(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Master!
Greetings, fellow practitioners!
When I saw the call for papers for the Fifth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China, I thought about how this was a platform that Master created for disciples. Although what I have done are mainly small things, with nothing really remarkable, I still want to participate. In sharing my experience with fellow practitioners and reporting my cultivation status to Master, I can find out where I am lacking and cultivate more diligently in the future.
1. Personal Cultivation Period
I started practicing Dafa in May 1997. I loved Dafa as soon as I found out about it, and I made up my mind that I wanted to reach consummation. I told my daughter, "I will only read this book from now on." My daughter laughed at me and thought that I was too excited. Master saw my strong desire for cultivation and encouraged me by giving me hints. He let me feel the spinning of Falun in my lower abdomen. When I read the book, he let one line stand out and shine green. My celestial eye was open and I could see that the sky was full of small Faluns. I knew this was a book from heaven and I studied the Fa and did the exercises even more diligently. Every day, except for working and doing household chores, I studied the Fa, reading two or three lectures each day, and did the five exercises as well. In the beginning, I could not do the sitting meditation with my legs double crossed, so I held my legs with big bricks until I could. Master said,
"I have infused my abilities into this Dafa. As long as you study it, you will undergo changes. As long as you study it, you will be improving. As long as you practice it to the end, you will be able to reach Consummation." ("Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference")
I soon realized that I had learned to control my temper, all my diseases had disappeared, and I had stopped fighting with my husband.
2. Crying for No Reason
I retired during the summer of 1999. Since I was previously busy with my work, I didn't have much contact with other practitioners except with the group exercises. I knew little about the interference with Dafa in different places, nor did I know much about "April 25" incident. However, I didn't know why since April 25, I had cried while doing the exercises and reading the book. I usually don't cry very easily, but at that time, I always wanted to cry. I felt great pressure every day. It was an extremely heavy feeling. Later, after I read Master's teachings, I realized that I cried because my assistant spirit saw that the evil planning to do bad things to Dafa in other dimensions.
3. Setting up My First Truth-clarifying Materials Production Site
After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, the group cultivation environment was disrupted. Some instructors were arrested, some fellow practitioners were too scared to continue cultivation, some only practiced at home, and some diligent practitioners went to different government organizations and Tiananmen Square to clarify the truth. Later, some practitioners who stepped forward to clarify the truth were sent to detention centers or labor camps. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) TV and radio broadcasts attacked Falun Gong with their full strength, as if the sky was falling.
When we clarified the truth to the government, they didn't listen and sent us to the police station. We therefore began explaining the truth directly to the public and saved sentient beings directly. At first, we didn't have anything tangible and the authorities were arresting us. I could only write some short phrases about the truth on paper and distribute them or hang them up, but their influence was very limited. Later, I bought some handkerchiefs and wrote "Falun Dafa Is Good" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance Is Good" on thousands of them and distributed them to different homes. How did I get Master's teachings? I went to the capital of our province to get an original from practitioners that I knew before, made copies, and shared them with other practitioners. In January 2001, the practitioner in the capital was persecuted and we could no longer get Master's teachings. Several of us were very anxious. Without the guidance of Master's teachings, we couldn't move an inch in that kind of evil environment. I wanted to set up our own materials production site, but didn't know how to do it without technology and equipment.
It happened that a fellow practitioner who worked in other areas came to visit her parents. Her husband graduated from college with a major in computer science. We invited him to help us set up the production site. Local practitioners donated money to buy a computer and the technology-minded practitioner brought a printer. The practitioner left after he taught some things to a relatively young practitioner. However, the younger practitioner had lots of interference from family, and I took on the responsibility voluntarily. Since I knew nothing, I took a computer class. I was busy with my business during the day, and seldom went to bed before midnight.
The persecution became even more severe. The practitioner who was responsible for helping me download information was too scared to do it. What should I do? I thought,
"A great enlightened One fears no hardship
Having forged an adamantine will
Free of attachment to living or dying
He walks the path of Fa-rectification
confident and poised"
("Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions" from Hong Yin II)
At that time, in front of my eyes, I saw how happy fellow practitioners were after receiving teachings from Master and how diligent they were after reading "Minghui Weekly." I also saw that sentient beings needed to know the truth in order to be saved. I made up my mind to keep it up no matter how difficult it was. I set up the Internet connection and learned how to download myself. I couldn't find people locally to teach me so I called a practitioner from another region to help. I learned how to access the Internet in one afternoon.
I downloaded materials myself and made materials myself until May 2002. The authorities were planning to persecute me. We didn't know, but Master knew. If it were not for Master's protection, the results would have been unimaginable.
It happened like this. On April 30, 2002, at 6:00 a.m., my second son called me from another area and said, "Mom, they were checking the computers." After breakfast, my older son called me and said, "Mom, someone introduced me to a girl. Her mother wants to see you and talk to you." At noontime, I was not at home. My supervisor at work came to my home and told my daughter that my superiors were having a meeting and it was quite serious. In the afternoon, my supervisor came to my home again to tell my daughter how serious and scary the situation was.
At 8:00 p.m. my second son called again and said, "Mom, they checked the computer quite intensively here." But I was still not thinking about transferring materials. I just wanted to clean up a little bit and come back in a few days. It was about 11:00 p.m. when my daughter told me, "Mom, I'm scared, I'm scared." I said, "OK, I will transfer the materials and you delete everything from the computer." I cleaned up and transferred things to safer places and only left the computer.
The second day, I left home in the rain to visit my older son in another city. The second day after I left, the police searched my home and found nothing but a paragraph of Dafa content, since my daughter had not deleted everything. They took the computer away. In the end, it was not like what my older son told me about some girl's mother wanting to see me. Later I realized that this was meticulously arranged by Master to protect a disciple. That was the first materials production site that I set up.
4. Creating Another Materials Production Site
The first truth-clarifying materials production site was damaged. After the practitioner who worked in another heard about it, he taught two more younger practitioners in our area to make materials again. Later, through the coordination of a regional instructor, I took the responsibility of receiving and distributing materials. I received the materials from them every week and distributed them to fellow practitioners in our area. It was going well until February 2004, when we suffered a great loss in our area. Over ten materials production sites were destroyed at the same time, many practitioners were arrested, the whole region was under the dark influence of the evil, and many pieces of equipment were damaged. We didn't know what to do. We were all particles of Dafa, and assisting Master with Fa-rectification was our mission. After sharing and some preparation among several practitioners, we set up a new materials production site in March 2004.
At that time, one practitioner knew how to access the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net). I therefore discussed it with several practitioners. Everyone seemed to have an adequate xinxing level, in their understanding regarding the importance of assisting Master with Fa-rectification. We shared the responsibilities. Some practitioners were responsible for downloading, some for making the materials, and some for distributing them. Doing things this way was less noticeable and safer. We can now make materials like Master's teachings, regular truth clarification materials, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, Zhuan Falun, amulets(1), and DVDs, and have basically satisfied the needs of fellow practitioners.
Since practitioners could read Master's teachings and Minghui Weekly in time, and their xinxing improved very fast. Some who were slow caught up again, and those who had stayed home have come forward. Connections have also been made between cities and the countryside. We have grown from several dozen to several hundred practitioners, and have formed a whole body from the city to the countryside. Fellow practitioners can follow what Master has required of us, do the three things well, clarify the truth and save sentient beings. We basically are able to reach Master's requirement of "not omitting a single area where there are people" ("Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People")
5. Tribulations
Before the Olympics, the authorities illegally arrested many Dafa
disciples in order to "protect" the Olympics. In May, they
commandeered my home and took me to a detention center. I kept on reciting the
Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and doing the exercises every day in the
detention center. I explained to the police the physical and mental benefits
that I had gained after becoming a practitioner. Master said,
"If we determine that it is interference or damaging, when we deal with the specific problem we should try our best to be calm and kind to those people who are at the surface, because when the evil uses people, they usually aren't aware of it themselves (although the people who are used are usually either people whose thoughts are bad or people who have bad thoughts arising). As for the interference by evil from other dimensions, we must seriously eradicate it with righteous thoughts." ("Fa-Rectification and Cultivation" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I didn't hate the policemen. I looked upon them as poor victims. One night when I was sending forth righteous thoughts, a giant stood in front of me. Its waist was as so big around that two people holding hands would have been needed to encircle it. It was very tall and black from top to bottom. Its face was also black. I wasn't frightened. I just thought, "Eliminate the evil" and it disappeared immediately. I continued sending forth righteous thoughts in the detention center.
They tried to force me to "transform," saying that they would make my son leave the army, take away my salary, and do things to my relatives, etc., if I didn't. I put down fame, personal interest, and sentimentality. My heart was as peaceful as still water. I said, "Let it be whatever it is." They had nothing to say. They didn't give up, and called in some of my family members for a second time. My family cried and tried to persuade me. Since I had put down fame, personal interest, and sentimentality, my heart remained as calm as still water. I told my family, "This is a test on the path of my cultivation. It's going to be OK. Please don't be scared." I also told my children not to write anything that promised I would "transform." I smiled and watched them leave.
The authorities still didn't give up and threatened to present me with an arrest warrant if I didn't "transform." I thought, "I didn't prepare to leave once I got here. I will verify the Fa no matter where I am. I will not 'transform' even if you arrest me." My heart was still very calm with no wavering. They were very angry, "Are you thinking about consummation?" I laughed in my heart. Two days after they gave me the arrest warrant, I was released. Everything was false. I convinced three people to quit the CCP Youth League during the 15 days I was in the detention center and asked everyone in the prison cell to remember that Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.
Through this tribulation, I realized that it was just as Master said, once you put down fame, personal interest, and sentimentality, no one will be able to move you. I have now returned to the mainstream of helping Master with the Fa Rectification and saving sentient beings.
During my nine years of cultivation in Fa-rectification, local fellow practitioners, coordinators, and I have done some things well, but there many things that need improvement. All those things that we did well were due to Master's protection. For all the things that we did not do well, we will look inward, improve ourselves, and walk the last of our paths well and steadily and follow Master home.
Heshi to Master! Heshi to fellow practitioners!
Please correct me if any of my sharing is not on the Fa.
Note:
(1) Amulets -- In China, practitioners sometimes "clarify the truth" by giving people something small to wear or cherish, bearing a few words reminding them of the goodness of Dafa.
