(Clearwisdom.net) February 4, 2007 was the 17th day of the first month in the lunar year of Ding Hai. It was also Falun Dafa Day in Lichun-Shandong. I was fortunate to attend a Fa-rectifying event in a mountainous village in Shandong Province. Although it lasted only two days, I deeply felt Dafa's vast force in this rural part of China.
Fellow practitioners told me that the situation in many villages is very good; in some villages all Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members have quit the three organizations (the CCP, Young Pioneers, and the Communist Youth League), while in other villages the withdrawal rate was over 90 percent. In a lot of villages, practitioners resumed group study and practice openly several years ago and the other villagers know that Dafa practitioners are good people. The rural areas are economically poor, but the practitioners cooperate with silent understanding and their coordination as a whole body is excellent. According to fellow practitioners, Master's new articles are passed to everyone within one day and have never been delayed to the following day. When there are new materials on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, practitioners distribute them to each household without exception. During the two days there, I participated in the local practitioners' activities, and I saw, heard, and felt many miracles that occurred because of Dafa practitioner's righteous thoughts and actions. Every moment, I felt encompassed by a benevolent and harmonious energy. As I drove away, the lines in Master's poem, "Dafa's vast force floods all the human world, take a look: Gods and Buddhas walk the earth" (from "Divine Might," Hong Yin, Volume II, translation A) suddenly came to mind. Isn't this a vivid manifestation?
Our major activities at the Fa conference included experience sharing, sending righteous thoughts at the set times, Fa study and group exercise practice, and sending righteous thoughts near forced labor camps to disintegrate the evil.
I. Experience Sharing
A small-scale Fa conference was held on February 3. We studied Teacher's article, "Thoroughly Dissolve the Evil." We shared about how we could thoroughly disintegrate the forced labor camps and prisons where Dafa practitioners are being held, and how we could rescue our fellow practitioners.
A practitioner from the Northeast shared her experiences of sending righteous thoughts at Jinan Labor Camp and rescuing fellow practitioners there. When four practitioners from the Northeast clarified the truth on a train one day, they were illegally arrested at Jinan Rail Station. After hearing about this, she and her family traveled thousands of miles, on four occasions, to Jinan Detention Center and succeeded in rescuing two practitioners.
She talked very calmly and naturally; however, her righteous thoughts and actions, along with the benevolence and might expressed in her words, deeply touched our hearts. I felt that I was very far from her realm. She also shared details about rescuing fellow practitioners in her hometown. The event that impressed me the most was when the instructors at a detention center would not allow her and the other practitioners to visit a detained practitioner. It was noon and soon the detention center would close for the day. What could they do? While walking in the detention center courtyard she thought, "I came here to awaken fellow practitioners who are in the camp, yet I am not allow to visit them. I will sing a song to awaken the practitioners." She began to sing "Ode to Master's Benevolence;" it shook the whole detention and the enter, instructors said they heard two central loudspeakers vibrating throughout the detention center.
"Recalling the days and nights when You disseminated the Fa,
Tears wet my bosom once again,
Who knows Your bitterness and who understands Your hardship.
Behold the golden Falun,
Appears amidst beautiful clouds,
Merciful You knows that sentient beings are awaiting,
Awaiting Dafa descending to the earth......"
My heart was greatly moved listening to this fellow practitioner's righteous call.
II. Sending righteous thoughts close to forced-labor camps and thoroughly dissolving the evil
In Shandong Province, on Falun Dafa Day practitioners in surrounding areas went to send righteous thoughts close to a local forced labor camp to thoroughly disintegrate the evil there. That labor camp is where the old forces persecute Falun Gong. Many Dafa practitioners were detained there; at one time over 200 were detained.
One practitioner, who had been illegally detained there, told us the situation inside: Dafa practitioners are held in the building at the far south and the brainwashing classes are held in the building labeled "Education Building." So we sat down on a slope nearby and sent righteous thoughts with palms raised in front of our chests.
Barely a minute had passed when the quiet and empty yard of the labor camp became chaotic. Detainees rushed into the yard from the buildings and the center was crowded with people. We saw it very clearly from above. Since it was my first time sending righteous thoughts so close to a labor camp, and feeling a little bit nervous and curious, I opened my eyes now and then to watch the reactions.
When we stood up after sending righteous thoughts, a practitioner said that he added one thought to the regular text: "Awaken fellow practitioners, let go of your human attachments, and escape the cage." I suddenly felt my gap upon hearing those words and realized the deeply hidden selfishness and impure motives in my heart: I had the thought to "consummate myself" while my reason for sending righteous thoughts close to labor camp was not whole-heartedly to rescue fellow practitioners and validate Dafa.
The two day's experience in the rural area changed my outlook greatly. I found some attachments and notions buried in my heart. The following are my new understandings, which I hope will help local practitioners.
1. Urban practitioners are more poisoned by the Party culture while the characters of rural practitioners are more pure.
My biggest impression of the rural Dafa practitioners was that they were very simple, down-to-earth, and had good communication between people because they speak in a straightforward way and don't beat around the bush. Their hearts are open. My personal feeling was that urban practitioners have been more poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party culture. We exhibit more self-protective behavior. The Party culture formed a shell around and in the microscopic components of our bodies. The more Party culture we have absorbed, the harder the shell. It strengthens our post-natal notions, and such bad things as attachments to fame, money, lust, anger, etc. formed in human society. It completely encloses the true self and makes us reluctant to give up our notion of ego, to look inward, and afraid to look at our deeply hidden selfish hearts.
Since we were raised with the Party education, its elements have permeated our microscopic particles. This is the major obstacle blocking our advancing as a whole body. The shells that it formed around our bodies separate us and prevent the formation of a whole body, and thus enables the evil to take advantage of us. The result has been the persecution of many practitioners in the Dongying area, as well as our feeling that there is nothing we can do about it.
2. Deeply hidden fear
Deeply hidden fear manifests in an inability to do the three things uprightly and openly, as if we are sneakily doing underground work. Although we realize in our hearts that this state is not right, for a long time, we did not identify the root cause. Actually, it is a deeply hidden fear. While participating in Fa-validating activities in the mountainous villages, I asked myself: why is there fear deep in my heart? And what am I afraid of? Where does the fear come from? I did not find the answer. A fellow practitioner's words gave me a hint: fear is not the true self, we all came down with heavenly courage, all Dafa practitioners have heavenly courage. Those without it dared not come, why are you are afraid now? What is fearful is the human heart, not the heavenly courage; you have to break your human fear and replace it with heavenly courage!
Just as I said the words, "I'm afraid," I realized that the "fear" was not me. The "fear" was gradually weakening and diminishing as I spoke. Now there is no more fear in my mind and "heavenly courage" has returned to my mind.
3. Strong egos, poor over-all coordination, and feeling numb and indifferent about rescuing fellow practitioners
In the past approximately three years, the evil in the Shengli Oil Field and Dongying areas has been frantic. There are almost one hundred cases of local practitioners being persecuted, which have been exposed on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. Among them, six were illegally sentenced to prison, nine were sentenced to forced labor (incomplete statistics), and dozens were illegally sent to brainwashing classes. I personally know some of these practitioners. But what efforts have I made to rescue them? Other than sending righteous thoughts more often and exposing the evil on the Internet, I had felt that there was not much more I could do. I didn't think of proactively rescuing the practitioners. My first thought when I heard about a practitioner's mishap was to protect myself from being involved. What a dirty heart I had when compared with the feats of the practitioner from the Northeast who traveled thousands of miles to rescue fellow practitioners! I felt so ashamed. This was caused by my strong selfish thoughts of self-protection, weak overall coordination among practitioners, and indifference towards rescuing fellow practitioners.
The economic conditions at Shengli Oil Field and Dongying area are relatively good with plenty of funds, developed communications, and advanced technologies. Many Dafa practitioners here hold high-level jobs and titles among everyday people and possess strong capabilities. Quite a few practitioners have done a lot of good deeds that are admirable. Each can accomplish a lot without relying on others. However, this last stage of Fa-rectification requires overall coordination and cooperation as a whole body. The task of thoroughly dissolving the evil and rescuing fellow practitioners can only be done well when a whole body is formed. Because we did not do well in this aspect, many practitioners were persecuted as the evil took advantage of our loophole.
The rural practitioners' hearts are very pure and communication between practitioners is easy. Their language is also very simple, without fancy words; although the analogies they make are full of slang expressions, they are right to the point and on the Fa. Reflecting on myself, with my heart tightly enclosed, I was reluctant to show my views and tried to cover up my attachments. When I shared experiences with fellow practitioners, I discovered a deeply hidden bad heart of attempting to cover up my selfishness, an attachment to using Teacher's words or those of other Dafa principles, and reluctance to admit my mistakes. In one practitioner's words, "Although what you said contains Fa principles, it felt awkward to hear, as if you negate the old forces while sitting on the old force's plate, and get rid of attachments while carrying attachments." Not all of us practitioners know each other and it is impossible for all of us to share experiences while sitting together. But once we open our hearts and truly think about fellow practitioners and Dafa, all practitioners' hearts can communicate and everyone can connect into one body. The great way has no form; differences exist in topology and human elements between cities and rural areas, and the forms of overall coordination might not be the same either. But the enhancement of practitioners' xinxing as a whole is the same. We cannot cover up our numb hearts with objective conditions.
I wrote this article for two reasons. First, to clarify my shortcomings, find my gaps, and be diligent. Second, to "attract jade by throwing a piece of stone," since some of my experiences are common among local practitioners. My sharing can be used by fellow practitioners to discuss, share, and upgrade together, to thoroughly dissolve the evil, and rescue fellow practitioners well. Let the magnificent scene of "Dafa's vast force floods all the human world, take a look: Gods and Buddhas walk the earth" appear in China.
The preceding is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
March 11, 2007
