(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Gong in 1998. Before July 20, 1999, I was a district assistant. After July 20, 1999, under tremendous pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I became unemployed and lost the political and financial status I had pursued my whole life.
I started doing physical labor and earned between three and five hundred yuan a month. But as long as I could continue to practice Falun Gong, I could give up anything. I continued to do the three things while working to make ends meet. But I never again involved myself in coordinating projects
Taking the Task at the Critical Moment
Prior to the Olympic Games in 2008, the CCP started picking up Dafa practitioners. Practitioners in our city and neighboring counties and cities were all severely persecuted. The main production site for making truth clarification materials was destroyed and some coordinators were seized and sent to forced labor camps. This was detrimental to Dafa practitioners. As a result, most practitioners dared not come forward. Only a few determined practitioners were not overwhelmed and frightened by the situation. They were very worried and wanted to rescue fellow practitioners. They asked me to be the main coordinator in our city to organize everyone to open the path of assisting Teacher and validating the Fa, rescuing fellow practitioners, and continuing to save sentient beings. After letting go of all of my concerns, I shouldered the challenge and decided to try my best and devote all my energy and effort so we could form a unified body and open the path of saving sentient beings.
During the process, I realized that everything was arranged by Teacher. It is also part of my prehistoric vow. We have Teacher and Dafa, therefore Fa rectification is bound to be successful. As long as we firmly believe in Teacher and Dafa, study the Fa well, measure our every thought and action with the standard of Fa, and keep up with the pace of Fa rectification, Teacher will support us. Our situation will change in time
Forming a Unified Body During the Process of Rescuing Fellow Practitioners
Under the brutal persecution, we first needed to have strong righteous thoughts and form a unified body.
We first formed a team to rescue practitioners. This effort involved every practitioner in the whole city, and good coordination and communication were needed. We gradually formed a unified body during this process.
For example, many practitioners were detained at Nongken
Division Detention Center. Some were illegally tried. At every
hearing, we would individually clarify the truth to the families of
practitioners, investigate the details of whatever torture the
practitioner had endured, explain the facts to every ordinary
person who was about to give false witness, and tell them the
consequences of persecuting Dafa practitioners so that they could
eventually expose the truth and provide new and true evidence to
the defense lawyers. We used the Internet to expose the
persecution, wrote letters and placed telephone calls to the public
officials, prosecutors, and law-enforcement officials to clarify
the truth about Falun Dafa. We encouraged all the practitioners'
families and friends to attend the hearings. Practitioners from
neighboring counties all came to the hearings. Few of them went
into the courtroom; most stayed outside and sent forth righteous
thoughts nearby. At the first hearing, the judge and prosecutor
were both quite vicious. When our lawyer attempted to defend the
practitioners, they stopped him and even tried to expel him from
the courtroom. Over one hundred practitioners stayed outside the
courthouse and sent forth righteous thoughts. Some with their
celestial eye open could see that in other dimensions, there was
truly a battle raging between good and evil. After the massive evil
beings were eliminated by our righteous thoughts, the judge and
prosecutor both returned to a normal state of mind.
Prior to and following each trial, practitioners and righteous
lawyers would clarify the truth to the public, prosecutors, and
law-enforcement officials. Each time, the judge, police officers,
and participating CCP members would change their attitude, from
initial anger to keeping their heads down and not saying anything.
Afterwards, the police, the 610 Office members, the secretary
of the politics and law committee, and other participating Party
members would say something about which lawyer did a good job. The
judge and prosecutor would chat with the lawyer. Later some of the
judges and prosecutors defended practitioners in court. They would
say things like, “It seems that it was a forced confession,”
“Things were illegally confiscated and money was extorted, and
other materials do exist,” “We suggest you appeal to the proper
department,” “We advise a more lenient sentence,” etc. Some
prosecutors no longer took cases of Falun Gong practitioners. One
presiding judge resigned from his position right before the trial
of a Falun Gong practitioner. Some courts announced, “Due to this
forced confession, we consider the evidence invalid and demand a
re-investigation.” On some occasions, the politics and law
committee notified the prosecutor to sign and release the
practitioner. Besides trials, we also have a team that
systematically clarifies the truth to the public, prosecutors, and
law-enforcement personnel and urge them to quit the CCP and its
affiliated organizations. There are now several people who have
quit the CCP, who are publicly or secretly helping practitioners.
Our environment is getting better and better.
Never Give Up on Rescuing Fellow Practitioners
Soon after we established the rescue team, a practitioner from the
Farm was illegally sentenced to prison for distributing
informational materials. This female practitioner had strong
righteous thoughts. Teacher supported her—she appeared to be very
sick and was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. I
notified all practitioners to go to the hospital to send forth
righteous thoughts. Meanwhile the rescue team went with
practitioners' families to the public, prosecutors, politicians,
law enforcement officers, and detention centers to demand the
release of our practitioners. At first, they refused to see us and
threatened us or pushed us outside. We were not afraid and said,
“If you don't release them, we will go to Beijing and appeal.” We
never gave up and eventually disintegrated the evil with our
righteous thoughts and actions. The secretary of the politics and
law committee called the prison. She was bailed out for medical
treatment and eventually returned home.
Before this practitioner was released, the city's national security division arrested four other practitioners. These four practitioners were studying the Fa and using the Internet at one practitioner's home. Because this computer had once been confiscated by the public security bureau, it was monitored and tapped. They were picked up in the middle of the night. I told the rescue team that even if our fellow practitioners had loopholes, we should never allow the evil beings to torture them. We should not think about or discuss how practitioners did not do well and cease to entertain any negative thoughts. We divided into three groups and went to the detention center, police office, and the public security bureau. We clarified the truth to their families daily and helped them to plea for their family member's release. Most practitioners sent forth righteous thought nearby. The police claimed that each of them would be fined one thousand yuan and would be sentenced after the computer been sent for investigation. We firmly rejected this and our hearts were not moved. Every day we demanded that these practitioners be released unconditionally. Later the police gave in. They agreed to release them on the 11th day and asked the head of the local police office to get them on that day. On the 11th day, some police offices did not send people to pick up the practitioners, so the detention center refused to release them. We firmly demanded their release. At around 11 a.m. that day, four practitioners were all released unconditionally with Teacher's support. We once again witnessed “Disciples’ righteous thoughts are strong, Master has the power to turn the tide”(Hong Yin II). Fellow practitioners were encouraged greatly. During the process, we formed a unified body and acted righteously and turned the situation around.
Setting up Project Teams
Practitioners differ in realm, merit, education and age. In order to provide opportunities for all local practitioners on the path of validating the Fa, we started many projects in our city. For instance, printing the truth clarification messages on cash, writing truth-clarification letters, making recorded phone calls, distributing materials, pasting stickers, telling people the truth face to face and persuading them to quit the CCP, sending righteous thoughts in places controlled by evil beings, encouraging fellow practitioners who didn't step forward, and setting up coordinating teams on farms and in the city, towns and villages. Someone is in charge of each project. Sometimes we coordinate as one body and do the projects together. Sometimes we cooperate with each other and do the projects separately. Each individual can work on his own. Some individuals can be involved in several projects.
We did quite well encouraging fellow practitioners who hadn't stepped forward to help the situation. On a farm, after several cadre practitioners were sentenced to prison terms, other practitioners dared not step forward anymore. We contacted one practitioner and shared cultivation experiences with him. He went back and brought two practitioners to us. We shared with each other again. The third time, he brought six practitioners to share with us. Later on most practitioners on that farm stepped forward. Whenever they had difficulties, we would go to help them. We formed one body while doing the three things well. Everything is back to normal.
We think it is important to send righteous thoughts in areas controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. We have enlightened to one point: Teacher said it was very important to send righteous thoughts in the places close to the evil dens. No matter what we feel, as long as Teacher has told us to do it, we do it. Only when we disintegrate the large amount of evil in other dimensions can we inhibit the CCP's evil actions. We gathered practitioners and went to the detention center, government, police bureau, procuratorate and court, where we sent righteous thoughts together nearby. We made a schedule from Monday to Sunday. Every day in the year there were practitioners sending righteous thoughts in those places. A large amount of evil in other dimensions has been eliminated. The environment of validating the Fa in our city has gotten better.
Truly Looking inside and Constantly Expanding our Capacity
Teacher said,
"'The Buddha Fa' is most profound; among all the theories in the world, it is the most intricate and extraordinary science. In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary delimited by their own ignorance. (from Lunyu, Zhuan Falun)
When I worked as a coordinator at the beginning, I thought this way: “Dafa disciples are all practitioners. We can follow Teacher closely as long as I catch up with the Fa-rectification process and walk on the path of Fa, fellow practitioners just follow me, and we do the three things together. I can't expect others practitioners to help me to cultivate as the environment improves.” They said that I was too influenced by CCP culture with one person having all the say and talking only about big theories. Some practitioners started to get fed up with me whenever I spoke. They helped me improve my xinxing whenever we had cultivation experience sharing meetings. One time I went to the Mudanjiang City Courthouse to send righteous thoughts for a practitioner on trial. Some practitioners were arrested afterwards. When we had an experience sharing meeting later, everyone blamed me. At that moment I was able to maintain my xinxing. Teacher helped me expand the capacity of my heart. After the meeting, some practitioners said that if they were in my position and had been treated that way, they would have stopped being the general coordinator. However, after a period of time, my human notions surfaced. I felt unbalanced: “Dafa practitioners are even more difficult than ordinary people to cooperate with.” No fame, no self-interest, and no authority-- I had worked so hard and risked my life, and ended up with nothing but anger.
One time I called a halt to a Fa conference that had potential risks. Before I did, I thought that fellow practitioners would blame me. A veteran practitioner said that he would defend me. Later the coordinators who insisted on holding the Fa conference collaborated with several practitioners and decided to elect another practitioner as the general coordinator. But some coordinators and practitioners elected me again as the general coordinator. As such, there existed a barrier among practitioners. I have since realized that I was in pursuit of this tribulation.
Another time I was interfered with by the evil in other dimensions and taken to the hospital. In the beginning, many practitioners came to visit and help me. I left the hospital after an operation, but over a long period of time I was still feeling bad and didn't release the physical persecution I was suffering. Rumors started to arise about me. Some said that I accepted gifts from practitioners; some said that I used a practitioner's cell phone but didn't return it for a long time; some said that I told practitioners to use folk remedies when ill; some said that I was not following the Fa; etc. Though a little skeptical, practitioners spread those rumors. Some coordinators collaborated with other practitioners, saying that I should take a break, study the Fa, and improve myself. Some coordinators and veteran practitioners told me the names of those who had been spreading the rumors about me. I said, “Since these rumors came to my ear, let's stop spreading them. It's not easy for us to form one body. Let's stop creating conflicting groups. We should identify fellow practitioners' merits and good points, and think more of what they did well before.” For the unity of all local practitioners in our city, I gave up the position of general coordinator, followed Teacher's arrangement, and just cooperated well with others.
Later on I spent much time studying the Fa, learning lessons from practitioners in other cities, and spending time in self-reflection to identify my human attachments. For instance, I thought: “I overcame those difficulties myself and finally helped local practitioners to walk on the path of Fa rectification, so I contributed the most, and everyone should appreciate my efforts and respect me.” I had an attachment to being rewarded. This is a human notion. Great enlightened people never ask for rewards. Also, I thought: “I've done extraordinary things, I can do anything, and I've always done the best, no matter how difficult it has been. I've done so much better than everybody else, so everybody should follow me.” I was uncomfortable if anyone said that someone was more capable than me. I also had the mentality of showing off, jealousy, CCP culture, and attachment to myself.
Teacher said,
“It’s not that just because you’re the coordinator of a center and work for Dafa you can reach Consummation without having to improve your xinxing. Even a student can realize that he’s improving his xinxing in any disagreement—why can’t the coordinator of a center? In order for you to improve, your heart has to be provoked when problems arise; otherwise it won’t do. Working for Dafa is also a good opportunity for you to improve your xinxing!”
“Why do I specifically write this article for you? Because every act and every statement of yours directly affects students. If you are doing well in your cultivation, you will do well in spreading the Fa in your local area and students will do better in their cultivation. If this isn’t the case, you will harm the Fa. As you are Dafa’s elite at the level of everyday people, I can’t just let you work without reaching Consummation..” (from “A Person in Charge is Also a Cultivator,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
What I encountered was all arranged by Teacher to improve my xinxing and expose my human attachments. My human notions had to be removed. If I did not let go of those human attachments and notions, I would not be able to shed this surface human shell. Without changing the principles, which have been formed by ordinary people in their bones for hundreds and thousands of years, how could I reveal my true nature and enter into the new universe? I upgraded my understanding of the Fa principles, let go of my human attachments and notions I mentioned above, and broke away from the evil interference with my physical condition. I maintained the unified body and cooperated with fellow practitioners with a positive attitude. Our local practitioners all say that I now look like another person and speak more accurately from the perspective of Fa principles.