(Minghui.org) After Master Li’s new articles entitled “Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious” and “Stay Far Away From Peril” were published, Falun Dafa practitioners were very moved, and many memorized those articles. Practitioners from our Fa-study groups shared their cultivation experiences. They deeply felt grateful for everything that Master has bestowed upon them. In our cultivation process, no matter how poorly we did, Master never gave up on us. He compassionately bears karma for us and still gives those practitioners who failed to live up to His expectations chances. His compassion is truly immense.
Master said,
“In regard to these people, out of mercy, Master is explaining the Fa to you once more, and for the last time. As to where you will end up, you look out for yourself!” (“Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious”)
“I hereby tell these people: When you first stepped into Dafa, you had already used your life to sign a contract. No matter how old or young you were, or how much time has passed, making a vow is serious. In other words, for those who say they have stopped cultivating, and those who have left Dafa whether in the early days or recently, you still have to fulfill your vow whether you cultivate or not.” (“Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious”)
We came to realize that we should look for practitioners who no longer practiced Dafa. No matter whether they gave up on cultivation or deviated from the Fa, they have signed the vows with their lives in the past. We should pass on the new articles to them, using Master’s Fa to awaken them.
Ms. Zhou in our Fa-study group was illegally detained in a forced labor camp during the early years of the persecution. Among those practitioners who were also imprisoned with her, some ended up giving up on cultivation or stepped on a deviant path. Because of that, she wanted to share with them, hoping that they could return to cultivation so as not to lose this precious opportunity. With this wish, Ms. Zhou, another two practitioners, and I went to the city a few days ago, to look for one practitioner whom she knew in the past.
We were not sure where she lived. Arranged by Master, we found the home of that practitioner’s mother. After we knocked on the door, the person who opened the door was a woman who looked to be in her 70s. She asked us about the intent of our visit with an unfriendly attitude. Ms. Zhou went up to her and asked, “Aunty, don’t you recognize me? I came here before, I’m your daughter’s friend.” She reluctantly let us in.
After we sat down, Ms. Zhou asked about her daughter’s situation. She replied, “She stopped practicing. She is retired and recently took on a contract position.” When I took a closer look at this woman, I realized she was well-dressed, well-spoken, and elegant.
The aunty introduced herself by saying that she was 82 years old and lived alone. Before she retired, she was a member of a management team in the municipal government. Prior to 1999, when practitioners spread the Fa to her at the park, she was attracted immediately. She felt that it was so good and began to practice.
Her husband used to work for the municipal police bureau. Seeing her having benefited a lot, he also joined her. But after Dafa was persecuted, her husband couldn’t get over an illness karma tribulation and passed away.
Her daughter also began practicing prior to 1999, but because she went to Beijing to validate the Fa, she was arrested and brought back. Afterward, she was held in a forced labor camp. After she was released, she stopped practicing Falun Dafa.
We were surprised that the aunty looked about 10 years younger than her actual age. In addition, she was quick-witted. But when I looked at a corner in her living room, I saw that a statue of Guan Gong (the Chinese God of wealth) was worshiped. I gathered that she must be not very diligent in her cultivation or even stopped practicing.
I got right to the point, “Aunty, if I didn’t know your age, I’d have called you sister, as you look very young. If you were to clarify the facts to people, they’d have seen the miraculous nature of Dafa in you for sure. Ms. Zhou and your daughter were held in the same place before. No matter where people met each other, it came down to their predestined relationship. So she always thought about your daughter. Now since your daughter is not around, how about we have a chat?”
She replied, “That’s fine. What’s on your mind?” I said, “Aunty, have you checked out Master’s new articles?” She became hesitant, then replied, “Yes, I did.” I then asked her, “Could you please share your understandings?” She said in a cool tone, “Everyone has a different understanding. Some enlighten gradually while some enlighten all of a sudden.”
When seeing her state being off, I asked her, “Have you watched the movie ‘Once We Were Divine’?” She replied, “Yes, I did.”
I said, “When we first left our heavenly realms behind, we made a sacred vow with our lives in front of Master, to assist Him in rectifying the Fa and bringing all sentient beings back to the new universe. In this world, due to the cruel persecution of practitioners by the old forces manipulating the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some people became confused and have forgotten their sacred vows.
“Master devoted all of Him for the salvation of all sentient beings, bearing the sins for his disciples in the midst of tribulations, with the intent of not giving up on each and every one of them. Even when his disciples take the wrong path, Master gives them opportunities again and again. We should be grateful to Master!” At that point, I choked up. We saw that she already broke out in tears.
“Master gave us another opportunity to have us become divine again. Master’s compassion is immense. Sentient beings in our celestial worlds await our return. For one to cultivate well or not, it affects sentient beings in our world. If we didn’t cultivate well, our sentient beings would have been destroyed. Since 1999, when the persecution was initiated, sentient beings have been poisoned by fabricated lies. If we didn’t save them, they’d have had no hope, period. The reason why we live in the human world is for the existence of sentient beings.” When I was talking, she didn’t say anything but listened quietly. But she went from having a straight face to smiling.
When it was noon, Ms. Zhou said, “It’s time for the global sending forth righteous thoughts. Let’s share after this is done.” The four of us purposefully began to send forth righteous thoughts towards her, and included the thought to have her true nature revived. After two minutes, her attitude changed greatly. She smiled and said, “We’ve had a great sharing. Let’s have some lunch, then we can share again.” Ms. Zhou said, “We’ll skip lunch. After we chat for a bit more, we have to leave.”
Ms. Zhou shared a great deal about the Fa. When aunty heard it, she became very receptive. She also recalled the happy feelings when she first obtained the Fa. She said, when she clarified the facts to people in the past, they were all willing to listen. She also said she became rejuvenated because she practiced Dafa. We also encouraged her to study more Fa as quickly as she could and save more sentient beings. I felt her mind was getting clearer and clearer.
She pleaded, “Don’t leave yet, let’s chat for a bit longer.” She also wanted us to stay for lunch. We thanked her. Before we left, we asked her to get in touch with other practitioners more often. We also asked her if we could find other practitioners to study the Fa with her. She then saw us off downstairs and said that she hoped we’d go back and visit her again.
It turned out to be that she had been infused with deviant theories for all these years. In addition, since her daughter stopped cultivating once the persecution was initiated, she gradually left the Fa. But we could still see that deep down, she still felt Dafa was good.
We drove to a practitioner’s home, it happened to be that two people who used to practice happened to visit her as well. One former practitioner said, “I babysat my son’s child in the city. Not sure why, I just wanted to return home. After I came back, I was anxious to come here.”
This practitioner was held at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp some time ago. After she was released, she slacked off in her cultivation. Gradually, she hardly touched any Dafa books. Another former practitioner was also held at the forced labor camp. In recent years, she ran a small business, and due to lack of time, she studied very little Fa. Because she was afraid of being persecuted, she stopped reading the Dafa books. We had previously come to talk to her. But after she studied for a little while, she gave it up again.
We said, “For us to meet here at the same time, it’s arranged by benevolent Master. All of us have signed the vow with Master to assist Him in Fa-rectification. We need to treasure it!” We read two of Master’s new articles together. After we finished reading them, they said, “Oh my goodness! It wouldn’t do if we didn’t practice, the consequence would be too dreadful! From now on, we’ll come here to study the Fa together.”
We then drove to another practitioner’s home in a neighboring village. Upon arrival, there came another practitioner. Because she had difficulty in passing her family tribulations, she always thought about giving it up. She said, “Not sure why, I just wanted to come here for a chat. It turned out to be that you were here. It’s truly Master’s arrangement!”
We shared our understanding of the new articles. We decided we should put our efforts in finding old practitioners, share the new articles with them, then have them study the Fa with us. When we went again, we saw that they were studying the Fa together.
A few days later, the three of us went to another village, where there was only a senior practitioner studying the Fa. She was also worried about the practitioners in the same village who used to practice Dafa, but stopped. At that time, it happened to be harvest time for corn. A former practitioner came over after receiving her call to work in the fields. When she saw us, she felt as if we had met before.
We said, “Master has published new articles, stressing the importance of cultivation. In order to save sentient beings in our worlds, we have signed the vows with our lives to descend to the human world and assist Master in rectifying the Fa. We came down level by level, suffered tremendously in reincarnations, then we finally obtained the Fa.
“However, due to pressure from the persecution, we forgot about our mission and sentient beings’ longing for us. We gave up, got lost, and failed to realize our vows. We let our sentient beings down, as well as Master who tried to save us! Practitioners, Master is giving us another chance to come find you. Master is still worried about you.” While listening, that practitioner became teary.
We took out two articles and asked her to read them. At that time, her husband came inside the room trying to get her to harvest corn. She didn’t move but continued to read the new articles. After she finished reading them, she was very touched.
Master said,
“That’s Master telling you to mutually save and help each other, to save others while saving yourself—this is sentient beings saving each other at the end times.” (“Stay Far Away From Peril”)
We should take on the responsibility to care about former practitioners. The best we can do is to help them join group Fa-study and have their divine side to be back in charge of them.