(Clearwisdom.net) A fellow practitioner offered to help me establish a training class to learn how to install satellite dishes to receive New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV). I said, "OK, I heard you," but in my heart I figured it was up to young men to do. A young girl like me couldn't clamber up onto someone's roof to install satellite dishes. Half a year passed before I again bumped into this fellow practitioner, and he told me what this project was achieving in terms of saving sentient beings. He said that after having a satellite dish installed and receiving NTDTV, a lot of people said this television station was worth watching. There was a village Party secretary who would tell the people he came across, "Overseas channels all say that Falun Gong is good. There are a lot of people practicing it."
Listening to his feedback, I was really happy that NTDTV was such a joy to watch, but I still didn't see promoting it as having much to do with me. But out of curiosity I said I'd also like to learn how to install satellite dishes. Fellow practitioners organized it so that our safety was assured, and I relied on a male practitioner to do most of the work. I figured it was fine to just help out here and there, but in my heart I was still thinking that this was something for male practitioners to do. I had never had anything to do with satellite dishes, or the bits and pieces used to fasten them, and I felt that the jargon was a little hard to understand. My heart of seeking ease and comfort drove me to not want to deeply study and learn the skills, so I carried it out as if "strolling through a field and admiring the flowers."
After I returned, a practitioner asked me if I had learned how to do it. I replied that I could now hammer in nails and turn screws, which I had never done before. The practitioner said, "What use is that? You need to be able to receive and tune into the signal. With your current skills you're not able to save people!" The practitioner's stern words were painful to hear, and I couldn't help crying. I thought, "Every day I entertain thoughts of going abroad and helping overseas practitioners, but I'm not even doing the things that are right in front of me." I felt ashamed. So, I went on-line and found a lot of experience sharing articles about installing satellite dishes for NTDTV and others about improving xinxing while doing it.
Amidst feelings of shame I searched within: How was it that I knew that NTDTV was good and could save people, but have all along I refused to take real steps to promote it? I was still waiting, relying on other practitioners to promote it, and tenaciously defending a stubborn mindset that I should just maintain the status quo by handing out DVDs and materials--after all, these save people, too. But I didn't have the wish to cooperate as one body, and I wasn't prioritizing or treasuring NTDTV, this great instrument for saving people. Seeing that there were a lot of practitioners like this, the old forces used this as an excuse to bring about the situation of Eutelsat ceasing its transmission over China. Originally we could use a small dish to receive signals from the W5 satellite, but after that ceased, we could only use a large dish to receive 88 frequency Asia Pacific NTDTV. If in our hearts we really wanted to save people, then we would put to full use this powerful tool. If we all promoted NTDTV and said a few words to others that this station is worth watching, wouldn't that be promoting NTDTV and expanding the station's market? If everyone just said a few words to those around them and from the bottom of their hearts placed importance on promoting NTDTV, then the power of our one body effort would be limitless. The power of cooperating as one body would then manifest in full.
I earnestly asked a practitioner to arrange another chance for me to learn. To my surprise I discovered that the practitioner teaching me the skills had a deformed leg. I had assumed she was just guiding us to our destination, but during the ride in the long-distance bus she told us about her experiences and understandings regarding installing satellite dishes. She said this time she also wanted to learn how to install a single dish for four satellites one more time. This time when I thought again about learning how to install dishes, her experience helped me break through my stubborn mindset: that installing satellite dishes is only something only male practitioners should do. I thought of how many practitioners there are locally whose four limbs are in top shape, but they still don't get involved in this project because of their attachment to comfort. On the other hand, a female practitioner with a difficult leg, who is over 40 years old, had no fear at all about doing it--how ashamed I felt! Her local accent wasn't a hindrance to my understanding her, and while listening my tears continued to flow: she is even willing to climb up to high places to install the dishes. She told me that she was a little scared when she used a freestanding ladder to climb onto the top of houses for the first time, but she strengthened her will, asked Teacher for help, and, breathing steadily, she climbed up. One time the satellite and television were connected without problem, but still she was unable to receive the NTDTV signal. She noticed these people had some photos of the evil Communist Party hanging in their house, so she sent righteous thoughts while clarifying the truth to the homeowner and encouraged him to use a pen name and sign a declaration withdrawing from the three Party organizations. Of course she chose words carefully so that he could understand and accept them. He listened and understood and quickly burned the photo. She tried to tune into the signal again, and there it was. These stories sound just like myths and legends from the past.
During our conversations she told me some of her cultivation stories. Her leg was paralyzed when she was young, and she had also been in a car accident. But through cultivation she was able to walk independently again. This was already a miracle, but it didn't stop there. When the persecution started, she decided she didn't want to stay at home, and wanted to go out and save people. So after reaching agreement with her family, she bought a three-wheeled transport vehicle, learned how to drive it in a single afternoon, and worked hard using it to transport people and earn money for her family. Most importantly, she clarified the truth to a lot of people who boarded her vehicle. Such hardship and determination would make anyone sigh in wonder.
The cultivation environment is up to each individual to establish. It just depends on how strong your heart is for saving people. "cultivation depends on one's own efforts while the transformation of gong is done by the master." (Zhuan Falun) Master can give us abilities according to how solid our heart is.
Installing satellite dishes is outdoor work. I was afraid that the sun would darken my skin, but while I was applying sunscreen this practitioner smiled at me and said, "You should have righteous thoughts." She said she is a farmer and works in the field every day, but thinks that Dafa practitioners' skin won't darken. I looked at her arms and both had been tanned to a reddish black, but her face was a delicate pinkish white. I asked her if she wore a hat, and she said the never had. She gets up at 3:40 a.m. in the morning to practice the exercises, goes to bed at 12.30 a.m. at night, and sleeps for not even four hours. She said she has been doing that for a long time now, and what's more, before coming here, in order to quickly sell her produce at the markets, she had already gone two nights without sleep. She still had so much energy. She said she farmed at home, did work to validate Dafa, and always completed sending righteous thoughts and doing the exercises before 6.30 a.m. Otherwise, during the day she was busy with her farm work non-stop, without a spare moment for anything else. In the evening she studied the Fafor at least three hours.
Practitioner Xiaotong was responsible for teaching others. He was always in good spirits and endlessly patient, carefully explaining things over and over again. Another practitioner, Xiaobai, gave me an instruction manual for installing NTDTV satellite dishes, which explained things very clearly and in great detail. In the process of installing the dishes, I was soon able to understand all the jargon, along with how to adjust the position of the dish. Xiaotong and Xiaobai had become extremely good at it - they would install the dish, move it around a little, and in one go they would be able to receive the signal from multiple satellites. Xiaotong said it takes more than a month to teach these things to most people, but Dafa practitioners are different. Their energy field is strong. No matter how weak the signal is, they're still able to receive it. As soon as the heart is resolute, they can immediately adjust and receive the signal.
Xiaotong and Xiaobai were devoting themselves entirely to this project, braving the wind and the burning sun. They were using their own money and not earning any income. Xiaotong's house had a newborn child who was one month old, yet they had scarcely any money to celebrate that milestone. His wife and mother-in-law were wiping tears from their eyes, and he still maintained a positive outlook, continued teaching us the skills, and didn't complain. In the end, a fellow practitioner gave them some money to help his wife open a shop and do some business.
Everyone learned how to install dishes in the daytime, then in the evening studied the Fa and shared together. Every person found his or her own gaps and shortcomings. Xiaobai had done this work for a long time, with little time for sharing with other practitioners, and while studying the Fa he couldn't quiet his mind. Everyone patiently shared their opinions, and Xiaobai came to understand his own shortcomings.
Through the process of installing satellite dishes and comparing myself with the Fa, I discovered my own cultivation shortcoming: I always used human logic to look at problems. We're fulfilling the sacred task of saving people. Holding onto human notions will become a major obstacle to our cultivation process. I realized that it's actually not hard to treasure and put into use this precious instrument called NTDTV to save people. What's hard is changing human notions, and it's only the fact that we haven't realized our xinxing problems that makes us feel that it's hard.
I deeply thank our most honorable Teacher for compassionately saving his disciples and entrusting us with great abilities. I hope we practitioners are able to treasure and promote this instrument for saving people: NTDTV.
