By Dafa practitioner Li Gang from northeast of China

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a Dafa disciple from Yanbian City. During the past 11 years, after experiencing many ups and downs on the road of cultivation, I became righteous. The parts below are the some of my understandings in cultivation.

During the phase of personal cultivation five years ago, I realized:

"This is the most convenient school of practice. In addition, it is practiced directly according to the characteristic of the universe. It is the quickest, most direct path, and it precisely targets one's heart." (Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation version)

After Master purified our bodies in the Fa lectures, I also felt that my entire body was light, and some supernormal abilities emerged. But I did not study the Fa frequently and only paid attention to the exercises, ignoring cultivation. I did not study the Fa well and did not upgrade my xinxing. It amplified the attachment I had when I first found Dafa--seeing Dafa cure disease and increase gong, so that I was attached to curing and pursuing supernatural abilities. As a result of the amplification of my fundamental attachment, I got sick and almost died in 1997. But Master and Dafa saved me through group study and group exercises. In this furnace of cultivation, I gave up the attachment of pursuit, conducting myself according to the standards of a cultivator. Over the five years, I gradually achieved the state of "gain naturally with no pursuit" through studying the Fa, and upgrading my xinxing. I really felt reborn.

In July 1999, as Jiang Zemin and his regime began to suppress Dafa, I did not believe the propaganda broadcast on the TV and other media anymore, steadfastly trusting Dafa. About 10 p.m. on July 19, when I was sitting in meditation, I suddenly realized that I should protect our Falun Dafa materials, so I went and got them from the material site and kept them at home. When we later studied Fa together, I took them out for those practitioners who did not have books and this gave them an opportunity to study. On January 5, 2001, I set out on the way to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. I realized that as a Dafa disciple, when Dafa was being persecuted I should step forward to tell the public the truth, but all sorts of other notions were disturbing me.

After repeatedly studying what Master said,

"You cannot always rely on me to bring you up to a higher level while you, yourself do not move. Only after the Fa is explicitly stated do you make a move. If it is not taught clearly, you do not move, or move backward." ("Digging Out the Roots")

I understood what I should do. And after I further studied Master's overseas teaching, I totally understood what my path should be. Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, follow Master, openly and uprightly step forward to clarify the truth, validate Dafa and the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." We finally broke through all sorts of resistance and went to Beijing. We first sent a letter to the authorities and then took a taxi to the Central Petition Office, where we met a section chief just in time and left a letter with him as well.

After the persecution began, because it was difficult to get Master's new articles and Dafa materials, fellow practitioners had a difficult time keeping up with Master's Fa-rectification process. We had no reliable access to the Minghui website, so, we copied anything that was available, even materials that were salvaged from the water. The risk of copying materials was very high, but the incentive to save sentient beings was so great that I used tens of thousands of yuan to set up a photocopy shop to build up a favorable environment for making materials. We sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference every day, and utilized the circumstances to make and deliver Dafa materials rationally and wisely. Later on, under Master's protection, we continually updated the source of materials and made the material site more independent and complete. To ensure that we took every step righteously, we first completely negated the old force's arrangements in our minds. If we acted righteously, the evil would have no loopholes to take advantage of. When we faced dangerous situations, we relied on the group righteous thoughts and the divine power that Dafa endowed us with to head off the danger. During this process I enlightened that following Master's words to do the three things well is the safest way.

In China, it was quite possible to be arrested even if only a few Dafa practitioners stayed together. Many practitioners who have stepped forward still cannot get together to study Fa and do the exercises. Studying the Fa in a group was the form of cultivation left for disciples by Master. Master said:

"For Dafa disciples as a whole, in the process of validating the Fa, when you work together in concert, the Fa power is great. Whether you're doing things as a group or doing things individually, what you're doing is the same kind of thing, and that's what we mean by one entity. You're all clarifying the truth, sending righteous thoughts, and studying the Fa, so the specifics of the things you're doing are different but the division of roles is orderly, together there's a form, and separated there are particles." ("Explaining the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")

To suit the action to the realization, since May 2001, we expanded the Fa study group on in groups of two. We gradually made the Fa study groups flourish everywhere. There were many practitioners who joined in the group study. In this pure environment, each person was not only a practitioner but also a coordinator. By the way of practice, we felt that Fa study must be put in the first position. Every time we got together we sent forth righteous thoughts to clean the field, and when we encountered problems, we looked inward. The study group became a furnace that burned away the impurities of notions of fear, jealousy and competition. In this environment, we all felt the fact that as we studied the Fa, we enlightened more, our xinxing was upgraded faster, and our sense of unity grew. We also felt that group exercise offered an advantage in enlarging the energy field of Dafa and suppressing the local evil. We knew we needed to pay attention so that each member of the group could be responsible for others. We cultivated our speech, ensuring the security of every practitioner in the group.

The purpose of the Nine Commentaries is to save people. Master announced his resignation from the Youth League, and published the new scripture, "Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World." It was the new process of Fa-rectification. As Dafa disciples, we must keep up.

I have cultivated for more than 10 years, but I had not completely removed my fundamental attachments, so the troubles and hardships never ended. Through Fa study, we eliminated the stubborn notions that were formed in the CCP culture. After seeing through the essence of the CCP's evil spirit, we repeatedly read the "Nine Commentaries," sent forth righteous thoughts frequently, destroyed the articles influenced by the CCP culture, announced our statements resigning from the CCP on the Dajiyuan website, and pasted up those statements in public place. After that I really felt that my entire body was light.

Sometimes, the evil would counterattack. Once when I was reading the "Nine Commentaries" a blister developed. It made it very difficult to sit down to study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. I also got a cold and cough. I immediately sent forth righteous thoughts, "I am Master's disciple, I just follow my Master, I do not want or admit anything else. Completely deny and eliminate all the interference. Despite my omissions, I won't allow the evil to persecute Dafa disciple even one minute." I went outside to distribute the "Nine Commentaries" in the morning and afternoon that day, and all the symptoms of illness disappeared. I was enlightened that once a disciple has righteous thoughts and righteous deeds, the evil dares not to attack him.

After the "Nine Commentaries" was published, I had my spouse and my daughter watch the "Nine Commentaries" video. I also read the "Nine Commentaries" to them. My spouse told me, "I have already seen that the CCP is a bandit group, and wanted to resign before." Thus my whole family resigned from the CCP and Youth League. I used every opportunity to spread the "Nine Commentaries," sometimes even taking my spouse, a non-practitioner, to distribute them.

The evil usually utilized my attachments to my family to make trouble. Because of the attachment of sentimentality, I always handled it like an ordinary person, and so, the conflict became bigger and stronger. Later, I realized that the troubles were directed at my attachments, especially the attachment of competition. After I eliminated them, the situation changed. But sometimes the interference still emerged. Once there was some interference when I sent forth righteous thoughts. When I asked Master to strengthen my righteous thoughts, the interferences disappeared immediately. After I continued to send forth righteous thoughts with the fellow practitioners three times, the evil spirit never controlled my family anymore. Now my family was happy and at peace. All of them supported Dafa. The whole family benefited, thanks to Master's salvation of my family. As a disciple I will make much more progress.

I realized that if we want to resolve family-related troubles, we cannot use human emotions and human methods. We must address them from the standpoint of the Fa with the heart of saving people. Use righteous thoughts to guide them. Do not go to extremes, do not be moved; keep a peaceful heart and continue to send forth righteous thoughts toward them benevolently. Do not stop the righteous thoughts until the evil is defeated. The predestined relationships between our families and us are special. They have endured a lot and sacrificed a lot. We cannot give up on them. You must be responsible for the beings in their life system. Saving families is one of the needs of Fa-rectification and part of the entire upgrade.

In order to save people, I clarified the truth everywhere in the past year. I developed some methods.

I took the "Nine Commentaries" with me to call at the homes of my relatives, and told them about the murderous history of the CCP and the essence of its corruption. More than 30 people resigned from the CCP in several days.

Under the persecution, I was arrested five times. Each time, I clarified the truth to the police to allow their conscious side to understand that Falun Gong is good and that Falun Gong practitioners are good people. After I was released, I continued clarifying the truth and spreading the "Nine Commentaries" to them.

Once, I met my previous supervisor in a park and told him the situation of resignations from the CCP and the principle of resigning for safety. Through my explanation, he decided to quit immediately. He also agreed to convince his family and kept the amulet I gave him. I was so glad for what he did.

I introduced the "Nine Commentaries" to a cab driver one day. He gave me his and his daughter's names on the spot, and let me help him resign. People are waking up.

Although the experiences of 11 years cultivation have been full of hardships, I can deeply feel the seriousness of cultivation, and deeply understand Master's benevolent salvation. Master did everything for us.

2005-10-30

Posting date: 3/20/2006
Original article date: 3/19/2006
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/2/17/121022.html

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