Being Diligent in Falun Dafa Cultivation

(Minghui.org) My husband passed away nearly 10 years ago. My son’s family used to live with us. A few years ago, they moved out after they bought a house in another city. Since then, I have lived alone and I am now 70 years old.

In the eyes of most people, I should feel lonely, as I had nobody to take care of me and could no longer enjoy the pleasure of having my grandchild around. But I felt my life was rather fulfilled. I was very happy and in good spirits every day. This is because I have been a Falun Dafa practitioner since 1994, I do the three things, and have Master Li Hongzhi (Dafa’s founder) looking after me. I felt like the happiest person in the world.

I’d like to share how I have walked my cultivation path well in my seemingly lonely life.

Master Arranges an Excellent Environment and Adequate Time for Practicing Cultivation

Many senior practitioners have to painstakingly bring up their grandchild, but Master didn’t arrange such a situation for me. My son didn’t get married until he was 35 years old and he didn’t want to have a child right away. At that time, I was responsible for printing and delivering truth-clarification materials for several fellow practitioners. Besides, I often spent quite a lot of time going out to clarify the facts to people face-to-face. My schedule was always jam-packed. My son and daughter-in-law didn’t have a child, but I was totally fine with that as it afforded me more time to do the three things.

Last year, my daughter-in-law was pregnant. In two months, she was about to go into labor. I wondered if my cultivation environment would have to change. As it’s very common these days for a mother-in-law to babysit the grandchildren. If I were to do that, I would have had to do it well. So I called my son and asked them to come to stay with me as early as possible. Meanwhile, I had a thought very firm and clear: If I needed to bring up my grandchild, this would be my cultivation path; but if I didn’t need to do that, then I’d have a different cultivation path. My path is arranged by Master. I’d only follow what Master wants or His arrangement for me.

Some time ago, my son called and told me that my daughter-in-law was going to stay with her parents instead. The reason was that she would be covered by the medical insurance in her hometown. In addition, both her parents were younger than me, had a lot of free time, and were in a better position to provide babysitting. To prepare for that, her father already expanded the size of their house in early spring. Now both my son and daughter-in-law have moved in to live with them.

I knew this situation was indeed, Master’s arrangement. Because I had the wish of saving sentient beings, Master made these arrangement for me. Thus, I could continue to dedicate all my efforts to doing the three things as Master required. I truly appreciated Master for that.

My sister was two years younger than me, and she is also a veteran practitioner. For the past 20 years, we have helped each other in terms of setting up a materials production center, clarifying the facts face-to-face, and helping people with renouncing their memberships from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Now she has undertaken logging onto the Internet to download, print, and compile informational materials.

Her husband was not a practitioner, but he took care of buying ink cartridges for the computer. He would always drive me to wherever I needed to go without any complaints. In addition, to make my life a bit easier, they often cooked for me so that I could have more time for going out to save others.

Letting Go of My Attachment to Self-Interest, I Put Saving People as a Priority

Letting Go of the Idea of Renovating My Home

The apartment I lived in was about 600 square feet with only one bedroom. But the balcony itself was 500 square feet. Some people enclosed their balconies to enlarge their living space by adding another bedroom to their apartment. My apartment was worth a bit over 2,000 yuan per square foot. If the balcony were to be enclosed, the property value would have gone up by hundreds of thousands of yuan. In addition, the property management office informed us that this renovation could only be done now.

I considered this opportunity since my place was so tiny that when my family or relatives came for a visit, they had to sleep on the couch overnight. In addition, the pipe from upstairs in my neighbor’s balcony came through my balcony. They also raised a puppy and often ended up dripping filthy water down onto my balcony. Once enclosed, these problems would have gone away. But after more thought, I let go of the idea of doing the renovation. I wanted to save the time spent on renovations and use it for saving more sentient beings. When my neighbors did the renovation, it took them a few months to finish the whole project. Although during the process, I could find the opportunity to clarify the facts to those workers, or people whom I’d run into when buying construction materials, it couldn’t be compared with the outcome of my going out to talk to people every day at all.

Master’s Fa-rectification is coming to an end, however, in mainland China, there are still people who have not quit the CCP and its youth organizations, and many people still have not understood the truth of Falun Dafa. What to do? Most of them came down to the human world to obtain the Fa by casting away their divine standing for their firm belief in Master’s Fa-rectification. Once the Fa-rectification is over, they’d lose the opportunity of being saved. I remembered what Master said,

“But do you realize something? Those who were originally meant to have been saved last year [by Shen Yun, but didn’t go], have lost the opportunity forever. That’s because Fa-rectification is unceasingly forging ahead, step by step, and when it arrives at one cosmic plane it is time for that level of people; when it reaches a certain heavenly kingdom above or a certain layer of the cosmic body, it is time for that group of people to come see [the show], and next time around [when Shen Yun performs], that seat will belong to someone else. Do you realize how many lives have been lost?! Do you know how I feel when I see those empty seats in the theater?” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)

I had the thought that if I was busy with renovations perhaps those who should be saved would lose their opportunity. I would not let Master down. The material interest from doing this upgrade and getting a spacious place is very tempting to some people, but to someone who has cultivated in Dafa for more than 20 years, it’s meaningless. Master said,

“Contrast that with the following view: coming to this world is like staying over at a hotel, which we quickly leave after a short stint. Yet some people are so caught up in this place that they have no interest in leaving. They have forgotten their true homes.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

Master’s words were deeply imprinted in my mind. Therefore, I immediately let go of the idea of doing the renovation but rather spent all my time and efforts in assisting Master in the Fa-rectification and saving people.

Creating Opportunities to Save People

When most people go out to shop for something, they only buy what they need. They also consider buying from those with better goods or cheaper products. I am not like that. I look at who those vendors are. If it’s someone whom I have clarified the facts to before, I don’t go to them again. But if it’s someone new to me, no matter what they sell and how much they charge, I’d try to buy at least something from them in order to start a conversation. Then through this opportunity, I’d talk about quitting the CCP and clarify the truth of Dafa.

In order to clarify the facts, I changed my eating habits. A woman was selling sticky rice dumplings. I used to seldom touch that and initially had no interest. However, as soon as I saw that she was a new face to me, I immediately changed my mind. I bought a few of them from her. Then I took this opportunity to help her renounce her membership from the Young Pioneers. She was also very open to hearing the truth.

One woman helped her son in handling the backlog of goods. She couldn’t sell anything for a long time and was rather agitated. I came over and offered to buy something from her. After I looked through everything, I couldn’t find anything to buy. But still, I bought a set of tweezers and ear picks. After we chatted for a while I helped her quit her membership in the Young Pioneer. Later I also helped her daughter quit the CCP.

Another time, I ran into a brother and sister selling dried rice noodles. From their accent, I knew that we were from the same hometown, thus, we felt very connected. The sister said that since the pandemic, both she and her brother were short of work, so they decided to start a small business to earn some income. The dried rice noodles she sold were a bit pricey. But, I thought to myself: What’s the big deal about that? No life could be measured by money, as they are all very precious. I said, “I’ll buy some from you.” They were very happy. When I clarified the facts to them, it was well-received. Her brother decided to quit his memberships from both the Youth League and Young Pioneers, she also quit her membership from the Young Pioneers.

If a new store opens in my neighborhood, especially in the first few days, I’d go there a few times during the day. First of all, it’s because it’d be very crowded, secondly, more salespeople would be there. When a supermarket opens up a new location, they’d normally transfer some employees from other locations to the new one. This is the best time for me to clarify the facts to them. I always ended up helping a lot of people quit the CCP.

Some time ago, the government promoted street vendors and in the evening time, suddenly many people came out to sell goods on the streets. Some did closing sales, some wanted to earn some income since they were unemployed. When I took a look, they were all new faces to me. So I went vendor stand by vendor stand and bought something from them. Then I chatted with them and helped more than 10 people quit the CCP. Now street vendors are not allowed in our area, but I found some in other places and went there. When I used the same approach with them, it worked well.

Joining Group Fa-Study, Encouraging Each Other, Rectifying Ourselves and Working Diligently

My home is close to a large-scale community in the neighboring county. For the past few years, I often rode my electric bicycle there to hand out informational materials and clarify the facts to people. The local people in this area appeared to live simply and were very kindhearted. But they didn’t know about quitting the CCP to ensure one’s safety. Sometimes I thought it’d be really nice if I could find another practitioner to accompany me to the villages in that area. This year, Master helped me to have my dream come true.

Through another practitioner, I got to know Ms. Ying who was a few years younger than me. We studied the Fa together and shared with one another. Ms. Ying began with Dafa cultivation very early on. In the past, her home was the Fa-study group meeting place for her town. She was very enthusiastic and kind, many people began Dafa cultivation as a result of her help. Starting from July 20, 1999, when the CCP began to persecute Falun Dafa, Ms. Ying never stopped clarifying the facts to police officers. She did quite a few other things to validate Dafa, such as posting truth-clarification sticky notes and handing out informational materials.

However, in recent years, since her family moved to my area, Ms. Ling had to leave behind a group environment and only cultivated on her own. Later she encountered illness karma. She took the approach of an everyday person by taking health supplements to boost immunity; when her leg ached, she used patches and Chinese healing methods to relieve discomfort. She also said that she couldn’t take the Fa to heart and often fell asleep in Fa-study. She was quite worried about that. Ms. Ying told me she had met a few diligent practitioners, but they turned away from her as soon as they saw her treating her leg pain. I said to her, “Let’s start over, study more Fa, rectify ourselves and catch up with other practitioners.”

Ms. Ying’s husband was illiterate. But since their home was a Fa-study group, when others studied the Fa, he got to listen in and came to understand many Dafa principles. When Ms. Ying behaved like a regular person, her husband couldn’t hear any Fa anymore. Then he started watching TV and raising a puppy.

I truly understood that Master treasured every practitioner, especially those who stepped forward after the persecution started. After I was introduced to Ms. Ying I realized that this was Master’s arrangement, and there must be something for both of us to improve upon together.

I went to her area three times a week. In the morning, I clarified the facts in her neighborhood or around the supermarkets. Then after a simple lunch, I went to her home before noontime. We studied the Fa after sending forth righteous thoughts. In the beginning, we studied two chapters in Zhuan Falun, now we studied one chapter only and Master’s new lectures. I felt each of us had improved.

In the past, I always felt tired after I came home from clarifying the facts to people. When I studied the Fa by myself, I easily felt sleepy and sometimes ended up taking a nap. Ms. Ying shared that she had the same problem as me when she studied the Fa alone in the past. When we studied together, we could keep a close eye on each other. When we felt sleepy, we paused for a short break then carried on with our study. That way, we could normally study for a bit over four hours and hardly felt sleepy. From this experience, I came to understand why Master had us study the Fa and do the exercises collectively.

While studying the Fa, we rectified ourselves based on the Fa. Ms. Ying also helped me correct my exercise movements. Since her movements were more up to par, I just followed her to correct my movements. Master said,

“The principle here is that every person must pay off his karma in the end. What we do here is, starting from the origin of your being, push the dirty things out of your body. But no one else does this; it can only be done for practitioners, and we will do it for you.” (Lecture Given at the Conference in Sydney)

When we read this passage of the Fa, our understanding of illness karma became clear. We knew that illness karma appeared because Master helped us eliminate karma, which was a good thing. Ms. Ying said she had been stuck on this matter for the past few years. That’s why she couldn’t pass the test.

In Zhuan Falun Fajie - The Law of Zhuan Falun Explained which we hadn’t read for a long time, Master said,

“Question: In the past, some people used Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara incense to predict things. Now, after using Master’s photo to perform consecration for Avalokitesvara’s statue, can we still use the incense books?

Teacher: What use do you want those incense books to serve? Isn’t that what ordinary people do? As a cultivator, what are you trying to predict? What do you want to know? Whether you will have tribulations, so you can avoid them? If you manage to avoid them, you won’t be able to improve yourself. How could you cultivate, then? Or are you trying to find out if you will get rich? If you do things well, do your job well, or run a big business, you will naturally have it. Those are all things ordinary people do, and not what a Dafa cultivator should do. Followers of minor practices can of course use them.” (“Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Guangzhou,” Zhuan Falun Fajie - The Law of Zhuan Falun Explained)

While reading this passage, Ms. Ying told me that previously she used incense books to predict things. She practiced Buddhism before and still wasn’t quite clear on no second cultivation way. Then she learned she was wrong for many years and felt regretful. She said she wanted to destroy the incense books. I felt she made a big leap forward to understand this issue since it’s so important for a practitioner. When we didn’t treat our cultivation seriously enough, even if we were only a little bit off, we experienced interference in our cultivation.

Later I realized that some practitioners didn’t correct the words in the Dafa books, with some correcting them improperly. So I brought those books to her for her to fix them. As it was very time-consuming to finish this piece of work, sometimes she worked all the way up until midnight.

After having studied the Fa together, we both felt we had benefited. I felt I could study the Fa for a much longer time, also the effect of reading together was better than reading alone.

I could see changes in Ms. Ying. When I first saw her, she looked to be very ill. Now she was in good health and high spirits. She has sent out a lot of QR codes for breaking through the Internet blockade and helped over a dozen people quit the CCP.

Ms. Ying’s husband has also gone through positive changes. When we studied the Fa, he stopped watching TV and got to listen in. Whenever he had time, he’d watch truth-clarification movies. Some time ago, when they went out of town with their daughter, he helped his wife pass out a lot of QR codes to people they met along the way. At one point he was able to manage to get away from a person who was following him on the street.

Seeing the Awakening of Sentient Beings, Feeling Greater Responsibility

Staff in the Supermarket: Many People Believed the Truth of Falun Dafa

When the pandemic subsided, I went to a big supermarket to clarify the facts. A staff member said to me, “During the outbreak of the pandemic, many of us talked about you. We remembered that you told us that by quitting the CCP it would ensure our safety. Looks like Falun Dafa is true after all.” I said, “Let’s not forget about our family, let them know about the truth of Falun Dafa and quickly quit the CCP and its youth organizations.” They nodded their heads and smiled. I could see they felt delighted about what I said.

Student Feeling Blessed by Dafa

Another time, I ran into a student. He smiled and walked up to me. He said, “Do you still remember me?” He told me I gave him a pseudonym the other day as “Junjian” and “Junkang” for his classmate. I suddenly remembered that prior to the pandemic, I had been to his school and helped them quit the CCP.

Back then, when I mentioned the calamity to come to these students, they didn’t quite believe me. Now it’s different. Facing this dreadful pandemic, they became clear and had a deeper understanding of Dafa. I also gave them a few QR codes to break through the Internet blockade. I suggested they share the codes with their families and classmates, so they also could be saved by Dafa’s Master Li Hongzhi. They were very happy and gladly took them. From their faces, I could feel that they felt blessed by Dafa.

Time flies. The time for us to save sentient beings is getting very short. Seeing some people still indulged in enjoying themselves, not knowing or believing that the great calamity is coming, I wanted to have the blessings of Dafa passed on to them as quickly as possible. Only by cultivating diligently, can I meet Master’s expectations for Falun Dafa practitioners. I will cultivate myself well and save more people.

Thank you, Master! Heshi!