(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996 when I was only nine years old. Not quite understanding what “cultivation practice” was at the time, I followed my parents to practice in the parks every morning and study the Fa in the evening. I often listened to Master's lectures in my spare time, and joined the children's group study on weekends. Every young practitioner sat in the full lotus position while studying the Fa, and the longest time I sat was two and a half hours. My life then was carefree and happy. If someone was mean to me, I reminded myself to take that opportunity to raise my xinxing by being tolerant and refraining from disputing with everyday people.
Rejoining the One Body
As I grew older, I started to have contact with the big dye vat of everyday people. I developed more and more human attachments and gradually slacked off in cultivation practice. I no longer understood anything at deeper levels when I read the Fa, and I was reluctant to do the exercises. I slacked off more and more and started watching TV every day. Master saw me in this state and arranged a fellow practitioner to talk to me, since I refused to listen to my parents.
In the beginning, I was annoyed and wouldn't listen to him. I thought, “I didn't stop studying the Fa. I was just watching a little bit of TV. I study the Fa and practice the exercises regularly, I'm still young yet, can't I watch a little bit of TV?” I held on to that thought. The fellow practitioner didn't give up, and continued to visit me and share experiences. Gradually I changed my attitude and became willing to talk to him. I later rejoined the Fa-study group. I realized I had fallen short and needed to hurry and catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification and not be left out.
I went out to give out truth-clarification materials whenever possible. Since I was young and looked fashionable, people didn't think I was giving out truth-clarification materials no matter how big a bag I carried. Going through streets and alleys, climbing up stairs and coming back down, I wasn't tired after returning home. I knew Master was encouraging me.
Learning to Edit Informational Materials
A practitioner who could edit truth-clarification materials was needed at our site. The elderly practitioners encouraged me, and said, “Young people learn fast.” I started learning typesetting even though I had a very limited background with computers. I knew nothing about Adobe Photoshop and only a little about MS Word, what to do? I had to learn. So in the beginning I found someone to train me.
I was very confused and often forgot to save my work, and I would have to redo everything. While working on images in Word, the images often slipped off the page - I believe a lot of practitioners know what I'm referring to. I felt my patience was being tested. I often sat in front of the computer for a half day or an entire night selecting articles and looking for images to go with them. In the past, I could only look at the screen for 20 minutes before my eyes started to water, but after I began editing, the problem was gone and my eyes would not feel tired no matter how long I had to look at the screen.
In editing local materials, especially in exposing the local evil, I needed photos about local events or surroundings. Then there was the issue of who should take the photos. I thought, “It has to be me. I'm young so I can walk fast.” I also knew what kind of materials and content I was looking for. Sometimes I took a photo of one of the local landmarks and put it on the cover, people recognized it right away. It worked very well.
It was tough when photos about police units were needed. For example, the city prison was very evil. To widely expose the evil, photos of the prison were needed. I felt a little stressed out, “There were so many cameras and guards by the prison gate. It might be difficult to take a photo. What if someone questions me?” I knew this was a test of my fear, and also interference from the old forces. I sent forth righteous thoughts that night to disintegrate all evil and external interferences, and asked Master to strengthen me.
Overcoming Fear and Taking Pictures of the Prison
The next morning, I went to the prison to take photos. I did not tell my family members so that they would not worry and try to stop me. The prison is in the suburbs, so I set off to take a bus at 7 a.m. I had to ask people for the exact location after getting off. I asked a few people but none of them knew where it was. I begged Master to help me. A military man walked in my direction so I approached him and asked him. He said, “Follow me. I'm heading right over there.” So I followed him to an area near the prison gates. He pointed at the gates and told me, “There it is.” It turned out he worked in the army nearby.
I walked toward the prison gates, feeling the hairs rise up on the back of my neck. The gates appeared to be newly built, only about 30 meters from the building across the road on which I was standing. (This was the furthest spot where I could take a picture without obstructions in the view while staying safe at the same time.) There were several guards in the office by the gates. How was I to take a photo with them watching?
It was so early in the day that people hadn't started to come to work yet, and I was the only person wandering about. I felt the guards were looking out the window from time to time. The air was so tense that I couldn't breath. I could hear my own heartbeat. I was scared and asked Master in my heart, “What to do? What to do?”
I sat in the backseat of a bicycle parked by the building by which I was standing, sent forth righteous thoughts to clean the dimensional field and adjust my mindset, and I felt a little better. I thought, “None of you can see me, and I will take these photos.” I reached into my bag for my camera with one hand, turned it on, and put it next to my ear as if I was making a phone call (at that time cell phones did not have megapixels like they do today). I was wearing a cap, the camera was small enough to be covered by my hand. I selected an angle and moved to sit on another bicycle, and waited.
In a moment, a few people suddenly emerged from nowhere. I took the opportunity, quickly took out the camera and took several photos. I then put it back in my bag and quickly picked up my cell phone and put it next to my ear, and left. When I reached a safe distance from the prison gate, I took out the camera and checked the photos I took, and they were all very clear and well angled. I let out a sigh of relief, as it seemed to have taken forever! The process was so smooth and the photos came out so nicely, all thanks to Master's merciful protection and strengthening!
When the pictures were used in the truth-clarification article to expose the evil prison, practitioners all found the overall material very good. No one knew who took the pictures, they thought someone got it from the Internet.
Looking back, I realized my actions and thoughts during that event were a result of my participation in the Fa-study group. In the group, everyone studied the Fa and shared experiences every day, and often went out as a group to do truth-clarification. Everyone measured his or her conduct against the Fa, and kept their historic vows in mind at every moment. From that time on, as if I had found the correct road, I no longer felt lost or bored. I put all my time after work into doing the three things. Everyday was fulfilling, and I felt a sense of being on a mission. I sincerely thank the fellow practitioner for offering his selfless help by tirelessly sharing experiences with me and helping me improve on the Fa, which was what enabled me to catch up with the group.
Maintaining a Righteous Mindset
I realized maintaining a righteous mindset is very important while collaborating with fellow practitioners, otherwise the old forces may take advantage of any tiny thread of human thought as soon as it emerges.
In exposing the local evil-doings, it is extremely powerful to collect the evildoers' personal information and expose it, because they are always afraid of exposure. In a project, I worked with several fellow practitioners to collect information on a police officer who had been actively involved in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners for years.
In the beginning, it was very difficult because we seemed to have no clue how to start. We had his name, age, position, cell phone number and a description of him, but nothing else. We did not give up. Soon a practitioner provided information about his wife including her name and employer. We wanted to find his home address to expose his evil-doings near where he lived so he would stop, so we continued collecting information.
But things seemed to have stopped progressing and no additional information about this person was available for a long time. After experience sharing, we realized there must be something wrong with ourselves. We looked inside and discovered a lot of human thoughts within us. For example, resentment, revenge, and wondering why he hadn't received retribution after doing so many bad things.
Changing Our Mindset
We failed to realize that he was the real victim of the Chinese Communist Party, and that he was being used without knowing it. When we identified the problem, we readjusted our mindset and reinstated our base point: collection of his personal information is to expose his evil-doings and stop him from continuing, so as to save him. No human attachments should be mixed in.
Throughout the project, I had a thought to collect his photo, put it on self-adhesive fliers and post them all over the city. This would let everyone know he was participating in persecuting good people, including his relatives to feel ashamed of him and stop his evil-doings so he will be saved.
When Our Mind Is Pure, Master Displays Miracles
One night, I had a clear dream in which I found an ID card which belong to this very person, I woke up with excitement. Before long, a practitioner told me that an everyday person was willing to provide the family information and photo of this police officer. I was quite encouraged. I realized Master helped us by disintegrating the obstacles in front of us after seeing our heart and our looking inside as one body.
Later on we found out some information about the police officer's child - the school that he goes to, his class, the name of his head teacher and school principal, and the names of his classmates. We wrote letters to each of them as well as his wife's employer and coworkers, asking them to help stop the persecution. We put the person's photo on self-adhesive fliers, and coordinated efforts to put up the fliers in residential buildings all over the city, leaving no gaps. The feedback was very good, and it indeed awed and disintegrated the evil. The police officer was removed from his post.
Seizing Every Minute and Every Second
As a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, I am deeply aware of my great responsibilities and dare not slack off. Recalling my cultivation practice in the past 16 years, I'm deeply moved. From the innocence of a child, to the rebellion of a young adult, and to the maturity of a grownup, Master's hand and fellow practitioners' forgiveness and support have established the me of today.
I congratulate myself for not giving up practicing cultivation over the years, and sincerely hope those once-young practitioners return to the Fa-rectification. Since the human world is not our home, we need to follow Master to our real home. I have also truly understood that there are great needs for younger practitioners such as myself. Why did Master arrange for us to obtain the Fa at this young age? There must be a reason!
This concludes my sharing. I still have a lot of room to improve. A few days ago Master reminded me in my dream to “seize every minute and every second.” From then on, I used these words to push myself, and think of them whenever I tended to waste time on useless things. In the journey ahead, I will put more effort in practicing cultivation and doing the three things well, sparing Master from worry and becoming a qualified Fa-rectification period Dafa Disciple.
Thank you Master! Thank you my fellow practitioners!
