(Minghui.org) With the help of Master and other practitioners, I have been mailing truth-clarification letters for the past 13 years.
This has been my cultivation path and I have benefited very much from it. I would like to share some of my thoughts and what I have learned here, and ask that fellow practitioners kindly point out anything that is inappropriate.
Doing My Best to Be Responsible to Sentient Beings
I hand-wrote the letters when I first started and carbon copied a few at a time. The quality and quantity were not as good as I wanted. When later truth-clarification fliers became available for downloading on the Minghui website, I used them in my letters. I used whatever was available and did not concern myself with the content or the end result.
As I slowly acquired more equipment and as more truth-clarification materials became available on the Minghui website, I became more selective. I would pick and choose which ones I used or combined some with fliers, so I could give an overall picture of the practice and the persecution, or target a specific audience. I also try to be current and use fliers that are visually pleasing. I put a lot of thought into each mailing I sent out.
I stuck with general information about Falun Dafa and the persecution when I did mailings to those with a higher education. For law enforcement, I shifted my focus and emphasized karmic retribution.
I saw many different types of fliers and found some with very good, but dated content. I suggested to the Minghui editors that some of the content could be compiled for a more permanent flier, so that it could be used regardless of when it was published.
Before long, six fliers became available on the Minghui website, with each targeting a different group of readers. The content is focused and easy to understand.
They are such great tools in our truth-clarification effort. Now I can easily put together a few fliers that cover the basic facts of the practice and the persecution, and at the same time speak to a specific audience. It has saved me a lot of time and effort.
I pay more attention to print quality as well. If there's any part of a flier that is smeared or not clear, I would rather not use it.
Some practitioners call me a “perfectionist” and think that it's fine as long as a flyer is legible. I don't agree. Being legible is the minimum. If we were the ones who received such fliers, we would want them to be well printed with clear text and bright colors.
Even ordinary businesses want their promotional materials to be high quality and visually pleasing nowadays. Our fliers are meant to save people. If we have the means to make them better, why aren't we doing so? So I print the fliers at a higher quality, even if it means longer printing times.
I don't over fold the printed materials so that they are not too thick, and I always make sure that when opened, the pages are in order. I send fliers to my relatives and local practitioners from time to time just to test them out.
Overcoming Laziness and Depression
I haven't always been very diligent in the past 13 years. Many things—external interference, my attachment to comfort, and tribulations—have gotten in the way of mailing truth-clarification letters. Many times, I wanted to give up.
I have not done a lot of truth-clarification in person, which used to bother me very much. I have always admired those who are able to talk to people directly. To me, being able to clarify the truth in person is a reflection of one's cultivation state, and it helps to get rid of human attachments faster and better. It's the most direct way of saving people.
I felt that as a Dafa practitioner, I should be able to do everything well, but it was just very difficult for me to clarify the truth in person. This had bothered me so much that I fell into depression. I thought about giving up on mailing truth-clarification letters. I shared and talked with some veteran practitioners, but nothing solved the problem.
Looking back, I am truly glad that I overcame the depression and continued to do truth-clarification through the mail. I have realized that I do need to talk to people in person, but that is not the only way to save people. My negativity and depression were a reflection of my attachments to wanting to cultivate to high levels, to fame, to validating myself, and my lack of patience.
Master has acknowledged mailings as a way to save sentient beings. As long as we do it with a pure heart, it will save people because “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Zhuan Falun)
Mailing truth-clarification letters has its own advantages in saving people and complements other methods and efforts. The result is not as immediate or direct, but over the last 13 years, I have seen some very good results, which in turn boosted my confidence.
I saw a banner slandering Falun Dafa a few years ago in front of a residential community office in the neighborhood. I sent a truth-clarification mailing to that community office, and the banner was gone after a few days. I did the same thing to a daycare center, and their banner was gone shortly thereafter.
Another practitioner saw an article slandering Dafa on the community bulletin board at the beginning of this year and talked to me about it. The practitioner had prepared a letter to clarify the truth, and I decided to mail a few fliers, as well. The article was replaced a few days later.
I recently saw a big banner slandering Dafa at a residential community. The banner was hung on a wall, which was shared with a business next to the neighborhood. For a while, I couldn't find the address of the community management office. Then I came up with the idea to send a letter to the business next door. When I went back to the community a few days later, the banner had been taken down.
When I found out that the new director of the local 610 Office attended a seminar on how to “transform” Falun Gong practitioners, I mailed him a letter with a few fliers clarifying the facts. I later learned after a recent meeting of the 610 Office, that the director talked about Falun Dafa with facts from the fliers that I sent him. The director also has not been involved in any direct persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Such examples have been very encouraging and gave me confidence in what I do. They help me keep a pure heart and a positive attitude.
Having Compassion Toward Sentient Beings
Many law enforcement officers have been directly and actively involved in the persecution since it was launched in 1999. Because I am a victim of the persecution, I have very little compassion toward these people and, for the most part, just repress my resentment toward them. Especially for members of the 610 Office, I didn't even think they were worth saving.
Though I often mailed truth-clarification letters to them, my purpose was to shock and frighten them with cases of karmic retribution so that they would not do as much evil. I never sincerely wanted to save them. I had placed them on the opposite side of Dafa and saw them as the enemy. I didn't realize it was wrong until recently.
The new 610 Office director I mentioned above is someone I know. When I heard that he took the position at the beginning of the year, I felt sad for him. I also resented him for taking such a position just to climb the ladder.
After much contemplation, I put my resentment aside and mailed him a few truth-clarification fliers. I was told later that at a meeting of the 610 Office this director talked about the hundreds of thousands of lawsuits that had been filed against Jiang. He said a supervisor told him that Falun Gong was never classified as a cult and that the persecution is bound to end. He expressed his confusion and helplessness at being the director of the 610 Office.
I was very happy for him when I heard about this, and felt ashamed of myself. It made me realize that law enforcement officers are also victims just like everyone else, maybe even more so.
As Dafa practitioners, we should not resent a specific group and should treat all people with compassion. My notions and attachments had gotten in the way of saving people and stopped predestined sentient beings from being saved.
In the last days of cultivation and validating the Fa, I will try to make up for the time that I wasted in the past and save more sentient beings. I will strive forward and do better at fulfilling my vows.
