(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings Revered Teacher!
Greetings fellow practitioners!
1. Changes after Beginning Falun Dafa Cultivation Practice
During the summer of 1997, I went to my elder sister's home and found a book. When I opened it, I saw Lunyu. The very first sentence I read, immediately attracted my attention: "'The Buddha Fa' is most profound;" ("Lunyu," from "Zhuan Falun," 2000 Translation). The more I read, the better I felt, and the more I wanted to read. I read the whole book and wondered if there were more books about Falun Dafa. I found three books in her cabinet, and took them home to read. It started raining that evening and continued for three days, so I read through the books during that time. After I finished, I decided to become a practitioner. I went to an exercise center and learned the five sets of exercises.
I previously enjoyed smoking, drinking, mahjong (a gambling game), and sex. On the ninth day after I started practicing, I could no longer smoke, as it was rejected by the gong. I had smoked for twenty five years, yet was able to quit in nine days. Without disease, my body felt light, and I acquired a firm belief in Dafa.
Through my cultivation practice of studying the Fa and and maintaining strict standards of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, I continued to improve my xinxing and eliminated attachments through the tribulations that Teacher arranged for me. I previously behaved as an authoritarian at home, but completely changed after I began cultivation. My wife always opposed me on all issues, big or small. At first, I was not able to hold back my reactions to her. As I continued to study the Fa, I realized that to be a true practitioner, I must control myself. During those tribulations, I kept telling myself
"When it's difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it's impossible to do, you can do it." ("People with Great Inborn Quality," from Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun, 2000 Translation).
Later I understood from the Fa, that Teacher used my wife to upgrade my xinxing and eliminate my karma. After my xinxing improved, those incidents became rare. Even when something did happen, I was not moved by it. Tribulations no longer bothered me, and I was able to achieve what Teacher said,
"To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator." ("What is Forbearance (Ren)?," from Essentials for Further Advancement).
Many people saw the major changes in me. They witnessed the goodness and benefits of Dafa, which established a foundation for them to be saved in the future.
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, I became afraid and stayed at home to study the Fa and do the exercises. When the environment seemed to get worse, I hid all of my Dafa books. My Fa study was interrupted. I lowered the recorder's volume when doing the exercises, for fear of being heard by others. This situation lasted for a long time. Later, I heard that many true practitioners were going out to validate the Fa, so I started to go out to clarify the truth. I became progressively calmer as I continued clarifying the truth to others. I told everyone I met about the benevolence of Dafa and the CCP's lies and persecution.
I was illegally arrested in late 2000, then illegally imprisoned and tortured. Since then, I have been persecuted many times. In the fall of 2005, I returned home after enduring a forced labor camp for three years. I concentrated on Fa study and looked inward to understand the reasons for my persecution. I identified several gaps: I was not diligent in Fa study, I didn't send forth righteous thoughts well, nor enough, I didn't set up the righteous basis for validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, I didn't cultivate myself when distributing truth-clarification materials, and I didn't reject the old forces' arrangements. As a result, I was unable to walk righteously on the Fa-rectification cultivation path that Teacher prepared for me. After the persecution started, I studied Teacher's Fa lectures intensively along with Zhuan Falun. My righteous thoughts became stronger and more frequent. I was clearer on the Fa.
Teacher said,
"Now you can see why I've often told you to read the book more, right?! The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive Out Interference," from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
After I returned home, I worked with a practitioner at his home to report the evil and crimes at the forced labor camp for publication on the Clearwisdom website. I came home late that day. My wife was extremely angry, crying and yelling, "Don't come back if you go out to do Dafa work again! We don't want you anymore." She wouldn't listen to my explanation. I knew that she was being used by the old forces at that time. The old forces control over her had to be eliminated so that she wouldn't commit crimes against Dafa and could preserve a beautiful future for herself. I said firmly, "I must validate the Fa. If you can bear with me, I will stay in this home. If you can't bear with me, I will leave right away. Wherever I go I will validate the Fa!" Then she changed completely, and said "I can't manage you. Just do whatever you want to do. But please be very careful!" I agreed, and she smiled. It really was a case of
"If thoughts are righteous, evil will collapse" ("What's to Fear?" from Hong Yin Vol II, Translation A).
I understood that this happened because Teacher eliminated the evil lives and factors behind her.
My wife also became a practitioner, and cultivated well. When I went out to distribute the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and other truth-clarification materials, she and her mother (also a practitioner) sent forth righteous thoughts at home until I returned. As she improved through Fa study, she sometimes went with me to distribute the truth-clarification materials. Our Fa-rectification cultivation environment became more and more relaxed and my cultivation became quite smooth. I am very grateful for the Fa-rectification cultivation path that our benevolent Teacher prepared for me.
In the spring of 2006, I went to work in another city. A few days after I settled in, a practitioner acquaintance found me and asked if I would work with them to distribute the Nine Commentaries and other truth-clarification materials to the local villages. Under Teacher's benevolent help and protection, and with our righteous thoughts and actions, we were able to perform these tasks smoothly. Even when there was danger, we were able to come out of it safely.
On two occasions however, practitioners were arrested. From those lessons, we studied the Fa, shared understandings and looked inward extensively. We determined that many practitioners would first identify the practitioner's gap after hearing about the arrest. We realized that deep inside these thoughts, was blame for that practitioner. We eliminated this process and just sent forth righteous thoughts for the practitioner. Of course, that practitioner should also look inward and rectify himself immediately. We all have attachments and gaps, and we eliminate them during our cultivation, and in the process of saving sentient beings, which was arranged by Teacher. Teacher is taking care of us. The old forces should not interfere. Teacher does not acknowledge the old forces, and neither should we. My understanding is that we are cultivating at different levels, so whatever we do, as long as our actions are based on righteous thoughts, validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, Teacher helps us with everything. We all know that everything is done by Teacher; we just act in the surface field. The actual work is done by Teacher.
The Change after I Moved up in Levels
We once went to a few villages to distribute truth-clarification materials prior to the Olympic Games. At one village, patrols were set up during the night to arrest Dafa practitioners. When we arrived, each practitioner took a different street to distribute the materials door to door. One practitioner was stopped by a patrol guard. He said, "Don't think about going home now. Was this distributed by you?" The practitioner held a pamphlet "Why quit the CCP" in his hand and carried a bag of truth-clarification materials on his back. Without any fear, he said calmly, "It was distributed by me. I came here to save you. You shouldn't do this to me. You are doing a bad thing and it's harmful for you." He then talked to the guard about the thousands of people killed during the CCP's political campaigns, the corruption of the CCP and the warnings that Heaven has given to people. He told the guard not to listen to the CCP, otherwise he would get into trouble. He also told him to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations to be safe. Because practitioners were there to benevolently save people, and their thoughts and actions were righteous, the evil lives behind the patrol guard were eliminated. How could a human manage a god? That patrol guard finally said "go as you will."
Another female practitioner was also spotted by a guard. She also had no fear. She knew that she should not go to the car to avoid bringing trouble to the other practitioners, so she went in the opposite direction and hid. All the practitioners in the car concentrated on sending forth righteous thoughts for her. Another practitioner and I went out to look for her. We bumped into a patrol guard. He asked, "What are you doing here?" We said we were looking for someone. "Who?" "My sister." Then the female practitioner answered us. The patrol guard said, "She is there. I know what you are doing here." We started clarifying the truth to him. He said, "OK. Please leave quickly. It's too dangerous for you to be here." I said, "We are here to save you." He said, "We have three guards here. I will walk you out." His benevolent thoughts had surfaced. This was the expected result, when practitioners were responsible to their sentient beings and fellow practitioners. We had righteous thoughts and actions, and acted as a single entity. Under Teacher's benevolent help and protection, we eliminated the evil's interference and completed our work in all the villages.
I wish to thank Teacher again for these opportunities to save sentient beings. I also want to thank all the practitioners who gave me encouragement. We still have gaps that need to be rectified by the Fa. I hope that we can cooperate better as a whole group and become more and more diligent at the end. Please point out any shortcomings.