(Clearwisdom.net) This summer a female practitioner often visited me to discuss Dafa-related projects. On each visit, she wore a brand new shirt and told me, "The fabric only cost a few yuan and I made the shirt myself. It's truly money-saving and functional!" I knew she was a very good seamstress, but I felt very uncomfortable with her obsession with wearing new clothes.
Later, I realized that it was not coincidental for me to witness her obsession, so I looked within to check if I was also attached to wearing nice clothes. During the entire summer, I only wore the same sleeveless shirt that I washed at night and put on the next morning. Did I not have enough shirts? Did I not have the money to buy new clothes? No! When I looked at my wardrobe, I saw 7-8 sleeveless shirts that I didn't want to wear anymore for various reasons. I thought one shirt was unfashionable, others the colors were too bright, one was of too thick material, and another one was too revealing. Anyway, none of the shirts were to my liking. It was obvious that I cared very much about clothes.
From being picky about clothes, I thought about cultivation and saving sentient beings. When I clarified the facts, sometimes I was picky and selective regarding who I wanted to talk to. I had numerous reasons not to start a conversation with a person I didn't feel comfortable with. For instance, the first person was too filthy and the second, too poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the third person ranked too high within the Party bureaucracy, and the fourth one did not seem to have a predestined relationship. How many people have I missed in the past?
Recently, I studied Master's "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference" over and over again. Every time I came across the sentence, "Saving people is just that, saving people, and to pick and choose would not be merciful," I have come to feel a great urgency. I must cherish the last moment to save sentient beings and relinquish my mentality of being picky and selective.
One day an elderly lady came to my store to buy things. If it had been before I understood this, I wouldn't have wanted to clarify the facts to this seemingly psychotic woman, because I feared she might spread what I said to her and get me into trouble, which in turn would result in karma for her. This sounded reasonable when, in fact, it was a manifestation of my selfishness. Now that Master has told us that "to pick and choose would not be merciful," I made up my mind to make sure she knew the truth. At the same time, I also remembered what Master said in the Ninth Talk of Zhuan Falun, "Maybe he's retarded in this life, but he won't be in his next life, his master soul isn't retarded."
I took out a bill with truth-clarification words on it and asked her to read them. She told me she was illiterate so I read the words to her: "Reciting 'Falun Dafa is good' can bring good fortune." She just smiled without saying anything. I said, "Auntie, this is absolutely true. Try it and you will for sure benefit. Follow me and say, 'Falun Dafa is good.'" She giggled and repeated the words. I went over them again with her a few more times. She suddenly patted her head and said, "Clear! Clear!" I knew she had already begun to benefit because her "retardation" protected her from having acquired notions and being poisoned by the CCP. Thus, after she said "Falun Dafa is good," she became clearheaded.
Later when she visited my store again, I found that she had changed a great deal. She dressed much more neatly and her face glowed with radiance. Not only that, she could speak much more fluently. She held up her leg and told me, "Look! My leg no longer hurts and I can walk much faster." She then took out the bill I had given her the time before and said, "I'm lucky to have it. I save it and do not want to spend it." I felt happy for her from the bottom of my heart. I told her, "Recite 'Falun Dafa is good' to your family so they can also benefit." She said, "Yes, I did. In the past my son and my daughter-in-law fought almost every day. Now they no longer quarrel." I gave her a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.
One day when I was surfing the Minghui/Clearwisdom website I accidentally discovered that the head of the local 610 Office in our city was the husband of one of my former colleagues. I decided to clarify the facts to him. I studied the Fa to strengthen my righteous thoughts. The following passage from Master's "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference" deeply touched me:
"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. Of course, what he does in his line of work can indeed cause harm and mean that he has committed sins against Dafa. But I think that the Fa is immense and that this is the Great Law of the cosmos, after all, so it can resolve anything. As long as you can open up your heart and be tolerant, I think anything can change. Back when I was disseminating the Fa in China, there were so many students that were members of the wicked Party and veteran cadres from the Red Army, there were many party secretaries, many students from the state and public security bureaus, and many students from the military--even members from the third or second intelligence directorates of the military's general staff. It's not that they truly went to the other side during the persecution, but rather, that they were fearful and became confused in the face of pressure. The person is a human being, after all, and is capable of doing anything under pressure. Once he becomes clearheaded, he will certainly come back. It's just a matter of time."
At first I thought, "I haven't seen them for close to 20 years. Would they still remember me? Am I turning myself in to the 610 Office?" After I recited the above passage hundreds of times, however, my righteous thoughts became very strong and I dialed the number provided by the Minghui website.
"Hello! Are you Wang Yang? I am Xiao Cui. Do you still remember me?" He was certainly very surprised, "Oh, Xiao Cui? How do you know my home phone number?" "Well, you now are a celebrity in our city. Who does not know you? I'd like to visit Zhang Jun. Can you tell me how to get to your home?"
I brought some truth-clarification materials and a gift to Wang Yang's home. To my surprise, my former colleague, Zhang Ju, looked very thin and dark. The last time I saw her, she had a radiant face with a fair complexion. Even though she wore make-up, it could not conceal her complexion. After chatting some, I turned to Wang Yang and said, "I heard you're in charge of persecuting Falun Gong in our city. As a matter of fact, Falun Gong teaches people to be good and helps them improve their morality and health. It also plays a great role in stabilizing society and reducing crimes. No Falun Gong practitioner would ever steal, rob, lie, gamble, or see prostitutes. You've been dealing with Falun Gong for so many years. You must be familiar with them, right?"
Wang Yang turned pale, and I sent forth strong righteous thoughts towards him. He said hesitantly, "Do you practice that Gong?" I replied, "Who wants to give up a good thing? The stomach problem that bothered me for over ten years disappeared after I began to practice. Zhang Jun knows that all too well. Back then I had to bring pills with me to every lecture I taught. My stomachaches were so intense that I sometimes couldn't even finish teaching." Zhang Jun interrupted, "Yes, I remember your students secretly putting medicine on the podium since they didn't want to see their beloved teacher suffer. Now look at you! You look so radiant and energetic. You compared to me--one in heaven and the other in hell."
I said to Wang Yang, "This is the difference between a cultivator and a non-cultivator. I advise you to never persecute Dafa disciples. They are all good people. Heaven will not tolerate it if you do harm to them. Heaven does not care how high you rank and even those in power will be punished if they commit crimes."
Wang Yang said, "Those things were all done by my subordinates and had nothing to do with me. If Heaven were to punish evildoers, it should punish them." I said, "But you ordered them to do those things, right? If you didn't give the orders, would they have dared to go after practitioners? I heard that the city detention center is still holding two female practitioners and I hope you order their unconditional release. This will bring good fortune to you, Zhang Jun, and your children."
He replied, "I can't make that decision all by myself. How about I talk to other people first? Given the friendship you have with Zhang Jun, I'll try to go easy on this matter and lend a hand when necessary."
I replied, "Thank you! I have some truth-clarification materials for you and Zhang Jun. Find out for yourself what Falun Gong is and what the CCP is. Especially, the Nine Commentaries, please read it from beginning to end. The biggest celestial change in the human world is to..." Even before I finished my sentence, Wang Yang said, "Secure your safety by quitting the CCP! I heard about it long ago and I've read Falun Gong materials before. There was one incident that deeply touched me, and since then I began to observe you guys. One day we got a tip that a Falun Gong practitioner had hung up a banner on a busy street, so my subordinates drove to her home to get her. She wasn't home so they waited until she came back from working in the fields. My people got inside her home. To their surprise, the woman farmer talked about Falun Gong like she was a knowledgeable college graduate, and none of them could find any fault with what she said. In the end, she admitted she was illiterate and couldn't talk any better. My people were all moved by her words and decided not to arrest her."
Wang Yang said that since then he began to read Falun Gong materials they confiscated from practitioners. He did see a lot of discrepancies between the CCP propaganda and the accounts of practitioners. He thought what Falun Gong said was quite reasonable and logical.
While he was talking, I kept sending forth righteous thoughts. In the end, his kind thoughts came forth and he said, "OK. I'll read your materials and see what I can do [to release those two practitioners.] At least I don't think you're bad people or enemies."
I smiled at his words, and so did Zhang Jun. I said, "Zhang Jun, you don't look too good. If you sincerely recite 'Falun Dafa is good' every day, I assure you that your health will improve." She said, "I have illnesses all over my body. Ever since Wang Yang became the 610 Office head, my health has deteriorated. This time I'll listen to you and recite 'Falun Dafa is good.'"
Upon my departure, the couple expressed their gratitude and said their fate may have been changed by my visit.
I wrote this article because I wanted to share with everyone my understanding of Master's teaching about not being choosy about which sentient beings to save. To be honest, I have great admiration for those practitioners who clarify the facts to high-ranking officials. This 610 Office head happens to be my friend's husband. What if we didn't know each other? Would I have still dared to clarify the facts to him? Compared to other practitioners, I still lag behind and I still have yet to completely remove my mentality of being picky and selective. With Master's Fa, however, I am confident that one day I will be brave enough to clarify the facts to all sentient beings with predestined relationships and rid myself of the mentality of protecting self.
