(Clearwisdom.net) I am an elderly Falun Dafa practitioner living in the countryside. I would like to share my cultivation experiences with my fellow practitioners during the Fa-rectification period.
Getting Rid of Attachments after Obtaining the Fa
I started practicing Falun Gong in January 1998. I happened to see the Falun Dafa books at a friend's home. The first book that I picked up was Teacher's Lecture in Sydney. I was completely mesmerized by the contents after reading just a few pages, and I made up my mind to cultivate and follow Teacher even before I finished reading the book.
While reading Zhuan Falun, I was overwhelmed by the boundless Fa principles in the book. When I read the paragraph on quitting smoking, I took out my cigarettes and lighter from my pocket and decided to quit. I was wondered if I could truly stop smoking. My addiction to smoking was such that I could starve myself for a whole day but could not survive a day without smoking. I had tried to quit twice before without any success. Before long, however, a miracle happened. After a few days, when I could not resist it anymore and took out a cigarette to smoke, the taste was completely different. It was just like what Teacher said. After ten days, I thought about smoking again. When I was just about to light up a cigarette, my sister gave me a piece of twisted fried bread. I put the cigarette back in my pocket and ate the bread. When I put a cigarette in my mouth the second time and was about to light it up for a smoke, my sister handed me a steamed bun. I realized immediately that Teacher was taking care of me. Teacher was guiding me and didn't want me to smoke. Since then I have quit smoking completely. With Teacher's help, I got rid of this very strong attachment.
During my regular Fa study and exercises, Teacher helped me to eliminate my karma, purified my body, increased my gong, and gave me over ten thousand different good things. These are what many people have longed for but have not gotten throughout history. I don't know how to thank Teacher. What I can do is to follow what Teacher has said and believe in Teacher and in Falun Dafa.
Stepping Forward to Protect the Fa
On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started its persecution of Falun Dafa. That night, someone from the local police station took away Teacher's photo and Zhuan Falun from my home. I was very sad, since Falun Dafa is the most precious thing in my life. I deeply regretted that I was not able to protect Teacher's photo and Zhuan Falun. I did the fifth exercise with tears in my eyes. During those days, personnel from the police station kept coming to bother us. In those days when white and black were inverted, Dafa was like an enormous bright beacon lighting up the path of cultivation. With Dafa in our hearts, we are not afraid of the evil, and will not get lost. Teacher said in "True Nature Revealed" in Essentials for Further Advancement II:
"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"
Falun Dafa has given me boundless power. Only through regular Fa study and cultivation of our hearts and following what Teacher has said can we overcome the tribulations and diligently improve ourselves in cultivation.
Before that New Year's Day, I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Dafa. I went with the first group of practitioners from our region. The police caught us and took us back. They put us in jail, persecuted, and fined us. But that did not stop us. The second group of local practitioners went to Tienanmen Square in the Spring of 2000, and the third group went before July 20, 2000. We wanted to show that Falun Dafa was righteous, that Teacher was innocent, and that Dafa was innocent. Each time the police caught us and took us back, they imprisoned and persecuted us. The fine was about 5000-7000 yuan. During the first half of 2001, four of us were arrested and sent to the labor camp.
Although the CCP police inhumanely persecuted us physically and financially, we felt that we had done nothing wrong. Since we are practitioners of Fa-rectification, we are doing what we are supposed to do as practitioners.
Teacher Is Always with Us
It was around six in the evening on October 2001. I went to the city to put up some truth-clarification posters. I pasted some in the corridor of a hospital and then went inside to put up more. When I tried to leave I could not find any open doors because the hospital had closed and all the doors were locked. I thought of Teacher and asked Teacher to guide me out. After I begged Teacher for help, I found the door open when I turned around. I could not express my feelings in words at that moment. I put up more posters in the streets and markets after I left the hospital. When I was about to go home, it was almost ten o'clock. There was no bus, so I started to walk back along the road and thought, "What I am doing is the most righteous thing in the universe. How can there be no bus? There should be a bus." I sent forth righteous thoughts and walked about another 20 steps, when I heard a bus behind me. I turned around and saw it. Soon after I got went back home and sat down, there was a knock on my door. It was someone from the village checking if all the practitioners were home. The villager said that the next day was a sensitive date. I understood in my heart that Teacher protects all practitioners. Actually it is Teacher who is doing everything. This incident showed that Teacher was always with me. As long as we follow the Fa, we will be able to deny the old forces, get rid of all attachments, and walk on the path of Fa-rectification cultivation righteously and steadily.
Clarifying the Truth Face to Face
Although I did things to validate the Fa before, I only did them among close friends and relatives in my own village or at night. Teacher said in "Path" in Essentials for Further Advancement II:
"Dafa disciples are now right in the midst of the Fa-rectification period, and the old forces' performance has formed the most fundamental and most severe test of Dafa disciples. Whether the test can be passed is an actualization of Dafa and of whether every Dafa disciple can be responsible to himself. And whether a person can, while breaking and eliminating the evil, step forward to validate Dafa becomes a testament about [letting go of] life and death, becomes confirmation of whether a Fa-rectification disciple can achieve Consummation, and also becomes what differentiates a God and a human."
This paragraph of Teacher's Fa is a driving force for me. By being responsible to Dafa, I am being responsible to sentient beings, to my own cultivation, to getting rid of human notions and attachments, and to becoming a real god.
The second day after I read Path, a practitioner who often contacted me said that during the evening, she had dreamed of a practitioner clarifying the truth to sentient beings at a bus stop. There were many people surrounding him to listen. They didn't even give way to a coming bus and only left after the practitioner had finished talking. At that time, that practitioner hadn't started to practice formally yet. She only did some work to validate the Fa. I thought this was a hint that Teacher had given me. I needed to do what I said and completely get rid of the attachment of fear.
Being an introverted person, I wrote down exactly what I would say to clarify the truth. My speech mentioned the beauty of Falun Dafa, teaching people to be good, the spread of Dafa in China and abroad, the CCP's slanderous and false charges related to Falun Dafa, the truth of the self-immolation, etc. I felt that people would understand after hearing what I had to say--they would sympathize with Dafa, support it, and consequently have a bright future.
Two days later, everything was ready. I sent forth righteous thoughts at home first to eliminate all evil, interfering elements and asked Master for help. I brought some materials with me and went to the bus stop. My heart beat very fast when as I neared the bus stop. I thought that was not right and stopped to readjust my mind. Then continued on to the bus stop while sending forth righteous thoughts. There were so many people at the bus stop! I took out the truth-clarification materials and started talking as I handed them out. "Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is good. Good people, please have sympathy towards Falun Dafa. With this righteous thought you will surely have a wonderful future." Everyone looked at me. I had no fear at all, and neither my hands nor my mouth stopped. I only had Dafa in my heart, only had sentient beings in my heart, and I knew that Teacher was near me and helping me. One person there had both his hands full. He walked towards me, and I put some truth-clarification leaflets in his pocket. I had finally stepped forward to clarify the truth face to face.
With more materials, I went to the bus stop again after a few days. The bus stop is a place where people come and go a lot. A few people listened to me twice. This time I saw a bus that was packed with riders. I got on before it started in order to clarify the facts. First I read my speech and then distributed the materials. Many people wanted them and only a few were too afraid to take one. I kept talking as the bus drove on from one stop to another. When I was distributing materials on the bus, someone asked me where he could learn Falun Gong. I told him, "You can look for practitioners in your local area. If there isn't one in your area, your intent has laid a foundation for you to obtain the Fa later. I am happy for you."
I always got on the bus to clarify the facts and got off after everyone had heard what I had to say. Then I would get on a bus coming back and repeat the process. Sometimes things didn't go well. Once a man who seemed to be an official got on the bus. He grabbed my clothes and said, "Come on. Let's go to the police station!" I was not afraid and said very loudly, "Let of me!" That man loosened his grasp after his wife persuaded him.
Looking back at the cultivation path that I have walked, every step taken was under Teacher's protection. I realize that, in the process of truth clarification and saving sentient beings, as long as your righteous thoughts are strong, with Teacher and the Fa in your heart, what you think and do are all for saving sentient beings. You will be safe, and Teacher and the Guardian Gods will be able to help.
After I had done this for a while, unfortunately, human attachments gradually started to crop up. I had the heart of self-satisfaction and did not keep up with sending forth righteous thoughts and studying the Fa. The evil took advantage of me because of this. One day near the end of December 2001, while I was clarifying the facts on a bus, there was a couple. The woman said some bad words about Falun Dafa. I looked at her and thought she seemed familiar. She must have heard me a couple of times before. I told her, "What you said is not correct. That is not what Falun Dafa is like." I saw that she had a ridiculous expression on her face and got off the bus before I had even finished. After I had clarified the truth on that bus, I went to another stop and was standing beside the bus stop when a police car drove up to me. I taken to the police station. An officer said that someone had reported me. I was sentenced to two years of forced labor and was severely tortured in the camp.
After studying the Fa and looking inward, I have realized that any of my human attachments can become a reason for persecution. It is because we have attachments that the evil can take advantages of us. The lesson is serious, profound, and unforgettable.
Fa-rectification has reached the very end. In the limited time left, I will follow Teacher's Fa-rectification process closely, take the Fa as Teacher, and study the Fa more. I will look inward, strive to improve as a whole body, leave no loopholes for the evil, and eliminate all evil elements. I will do the three things well, help end the persecution, and follow Teacher home.
