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I Look at Fellow Practitioners and Then Think About Myself
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) In September, I traveled by train from a lively
seashore city back to my hometown. My first stop was a countryside village in
northeastern China, thousand of miles away. The living conditions there weren't
very good. There was no industry, only farming. I went to a Fa-study group and
participated in their group Fa-study. Less than ten people were in the study group, but at least five or six
practitioners attended every time. The youngest person was an over 50-year-old
woman. Their Fa-study group has never ceased to meet. They study at least one
lecture a night and send forth righteous thoughts at the top of the hour. No
matter what the weather conditions or personal circumstances, their coordinator
always delivers the "Minghui Weekly" on the same day (Friday)
to practitioners' hands, particularly Master's new articles and special
materials. Not a single moment is wasted; the coordinator always delivers them
on time. When the materials arrive, practitioners first study the Fa and then
hand out the materials to everybody else. Each practitioner is responsible for
one area. Very soon, the materials are all distributed. Each practitioner has a Dafa phrase posted in his or her room, and every
family has Master's photo. Every Chinese New Year, all their rhyming couplets
are about Dafa. On the streets, roads, and electric poles, one can see Dafa
phrases and truth clarifying materials everywhere. When I asked about the "three withdrawals," they told me with
certainty that 80 percent of the locals have quit the Chinese Communist Party
and its affiliated organizations. They have also traveled to other areas to
persuade people to quit. The number must be higher now, because I left that area
nearly three months ago. Their goal is to have 100 percent of the people quit
the CCP. Everyday people are all eager to read the materials. Not a single one
is destroyed or thrown away. Some of them have begun to practice Dafa. They have kept their copies of Minghui Weekly in brand new condition.
They said, "Those are traded with practitioners' blood and life. They are
meant to be left to future generations. The future generation will read them.
They record the cultivation path of Dafa practitioners during the Fa-rectification
period." I was very moved when I heard that. One practitioner is over 60 years old. She was forced to become homeless more
than six years ago. Originally, she had a job and a store. She could have
sustained herself financially in her later life. However, when the persecution
started, she lost her job and her store and firmly chose cultivating Dafa. As a
result, she was forced to leave home to avoid persecution. Now her life is hard,
lonely, and impoverished. In winter, her hands hurt from the cold, and her face
swells from the freezing weather. She is unwilling to buy wood to burn. She
saved money from her food allowance and daily expenses and used it for materials
to validate Dafa and clarify the truth. In the freezing cold of
northeastern China, at -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), she still went out to
distribute materials, write phrases, and hang banners. Even now, you can still
see the phrase she wrote on a wall "Falun Dafa Is Good." If there are
no materials, she will write them herself (The contents are all copied from very
good articles). How many letters has she written? How many packages of wax
pencils has she used? She can't remember. She is silently doing all that a
practitioner should do. She eats the vegetables she has preserved herself. In
summer, she digs vegetables and hangs them to dry. In winter, she preserves
them. She never wastes a penny. I asked her to write an experience sharing
article. She said, "I am only doing what I should do. Compared to those who
have cultivated well, I am far behind." At first, she was almost
illiterate, but now she can read all the Dafa articles. This is such a mountainous area. This place doesn't even have a gasoline
powered car. They don't even have a motorcycle. People can only use an ox-drawn
carriage or they personally carry shoulder bags. It has only been five years
since this place has gotten electricity. Not many people live in the area, but
Dafa practitioners are not few in number. In the past seven years since the
persecution began, this place has been safe and sound. The team leader is a
practitioner. Village officials all know that Dafa is good. I am a regular visitor of one of the local practitioners. Her two sons are
both college graduates, but her family lives in poverty. They have a three-room
adobe house. During the summer of 2001, the older son came home. At night, a
snake crept through the back window and slithered onto his body. He threw the
snake out and continued the exercise. Another time he was doing the fifth
exercise and felt a strong wind. He reached out an arm to close the window, but
it wouldn't close. There was a snake blocking the window. He pushed the snake
away and continued the exercise. The two boys have both been illegally
arrested because they practice Dafa. The older son received a heavy
sentence. When the second son was released, he left home to avoid persecution. I remember that they sell a few vegetables, such as corn, beans, etc. No
matter what they sell, they have to carry their produce to a far away town,
climbing mountains and walking through valleys. Every time they go they might
make several yuan or a dozen yuan. They eat cornflour pancakes and
preserved vegetables and drink water. Once I saw her on the street carrying a
basket of pears, calling out as she walked, " Pears for sale." The
male practitioners in this family get up very early. They walk a very long
distance to work for someone else. They don't have any spare time. They are busy
till late at night. But no matter how busy they are, they never forget to do the
three things. They get some rest but always send forth righteous
thoughts promptly at the four designated times, never missing one. Fa-study and
exercises are done at night. When they are not busy with farming, they study the
Fa in a group. Otherwise, they will arrange their own time. Sometimes they walk
to very far places to distribute materials. They may stay out all night to do
that and come back home during the day time. They are doing everything that a
true cultivator is supposed to do. One day, it was already after 1 p. m. when I arrived at her home from far
away. I was hungry and looked for something to eat. I only found cornflour
pancakes, not even a bit of preserved vegetable. It turned out that their lunch
was water and pancakes. I wanted to read the Fa, so I opened the drawer. There
was a bundle of paper money. There were pennies, dimes, a quarter, and one yuan.
Standing there I cried, my heart almost breaking. They were saving that money to
use for truth-clarification! Every month, they give a little money to the
material production site. They have also saved money for practitioners who are
in prison, sending clothes to them.. They have offered living expenses to those
who have become homeless to avoid persecution. Another thing that surprised me
was that their home was originally a small material production site. In the past
several years, the communication was one-way only. At night, they produced
truth-clarification materials. Most of the expenses were covered by money they
had saved. They walked through the mountains and valleys, carrying the
materials. Once the truth clarifying materials were made, they took them out to
other places. Now the situation has improved. I have only listed only a few of the many things that they have done and are
doing. They have done many things I don't know about. I look at fellow
practitioners, and then look at myself. I can only strive forward diligently,
eliminate all my demon-nature, and catch up with the Fa-rectification process. |