(Clearwisdom.net) One day in late 2004 a fellow practitioner and I went to a small village to distribute truth clarification materials. Since we had forgotten to send forth righteous thoughts, we weren't surprised when a man started to follow us after we had distributed no more than 2 or 3 copies of the flyers. In order to get away from him, we went from the right side of the village to the center of the village. As soon as we tried to distribute more flyers, another couple started following us, wondering what we were doing. We tried to get away but we couldn't find a way out of the village.
As soon as we emerged from a narrow alley, we could see that there were about six people standing at the alley entrance, with more people coming. I started to feel panicked as we faced this situation. A short man questioned us harshly, "What are you two doing here?" We told him we were visiting relatives to take care of an urgent matter, but could not find the way out of the village. He questioned who the relative was. Since we knew very little about the villages nearby, we could not answer him clearly. He became suspicious seeing each of us carrying a big bag, and said, "What's in your bags?" We told him they were supplies for patients. Later, we felt that our replies at this moment allowed the evil to exploit our omissions.
Perhaps the evil did see our attachment of fear, as the people started to get more threatening, "You must have come here to light up the firewood!" Apparently there was some local cult that promised its members that they would go to heaven if they lit more than 100 firewood stacks. We explained that we had nothing to do with that. That man approached closer, "Empty your bags and let us see!" Another elderly man said, "If they won't show what they are carrying, we will call the head of the village. One phone call will get the police to send someone to take them away!"
We weren't afraid to be taken by police, but we were concerned that the truth-clarifying materials would be lost. In that urgent moment, I suddenly realized the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. In fact, the other practitioner was already sending forth righteous thoughts while I was speaking to the villagers.
You won't believe how magical it was. In no more than a minute or two, I settled down, and noticed that the men were also becoming more at ease while talking to us. I seized the opportunity and told them, "We are Falun Gong practitioners, and we are distributing truth-clarifying flyers." As soon as they heard this, their attitude totally changed, and one of them said, "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"
The short man said, "What's so good about Falun Gong? Didn't they kill people and conduct that self-immolation?" The other practitioner replied at once, "The CCTV report on the immolation incident was all fabricated lies." I said, "Falun Gong is about Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Falun Gong forbids killing, as well as suicide. You will know all the truth by reading the truth-clarifying flyers. We also brought some VCDs with us." As soon as I stopped talking, everyone started asking for either flyers or VCDs. Some of them started reading the flyers right then and there under the moonlight. Only then did I notice that we were surrounded by more than 20 people. We got really busy. People were so eager to learn the truth! One 10-year-old boy took a VCD from the other practitioner and went away, but then came running back and asked me for another VCD. I told the boy that after he is done watching it, to give the VCD to his friends and relatives.
An older lady in her 60s saw the frost on our clothes and hats and said, "It was not easy for you to come out on this cold day. Why don't you give me one VCD too, so I can watch it?" Regrettably we had run out of VCDs, and we could only give her a flyer.
Most people had left by that time, and some of them might have told the head of the village, so he came. He was all smiling and cheerful. We gave him a flyer and said, "You should study the real issues, whether you are the head of the village or a Communist Party member." He waved his hands and said, "I don't want it." A little girl next to him holding his sleeve said, "Dad, you take one." Seeing her dad still refusing to take one, she took the flyer for him, and merrily walked away holding her father's hand.
Since we still needed to go to the next village, the short man carefully pointed the way for us. On our way, we wished them well as we watched them return to the village.
Through this incident, we truly experienced the power of sending forth righteous thoughts, and felt the protection of Teacher.
Even though it had been quite a while since this incident took place, I still felt really sorry in my mind, as though I did something that I truly regretted, until I shared my experience with another veteran practitioner. He told me that this was cultivation: finding out where we did not do well, and making sure we do better the next time, and improving ourselves step by step. This is cultivation. I finally enlightened to it.
