(Minghui.org) I’d like to tell you about my realizations regarding fear and this persecution. I was illegally sentenced and imprisoned twice for practicing Falun Dafa. I returned home after the second jail term ended in June 2022 and wondered why I wasn’t able to successfully negate the old forces’ arrangements.
During this past year, through studying the Fa (teachings) and reading experience sharing articles written by other practitioners, I realized that I did not truly believe in Master and the Fa 100%. Even though I looked inward and sent righteous thoughts, I wasn’t able to completely disintegrate the persecution.
The article “Believing in Master and Dafa, Divine Powers Manifest” published on the Minghui website in 2019 left a deep impression on me. In 2006, the author was sent taken to a detention center in Guan County, Shandong Province. When her daughter told her the police planned to send take her to a forced labor camp the next day and the documents were already submitted, the practitioner said firmly, “Whoever sentenced me made a mistake. One has to be on my level to be able to sentence me.” She was determined not to be sent to a labor camp and sent righteous thoughts to negate their plans. She was not taken to the labor camp and was released the following month.
After she got home, her daughter told her that her name was already submitted to the Zibo Forced Labor Camp, but the guard handling the case managed to remove it. She told the practitioner’s daughter, “I don’t want to be held responsible for your mother. I’m letting her go because, after she came here, I haven’t been able to sleep. My head hurts and I can’t relax.”
When I read what the practitioner said, “One has to be on my level to be able to sentence me,” I was shocked. I wondered why I never thought about the persecution that way. This practitioner overcame the persecution with her firm belief in Master and the Fa. She validated what Master said in “The Master-Disciple Bond,” Hong Yin II,
“...When disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn the tide”
Master told us that before July 20, 1999, he pushed us to our positions, which were our highest levels. I didn’t have a deep enough understanding of this part of the Fa. I didn’t realize Master gave me strong capabilities, so my thoughts were not righteous.
When I recalled what happened the two times I was illegally sentenced and persecuted, I realized that Master repeatedly gave me hints that these were all illusions.
The first time I was sentenced the old forces caused me to have fear. The second time I was persecuted, I remembered what Master said: “Master has the power to turn the tide” (“The Master-Disciple Bond,” Hong Yin II).
However, I was affected by fear and my experience the first time I was incarcerated. My righteous thoughts and main consciousness were not strong, and I was hindered by an ordinary person’s concept that seeing is believing. I was not able to successfully disintegrate the persecution.
From the Fa we know there is no Internet blockade, and the persecution is an illusion. The Internet blockade and this persecution are imposed by the old forces on Falun Dafa and practitioners. We must not accept this and eliminate it—only when we do this will we be meeting the requirements of the Fa and following Master’s arrangements.
I realized that before July 20, 1999, when Master pushed me to my highest position, it was a position in the new universe. Nothing in the old universe can affect me, because I am part of the new universe. Once I realized this I felt surrounded by very strong energy when I sent righteous thoughts. I was sending forth righteous thoughts and eliminating evil factors as a king and lord in the universe. Although I cannot see scenes in other dimensions, I knew my righteous thoughts were extremely powerful.
I also enlightened that it is not sufficient to just have a righteous mind, but one’s righteous thoughts must be strong. Master said,
“However strong the righteous thoughts are, that’s how great the power is.” (“Also in a Few Words,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress II)
So how can we maintain a strong righteous mind at all times? It has to come from the Fa. Master repeatedly emphasized that it’s necessary to study the Fa more and study the Fa well. After more than 20 years of cultivation, I understood that studying the Fa more and studying the Fa well is the foundation for maintaining a strong righteous mind at all times, and it is also a must for doing the three things well.
I’ve repeatedly stumbled on my cultivation journey. But compassionate Master never gave up on me. For 26 years, Master helped me in each and every step I took to move forward on my cultivation path.
Because I was sentenced and incarcerated twice, I developed a mentality of suspicion and fear.
After I returned home from the first jail term, a neighbor was assigned to monitor me. The first day after I returned home from the second jail term, when I stood on the balcony, I noticed a bald man in the adjacent building opened his window and looked outside. I began to suspect that he was monitoring me, because this was exactly what happened when a neighbor monitored me after the first jail term. In the days that followed, whenever I went out to buy groceries, sure enough the bald man opened the window and watched me leave.
Three months later, my mother-in-law needed help, so I stayed with her for a few months. The first morning when I got up at 3 a.m. to do the exercises, I noticed a light in the next building was on inside someone’s apartment. I began paying attention to it.
When I went to bed after midnight the light was still on. When I got up at 3 a.m. the next morning it was still lit. Then I thought, “Is someone monitoring me? I haven’t told anyone I was here.”
Through studying the Fa, I strengthened my righteous thoughts and understood that this was all due to the fear, suspicion, and a mentality of “being persecuted” that the old forces imposed on me. My true self did not have these notions.
Monitoring practitioners is a type of persecution imposed on us by the old forces. Master does not accept or recognize it, and neither should we. I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate these thoughts and fears, and I tried to catch them whenever they surfaced. They gradually became weaker and weaker.
I also sent righteous thoughts every day to eliminate the evil factors in other dimensions and the old forces that made the arrangements for people who participated in the persecution—including policemen and community organization members who harassed me, causing these people to commit crimes against Dafa.
I then experienced a miraculous phenomenon. In March, I suddenly felt the Falun (law wheel) spinning in my abdomen for quite a while. It felt as though it was eliminating evil substances. Two days later, the police from the nearby station called me. In early August, the same thing happened again. I truly experienced that the people who carried out the persecution were indeed manipulated by the evil beings in other dimensions.
I also felt the Falun was protecting me, just as Master said,
“Our Falun Dafa will protect students from deviating. How does it protect you? If you are a true cultivator, our Falun will safeguard you.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I moved back home this past July. When I was on the balcony, I thought, “Is that bald man really monitoring me?” As soon as I had this thought, he opened the window and looked out. I immediately understood that the thought was sent to me by the old forces. I should not have this mentality of “being persecuted.” I said to the old forces, “Stop creating these illusions.” I continued sending righteous thoughts to eliminate all my negative thoughts. The man no longer opens the window.
I realized that cultivation is like sailing against the current—if one doesn’t continually move forward, then one is going backward. As Master’s Fa-rectification progresses, the requirements for us are becoming higher and higher.
Master said in “Diligence and Righteous Enlightenment” (Hong Yin II):
“Don’t let up in studying the Fa;amidst it transformation happensLet nothing sway conviction;of it comes right fruit and the blooming lotus”
I will maintain a motivated cultivation state, just as when I first began to practice Falun Dafa, and I will cultivate diligently.
These are my realizations based on my personal understanding. If anything is not in accordance with the Fa, please kindly point it out.