Selflessness Versus Selfishness Open Two Different Worlds

(Minghui.org) The time for cultivation practice in the Fa-rectification period is concluding, yet Falun Dafa practitioners in China are still subject to frantic persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ). This hinders their efforts to save people. 

The question becomes how to negate the persecution. From my personal experiences and through witnessing other practitioners’ righteous thoughts and actions, I’ve come to realize that our thoughts are crucial. A selfless thought versus a selfish thought can yield results as different as heaven and earth.

A Righteous Thought Negates the Old Forces’ Arrangements 

Ten years ago, I received a phone call and was told that my wife and more than a dozen other Falun Dafa practitioners in her Fa study group were illegally arrested. I immediately left home to verify the situation and when I returned, I saw that my house was surrounded by police.

I knew the police were there for me because I had been illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was released on “medical parole” after I went on a hunger strike for a year. Someone messaged me a few days earlier that the 610 Office had decided that I had recovered sufficiently and had set a certain date to take me to prison. So I felt I had to go into hiding. While practitioners in the entire city were working to rescue fellow practitioners, including my wife, I was a bystander fearing for my safety. 

The authorities were evading and delaying us. They slipped away whenever our family members went to the police station or the Municipal Police Department to demand my wife’s release, halting our rescue efforts. Practitioners exchanged ideas about how to proceed and agreed that my mother and daughter (also a practitioner) should publicize their plight by going to public places and holding up signs and distributing pamphlets to expose the persecution. 

However, my mother was living with my younger sister, whose husband was not a practitioner. He told my younger sister repeatedly, “It’s okay for you to accompany your mother to demand your aunt’s release, but you can’t lead the police to our house. You can’t affect our child’s future.” Therefore it was challenging for my mother to step out. 

I knew the only way my mother could do this was by moving in with me. However, there were several surveillance cameras installed outside my home, and the police were patrolling the area. I knew I couldn’t acknowledge these false appearances, but I was hesitant to act because I had slacked off and had had indecent thoughts toward a female practitioner. I feared the evil would exploit the loophole in my cultivation to persecute me.

A practitioner came to see me and shared that she had persisted for four years to rescue a fellow practitioner. In doing so, she encountered a lot of difficulties. However, she put the needs of her fellow practitioner before hers each time, and Master helped dissolve the difficulties. She succeeded in the end and witnessed many miracles in the process.

After the practitioner left, I offered incense to Master and said with tears in my eyes, “Master! I have failed to live up to your compassionate salvation. I’ve been so selfish. I am determined to let go of myself and put saving sentient beings first. Tomorrow, I will bring my mother to my home and negate all the old forces’ arrangements.” When this thought arose, I suddenly felt that the rock that had been weighing down on my head for so long was gone, and my heart was as bright as if a skylight had opened. 

Early the next morning, I went to pick up my mother. I shared my thoughts with her, but she said, “You can’t go home. I heard they still want to arrest you, and there are surveillance cameras monitoring your house.” 

I replied, “Have you forgotten that we are under Master’s protection, and He has the final say! As long as we are considerate of sentient beings, no one will dare to stand in the way.” She agreed. Oddly enough, all the way home, we didn’t see any police. I later learned that the police removed the surveillance cameras earlier that day.

The next day, I accompanied my mother and daughter to hold up signs and distribute truth-clarification pamphlets at the morning market. Many practitioners joined us to support the effort. My mother and daughter then went to the mall, and many people came to understand the truth about Dafa and the persecution. Some people suggested, “File a complaint at the municipal government.” Some shed tears, while others wanted to give them money. 

A few days later, the authorities couldn’t hold out any longer and released my wife. The plan of the 610 Office to put me in prison was also dismantled. I’ve been on parole, safe at home, for eleven years. 

After Letting Go of Self, a Practitioner Negates Sentencing

Lin (pseudonym) had hired a lawyer to defend a fellow practitioner in the past, and the lawyer had Lin’s contact information. When the lawyer was persecuted, the police obtained Lin’s name, phone number, and occupation, from the lawyer’s cell phone. 

One morning, Lin’s husband came home from the night shift while Lin was transmitting files to a lawyer on her computer. As soon as he opened the door, a group of police officers broke in. Lin didn’t have time to turn off her computer before the police held her down. The police spent four hours extracting files from Lin’s computer and ransacking her home. They took away the computer, printer, and a lot of other materials.

Lin became depressed about her illegal arrest. She feared that a lot of information about fellow practitioners was exposed to the police. Under great pressure, she asked a guard at the detention center, who understood the truth, to help her send a message asking her family to hire a particular lawyer. 

The guard, however, reprimanded her, “It’s no use hiring a lawyer; your case is too big. Be prepared to live in prison for the next ten years!”

When Lin looked inward to find her part in why this occurred, she realized she had been so busy doing things that she did not keep up with her Fa study. Her attachment to validating herself had also been exploited by the evil. She thought, “Since I’m here, I will give myself to Master. In the past, I looked for opportunities to clarify the truth to the persecutors. They also came for the Fa, but they were manipulated into doing bad things and lost their future. Now that I’m up close and have access to them, isn’t it an opportunity? I will make sure to save these poor beings!”

From that day on, regardless of whether she was with guards, inmates, or police officers interrogating her, she took the opportunity to clarify the truth to them. And she cherished the opportunity from the bottom of her heart. Moreover, Lin found that her surroundings had become peaceful. 

Several officers from the National Security Division of the Municipal Police Department and the police station came to interrogate her at the detention center. The group leader opened the interrogation by saying, “We know you won’t tell us anything we ask you, so let’s listen to you tell us about Falun Gong today.” Lin spoke to them for two hours. No one interrupted her, except to ask her questions about Falun Gong. As they were leaving, the group lead said, “Take care of yourself. We’ll come back to listen to you some more.” 

A guard later told Lin, “Your case doesn’t seem to be a big deal, so perhaps you will go home some time soon.” Shortly afterward, a female inmate who’d learned the truth from Lin said, “I had a clear dream last night. The Monkey King came and used his golden rod to dislodge you from the detention center. Could it be that you’re going home?” 

The next day, on the 37th day of Lin’s detention, the guards told her to pack her things. She was released!

There are so many examples like this. I’ve been reading experience sharing articles by fellow practitioners, and have shared experiences with practitioners in person, and I saw that different practitioners’ mindsets led to different outcomes. Practitioners who were even involved in the same Dafa project, who were persecuted by the same police officers, or who shouted out “Falun Dafa is good!” the same way, had different outcomes. Some were beaten, while others were encouraged by the guards, “Right on! Shout it out louder!” Even when practitioners were taken into police custody together, some were quickly released, while others were sentenced to prison.

From my understanding of the Fa’s principles, I came to realize that whether or not we can break through the old forces’ arrangements depends on whether or not we can develop the righteous thought of selflessly considering others first amidst the persecution. 

I’ve come into contact with many practitioners who came home from labor camps and prisons, and discovered that almost all of them had something in common: They had been unable to study the Fa for a long time during the persecution, and they developed attachments such as competitiveness, resentment, and fear of suffering, which were exploited by the evil. 

Those who negated further persecution were mostly able to let go of themselves amidst the hardship. They thought about Dafa, thought about fellow practitioners, and thought about saving sentient beings. It was their righteous thoughts that disintegrated the evil.

It is the righteous enlightenment of selflessness that Dafa practitioners must attain in order to become part of the new cosmos.