(Clearwisdom.net) In June 2009, I emigrated from mainland China to Malaysia. Upon my arrival, I found that practitioners there had established a stable cultivation environment, where they would go to tourist attractions to clarify the truth in a consistent manner. Some of them never missed a day, regardless of the weather.

Master said, "The entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments." (Zhuan Falun) During my first few days at the tourist attraction, security guards came often, and it appeared that some suspicious people were taking pictures of us. After some time, I formed a notion that the security guards were there to bug us. I would watch out for the guards as I handled our truth clarification poster boards. One day, as we were passing out flyers to the tourists, a guard on a motorbike rode up to us. Upon seeing him, my fellow practitioner told me to quickly pack up our materials. I complied. Then I started to wonder: Why should we be on edge with something as dignified and righteous as clarifying the truth?

On the same night, after studying the Fa, I found I had fear in my heart: What is there to fear? Why fear it? Who would regard truth-clarification in a fearful manner? Who would fear the fact that sentient beings are being saved? Like peeling off layer upon layer of an onion, I kept on digging inside myself until I located the root of it all: My selfishness, my concern for self-interest had been taken advantage of by the old forces, and this selfishness was actually buried deep down inside. On the surface, I thought my fear was founded on the ground that the guards had interfered with us and arrested some of our practitioners. Therefore, in my mind, I pitted the guards into an adversarial position against us. This acquired notion was not of my true self, and I did not want it to stay with me.

In the following days, I greeted the guards with a friendly nod or a smile. One day, before we reached our site, I saw from a distance that a guard was standing there. This time around, I did not think that he was there to target us: It was perfectly normal for a security guard to execute his duty and maintain the order of a tourist attraction. Besides, our activities were not in his way. I acted normally, doing what I was supposed to do, and passed out flyers. When our eyes met, I smiled and he nodded back in a friendly fashion, and I carried on with my work. Through this I came to realize that whoever this person was and whatever he did, he was a sentient being in the first place, and we should not push him away. To treat all beings in a benevolent manner requires us to reinforce the good side in them, not the bad side.

Master said,

"My disciples, you shouldn't always be unaware of these things until I point them out. In fact, everything is included in the Fa. Why not read the books more? I suggest that everyone set his mind to reading ten times the book I wrote, Essentials for Further Advancement, which you call scripture. When your mind isn't at peace, studying the Fa is not effective. You should study it with a peaceful mind." ("A Heavy Blow" in Essentials for Further Advancement)

My thinking is simple and I try to do whatever Master says we should. I read every one of Master's teachings at least 10 times. Master said,

"I think that you know what I've said before, namely, that I will save the spies, too. He may be a spy in this life, but in his previous lives perhaps he was outstanding. And they all came for this Fa. So, why would we judge him based solely on this lifetime? Should we no longer save him, in that case? He merely has a different profession, that's all." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference")

In this passage, Master pointed out the principle that to better clarify the truth, and to better save sentient beings, we need to have enormous amounts of compassion and endurance.

Once, a tour guide tried to snatch our display boards away. Of course we could not let this happen. When the tour guide left, a fellow practitioner commented, "That was the most evil person!" I felt upset and replied, "You shouldn't be saying that; he didn't know the truth, that's all." That fellow practitioner countered, "Master says that not all beings are savable." To that I replied, "We are in the dark as to who is still savable. So it is inappropriate for you to casually decide the position of one human being---we are here to save people, not to destroy them." That fellow practitioner would not accept my line of reasoning. When I got home, I started to question myself about whether I did anything wrong in my interaction with the fellow practitioner. Master said,

"I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears." ("Clearheadedness" in Essentials for Further Advancement)

In retrospect, I was not acting with total compassion toward her. I often thought of her as someone with a lot of strengths, but who never cared to listen to criticism from others. I believed she found excuses for everything, which I thought was an influence of the Party culture. Master said, "While working, your tone of voice, your kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person's heart, whereas commands never could!" ("Clearheadedness") On top of the absence of kindheartedness, I had jealousy and other complicated feelings mingled in my attitude toward her ----Given all that, how could she accept my reasoning?

This incident served as a good reminder of how I should carry myself in saving sentient beings, and what compassion was really about. My fellow practitioners, we need to be clear-headed that we are validating Dafa, not ourselves.

In addition, I came to realize the importance of cultivating speech where caution is needed in not casually doling out definitive remarks. Both Buddha nature and demon nature coexist within us. If the demon nature gets the upper hand, our casual judgment of someone could result in him/her being positioned as such. If our action results in others' losing the opportunity to be saved, what are we here for?

Master said,

"So as you clarify the truth, you should do so with awareness and rationality. If you, as Dafa disciples, want to effect change in a person when you clarify the truth and want to save him, you must not arouse the negative elements in that person. You must hold to being Shan, and only then can you resolve problems that may arise and save that person." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference")

As I understand it, the old forces are here to destroy people, whereas we are here to save them. When the old forces lock people up in a dark room to prevent them from seeing the light of truth, Master bestowed us with the key to the room--- compassion, the very key to the dark house. With this key, we will not encounter as many barriers and hurdles in clarifying the truth.

There are other attachments that tend to appear in the truth-clarification process: Zealotry, show-off mentality, jealousy, etc, which can arise with a little "slacking off" on our part. Only when we constantly look inside, and gauge things according to the Fa, can we be neither overly cautious nor sluggish in cultivation. We will then keep external interference at bay, and maintain the state of mind of a cultivator.

I realized that during Fa-rectification period cultivation, one needs to let go of the ego, and consider things from the perspective of "one body of practitioners." For instance, when a fellow practitioner suggested going to the Chinese Embassy the next day to clarify the truth, I wanted to go as well, regarding it to be a good opportunity. Later on, I heard that for a number of reasons the majority of the local veteran practitioners had a different idea about whether we should go. I accepted their decision peacefully, thinking that going to the tourist site instead could validate the Fa just the same. It was just a matter of division of labor. After all, we needed to be mindful of our purpose here: We are here to validate Dafa, not ourselves.

The above are some of my understandings. I know that as far as cultivation is concerned, I have still not done so well in many aspects. Master told us, "For a cultivator, looking within is a magical tool." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference") No matter where and when, I keep Master's words in mind and look within myself unconditionally. Let's be effective particles of Dafa and dissolve the evil together.

I would appreciate if my fellow practitioners could kindly point out anything inappropriate.