(Clearwisdom.net) I came into contact with Falun Dafa in the fall of 1994. In this sharing I would like to discuss assimilating into the Fa and generating great righteous thoughts based on the Fa.
1. Starting the practice at a difficult time
My health was very bad before I practiced Falun Dafa. I had bronchitis, stomach problems, rheumatism, beriberi, chronic diseases, and more. I had two operations due to a malignant melanoma on my left leg and the rupture of an ovarian cyst. It was like Teacher said:
"In ordinary human society, you compete with others for fame and personal gain. You cannot sleep or eat well, and your body is in very bad shape. When your body is seen from another dimension, the bones are all black." ("Zhuan Falun")
In 1994, I also often had heavy bleeding. My husband was very much into his work and his health. One day he read a book and afterward started to practice the Falun Gong exercises. After about two weeks, I noticed that he had stopped taking his daily medication. I asked him why and he said, "I don't feel bad so I forgot to take it."
Because my husband insisted, I also started to go to the exercise site. I wanted to know what had so attracted my husband. During that time, I stayed home due to my bad health, and I listened to Teacher's lectures. My husband tried to create better conditions for me to practice and did all the housework. I had time to study the Fa and read many experience sharing articles. From that time on, I became a true practitioner. Later, I attended group Fa study and I started to copy and recite the Fa. When my xinxing was lifted, my health improved without me even noticing it. All my old illnesses disappeared, and I started to understand the Fa rationally.
2. More steadfast faith during tribulations
On July 20 1999, Jiang's gang began the persecution of Falun Gong. In the afternoon on the 21st, local officers tricked my husband into coming to the police station and "illegally detained" him. Things happened so suddenly that many people were very scared and some even stopped practicing. Teacher said:
"I have cast my power into this book. As long as you study it, you'll undergo changes. As long as you study it, you'll experience improvements. As long as you cultivate to the end, you will reach Consummation." ("Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference")
I did not fully understand this. I thought I could easily continue to practice by going to group study and doing the exercises. Now I know that we were facing much bigger tribulations. Wasn't it the key point to see whether we could really learn?
I further understood the true meaning of: "Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, the will unflinching. The raising of levels is what's fundamental. In the face of tests one's true nature is revealed. Achieve Consummation, becoming a Buddha, Dao, or God." ("True Nature Revealed" from Essentials for Further Advancement II) Thus, my belief in Dafa became more steadfast during tribulations.
3. Righteous thoughts, righteous path
What should we do in the face of the persecution? Teacher told us:
"Think about it: Even people's claim that they have evolved from apes is able to be highly regarded. Yet with this great Dafa of the universe, you are embarrassed to give it a correct position--this is human beings' true shame." ("Environment" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
As soon as I remembered the Fa Teacher had told us, I felt righteous. I should go and demand that my husband be released. As a person I was quite timid, because my family had been persecuted by the CCP since I was little. My family was considered "landlords" and my father was persecuted to death as a "rightist." When I felt timid, I recited:
"Dafa is what you carry everywhere, Zhen Shan Ren, rooted in the mind; a great Arhat walks the earth, Gods and demons fear with awe." ("Benevolent Might" from Hong Yin)
I went to the police station and told them why we practice Falun Dafa and what Falun Dafa is. One officer said, "Then you stay home to practice." My husband was well liked in his work place and his colleagues also went to the police station and asked for his release. He was released 16 days later.
In September 1999, another round of arrests was ordered, and the city police illegally arrested my husband at our home. In detention, his body was covered with scabies. Some practitioners that were released from that place knew about his condition and worried about him. They suggested using money to "buy" him out. I thought that we had done nothing wrong. We followed Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and we were the most righteous people. They were wrong to arrest my husband. How could I pay them? I was firmly against the idea. During this period, I also sometimes felt pain and thought about why we had to suffer so much. One day I read in Zhuan Falun:
"The enlightened people think that the more one suffers, the better, as one should speed up repaying one's debts. This is what they think."
I cried and thought that practitioners should not suffer like this. I went to all the official branches and demanded my husband's release. I went everyday and I often gave them information materials about the persecution. Dafa helped me to pass this tribulation. My belief in Teacher and Dafa were firmer than before. On February 2, 2000, my husband was released after four months of illegal detention.
4. Overcoming interference, continuing to cultivate
In January 2000, many practitioners were illegally detained. The evil CCP's propaganda machines continued to slander Dafa. Some practitioners organized a meeting for sharing and they asked me to attend. I knew that I should have gone based on the Fa, but I was also afraid of getting myself arrested. I could not find a reason not to go, so I planned to cook extra in case I was arrested so that my child would have something to eat. (My husband was in detention at the time.) While I was cooking, the cutting board fell on the big toe of my left foot. A bad thought occurred in my mind: "Now I have a reason not to attend the meeting." At the same time I knew I was trying to look for a reason due to my fear. I denied this thought, and eventually, attended the meeting.
More than 40 practitioners were there, and it was very successful. On January 24, I attended another sharing meeting with more than 70 people in attendance. Everybody benefited from the sharing. We realized that our time was limited. On January 31, more than 100 people came to my home for a sharing meeting. We shared our understandings on the Fa. We understood that validating the Fa is a practitioner's duty. After the meeting a large number of practitioners from my city and nearby cities went to Tiananmen to validate the Fa. We held three experience sharing meetings within three weeks, and more and more practitioners attended. These meetings were all very successful. The big toe on my left foot developed a fungal infection. It turned black after the injury, and later the toenail fell off. A healthy new nail grew back.
7. Eliminating attachments, everything for saving sentient beings
At the end of 2001 and after my husband was released from the forced labor camp, due to our strong righteous thoughts, many practitioners went out to clarify the facts. We only had one material production site in the city and some nearby cities did not have enough people and equipment. We needed more such sites. My husband began to create a production site, but at that time I did not like the idea. First, I was fearful. I thought he was a targeted person already and therefore I was afraid that this could cause him to be persecuted more. Secondly, a material production site needs money. He wanted me to use all of our savings, which I kept for emergencies. I could not sleep the entire night and thought about many things. I thought about the changes I had experienced after practicing Falun Dafa, I thought of Teacher, and I thought of the Fa.
I finally made a decision, and the next morning I said to my husband, "Everything is given by Dafa. I had worries at first, but now I understand and agree." With the help of several practitioners, we built a new material production site.
At the end of 2003, my husband was arrested for the fourth time and illegally sentenced. Our local practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts and clarified the facts to the local people. My husband went on a hunger strike as a protest. He was sent home when he was near death. Before his health recovered, he wanted to build a family material production site. My attachment to fear appeared again. My husband said that it was needed for the Fa-rectification and we should believe in Teacher and the Fa. So a family material production site was established and it provided materials to local practitioners. In fact, when we moved forward and denied the old forces' arrangements, our environment started to improve. Now we are no longer under police surveillance.
8. Clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings
On September 1, 2004, Teacher said in his new article "Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People:"
"For this reason, all Dafa disciples, students both new and veteran, should get to work and begin comprehensively clarifying the truth. This is especially so for the Dafa disciples in Mainland China: each must come out and clarify the truth, bringing it to every field and valley, mountain and hill, not omitting a single area where there are people."
Heeding what Teacher had said, I clarified the facts beginning with our neighbors and then on to relatives, former classmates and colleagues, and, gradually, strangers. At the beginning I had attachments and I did not want to clarify the facts to those who lived in the same building but that I was not familiar with, because most of them were CCP officials. The messages I stuck to the walls were soon torn off. Later I changed my thoughts. One day some stairs in our building were illegally taken down. We felt it was the old force's arrangement since it was inconvenient for our material production site. Using this opportunity and knowing that many residents wanted to complain about this incident, another practitioner and I went to every family and clarified the facts. We let them know that Dafa is good and, meanwhile, we also learned what each family thought of Dafa.
After the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published, persuading people to quit the CCP became our top priority. It was difficult to pursue these CCP officials in my building. They did not want to listen to me and some of them even said some bad things. Some of them even gave us advice and told us not to tell others about this. During that period of time I was very uncomfortable. I looked inward and found my attachment. Later I paid more attention to sending forth righteous thoughts and cooperating well with other practitioners. We sent out a large quantity of truth-clarification materials. Later, many of them understood the facts and quit the CCP.
The process of clarifying the facts and persuading people to quit the CCP and its associated organizations is also a process of breaking through individualism and elevating. One day, relatives of my husband had a party for their children that were going to college, and we were not invited. My husband said we should go anyway, since all the classmates of this relative were my husband's students. He thought it would be a great opportunity for clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings. My human attachments appeared. I was worried because I first thought that this relative might be unhappy and afraid of getting into trouble. Secondly, this relative works for the city government. He knows people in the city's Political and Judiciary Committee and 610 Office. Thirdly, the trip might be unsafe for my husband since he had been watched. I felt that it was enough if I went, but my husband insisted on going with me. The day before we left, he was busy preparing informational materials. I was so worried that I did not sleep well the entire night. When we arrived at the restaurant, we learned that this relative had had another party the day before, to which many officials had been invited. That day they only had invited relatives and former classmates, and our relative was very happy to see us. Many of the relatives already knew the truth and easily withdrew from the CCP. More than 30 former classmates showed up. We persuaded them to quit the CCP and everythig went smoothly.
Through this incident, Teacher helped me to eliminate one more of my attachments. From that time on, whenever there are parties or gatherings, I go and use the opportunity to clarify the facts and try to persuade whoever is there to quit the CCP.
After many years of cultivation, I am still far from meeting the standard of a true cultivator. In the future, I will do the three things well and improve myself more and more.
October 16, 2008