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Dafa Has Given Me Everything -- My Journey of Cultivation (Part 4) By Zhen Xinxin, a practitioner in China
November 23, 2002
(Clearwisdom.net)
(continued)
VI. Dafa Is Consummating Everything for Me
1. Keeping Promises
At the beginning of 2002, to my surprise, my former employer sincerely asked
me to return to work and said they did not care what my beliefs were and to let
the past be the past. I thought there had to be reasons behind this shift and
accepted their offer, taking it as one way to validate Dafa.
That evening I had a dream, and the basic points were: Teacher Li is placing
my cultivation achievements and the lives I had saved to different levels and
places in the universe. So, our Teacher is consummating everything for me.
However, all of the colleagues and relatives around me should also be involved,
so they could understand the truth about Falun Dafa and be saved.
I also realized that we Falun Dafa practitioners have suffered so much to
establish a relationship with Teacher Li. Similarly, all people around us have
also suffered much to build up a relationships with us so they could be saved.
Thus, we should keep our promises by telling them the truth in order to
consummate everything.
Having realized this, I started explaining the truth to my close colleagues
and friends as soon as I returned to work, and the results have been very good.
My next attempts were with acquaintances who are not close with me or who even
have prejudices against me. I felt that was more difficult. The "difficulty" was
not that others were not good; I was afraid of damaging my self-respect. Having
eliminated this mentality, the difficulty vanished. Nothing is difficult when we
are selfless and just act for the benefits of others. I clarified the truth about Dafa to a former college classmate. During
school, I had been aggressive and loved to excel ahead of others. So, she viewed
me negatively. After graduation, we were assigned to the same company. We did
not have conflicts, but we were estranged.
When I went to her office to talk with her, she was cold to me. I very kindly
said to her, "My old classmate, I want to chat with you." Then, I started with a
topic she was familiar with. From my narrow-mindedness to the tolerance, from my
past aggressiveness to being detached from fame, from my past selfishness to
selflessness -- I had changed so much, all due to Falun Dafa.
Gradually, her gaze moved from her computer screen to my eyes. Her expression
turned from cold to sympathetic, from suspicious to trustful, from puzzled to
understanding. Finally, she held my hands and gladly said, "Xinxin, you have
really changed, we all see it. You are changing for the better, which means
Falun Gong is good. No matter what other people say, I have witnessed this."
Since then, we have enjoyed a good relationship, and she is happy when I give
her Falun Dafa materials to read.
Another colleague sits in the same office as I do. She was not comfortable
with me and frequently made sarcastic comments about me, which I was puzzled by.
After I attained Falun Dafa, I realized the problem emanated from our
relationship in a previous life. Thus, I kept a normal mentality and was neither
cold nor warm to her. But concerning explaining the truth to her, I did not know
how to start. However, I realized that no matter what kind of relationship we
had in the past, it was a relationship, and I should clarify the truth to her to
keep my promise.
I showed concern for her in various ways and tried to understand her.
Gradually, she began to enjoy talking with me. Then, I told her that Falun Dafa
has taught me how to be a righteous person and how to be nice to others. I also
told her some of my cultivation experiences in Dafa, and she was moved. She
said, "We used to think that you were an arrogant person who did not like to
talk with people. Now, you've totally changed. It proves that Falun Dafa has
changed your nature. People say, 'It's easy for one to move to a new place, but
it's hard to change one's nature.' It seems that this 'Fa' is extraordinary.
When you went to Beijing to appeal, we actually admired your courage. You had
been in an advantageous post, and you dared to lose all of what you had for Dafa,
which proves this 'Fa' is the best." Since then, she has greeted me, even when
she is still far away down the road. She also has been very helpful to me.
I saw the power of Falun Dafa while explaining the truth. Compassion can melt
any gap between people. I approached people I knew from various venues to
explain the truth to them. I talked to approximately 200 people face to face
within our company. I also clarified the truth to people outside of my company.
The results have been very encouraging. Among all the people I have talked to,
only five of them did not accept what I said or simply did not listen to me, but
that is really a small percentage. Also, even though I had talked to so many
people about Falun Dafa, I never found myself in a dangerous situation.
I also clarified the truth to members of the local police station and street
offices. In once instance, I talked with a local policeman, and he said, "Don't
say that only you are disappointed with the government. We all are. In this
time, where can you find righteousness? All we have are liars and boasters. Only
you Falun Gong have dared to tell the truth."
Another time I talked with a collaborator [former Falun Gong practitioners
who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] assigned to brainwash
Falun Gong practitioners. He said at the beginning, "We are government
employees. We follow whatever the government dictates. If the government states
that Falun Gong is something bad, then I say the same thing and am against Falun
Gong."
I replied, "The government does not actually represent righteousness. Take my
appeal as an example: I was just using one of the rights the constitution has
bestowed upon citizens. But they arrested me, so exactly who is breaking the
law? The constitution also specifies that a citizen has the rights of freedom of
speech, freedom of belief, and liberty. Now the government has deprived us of
these rights. Aren't they treading on the laws? So, who is really evil? Falun
Gong teaches people to practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. Which one of
those three words do you see as evil?"
I also made many other righteous statements and posed more questions; he
nodded without a word. Finally, I said, "I really care for you; if I were just
for myself, I would simply be quiet."
He said, "I know you are thinking of me. I also hope you have a happy family
and are happy in your work." He escorted me to the doorway and kept saying, "Be
careful."
2. The Changes in My Father
Even though I told many people the truth about Falun Dafa, my father had
never accepted Dafa. My children (also Falun Dafa practitioners) and I had tried
different ways to make him understand, but our efforts did not work. Through
studying Falun Dafa repeatedly and looking inward, I gradually understood or saw
through the reasons behind the issue.
I have been opposing my father since childhood, and I have "resentments"
toward him in my heart. When he opposed Falun Dafa, my resentment then
especially grew. Our gap widened, which further prevented him from knowing the
truth.
I finally realized that I had the attachment of "resentment." I also realized
through Falun Dafa that my sentiment had blocked my way. It was as if I had been
in a room full of sand, and the sand was blocking the door, and I had to clear
off all the sand before other people could come in. This sentiment was selfish,
and it left no room for others, while compassion is selfless and offers enormous
room for other sentient beings. Enlightened to this, my sentiment disappeared
and transformed into boundless compassion.
Not coincidentally, that same afternoon Dad called me and said he wanted to
come to see his grandson the following day. Before, he had almost never
initiated a call to me. I deeply felt the compassion from Teacher Li. That
night, I was reminded in my dream. So many sentient beings were deceived by
lies. How could I leave them alone!
On the second day of Dad's visit, I very politely told him that I had been
invited back to my job; he was happy to hear that. Then, I told him about the
co-workers' comments about how I had changed for the better because of Dafa, and
how their attitude about Dafa had become positive and supportive. He listened
quietly. Even when Mom interrupted us, he gestured to her that what I was saying
was important and he wanted to listen to me. Earlier, he would not have done
that.
I also told him: "Dad, if you see any good changes in me, that's because I've
followed Dafa. Whenever I don't do well, that's when I am not following Falun
Dafa, and that's where I should correct myself. I didn't show enough concern for
you before; that's because I didn't understand Dafa well. Dafa has taught me to
be compassionate; in the future, I'll try my best to make up for my mistakes."
Hearing my words, Dad nodded and said with deep love, "Xinxin, we are not all
against Falun Gong (he never talked this way before); but both your Mom and I
are old now, and we do not have much to pursue. We just hope our children can
live a peaceful good life; then, we'll be at ease."
From Dad's words, I could feel their deep love for me. I thought of the
compassion and care given to us by Teacher Li. I know our real lives are created
by Teacher Li. Without saying a word, our Teacher has suffered so much by
bearing so much of the karma that we had incurred during our numerous lifetimes.
He did this so we could return to the paradises where our true lives came from.
Father's changes greatly encouraged me. Later, I conversed with Dad many
times, and his concepts were totally corrected. Once he told me affectionately,
"Xinxin, your Mom and I feel that you've done a good job in your cultivation of
Dafa, so keep going. Let your children cultivate with you. The government is
inexplicably abusing good people." Later, my father became my close friend.
3. Making Progress Together
Once during Fa study, I enlightened to a point: there are reasons for the way
Falun Dafa practitioners are distributed. I checked carefully and found that
practitioners are evenly distributed in our company; almost every major
department has practitioners. Then, are there not people around each Falun Dafa
practitioner who came to establish a relationship with them? Falun Dafa
practitioners are one body: we should encourage each other and to make progress
together.
Having realized this, I started looking for fellow practitioners. Some were
still practicing, some had stopped. One by one, I talked with them. Some of
those who had stopped started reading Dafa books again. One said, "I am blessed.
I thought our Teacher did not care about me anymore, but actually, our Teacher
is still thinking of me."
Some said tearfully that they were sorry to have let our Teacher down. Some
fellow practitioners who previously had been unwilling to step forward to
clarify the truth excitedly said, "We do need to act quickly - we are already
late." Some others started truth clarifying the second day after we talked, and
the effects were good. We also discussed the importance of eliminating evil in
other dimensions with righteous thoughts. By sending forth righteous thoughts
continuously to eliminate the evil, our environment changed from good to better.
The boundless power of Falun Dafa was verified once again. In one other situation, I did not do a good job because I had attachments.
One fellow practitioner was sent to a forced-labor camp. She was very determined
and suffered a lot; I admired her. But after she was released, for a period of
time, she was busy with chores and could not study the Fa tranquilly. I was
worried for her and wanted to persuade her to study because I had experienced
the importance of Fa study. She was reticent to hear me. So, I tried to comfort
her with words, saying that it was good that she did not give up when she was
persecuted. However, I also told her she had lost much time in Fa study and
should make an effort to catch up. She didn't say anything then. Later, she
said, "I feel that you have an attachment. You always think that you have
cultivated better than others. I read Teacher's Fa, and I feel that what you
have said is just the opposite of what our Teacher said."
I felt like a needle had pierced into my heart after listening to her words.
Usually, I did not feel pain in my heart no matter what others said, but this
time I was embarrassed and could not accept her words.
Later, I checked inwardly and found my problem. When I talked with her, my
mind was full of complaints for her: that is sentiment. The primary point of my
talk was not Dafa, but the issue of why she did not pay attention to my words.
So, seemingly reasonable words were heard as the opposite of what I wanted to
say. Just as our Teacher has said, "When you speak to others with your own
purpose in mind, wanting to change or persuade them, no matter how reasonable
your words are, other people will have a hard time completely accepting them.
Neither will the words be able to move people's hearts." (Lecture at The
Conference in Switzerland, September 4th and 5th, 1998, Geneva). From then on,
we communicated and encouraged each other like sisters. She later played an
active role in our Fa study, truth clarifying, and sending forth righteous
thoughts during activities. Through this issue I realized that being tolerant, lenient and kind to others
are some of the basic elements of an enlightened being. When you can tolerate
and understand others, your realm and mental volume will be huge. Only when we
are selfless can we can enjoy the true beauty of Falun Dafa.
*************
Today is the sixth anniversary of my attaining Dafa. This article is my
report to our respected Teacher. My gratitude to our Teacher who has been
protecting me, leading the way for me and instructing me are beyond what
language can express. I also want to verify through my experiences that Falun
Dafa is solemn, indestructible, and should not be attacked. I hope the
experiences I have shared can help fellow practitioners and the sentient beings
in the future.
If I had any achievements, the accomplishments were done by Dafa; if I did
not do something well, it was because of "me." Falun Dafa is what should be
praised and spread. Without Dafa, there will be no "me;" everything of mine is
created by Dafa! I will contribute all the effort I can for our great Teacher Li
and Dafa, the creators of my life. (End) Please see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/12/30/30319.html http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/1/4/30414.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/1/5/30436.html
for Parts 1, 2 and 3.
Posting date: 1/6/2003 |