(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I began practicing Falun Dafa relatively early. I obtained my degree in college and have worked in the field of technology, but mostly I am an administrator working in a leadership role and have not had many opportunities to do hands-on jobs. After I started practicing Falun Dafa, I felt that as long as I did my job well, there would be no need to learn other skills.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began, I was involved in setting up local material sites. At the time, I was not aware of the importance of having computer skills, let alone that I should improve my skills. I thought that if there was something wrong with the machine, I would just ask a technician to repair it. I did not think about safety or money-saving issues.
A local coordinator suggested that I learn how to print Dafa books. Under the harsh environment of the persecution, there was no one available to teach me. I thought, I have Master, I have the Fa, so no matter what a practitioner chooses to do, it will turn out to be the best. I began to diligently learn the task, and finally I could do it. One day the coordinator showed me a Dafa book made by a fellow practitioner. I took a look and immediately pointed out a problem that I saw. Because printing Dafa books is a serious matter, we cannot afford to make mistakes. The coordinator asked me if I could print 10 Dafa books in one day; I said yes.
I first printed 11 book covers. The fellow practitioner next to me asked: "How can you do it right the first time and others cannot?" I smiled and said: "It is simple, it is not just me who is printing." The fellow practitioner understood immediately.
The job seems quite simple, but I remember it was very difficult at the beginning. I constantly made mistakes, complained that the machine was not good, and complained that fellow practitioners were not careful. I did not look inward at all and the results got worse. Master said:
"So in other words, whichever field you might be in, when you are able to improve your skills, that is a reflection of your having continually risen in realm. And people can see that you are a good person and someone who cultivates his or her heart and mind. From the vantage point of human beings, you are becoming a good person. As a result of studying the Fa and cultivating your inner self, you do better and better, and gods give you the wisdom you deserve and give you inspiration so that you can come to realize a lot of things while you study, create better things, improve your technique, and reach beyond." ("Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles," 2006)
Master's words awakened me immediately. I understood that if I wanted to learn the technique well, I had to learn how to cultivate my xinxing first. I would quiet my heart, behave like a divine being, have no distracting thoughts, cooperate well with fellow practitioners, and study the Falun Gong teachings well. With the elevation of my realm, my compassion would grow, my surroundings would change, and everything would turn out well.
Because of the difficult cultivation environment in mainland China, many fellow practitioners purchased MP3 and MP4 players to listen to the Fa and watch Master's lectures. But this raised a safety issue when the player needed repair. If one could remove the Dafa material it would be OK, but if not and an ordinary technician had to repair it, they would find the Dafa-related material. Therefore, several fellow practitioners asked me to repair their MP3 or MP4 players. I said, however, that I was clueless about those machines.
One day, the coordinator gave me an expensive MP4 player, which cost over 1,000 yuan. It was over-charged electrically and would not connect to the computer. He could not send it out to be repaired and he asked me if I could learn to repair it. I felt awkward. I truly had no basic knowledge. If I didn't repair it then it would affect a fellow practitioner's use of the player. I looked around for someone else, but it seemed that I was the most appropriate person. Even though my major was not electronics, only related to it, I still had some vague memory of electric capacity, inductance, resistance, a triode, but I had completely forgotten how to use this limited knowledge.
At this time, a human notion came to mind. A folk adage once said: "Do not learn a technique after thirty." If you looked at the repair shops, the technicians were all youngsters; because the components are so tiny, one has to have good eyesight. A fellow practitioner tried to persuade me: "Come on, carry on the task, you are the only one that has some basic knowledge of this kind; who else could we ask? It would be a serious safety issue if the Dafa material on the players was discovered." My heart was touched. I remembered Master's teaching:
"When human thinking gains the upper hand, that person heads toward humanness; when divine thinking and a person's righteous thoughts gain the upper hand, he heads toward godhood." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")
I accepted the challenge.
At the beginning it was difficult. When I carefully opened the MP4, I was shocked--what are those tightly packed elements? I was ready to back off, but I again thought, I am a practitioner, what I do today may become a reference for the future. What would that reference be? Learn to back off when one meets with difficulty? I immediately decided to face the problem instead of backing off. I began researching, and learned that the tiny element is called a paste element. Since I had learned this type of technique before, I knew what soldering tin and soldering paste was. I understood the all-purpose testing device, and could read the circuit diagram. All this quickly paved the road for me to understand the technique.
I remembered the very first MP4 player I repaired. Its problem was that it had no output sound. I carefully opened it and connected the circuit. I put it together and tried it out, choosing the exercise music. I was very happy when I heard Master's voice and the music, and returned the device to my fellow practitioner. To my surprise, the device was returned to me the next day. She could only hear the exercise music but not the Falun Gong teachings. She was very upset and so was I. I kept looking inward. I did not know the difference between an MP4 and an MP3 and I believed that once the exercise music came on so would the Fa lectures, but I caused so much disturbance for this fellow practitioner. I was determined to learn the difference between an MP3 and an MP4 player.
I started from the basics, the simple circuit to the complicated ones. I learned the basic knowledge and put it into practice right away. Many fellow practitioners brought me old devices to practice on and some loaned me repair books. I knew this was Master encouraging me. Sometimes I would sit for hours without moving. Fellow practitioners joked: "You might not have been so diligent in college, right?" I agreed: "You are right." I encouraged myself--as a practitioner, if you do something, make sure to do it well.
Of course, I could not have accomplished any of this without Master's protection. I remembered during the early days, one fellow practitioner gave me a top of the line MP4. It would not start. Since I could not find the firmware I needed, I had to go to a repair shop to get one. I formatted the MP4 and thought that the files on it were no longer there. The repairman said that he would work on it that night and told me to pick it up the next day. When I returned, the repairman said: "Sorry, I could not find the firmware you talked about, plus it would not connect to the computer." I took the MP4 and turned it on. On the screen it showed "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners." I was astonished; after the reformat it still kept the title of the material. I understood immediately, Master was protecting me. No wonder the repairman could not connect it to the computer. There was a reason!
Gradually, I obtained the knowledge to be able to repair MP3s and MP4s. When fellow practitioners gave me some to repair, most of them were able to be "cured" right away. Of course I did all of this voluntarily. Master gave me everything, including my life; what I have done previously means very little.
I remembered one thing that stirred me deeply. Practitioner A gave me a cell phone to repair with a sliding cover. It was an expensive one. I opened it up and found the cause of the problem, but I wasn't sure that I could repair it and explained the situation to him. He was afraid so he took it back. Several days later, practitioner B also gave me an identical cell phone to repair. The problem was also the same. I explained to him the same situation. He replied: "Don't worry, go ahead and test this one. If you are not able to repair it you can keep it and do more research and testing on it to improve your technique so that you can help others in the future." I was deeply moved, and stopped worrying. I did repair it well. Practitioner B later told me: "You did an excellent job, the voice is much clearer now, even clearer than when it was new." I knew this was the case because he has good xinxing. Later practitioner A heard this and gave me his cell phone again. I felt that his xinxing was not as good as that of practitioner B, and I was comparing them during the repair. It disturbed my heart and I accidentally broke more elements; I began to worry. I had a thought: "Practitioner A is not as good as Practitioner B, that is why." I knew this was not my thought, and I tried hard to get rid of it. I finally finished the job the next day.
Through these events, I realized that work itself is not cultivation, but my cultivation state will be reflected in my repair job. Improving my repair techniques is not the purpose, improving my xinxing level in order to save more sentient beings is my true purpose. Through my work, I have understood that if my purpose is clear, and it assimilates to the Fa, Master and the Fa will give me wisdom, and then my technique will improve. My technique is able to improve because of my xinxing elevation, not because I learned human knowledge well.
Some fellow practitioners praised me saying I was very capable. I thought, no matter how high my degree, no matter what kind of special techniques I obtain, even if I knew the knowledge of the entire human race, it all exists for Fa-rectification. Master said:
"Some are more capable when it comes to one thing, others with another--you definitely shouldn't let your thoughts run wild based on that. You say that you have such great abilities and so on and so forth, but that was all bestowed upon you by the Fa! Actually, it wouldn't work if you failed to attain that level of abilities. Fa-rectification required your wisdom to reach that point, so you definitely shouldn't think that you're so capable." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
There is nothing there for me to boast about or feel proud of and get carried away.
With Fa-rectification approaching, time is urgent. I have been worried about my fellow practitioners with whom I studied the Fa and validated the Fa before July 20, 1999, but because of the persecution have deviated from the Fa. I wanted to see them again and try my best to help them.
With the help of other practitioners, I finally met my fellow practitioners from the past. I knew that many of them had not been studying the Fa for a long time and some were not in a clear state, but I was not bothered by that. We recalled the times before July 20, 1999, the times we spent together validating the Fa, and the time we spent doing Dafa work. Some of them were moved to tears. One of them asked me: "I should awaken, shouldn't I?" I replied seriously: "Yes."
Actually when we were together, I said very little; they talked a lot. My body language told them: "Dafa is good, I have never given up and am still cultivating." I had no desire to look down on them. I never thought I was better than them and I still feel this way today.
Master said:
"Right now, whether Dafa disciples are validating the Fa as a group or clarifying the truth as individuals, all of those are what Dafa requires. As long as Fa-rectification requires it, you should do it well, and there's no room for negotiation. And don't get conceited because of your roles, and don't think you're different from others. You're each a particle. And in my eyes nobody is better than anyone else, since I scooped all of you up at the same time." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference").
We are all in the cultivation process and during the process, some are not so diligent, some are--this is normal. As long as Fa-rectification continues, there is a chance to improve. For those who lag behind, I believe once they awaken and begin to catch up, they might do a much better job than me. How could I look down on them?
After seeing those former practitioners, it was hard to say goodbye. Later, after I learned that these former practitioners picked up Dafa books again and began cultivating, I thought how compassionate Master is, how much Master endured for us. We cannot let Master down!
Thank you compassionate, great Master. Without your compassionate salvation, how could we become who we are today! I will carry on with righteous thoughts and deeds on my cultivation journey, be more diligent, and be a true Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioner.
