My Experience of Handling the Vaccine Mandate as a Practitioner

(Minghui.org) I recently read several Minghui articles on the vaccine mandates. I have also been pushed very hard to get vaccinated and I would like to share my experience.

A while ago, my company issued a vaccine mandate and even designated one person to keep track of every employee’s vaccination status. The staff members of my residential committee also called my family members several times to inquire about my situation. The loudspeaker at the gate of my apartment complex also blasted the same announcement every day, urging everyone to get the jab. Facing the pressure from my employer and local community, I had a great opportunity to cultivate my xinxing. I experienced four phases of xinxing cultivation. Here are my experiences.

Phase One: Saying No, But Not Much Confidence

My first thought to the vaccine mandate was: “I am a practitioner. I won’t get the shot.” On the first day that my company’s designated vaccine checker called me, I told her I hadn’t been vaccinated. She didn’t call me for the next few days. However, the list of people who hadn’t taken the shots got shorter and shorter. When she called me again, she said, “Go get it. You’ll get the shot eventually unless you can get a medical exemption. Without the vaccine card, you can’t even go to restaurants.” Although I wasn’t intimated, I felt that something wasn’t right in my reasoning not to get the vaccine.

Phase Two: Trying to Find an Excuse

I searched deeply in my heart on why I refused the vaccine. Did I worry about the side effects? As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I am very clear that my body has been purified by Master (Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa), and even if there are any side effects, they wouldn’t harm my body at all. So the real reason was that because I was a practitioner I didn’t need any vaccines. But I was afraid that people wouldn’t understand my reasoning, as many of them are atheists.

I kept searching inside and realized that the thought “I do not need any vaccines” was all about “me.” I didn’t want any toxins from the vaccines to go into my body, which had been purified by Master. Therefore, my thinking was still based on selfishness. Then how to look at this issue from the perspective of the Fa and meet the Fa’s requirements? It dawned on me that our not taking the vaccines should be about validating the extraordinariness of Dafa. I felt that I had improved my understanding from the perspective of the Fa a little bit. 

But my colleagues were talking about vaccines every day, so occasionally I couldn’t help thinking how to respond if asked again why I hadn’t gotten the shots yet. I found an excuse, “Well, I had heart disease before practicing Dafa. I will use it as an excuse then.”

Phase Three: Unrighteous Thought Leads to Physical Discomfort 

In the following few days, I experienced tightness in my chest twice. I had heartburn and was sweating and shivering. I was alarmed and knew that I must have done something wrong. When I recalled my recent thoughts and actions, I suddenly remembered that I once had this thought: “I will use the excuse of having heart disease before to explain to my superior why I didn’t take the vaccine.” I was shocked by my thought because it was definitely not the right way in which a practitioner should face a test. How could I take a disease as an excuse to avoid being vaccinated? This thought must not have come from my true self. It was a distorted way to maintain what the self-centered me in the old universe wanted. When I took it as my own thought, it was no different from asking for the disease. Thus, the symptoms appeared.

Still, how should I explain my decision to my superior? Suddenly another thought hit me, “Why do I assume that my superior will check my vaccination status? Isn’t that I’m begging for it?”

Although I did see my superior asking about my colleagues’ vaccination status every day, it was normal among ordinary people. As a Dafa practitioner, our path is arranged by Master, and we are practicing in human society during the Fa-rectification period. Our mission is to assist Master to save people and what happens in society has nothing to do with Dafa practitioners during the Fa-rectification.

Then I felt that the factors related to vaccination disappeared in my field. There was no need to find the answer to a non-existing question. I told Master in my mind, “Please do not allow people controlled by old forces to check my vaccine status. It is irrelevant to what we are doing.” Since then, although the vaccine status checking was still going on every day, no one ever checked on me, as if I was not one of them. 

Phase Four: Every Single Thought Matters

It has been a while since no one pushed me to get the vaccine. I thought I should have passed the test.

One day I was with a friend and he answered a phone call from his residential committee, checking on his vaccine status. He said he couldn’t take the vaccine because he had a health issue. But he was required to get a medical exemption from his doctor. He became very angry, “What kind of exemption? Why do I need an exemption? Actually I had planned to take the vaccine; however, since you pushed so hard, I will not take it! I don’t like to be forced to do it.” He hung up the phone. I looked at him and smiled.

After I came home, I was still thinking about what happened. Suddenly, I realized that my smile was very impure. I searched inward and tried to find out my real intention behind the smile. Why did this conversation happen in front of me? Why did I still care about people getting the vaccine? 

I realized that I bore hatred for the Chinese Communist Party, which has been persecuting Falun Dafa since July 1999. “Hatred” is a being in other dimensions and it was happy and satisfied when those pushing for the vaccine were rebuked. I felt good too, because someone else had vented anger towards the CCP for me. I was relieved after finding this attachment. I’m very grateful for Master for using every opportunity to expose my attachments.

Once, three fellow practitioners and I shared our experiences on the vaccine mandate. One young practitioner was under high pressure not only from his workplace but also from his family. The practitioner has a school-aged child, whose teacher called him several times to urge him and his wife to get vaccinated, otherwise the child would be under pressure at school. No matter what, the practitioner was not moved at all. Gradually, no one mentioned the vaccine again.

When I told them my experience of how I got physical symptoms after I thought of using the excuse of heart disease, the other two practitioners realized that they had a similar problem as mine. One said that a few days ago she was asked whether her not taking the vaccine yet was because she was sick. She didn’t respond but also didn’t deny it in her heart. Since then, she often felt that her head was heavy. The other practitioner said, “Now I know why the surgical incision on my belly from years ago is so painful. When the community called on people to take the vaccine, I thought that if they came to my door, I would show them my surgical incision. This non-righteous thought resulted in my pain.”

Above is my personal experience to share with fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate. 

Editor’s note: This article represents the author’s understanding at their current cultivation state, meant for sharing among practitioners to “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)