(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Great Hand of Compassion and Power
I began to practice Falun Dafa in January 1997. Before that, my physical condition had been very bad. I had suffered from tracheitis since childhood and always caught colds. As I grew up, I suffered from many ailments such as chronic gastritis, cholecystitus, mastitis, oral cavity ulcer--one thing after another. I took various types of medicine all year round. As soon as I heard that a certain medicine was effective, I would quickly go buy it. Even though I spent the money and took the medicine, the physical problems continued. Sometimes I felt really bitter and tired. I felt as if life was meaningless.
My mother introduced Falun Gong to me. She said that she had benefited a lot from the practice. She told me that it was not a normal qigong, but rather a great cultivation way of the Buddha School, and that Dafa's Teacher came to save people. Since childhood, due to the influence of my grandmother, I believed in the existence of gods and Buddha, so I agreed to practice it. In the beginning, I listened to Master's lectures on tape with other people and learned the five sets of exercises. I began to practice at home. Shortly after practicing Falun Gong, I began to undergo significant physical and xinxing changes. First, Teacher adjusted my body, and all the diseases disappeared. I was not able to eat fruit before, but by summer, I could eat any fruit I wanted. I experienced again what it was like to be without illness.
While I was experiencing the beauty of Dafa and practicing diligently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 1999. My home was a practice site, so a village cadre came to me and said we could no longer practice. My heart was heavy and I said to the village cadre, "We Falun Gong practitioners are good people, why not let us practice?" The cadre said that it was ordered from the top, and that the Falun Gong practice was banned throughout the country. Dafa was slandered in newspapers and TV, and no other viewpoint was allowed. I said to my family in tears, "That which is true cannot be hidden. Sooner or later this will get redressed." Under pressure from the authorities, my family members watched me and prevented me from contacting fellow practitioners. Cadres at the township and village level often harassed me at home, wanting me to write a guarantee statement and say bad things about Teacher. Once, out of fear of being taken away and not understanding the consequences, I said something bad against Dafa. I did what a practitioner should not do and left an indelible stain in my cultivation; it was shameful. I realized that I was wrong and felt so regretful. I became very passive and hardly studied the Fa after that. The bitterness in my heart was indescribable, and I felt so ashamed and filthy.
As I was suffering painfully, I had a vivid dream. In the dream, there was a limitless, vast ocean. A baby stuck out a hand as it was sinking, and suddenly a huge hand reached down from the sky and grabbed hold of that tiny hand. This picture was fixed in my brain, as I had never had such a vivid dream. After waking, this scene remained clear in my mind, and even now it is so vivid.
I cried, and I knew that Teacher had not given up on me, the practitioner who did not make every effort to succeed. I was depressed and felt trapped, as if I was sinking. Our merciful and great Teacher reached out with his hand to me and allowed me to regain a new life after nearly being destroyed. I began to study the Fa and practice the exercises again. I made contact with fellow practitioners. I studied Teacher's new articles and understood how we should do the three things well, and I walked the Fa-rectification path of clarifying the facts, validating Dafa and saving sentient beings.
2. Distributing Truth-clarification Material to Save People
In the beginning, I had no truth-clarification materials, so I bought small booklets for recording phone numbers. I wrote "Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is good. Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa." I put the notes inside of phone booths, at stalls or counters in shops. Sometimes I used carbon paper to make four sets of each writing. I handed them out at night. Later, practitioners sent me truth-clarification materials. I learned that the process of distributing them is also a process of cultivation. Sometimes my mindset was not steady and I was afraid. Teacher then gave me hints and encouraged me.
Once, a practitioner and I went to a village at night to distribute truth-clarification material, and there were many dogs in the village. We had just arrived at the front of a home when the dog inside began to bark madly. I was so nervous that I lost my righteous thoughts and felt very frightened as I left the materials. I put the papers inside the fence of one home, and quickly ran away. I could not help but look back; I turned back and saw that the material I had just left flashed with a light blue light. I knew merciful Teacher was encouraging me, so I calmed down. "What do I have to fear?" I said to myself. We are saving people and doing the most righteous thing, so the evil should be frightened. As long as we set our minds correctly, we won't be in any danger. Teacher protects us all the time, and it is Teacher who truly saves people.
3. The CCP's Flag Can't Rise
We live in family dormitory at a school and can see some events at the school. Once I watch a flag raising ceremony at the school. I thought, "Do not let this bloody flag rise up and poison people." I silently sent forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate hidden elements of the CCP in the school. I saw the rising flag fall down, yet the students tried to raise it again. Then as they pulled the flag up halfway, the rope suddenly broke, and it fell down again. Afterwards I learned there had been young practitioners among the students, and they too had sent forth righteous thoughts. For a very long time the flag was not raised as a result of our righteous thoughts. I hope that fellow practitioners will not neglect sending forth righteous thoughts.
4. Using Freegate
Sometimes our truth-clarification materials got delayed for long periods of time before reaching us. I thought that it would be great if I could make them myself. Probably because of this thought, I obtained two truth-clarification DVDs of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in what seemed to be a coincidence. Later, when I opened the first DVD on my computer, it not only contained truth-clarification materials, but also a "small pigeon" program (Freegate software that allows people in China to access government-banned websites). Back then, I did not even know what it was. I had never used the Internet before and did not understand the software. I only knew a bit of the simplest form of typesetting.
I tried to open that "small pigeon" icon, and I was shocked as the screens appeared in front of me. I then realized it was the unblocking Internet software "Free Gate 6.0". I found the Minghui/Clearwisdom website and opened it. I saw Teacher's picture of him quietly watching the world from a mountain. I was so excited that I could not calm down for a long time. I was amazed--I had actually gone to the Minghui website! I had thought that only people with great technical skills could do that. Afterwards I understood that this had been our Teacher's arrangement. I thought to myself, "What can I do with this capability?"
5. Material Production Sites Everywhere
Teacher requires us to have truth-clarification materials production sites everywhere. So I, too, set up a small material production site. I improved while preparing the materials. Once, I asked a practitioner to reinstall the program for me, but the program stopped halfway. The practitioner tried many times, but it did not work. I was quite nervous, so I sat down to send forth righteous thoughts. As if I faced a huge enemy, I sent forth righteous thoughts repeatedly, but it still didn't work. The percent complete indicator moved on the screen, but once it reached a certain point, it stopped again.
I saw the practitioner calmly look at the computer without a trace of anxiety, and I calmed down too. I thought to myself, "My computer is a Fa-implement. It shall be the best, and this program shall be installed. There shall not be any interference at all." Then I heard the practitioner say, "Look, it's working now." I was so happy and told the practitioner my thoughts. She said, "Yeah, I was thinking that this disk still has life. If it can't be used, then it will not serve its purpose, and it would be such a pity." I was moved by this practitioner's compassion. I found a gap between that practitioner and myself, and understood how I should improve. This practitioner also told me, "I left in a rush the other day and forgot to tell you, the other disk for installing the program was indeed broken, but you saw it install successfully. Teacher is protecting us and helping us!"
Another time, when I was printing the "Minghui Weekly", I finished printing the first side with no problems, but when I started printing the other side, it stopped after two pages. After checking, I found that I had put the paper in with the wrong side up. Fortunately the paper jammed, or else all the paper would have been wasted. I felt warm in my heart. This appeared to be accidental, but again, I knew that I had witnessed Dafa's supernatural ability and Teacher's watching over us.
In June 2007, the CCP began a mad effort to block the Internet. When my computer remained unaffected and did not have problems, I was secretly self-satisfied. Suddenly one day, I could not get on the Internet. I did not get alarmed, thinking that I could ask other practitioners to download the information and send it to me without impacting the production of the materials. But as I tried unsuccessfully to find someone to fix the Internet connection, I realized the seriousness of the problem. Teacher told us to look inwards whenever there is a problem, so surely there were things for me to improve. I calmed down and looked inside myself, deeply digging into my thoughts. I found that I still had so many human notions to be abandoned! My attachment of doing things was strong. I treated making materials as a task and felt relieved after finishing it. I did not have the urgency and compassion for saving people. I had been self-satisfied, thinking that I was doing all right. I had been producing the materials without delay, but was I really cultivating? Was I saving people? I saw my shortcomings and asked Teacher to strengthen me, eliminate the evil interference, help me concentrate on Fa study and correct the negative elements within me. Only then did my Internet connection start working again.
I urge practitioners who are not using Internet to go to the Minghui website to realize that it is a cultivation process. I feel that Teacher is mercifully protecting us all the time.
