites "Falun Dafa is good" every day.
On the road of validating Dafa, everyone is walking his or her own path. Right now, veteran practitioners are helping each other and encouraging each other. New practitioners have also stepped forward. Some who fell behind or went down an evil path have now come back. Fa-rectification has reached the final stages. Many serious lessons have been learned throughout many hardships. In the critical moment of "Surpassing time and space, Fa-rectification dashes forward" ("A Will That Ebbs Not"), we should be clear-minded and rational. We should use righteous thoughts to handle issues of disease karma, security, evil persecution, and all kinds of interference. The most important thing is that we cannot have omissions that prevent people from being saved. Fellow practitioners, let us cherish this critical moment. No matter what happens, let us keep pace with the momentum of Teacher's Fa-rectification. Let us fulfill our responsibility, that is, the mission of saving sentient beings. By doing the three things well, we can be continuously diligent.