Experiences Clarifying the Truth to Family, Friends and Colleagues

By Xinming

(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher's new article "Hurry up and tell them" was recently published on Clearwisdom. The article says, "As Dafa disciples tell people the facts, It's like sharp swords shooting out together from their mouths, Shredding apart the rotten demons' lies. Lose no time and save them, hurry up and tell them." Although I had always been very clear in my mind that there should not be any delay in clarifying the truth, after reading Teacher's new article I was still filled with emotions. We Dafa practitioners are also in the "maze" and cannot see clearly the rapid progress of Fa-rectification. Actually clarifying the truth to save sentient beings is really a matter of extreme urgency. I know a lot of Falun Dafa practitioners who clarify the truth on the Internet whenever they have time, or collect telephone numbers in China and call them daily. Some other practitioners distribute Dafa materials in Chinatown on weekends to clarify the truth to the Chinese people who had been most deceived. They are all quite remarkable.

Today I want to talk about how I have clarified the truth to the people around me. I had always noticed that I could fearlessly stand in the street to hand out Falun Dafa materials and clarify the truth to the people passing by. However, it was very hard for me to talk to my colleagues, friends and relatives - those that I had the most contact with. On the one hand this was caused by a tendency to be introverted, which was common in Chinese people, but on the other hand I was afraid to be hurt. Strangers might not hurt me so much, but in my personal and professional environments, what would happen if my family, friends and colleagues looked at me differently? I wanted to break through this fear, but it was very hard for me to make a move.

One day I went to a university to take part in a seminar clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa. I talked about the illegal persecution I suffered when I went back to China to lodge an appeal. After I finished my story a lot of students were greatly moved. One female student came over to me and said, "I really admire you. Do your friends and colleagues know this personal experience of yours? You must let them know the truth." Upon hearing this I realized that it was Teacher who used this student's words to encourage me. That very evening I drafted an email and inserted links to videotapes that exposed the persecution in China. I planned to send it to my colleagues where I work the following day to tell them the facts of the persecution of Falun Dafa in China and my personal experience.

There are about 200 employees in my company and half are Chinese and the other half are from various other countries. Though everyone knows that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, no one talks about it. Sitting in front of the computer I suddenly felt very tense. Motivated by self-interest, all kinds of thoughts popped into my head, "How will other people judge me? Will they blame me? I haven't seen anyone use the company's email to send personal information like this." In a fleeting moment I wanted to retreat. At that time I tried to calm myself down. I said to myself, "A Falun Dafa practitioner came to work here in this company. Maybe people around me might have predestined relationships with me, so no matter what happened I should not let them down." Then, I clicked the "send" button.

Two minutes after I sent the email, the manager phoned me and asked me to come to his office. My manager is Asian. Upon entering the office I saw that he was very much worried. He asked, "Did you send it to the whole company? It would be OK if you only sent it to me. This might not be in line with the company's policy and I might be blamed by my superiors." I said to him, "The United States respects human rights and human lives, and our company should become a big family, so that we can help and understand one another." He said, "In my country there are also people who are persecuted, but I have not told other people about it." I said, "That's the result of your understanding. Maybe you did not step forward to speak because you lived in a totalitarian country for too long. Normally I talk to you the most. I thought you must know Falun Gong better than any other person here and support Falun Gong." When I finished, he fell silent.

At about noon, I was very happy to see many responses. My colleagues expressed their shock and support to our peaceful protest. One manager from another department wrote a very long letter, "I have been watching China. From the beginning of the Great Cultural Revolution the government wanted to control people's minds. One of my friends, a Christian priest, remains imprisoned in a Chinese jail. I am very glad to see so many brave Chinese people." Colleagues from Hong Kong, Thailand and India wrote, "We could not hold back our tears any longer after we watched the video on that website. We plan to send it to all of our friends, but we will delete your name because we are concerned about your safety." Several days after I had sent the email, I continued to receive feedback. My Chinese colleagues made me feel most gratified. Those acquainted with me would come over and talk to me, and those who didn't know me had all showed some type of change in their attitudes. Of course there were people who could not understand or even not happy about it, but relatively speaking these people were a very small minority. I thought that it did not matter if some people failed to understand us right now, because there is a Falun Dafa practitioner close to them, and this might touch a small part of their beings. At the same time, I realized that if I followed the standard of a practitioner, then I would receive better results in clarifying the truth. This is because no one believes that a group of such kind-hearted people should be persecuted.

From this incident I can see more clearly that it was my own notions that blocked me from clarifying the truth to so many people with predestined relationships. Actually a lot of times it's not that something is too big for us to do, but it's our perception that needs to be broken through. When we let go of these attachments, these lives can be saved.

Later, I started collecting email addresses of my friends from high school to postgraduate school, planning to clarify the truth to them. I also got telephone numbers of my relatives in China through my parents. Of course whenever I want to do these things, there would always be xinxing (heart/mind nature, moral character) tests and sometimes severe obstacles and interference from the old forces.

For example, one day I had a very strong desire to promote Dafa and clarify the truth to my relatives, but coming with it was a tremendous pressure and an indescribable feeling of resentment. However, as soon as I picked up our Teacher's Fa lectures, my determination grew stronger. This happened several times. I fully realized that the "mentality of resistance" was by no means mine, but it was the act of the demons that were so desperate. After I thought this through, I started to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference and the evil factors that had hindered my relatives from getting to know the truth. After that I began to dial the numbers, no matter how big the pressure was. I still remembered that at the time my mind was a blank, and I had no idea what I should say. When I got through and the familiar accent of my native place could be clearly heard, I was instantly invigorated. After exchanging a few words of greetings, I began to talk with earnestness and assurance. They raised questions or brought up misunderstandings from time to time, but I was surprised to find that my answers were usually very good. I was most moved by my grandfather, who is more than 80 years old and hard of hearing. While sending forth righteous thought to let him hear more clearly, I repeated what I said loudly. He would ask to confirm twice for every sentence I had said, and then he would say, "Yes, I understand now, please rest assured." Many of my relatives said, "You are the smartest kid we have ever had. What we thought we understood was all from the TV, so we were a bit worried about you, but did not know what to say to you. Today we feel relieved after hearing what you have said. It turns out that Falun Gong is so well thought of overseas. This means that the propaganda here has some problems."

In fact, Teacher will arrange many opportunities for us as long as we have the heart to do it.

One day a friend of my younger brother, Xiao D, contacted me and left his email address. The following day, I wrote him a letter to clarify the truth. He is one who is loyal to his friends, so I talked to him from this angle and asked him to step forward bravely to support the righteous and the kind-hearted while clarifying the truth. His reply letter was very short, "So, that's how it is, after all." About a week later, my father told me on the phone, "Xiao D's parents worry so much for his safety, because he talks to everyone he meets about Falun Gong. He was out of a job for quite some time, but just recently he unexpectedly found a very good job." I smiled with understanding upon hearing the news. Whoever knows Falun Dafa is good will receive blessings.

Recently quite a few of my university classmates came to the United States on business. We had not contacted one another for several years, and I did not know how they had found me. We agreed to meet at the home of one of my classmates. This way I could I could take the opportunity to play a VCD for them and chat with them face to face.

I know the things that we have been doing are all arranged and watched over by our Teacher. The most important thing is that we must seize the opportunity and do these things from our hearts. When we clarify the truth to our relatives and friends, it would be a lot easier for them to accept than just having received a flyer because they trust us. When Falun Dafa started to spread in Mainland China, it spread very rapidly by word of mouth. In clarifying the truth we are able to accomplish "the Great Way without form." Please think about it, there are tens of millions of practitioners in China. If every Dafa practitioner can start to clarify the truth to the people around them, what kind of a momentum would that be?

Our Teacher says, "This is magnificent--truly magnificent. Without the Fa-rectification, Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples' magnificence wouldn't be shown so prominently. Dafa disciples: the things you are faced with are magnificent, your responsibilities are major, and then there's your origin, of course--it's taking all these things into consideration that I say you're magnificent. You need to be worthy of the title "Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple"! That's something that the cosmos won't have again. This only happens once since the beginning of time--it only happens once since the beginning of time in the cosmos. Everything seems to take place among everyday people and not be much different from everyday-people things. If there was a difference, then people would believe whatever you say, Fa-rectification wouldn't happen, and cultivation wouldn't exist. People commit sins while deluded, so at present they have no other choice but to pay for them while deluded. Although there's still a difficult leg of the journey ahead of us, it won't last long. I hope that everyone will do even better from this point on. ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")

The above is my personal experience. I wrote it down in the hope that it could be of help to fellow practitioners, so that we can all improve together.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/8/22/35367.html

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