(Minghui.org) After reading Teacher's lecture, “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” I understood the importance of understanding “what are Dafa disciples” and “can we regard ourselves as Dafa disciples?” Teacher said in the lecture,
“I’ll tell you, for years I have been continually saying that Dafa disciples’ abilities are tremendous, yet many people don’t believe this since those abilities were not allowed to be seen. Under the effect of righteous thoughts, everything around you, as well as you yourself, will undergo changes. Yet you have never thought to give it a try.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching”)
In recalling my cultivation path and seeing what other practitioners have done, I feel that the times I failed to do well it was because I didn't regard myself as a Dafa disciple. We have all kinds of abilities, but when our righteous thoughts are not strong, we get caught up in the human world of illusion. The capabilities that Teacher and Dafa gave us become restrained by our human notions, and we are then unable to manifest our abilities and Dafa's almighty power.
Some time ago, police officers came to my house looking for me. I wasn't home, so they asked my husband to go to their office. They said that the 18th National Congress would be in session soon, so I should not wander around in the public areas and that they would monitor all my activities. I felt a bit uneasy and thought maybe I should go hide somewhere. Then I thought, “Why should I hide? What am I hiding from? The bad elements are the ones that will be eliminated.” Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
“If you are a true practitioner, our Falun will safeguard you. I am rooted in the universe. If anyone can harm you, he or she would be able to harm me. Put simply, that person would be able to harm this universe.” (Zhuan Falun)
Even though I didn't hide, my xinxing level wasn't completely elevated. I told a practitioner that we should not see each other too often for the time being. Although being mindful about our safety is important, my tone of voice and state of mind were not righteous. She shared with me, “When I first began to make truth clarification materials, other practitioners criticized me because some practitioners in my township were taken away by the police. After the police searched my home and found the material, they said I couldn't deny my crimes and detained me. I didn't pay attention to what they said and was not moved.”
She continued, “At the time, I didn't know about sending forth righteous thoughts. I recited the Fa every day at the detention center. The more I recited, the more clearheaded I was. I told Teacher that I should not be at the detention center and should continue making materials. Three weeks later, I was the only one released. Several other practitioners were illegally sentenced to jail or sent to forced labor camp. The police found a lot of truth clarification materials and Dafa books in my house, so theoretically I should have been given the most severe sentence. But the actual result was the opposite. Looking at things from the Fa principles, Dafa books and material are bright and shiny in another dimension and can eliminate all bad elements. So how can the police use that as an excuse to persecute me? If our minds are unstable and we do not regard ourselves as true Dafa disciples, we are unable to accomplish the sacred tasks.”
She added, “When I was destitute and homeless the last few years, and whenever I encountered dangerous situations while making materials, my first thought would be 'I'm a Dafa disciple. I'm not afraid. The bad elements are the ones who should be afraid.' And nothing would happen to me.”
I was stunned after hearing her sharing. She comes from the village and didn't get much education, but her first words were, “I'm a Dafa disciple. I'm not afraid of the evil elements. They are afraid of me.”
Recently my cultivation state has not been good. Thinking back, when I studied the Fa with diligence, I cultivated well and truly regarded myself as a practitioner. I've been wanting to share things that happened to me in 2005, so that we can improve together. In 2005, Practitioner A and I registered our names as shareholders under a new company. Other practitioners became shareholders, too. Practitioners had different ideas and were unable to agree, so I decided to not get involved in managing the company.
Then in July, a practitioner called and said several government agencies were going to investigate our company, and the local 610 Office wanted to arrest us. She was in a hurry, and I said to her, “Where are your righteous thoughts?” Then we were cut off. I found out later that the local 610 Office had tapped our phones. Our conversations were recorded and monitored. More than a dozen practitioners were involved. At the time, I spent a lot of time studying the Fa at home, and thus my state of mind was quite stable. I didn't listen to anyone and regarded everything as an illusion, as no one can persecute Dafa practitioners who are in the Fa. The 610 Office arrested a practitioner claiming he transported many Dafa books to other areas. Under their pressure and trickery, the practitioner gave them my name. The officers also talked to my husband, and he gave them information that he was not supposed to. After he came home, he shared with me what he had told them so that I would say the same thing when being questioned. Being a practitioner, I couldn't cooperate with the officers, or they would dupe me. The officers also questioned Practitioner A. They showed her the “evidence it” and told her they knew everything about us and threatened her. Her xinxing wasn't very stable. She discussed with me and wanted to give the names of other practitioners. She said the officers told her that if we did that, they would set us free.
I said to her, “Who are they? How can we believe them? They are after us. We are Dafa disciples and we are one body. We may have conflicts with each other when dealing with mundane issues, but we should not be persecuted. Teacher didn't arrange it, thus, we should not acknowledge the persecution. If we give them other practitioners' names, aren't we betraying Buddhas?” She thought for a moment and said, “I will let you handle it then. We must have had loopholes ourselves, and the bad elements took advantage of it.” I thought: even if we have loopholes, the evil elements should not persecute us. Looking at the situation from the Fa principles, it is practitioners' duty to be responsible to the Fa and fellow practitioners, and protect fellow practitioners. I didn't blame the practitioners, including Practitioner A. I said to her, “We are one body. When the evil elements persecute them, they are persecuting us as well. How can we give them practitioners' names and get away with it? The only way to walk away free is to protect fellow practitioners and send forth righteous thoughts as a group to eliminate the bad elements. Don't be afraid. Teacher said, '...just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.'” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)” from Essentials for Further Advancement II) Later the officers questioned me, but I didn't say anything. At the time, I felt tons of pressure, as if a mountain was weighing down on me. After this incident, I realized that, as a cultivator, where we stand to look at things is crucial. We will not be able to pass the tribulation if we look at things from a human's point of view. When we look at things based on the Fa principles and from a god's point of view, then everything is an illusion. If you think that the evil element is big, then it will be very big. If you think it is small, then it will be very small. If you don't think of it as anything, then it won't exist, and even if it exists, it won't affect you.
When I read Teacher's words in the “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” “Under the effect of righteous thoughts, everything around you, as well as you yourself, will undergo changes. Yet you have never thought to give it a try,” I truly felt that the process of cultivation is the process of letting go of the human heart. And when encountering tribulations, it is crucial whether we regard ourselves as Dafa disciples. If we think like an ordinary person, then the human environment will restrict us (such as surveillance cameras, phone taps, and being monitored during sensitive days prior to the 18th National Congress, etc). Some practitioners were fooled by these illusions and regarded themselves as ordinary people, including myself, when I was moved by what the police told my husband. If we regard ourselves as Dafa practitioners, then no one can restrict us, as no human factor can affect gods. The old universe's principles and elements cannot restrain a life that is assimilating to the Fa principles of the new universe.
A few years ago my husband bought a computer with a disc burner. In order to do Dafa projects smoothly and safely, I didn't ask for help from other practitioners and did everything myself. I was not well off financially and wasn't sure if I could fully fund the project myself. But I thought the Fa would provide everything I needed. I bought the cheapest discs. They were 80 cents each. After bringing them home, I would send righteous thoughts to them: “You were chosen by a Dafa practitioner to help save sentient beings. Please treasure this opportunity and maximize your potential to save them.” While sending righteous thoughts, I felt that each disc became thicker. Usually when I burned 100 discs, all 100 were fine. Sometimes I might have gotten one or two defects for every 100 discs I burned. The quality of the content was quite clear. Later a practitioner said she spent 1.60 - 1.80 yuan per disk and would still get a few defects, and the cheaper disks were worse. I shared with her my experience and she thought it was hard to believe. I also sent righteous thoughts when I distributed materials: “When Dafa practitioners clarify the truth, more and more people will know. Please let all the materials maximize their potential to save sentient beings.” I heard later that the material I left for a family of a person that worked in a hospital was passed around the hospital. The doctors and nurses took turns reading it. I heard they discussed with each other after reading the material and were amazed by Shen Yun Performing Arts. It appears the materials I distributed reached their full potential, and the righteous thoughts truly worked.
I was also involved in the cell phone truth clarification project. One of the tasks was automatically generating phone numbers to call. When performing the task I didn't have any thoughts and only wanted to generate phone numbers to save sentient beings. Once the numbers were generated, I made sure they were valid numbers. The dozen numbers I checked were all real numbers, and they were in Guizhou Province. Maybe it was because the mountain areas in Guizhou are remote and very few practitioners live there. (Note: I hope practitioners who live in the remote mountain regions can upload the phone numbers on the Internet website, so that the sentient beings there can be saved.) I checked the numbers again and made sure they were not consecutive numbers (for example, 138, 136, 189, etc.) Another practitioner said that her auto-generated numbers contained too many empty numbers, thus reducing the effectiveness of sending truth clarification messages. I asked her, “Before beginning the task, were you worried that too many empty numbers would be generated? You probably didn't realize that your human notion was interfering and failed to eliminate it. Therefore, every thought must be based on the Fa. As soon as our thoughts are not righteous, we should measure them according to the standard of the Fa and remove them immediately!”
The last few years I tried working independently within my capabilities. I have also submitted articles to encourage practitioners to make truth clarification materials. We all have the capabilities, it's just that some practitioners do not have the desire to do it and are fooled by the illusions of the human world.
Around 2008, several practitioners in my area were arrested. They were tricked by the police into giving each others' names. As a result, practitioners who were outside clarifying the truth were all arrested. Several practitioners who were released told me that the police kept asking about me. They didn't believe that I got away and was not arrested. At the time, I was running an independent material production site. Practitioners who got materials from me lived outside of our local area. Because of my family situation, I didn't make a large amount of material—it was just enough for myself—and when I had leftover material, I would give them to others. I continuously made and distributed materials and clarified the truth. The local practitioners didn't really know what I was doing. When we saw each other, we only shared our experiences based on the Fa principles. They didn't know some of the material they distributed came from me. I clarified the truth to some of the police who followed me. They and their family members withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I got away quickly from those who didn't listen. Therefore, I was the only one in our area who was not arrested. A while ago, the police found my husband and said they had been following me around. But how could human beings monitor gods? The independence of a material site is very important in safeguarding the safety of practitioners. It can also maximize the capability of saving sentient beings and reduce problems in transferring the material. Moreover, it gives practitioners who are in charge of producing materials more time to study the Fa, cultivate themselves, and elevate together.
These are some of my thoughts after reading Teacher's lecture. I cried while reading the lecture and enlightened to many things. I'm only writing a portion of my understandings. Previously, I didn't think I could write well. I thought I could talk but not write (this is also a human notion). The above experience is about things that I did well. I just want to share it with fellow practitioners so that we can save more sentient beings and elevate our xinxing. There are things that I haven't done well and would like to make up for it as I walk my cultivation path.
Finally, I'd like to encourage practitioners with the following words from Teacher,
“In practicing cultivation, you are not making real, solid progress on your own, which would effect great, fundamental changes internally. Instead, you rely on my power and take advantage of powerful external factors. This can never transform your human nature into Buddha-nature. If every one of you can understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary—the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!” (“Cautionary Advice” from Essential for Further Advancement)
Thank you, Teacher! Thank you, fellow practitioners! Heshi!
