(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, Dear Great Teacher!
Greetings, all fellow practitioners!
I formally began to cultivate Falun Dafa in July 1998. When I was doing the fifth exercise on my bed at home after I had just learned the five exercises, Falun miraculously lifted me up half a foot in the air. I was so grateful that tears rolled down my cheeks. This was exactly what I had been looking for all my life. Following Teacher and steadfastly cultivating in Dafa is my life's only choice. I will follow Teacher and Dafa to Eternity.
Struggling against the persecution and validating Dafa
The evil began its irrational persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. I was undaunted and went to Beijing several times to "clarify the facts" about Falun Gong and to appeal on behalf of Teacher and Dafa. Through cultivation, I truly appreciate that Teacher is the most respected, the highest, and the most righteous. Falun Dafa is the law of the cosmos that is the best and most righteous, and the path that Teacher leads us on is the best, most righteous, and the brightest.
Since returning from my last trip to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, other practitioners and I enlightened to the fact that we should get more practitioners to come out to validate Dafa and tell people about the persecution that we have been enduring. We need to let go of ourselves and maintain righteous thoughts and conduct, and we need to give "Digging Out the Roots" and "Huge Exposure" from Essentials for Further Advancement to fellow practitioners for them to read.
I was sentenced to prison in 2000. While I was there, I gave the prison guards a chance to learn about Dafa and practitioners. I maintained a demeanor of peace and calm to show the greatness of Dafa. I tried to sit in the front in all the meetings and stood up and told everyone the facts about Dafa whenever Teacher or Dafa was attacked. The first time I stood up, I said, "I come from X, and I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I have read the book, seen the DVD, and listened to the tapes. All Falun Gong does is to teach people to be good and by no means is it like what was described on TV or in the newspapers." A few prison guards grabbed me and put me in a "confinement cell," where I began to tell the inmate guarding the cell about the goodness of Dafa and about our being innocently persecuted. She had a good nature and understood that Dafa was good and stood watch for me while I did three of the exercises. The warden called me to the office to have a talk and told me to write a report. I took the opportunity to write nine pages on the facts about Dafa. Now I have enlightened to the fact that indeed it is like what Teacher has said, that things are all good whether they appear to be good or bad.
The prison guard told the inmates to beat me if I did the exercises, and that no one would fault them for it if they did. I had some talks with the inmates. Afterwards, I meditated in the guards' office three times. Under Teacher's benevolent care, no one harmed me and all the guards did was to ask the inmates to carry me out of their office. Teacher has told us about this principle: You can accomplish anything if you let go of the thought of life and death.
After I returned home, fellow practitioners came to visit and help me. Since the few local information centers had all been destroyed and other practitioners had been arrested or forced to stay away from home, most practitioners had some amount of attachment to fear. The out-of-town practitioners gave us a great deal of help both financially and resource-wise after they learned about our situation. They helped us establish information centers so that we could expose the local evil on a large scale. Quickly, practitioners started stepping forward.
Clarify the facts and save sentient beings
Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings is a practitioner's mission and responsibility, as well as the prehistoric oath and aspiration of each and every practitioner. Helping Teacher to rectify the Fa and saving sentient beings are the true meaning of our following Teacher to this world. In doing well the three things and saving sentient beings, we need to keep getting rid of any elements of the old cosmos of being selfish, gradually eliminating the shell of a human being and eventually becoming an unselfish and selfless enlightened person of the new cosmos. Being in the maze and in the tribulation of lies and deceit, and faced with the elimination of their lives, sentient beings have only practitioners as their last hope of being saved. By no means can we be apathetic and not extend our help. I require myself to go out to clarify the facts to people face to face everyday with few exceptions. Teacher told us in the article "Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People:"
"From now on, the Dafa disciples in China as much as anyone, both new students and veterans alike, should let go of their long-standing human attachments and start to seize the day and comprehensively save the world's people."
"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."
Some people said immediately, "Thank Teacher. Thank Dafa." On their faces they had the happy smiles of those that had been saved. I have often spent one to two hours talking to people and gotten a few dozen to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its associated organizations without affecting my shopping or other business. The more I talk to people about Dafa, the happier and more peaceful I become. I am not affected when I meet people that do not listen. Teacher told us in "Abiding in the Dao" from "Hong Yi," that we need to be "Doing, but without pursuit - So constant, abiding in the Dao." Of course, unusual situations do occur.
Once I was on a small bus clarifying the truth and giving everyone a protective talisman(1). A 30-year-old man came on board. I handed him a talisman while explaining the facts to him. He took the talisman and said, "I am overseeing Falun Gong. Are you So and So?" I said, "No." (He had named another practitioner.) I hastened to persuade him not to harm any practitioner. I told him that we were trying to be good and help people, and that being so young he needed to choose a good future for himself as well as for his family. He did not say anything more and put the talisman in his pocket. The bus driver told me afterward that the man was a policeman.
Once I was clarifying the facts to a young couple. Soon after I began, the man said, "Stop. I am from the police department and a candidate to become a Party member. I plan to make some contributions to my countrymen." I said, "That is great. You can help people as much as you want. But your life is what is most precious. If you lose your life when disasters come, you yourself will be gone and you will not be able to help people. Am I right?" The fellow nodded. I kept talking to him to untangle the knot in his mind. Soon, both of them agreed to quit the CCP.
I appear to have written this sharing, but in fact it is all Teacher's benevolence. Teacher is doing it behind me, and I am only the manifestation in this superficial dimension. Teacher leaves the glory and merit to his disciples. We are only particles in Dafa that Teacher has saved. How can we show off ? I know that I still have my attachments.
Note:
Talismans - 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.
Written on November 20, 2008