(Clearwisdom.net) More than six years have gone by since July 20, 1999. I could say to Master and fellow practitioners that I’ve done what I wanted to do. In short - traveling between heaven and earth and assisting Master in rectifying the Fa and saving beings.
The bloody persecution of Falun Gong that started on July 20, 1999 was something completely unexpected for me. After I studied the Fa, I felt it was not a surprise. Master said,
"How can you still practice cultivation in the future when you encounter many big tribulations?" (Zhuan Falun, from 2000 translation version)
Considering the terrible situation, wasn’t that the big tribulations placed before me? I repeatedly recited,
"Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, the will unflinching
The raising of levels is what’s fundamental
In the face of tests one’s true nature is revealed
Achieve Consummation, becoming a Buddha, Dao, or God." ("True Nature Revealed")
I was then teaching Chinese in a high school. With the wisdom Master had given to me, when I was explaining an article or when I was teaching essay writing, I inserted the truth of Falun Dafa at the appropriate times to disclose the CCP’s lies. It helped the students to see the truth.
Master taught in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference"
"As you clarify the truth, the words you speak and the energy you emit have the effect of intimidating and eliminating the evil. You are crucial in determining whether the beings in this world stay or get eliminated. If your words are pure and righteous they will really go right into the innermost part of people’s thoughts, and instantly make people understand."
One time I clarified the truth to students, and they listened to me carefully. After class I went back to my office. Before I sat down, two boys came over to me saying, "Teacher, what you just talked about in class really touched us. Could you please tell us more?" I then talked about incidents beginning from April 25, 1999 to the event of July 20, 1999; from ancient prophesies to the present human society; from Nero, tyrant of ancient Rome who persecuted Christians to Jiang Zemin and the CCP persecuting Falun Gong; from Master’s spreading the Fa in China since 1992 to the present-day dissemination of the Fa around the world, how Master arranged everything and protects us. There was no one in the office except the two students and me that afternoon. I kept on talking, and the two students listened with keen interest.
From their excited demeanor I knew that they understood what I had told them. They also expressed that they wanted to do something for Dafa and clarify the truth to more people. I realized then and there that clarifying the truth is, as Master said,
"It is a master key, the key that can unlock that thing all beings have had sealed off for a long time and been awaiting for ages." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")
The two students and some other students who already knew the truth were just like what Master said,
"Beings that have come to understand the facts become mobile media, and they too clarify the facts." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference")
Thereby it opened up an opportunity for me to clarify the truth and save people in the school. Master was protecting me constantly during the whole process. I always felt Master’s wide and far-reaching Buddha grace.
In these six years, we, an older couple, conforming to Master’s teachings, have tried our best to do well the three things that Master told Dafa disciples to do well. Rain or shine, we clarified the truth and distributed truth-clarifying materials in the produce market, shopping center, parks, and on buses. If we didn’t go to the produce market and shopping center for a long time, people who had obtained the truth-clarifying materials from us there even missed us. When we went there the next time, they welcomed us warmly. In the wave of withdrawals from the CCP, the Communist Youth League, and the Young Pioneers, it was easy to advise them to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
Everyday I spent some time to study the Fa with a pure heart, thus I always kept strong righteous thoughts. Master said in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference":
"Have righteous thoughts! However you think something should be handled, just go ahead and do it, and when you run into problems you will naturally know how to solve them. If your righteous thoughts are strong, everything will work out smoothly and it’s guaranteed you’ll do well."
Master also said in "Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference",
"But if your righteous thoughts are strong, then Master and the Law-guardian Gods can do anything for you."
I spread the Fa and clarified the truth openly in class. When I was distributing the truth-clarifying materials and hanging up Dafa banners in community and parks, nobody was around. After I was done, immediately many people passed by. I deeply felt that Master was protecting practitioners at all times. As a practitioner, I should be more diligent. One thing is especially memorable. At the beginning of the evil’s persecution of Dafa, the police forced the local practitioners to declare if they would insist on practicing. One evening, two policemen came to my home. It’s so lucky that one was my student and one was my spouse’s student. Upon coming in, they first praised us, saying that we had high morality as teachers. They also knew that Dafa is good and said, "Then you elderly folks can just keep on practicing." They then left.
In 2005, as the publication of the book Nine Commentaries on The Communist Party was sounding the death knell of the CCP, great numbers of people withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. For those who already knew the truth about Dafa, we also need to advise them to withdraw from the CCP. In 2000 and 2002, we went twice to our hometown to spread the Fa and clarify the truth. Now, we also need to persuade them to quit the CCP. On October 18, 2005, my spouse and I passed by Shenyang and then visited my cousin. We successfully persuaded my cousin’s son, daughter-in-law, daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons totaling more than ten people to quit the CCP. At 7:00 pm in the evening, we left my cousin’s home and prepared to go to my older sister’s home in Anshan by train. After we arrived at the train station and inquired the schedule, we then got to know that there was no train to Anshan before 11:00 pm. My spouse and I then just sat down on the cold bench in the station. It happened that a cold wave came and the temperature dropped sharply. However, we were doing everything to save sentient beings. We didn’t have any selfishness, only righteous thoughts and righteous actions. We then felt Master strengthening us. We felt warm streams come up from our soles to our heads. We recited,
"Innumerable hardships and tribulations in fifteen years,
Who can tell how much it is in the Fa-rectification?
For the sake of the salvation of all sentient beings
Do not stop until the ultra-microcosmic realm is transcended." ("Hardship" from Hong Yin II, Provisional translation)
At 11:00 p.m., we boarded the train to Anshan City.
At 1:30 a.m., we arrived in Anshan. We then took a taxi to my sister’s home. After we got out of the car, we couldn’t find my sister’s home. We had to look for her home from one lane to another. We were both almost 70 years old. Although the journey made us fatigued, we had the Fa in our hearts and held righteous thoughts. All the hardships didn’t matter to us. We recited,
"A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship
Having forged an adamantine will
And with no attachment to living or dying
He walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly" ("Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions")
At about 4 a.m., we saw light from one house. We then went to knock at the door and inquire about the road to my sister’s home. The host told us how to get there. We finally found my sister’s home. My sister’s whole family was moved by our visiting without caring for the hardships. My niece heard that we were there; she and her family also hurried there from our hometown that was about 30 miles away. I knew it was Master’s Law Body who arranged her to be there, so that she and her family could all be saved. The next day, we successfully persuaded my sister’s family and my niece’s family to withdraw from the CCP. The following day, we left for my husband’s two cousins’ home. We also successfully advised the two families to withdraw from the CCP. On the fifth day, we returned. On this trip to North Liaoning, we persuaded 97 people to withdraw from the CCP. We felt very happy for all of them.
Master said,
"Clarifying the truth isn’t a simple matter--it’s not only a matter of exposing the evil. When we clarify the truth we are saving sentient beings, and at the same time it involves the matter of your own improvement and your elimination of attachments during your cultivation, and the matter of Dafa disciples being responsible to the Fa in their cultivation, as well as issues like how you fill and enrich that paradise of yours in your final Consummation." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference" from Guiding the Voyage)
Master said,
"Otherwise, any attachment or any element in the human world that weighs on your mind becomes a lock that fastens you down and prevents you from leaving. That’s why when you validate Dafa and save sentient beings you cultivate yourself at the same time. You’re all very clear on that." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference")
From these teachings I realized that when we clarify the truth and validate Dafa, we must also pay attention to our own cultivation at the same time. Through the six-year trials and hardships, I got rid of many attachments. I often think, if we were not living in the time of such a rare opportunity – the Fa rectification period, my stubborn attachments would be very hard to get rid of. Before July 20, 1999, during the peaceful cultivation period, it was not easy to just get rid of one attachment. However, during the terrible environment, while Jiang Zemin and the CCP are frenziedly persecuting Falun Gong, as a genuine practitioner, one must get rid of all attachments; otherwise, any one of them will become an obstacle.
First, I got rid of my fear. When I distributed Dafa fliers for the first time, hung Dafa banners for the first time, and clarified the truth for the first time, I had very strong fear. Later I studied the Fa calmly and gradually got rid of the attachment of fear. Not long after Falun Gong was persecuted, two policemen came to my home and confirmed an article that I had written and was published in a brochure distributed before by the municipal Dafa assistant center. The police asked me, "Did you write the article about health improvement against your will? They said on TV that improving health through practicing Falun Gong was written against one’s will." I overcame my fear and validated Dafa with my own experiences. I said to the police, "I didn’t write the article against my will. The statements were all true. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in June 1996. I couldn’t get out of bed then and was unable to take care of myself. I was in despair and pain. Falun Dafa saved me and gave me a second life."
The police handed me a paper and asked me to write down my experience and my viewpoint of Dafa. I wrote quickly and finished an article that validated Dafa. Police told me to sign my name and provide my fingerprint. Then they left. Since I acted righteously and had no fear, Master protected me. The evildoers didn’t dare touch me. Given that some practitioners were arrested for just saying "Falun Dafa is good", one can see that it is really important to maintain righteous thoughts at all times.
Second, I got rid of my complacency and show-off mentalities, such as feeling overjoyed when seeing the good effect in clarifying the truth, or feeling upset when seeing no effect. Through studying Master’s lectures and some of new articles, I gradually got rid of the mentality of complacency. I studied in the university’s literature department and liked to show off whenever one of my articles was published in newspapers and magazines. My show off mentality is deeply rooted. Through cultivating Dafa I realized that this was a bad attachment and must be gotten rid of. During the Fa-rectification period, Master opened up my wisdom, and writing Dafa truth-clarifying materials was very natural for me. When I published an article at the Minghui website, I didn’t show off and kept quiet. I just did what a practitioner should do.
Third, I got rid of the attachment of jealousy, which is specifically discussed in Zhuan Falun. Master said,
"If jealousy is not abolished, everything that you have cultivated will become fragile. There is this rule: If in the course of cultivation practice jealousy is not given up, one will not attain Right Fruit—absolutely not." (Zhuan Falun)
I had strong jealousy for a long time. I would try very hard when the school started to evaluate staff and follow the selection of model of teachers and would feel really upset if I was not elected; just like what Master mentioned,
"He will feel in his heart that it is unfair and complain to his boss and coworkers, feeling very upset and quite jealous" (Zhuan Falun)
It was a very serious issue for me. Since I practiced Dafa, especially through the magnificent feats that fellow practitioners risked their lives for to validate Dafa, clarify the truth and rescue the sentient beings, my jealousy was gradually removed. When fellow practitioners were arrested, died due to the persecution, decided to leave home to avoid persecution, as a genuine practitioner, how can I be Master’s disciple if I didn’t give up my jealousy?
Fourth, I got rid of my attachment to ease and comfort. Even while in such a harsh environment, the thought for ease and comfort still often occurred. I got rid of it through studying the Fa.
There are four times to send forth righteous thoughts globally at the top of the hour; one of them is at 11:55 p.m. It is late. Do we do it? As a Fa-rectification period practitioner, one must do it. Therefore, my spouse and I would have a little nap after we sent forth righteous thoughts at 8:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. that targeted the local area. An alarm would wake us at 11:20 p.m. and we got up from the warm bed. We would do the second exercise and then send forth righteous thoughts. We have consistently done this for several years.
Fifth, I got rid of the attachment of pursuit. Just like Master pointed out, I once put my hope on the ordinary people but the result was worse. Master said,
"Since you’re Dafa disciples, you shouldn’t put your hopes in so-called "natural" changes, external changes, changes in the ordinary society, or in some favors that someone might do for us. You are Gods, and you are the future rulers of different cosmoses, so whom would you count on? All the beings are counting on you!" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
Besides the above, I also got rid of hatred and gradually started to cultivate kindness and benevolence. While my spouse and I clarified the truth and rescued sentient beings, some ordinary people regarded us as their family members. Of course we regarded them the same as well. I still have some ordinary mentalities and attachments. I must get rid of all of them in future cultivation.
In the more than six years of hardship and trials, although I did what I wanted to do, it is still not enough. I will keep looking inward and get rid of every attachment. I will continue to do the three things that a practitioner must do. I will do as Master taught us,
"I hope you will complete--soberly, rationally, and with righteous thoughts--your journey to Consummation." ("New Year’s Greetings")