(Clearwisdom.net) I began my study of Dafa's principles when I was 22 years old. Since then, 15 years have passed. Starting in 1999, I have was constantly persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), until 2005 when there was some ease of pressure.
Do the three things well
During this unsettling period, I went through a divorce and was taking care of my daughter, who is now 9 years old. I did not have a stable job, but because I am a practitioner, my mindset was relatively stable. I would study the principles of Dafa whenever I had time. I felt great whenever I was able to quiet my mind in my study. Other than reading the book, Zhuan Falun, I have read all of Teacher's articles at least 10 times. Through repeated reading of the Fa, the pain from years of persecution began to ease and gradually disappear. My mind seems to be much clearer now, and I have noticed a definite improvement in the way I clarify the facts. In the past I told people about the lies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the goodness of Dafa, without paying much attention to the feelings of the listeners, or the environment we were in. But now I am doing the same thing much more rationally, and the result is much better.
I think that when we say, "Falun Dafa is good," we should try to personify goodness and compassion to people and not just explain an idea. How do we do this? It has to do with our cultivation. My understanding is that if we truly care about other people and do as Teacher said in Zhuan Falun, "you should always maintain a heart of benevolence and a mind of kindness," then people are more likely to accept what we have to say. After I had reflected on this, the students I advised started to see better results. Not only did some people withdraw from the CCP, but they also read Zhuan Falun.
As I study the principles of Dafa more and more, it has become clearer to me what I should be doing: do the three things well, do my job well and raise my child well. Teacher said in "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,"
"But the reality is, each Dafa disciple's life has been tightly wed to, like links in a chain, his cultivation. So when you relax yourself, it amounts to relaxing in your cultivation. "
Hence, I do the three things and hold onto the thinking and conduct of a practitioner, while performing a regular job in society.
Other than helping to produce truth-clarification materials at a production center, I also participate in another truth-clarifying project. This project takes a lot of time and appears to need even more time. It is very demanding. Not very many practitioners want to participate. It is something I am able to do, but it does demand a lot from me. As a single parent, there were times when I felt frustrated because there were just too many things that I had to do, and do well. Negative ideas such as "To be a practitioner is difficult. The pressure is so great. I really need more rest, etc." showed up and affected how I did my work. I recognized that I lacked righteous thoughts. I needed to study the principles of Dafa even more than I had been. Hence, I watched the video lectures, including Fa Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners from 2007. My depressed mood lifted when I saw Teacher on the video. Sometimes when I was by myself, negative thoughts would come up, and I had to watch the video in order to disperse them. I went through this up-and-down situation several times.
I think I understand the difficulty that is stated in "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,"
"Rather, to quietly cultivate in bleak loneliness, unable to see hope, is the hardest of all."
The only way I have to remove the negative, depressed feeling is to study the principles of Dafa more. I would do that especially when I noticed negative feelings welling up in me. I did not let such feelings grow, as I knew they were not part of me. I had to let them go in order to function properly as a practitioner.
When it comes to cooperation, the practitioners around me put it into practice well. Perhaps the pressure around us in China has enhanced our understanding of the principle that only through cooperation will we improve our character and save sentient beings more effectively. Most of the time, we cooperate very well and support each other. Rarely has there been finger-pointing about who should do what, or how something should be done. Our priority is to study the principles as a group. When someone comes up with an idea about producing truth-clarifying materials, or how to make calls to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa, others immediately try to carry out the idea. Over the years, no one has been persecuted because of Dafa activities we have done. Instead, we have seen improvements in our life and in our work. Hence, I believe the key to doing the three things well is studying the principles thoroughly.
Provide proper guidance to young practitioners
In guiding my daughter, I expect her to take her work seriously, study Dafa's principles as much as possible, and read Dafa materials. I also study Dafa principles with her.
I use her as a mirror to myself. If she was sick, I would look within myself to see what might be the cause. If I found something that needed to change, I would tell her about it and we worked on it together.
When she was a kid, her father did not care much about her and he forced me to divorce him. I treated her as a young practitioner; she should strive to uphold harmony and compassion. I told her to look at the positive traits of all people, including her father. I also told her that her father did what he could to love her. As a result, she was able to understand her father and was nice to him and cared for him. It seemed to me that her father was moved by her actions and even began to care for her too. She advised her father to cultivate and gave him poems from Teacher's Hong Yin. This action touched her father. I think that as she grows older she will be able to do more to validate Dafa and save sentient beings.
My care for young practitioners is not limited to my daughter. Although I was under pressure to make a living, I did my best to ask all young practitioners to study Dafa principles together and share their understandings. I let them come to my home to study Dafa principles, practice the Dafa exercises and learn traditional culture. Their parents liked what I did. However, I have moved to a new home now and am too busy to continue this effort. This is unfortunate but I hope that other practitioners can continue with these kinds of activities. I know the young practitioners have a difficult time in China because of the persecution. It is difficult for them to know what to do without more experienced practitioners providing guidance.
The above are some of the ideas I have acquired through cultivation. I obtained them by studying the principles of Dafa and applying them in daily life. Please point out anything that is improper.
