(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
My father had a prophetic book, which is the scripture written by Cloth-Bag Monk. My father told me when I was 12: “We should be honest and kind. A grand master will be reincarnated into a human being to save us. The man is here already. His last name is Li. He is in the north [of China].”
Just because of this book, my father was killed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Cultural Revolution. I was born into a landlord family. Through decades of constant political campaigns launched by the CCP, the prophecy was the sole hope for the survival of my family.
I remember the day when I obtained the Fa. An assistant at a practice site showed me the book Zhuan Falun. “You can take it home. If you like it, you can buy it, or simply return it to me.” she said.
I told my elder brother about the book, “Didn't our father mention, in our childhood, that there would be a great person coming to save us? This man has now come. If you don't believe me, just read this book.”
Reading through it for two days, my brother agreed, “Here he comes, here he comes. It's him.” Thus, my four family members, myself, my brother, and two sisters, all started practicing Falun Dafa.
My cultivation journey has been bumpy over the past 10 years. However, I've never doubted the Fa. I wish I had been more diligent.
The Needs of Dafa Is My Choice
I stayed with my daughter in 2010. A dry-cleaner owner visited us and asked me to help with garment alteration. At the beginning, she examined the quality for every piece I altered.
Soon she no longer checked, as she saw the good quality of my work. She overpaid me by mistake once. I returned the overpaid amount back to her, and told her, “I practice Falun Dafa. Our Master teaches us to be a good person, and that our hearts should not desire financial gain.”
From then on she never checked the volume and quality of my work. I enjoyed the business of garment alterations and growing vegetables at home. They did not interfere with my Fa study or exercises, and doing housework with adequate earnings made me feel at ease and fulfilled.
At this time, a Chicago coordinator called me and asked me to go to Chicago to make Han couture. I realized that as a Dafa disciple, whenever Dafa needs me, that's the choice I should make. I therefore quit my job at the dry-cleaner.
Calling China to Help People to Quit the CCP
It was a cultivation process for me to make phone calls to China to help people quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
I had a thought about making phone calls to the Chinese people as early as 2007. However, I kept putting it off until the next day, over and over again. As soon as I managed to start working at the phones, I shivered as soon as the phone rang, and couldn't talk.
I then encountered some people who insulted me or hung up on me, and I couldn't make calls anymore. After a while I thought about it and tried several times to pick the phone up but couldn't. The phone seemed so heavy that I couldn't even hold it.
Well, even though I couldn't do it, I could help out financially. Thus I got involved in various projects, by only providing monthly fees for pre-recorded automatic phone calls.
Master said:
“If you don't take action to save sentient beings, you will not have fulfilled your responsibility as a Dafa disciple and your cultivation will amount to nothing, for your becoming a Dafa disciple was not for the sake of your own Consummation. This means that you shoulder a monumental mission.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference”)
In 2011, a fellow practitioner helped me install software so that I could directly join the online platform, which is used for us to team up to call China for truth-clarification.
Having learned how fellow practitioners make phone calls to people, I began to practice my speech. At first, a team coordinator assigned 50 phone numbers to me each time. Every two days she would check with me to see if I had completed calling all the numbers.
“Would you take more phone numbers?” she urged me, which propelled me to continue to do so. In this way I could accomplish more.
I really appreciated those fellow practitioners who have offered me their help. Right now, no matter how people swear at me or hang up, regardless of how many or few people withdraw from the CCP, I'm not swayed. Making calls between 7:30 am and 9:00 am every morning has become one of my compulsory courses.
Clarifying the Truth Face to Face
In recent Fa conferences, Master talked about clarifying the truth to Chinese visitors at scenic spots in the world. I understand Chicago, as the third largest city in the United States, is no exception. I opted to go to Chinatown, which has heavy traffic of Chinese tourists, ranging from the locals to Chicago suburbs and neighboring states.
It's hard for me to clarify the truth face to face. I'm rather on the shy side. I'm not the type to speak to strangers. I wanted to have a companion but saw no one. One Sunday I forced myself to walk into the Chinatown Square with truth-clarification materials.
A fellow practitioner happened to be there, and we teamed up. Thanks to Master, whenever a disciple has his or her heart set on saving sentient beings, Master will arrange for it accordingly.
What a great partner! She doesn't need to go to work and is able to speak in English. On the first day we helped 21 people renounce their CCP memberships. From then on, we have basically maintained a daily presence in Chinatown.
Clarifying the truth face-to-face to people is like wandering about in cultivation. Some insult you, some show their anger, and yet some may express their gratitude. Whoever accepts the materials, we must try hard to clarify the truth to the person.
Sometimes, we play different roles—one is speaking while the other is sending righteous thoughts; sometimes, we collaborate—we take turns clarifying the truth.
We prepare a list of aliases in a notebook. In Chinatown, we leave a mark on any used alias with a pencil, “1” for quitting the Party, “2” for quitting the Youth League, “3” for quitting the Young Pioneers.
Once the withdrawal declarations are published on the Epoch Times website, we then erase the marks and reuse those aliases again. We also let those who want to quit Chinese communist organizations choose the aliases if they have a preference.
In general, we first give them a copy of materials to a person. Second, we explain why and how to quit the CCP and its associated organizations. Following his or her withdrawal, we then talk about Falun Gong and the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident. Finally, we advise him or her to remember “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good, Falun Dafa is good.” People then usually thank us.
One time, at a restaurant's entrance, a young man came out to clean the glass door. We tried to talk to him, but he responded, “I don't have time.” We told him that one minute is enough. Having heard us explain the facts in one minute, he quit the Party. He then went back to work. Truly it was Master who brought a predestined person to us.
Having seen a neatly dressed man smoking on a stone bench, the fellow practitioner said, “He is some restaurant's manager. Please go talk to him.” I thought that the manager is also a human being. There is no difference to me, so following my few words, he quit the Youth League.
We also encountered some people who did not give up the CCP membership no matter how we explained. We sincerely said: “We are volunteers. These materials are printed with money we have saved. Wouldn't it be better for us to take a nap or watch TV at home? Why are we standing here in the sun and wind? That's because we are helping you out with our kind hearts, and hope you will cherish it.”
In the course of the truth clarification, I've found that my every thought determines the outcome of saving people.
Going out to talk to people, we face complex groups of people of different ages and varying occupations, who have also been poisoned by the evil Party culture to various degrees. It won't do to clarify the truth when we don't have a state of mind of truly considering others and being fully responsible to all sentient beings. Thus we must study the Fa well, and strengthen righteous thoughts, unmoved by the human mind. But I still have competitiveness reappearing from time to time. I have learned a lot from the fellow practitioner. She often reminds me, “Aunt, don't rush. Calm down.” Thanks to the fellow practitioner, I am constantly diligent.
Seeing the domino effect of the downfalls of high-ranking CCP officials, I felt a sense of urgency, and realized the acceleration of the Fa-rectification process and the immediacy of saving all beings.
Master said in “Fa Teaching at the 2013 Western U.S. Fa Conference:” “The time has been extended for your sake, and for the sake of sentient beings.”
Yet we will have less time being extended for us. When the time really comes―a great weeding out will take place, and so many sentient beings would not have been saved. How will I explain this to Master?
Always with the feeling of not having enough time, I have to cut my sleeping hours. I often go to bed between 12:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., without falling behind in other Dafa affairs. No matter how late I go to sleep, I always get up at 4:30 a.m. After washing up, I pay my respect in front of Master's picture, and send forth righteous thoughts. I later do the five exercises. At 7:30 a.m. I start making phone calls to China until 9:00 a.m. I have a very simple lunch, and I cook once for two days of meals.
It takes about 30 minutes walking from my apartment to Chinatown. If I take the bus, I will spend more than 30 minutes to get there, because of the waiting time and one transfer. So I just walk there, thereby saving the cost and enabling me to listen to the Fa while walking.
Carrying a heavy handbag with materials and drinking water in it, I do the truth-clarification at the square for about four hours. When I get back home, the bag becomes light, but I feel I can scarcely drag myself along. Living in an apartment, I don't ride the elevator but walk up and down the stairs. But at this point, I have to take it to the second floor, as I am usually so tired.
Many fellow practitioners' cultivation experiences published on the Minghui website have moved me deeply. I have room for improvement in cultivation. Dafa cultivators' paths are distinctive, but how to advance forward on his or her own path to Buddhahood is the same. I'll do my best to save more people.
I'm sharing my cultivation experiences with everyone today, not because I am cultivating well, but because I don't want to slack off. Sharing my experience helps me improve in my cultivation.
My cultivation level is limited, please feel free to point out anything that is not based on the Fa principles.
Thank you, Master!Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Shared at the 2014 Mid-USA Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference)
