We Should Be Worthy of the Name "Fa-rectification Period Falun Dafa Practitioners"
(Clearwisdom.net) I began to practice Falun Gong in late 1996. When my
understanding of the Fa was improving and great changes had taken place in both
my health and my mind I began to have infinite respect for Teacher. Recalling the path of my cultivation over the last few years, I'd like to
share with you three points. 1. A Firm Belief is Fundamental for a Practitioner When I began to practice Falun Dafa I had all sorts of human notions. With Fa
study, practicing the exercises and cultivating my xinxing I
felt exactly as Teacher described in Zhuan Falun: "The entire transformation process of cultivation practice and the
transformation process of the body will all occur under the circumstance that
you can see or feel them." I understood clearly that as a practitioner I must set strict standards for
myself. Any question or any xinxing test that I encountered was a test of
my first thought, whether I looked at it with human notions or looked at it and
solved the problem from the Fa perspective. This is cultivation practice which
reveals the fundamental difference between a practitioner and an everyday
person. If you want to walk on the path of cultivation practice and want to improve
your xinxing and keep righteous thoughts, the most important way is to
study the Fa. As a practitioner you should be focused on the Fa at
all times. Only when your xinxing has been upgraded can your health be
improved, only when your xinxing has been upgraded can you understand the
Fa principles from a different level, and only when your xinxing has been
upgraded can you enlighten to the inner meaning of the Fa at your level. In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong. At
that time the news from various media including newspapers, were filled with
fabricated lies that covered every corner of the world. However, my firm belief
that "Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa" never wavered. I still remember
what Teacher said in his "Lecture on the Fa at the U.S. Midwest
Conference": "Under any difficult circumstance, everyone, remain calm in your
hearts. Just by staying unaffected, you will be able to handle all
situations." (provisional translation subject to further improvement) I said silently to Teacher, "No matter what happens I will take the Fa
as teacher and cultivate through to the end!" I felt that I was very lucky to live in the era when the "Fa" is
being spread. During the days of hardships I never slacked off in studying the
Fa or in xinxing cultivation. Teacher said in Zhuan Falun: "It is under the circumstance of demonic interference that you can
demonstrate whether you can continue your cultivation, be really enlightened
to the Tao, be unaffected by interference, and be sure-footed in this school
of practice." 2. Fear No Hardship in Saving Sentient Beings with Righteous Thoughts Teacher explained clearly in the article "Rationality" published on
August 9, 2000: "Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom,
spread the Fa and save people with mercy." (Essentials for Further
Advancement II) I enlightened very clearly that as a Fa-rectification period practitioner I
must step forward to clarify the truth and save sentient beings
while cultivating myself through Fa study. At the same time I also felt that a
Fa-rectification period practitioner has a great responsibility. I used every opportunity to give out fliers and CDs and clarify the truth. At
that time the supply of truth-clarification materials was limited, therefore I
tried as hard as I could to photocopy the materials so that nearby practitioners
could also use the materials to clarify the truth. Sometimes when I clarified
the truth with fellow practitioners I would carry one or two hundred copies of
truth-clarification materials on my back with never a thought of my personal
safety. At that time my only thought was to whole-heartedly save sentient beings
amongst the lies that deceived the public. When those people who had been
deceived read the truth-clarification materials, understood Dafa and admitted,
"Falun Dafa is good," they would have a beautiful future. What a
meaningful thing this is to do! In July 2001, when I was handing out truth-clarification materials and CDs I
was arrested by officers from the local police substation. The following day,
the 610 Office staff talked to me and asked me to write a
guarantee statement declaring I would not practice Falun Gong before
they would release me. I smiled and talked to them about the changes I had
experienced both physically and mentally after practicing Falun Gong. I also
told them that had the Communist Party not slandered Falun Dafa to deceive the
world's people, I would not have passed out fliers clarifying the truth. When
they realized they had failed to persuade me, they asked their boss to talk to
me. I talked to him patiently about everything I had experienced after
practicing Falun Dafa. Finally they said heatedly, "We asked you to write a
statement and you refused. You must bear the consequences." My mind was
very clear and I had no fear at all. I only thought about safeguarding Dafa,
because it is what Fa-rectification period practitioners must do! In prison I clarified the truth to the people around me. I talked to them
about the Fa principles and asked them to be good people. They candidly called
me "Falun Gong" since no one knew my real name. Though I was kept in
prison, I felt very proud being called "Falun Gong." I also realized
that I must set for myself strict standards in line with the Fa and never
discredit Dafa! I tried my best to help the people around me with their
livelihoods. At that time the TV news broadcast lies almost every day. However, the girls
around me said, "Falun Gong, tell us the truth because we do not believe
what the television says." I clarified the truth to them in accordance with
their abilities and education. I also talked to them about the contents of Zhuan
Falun. One girl said, "When I get released I will go to see you to
learn Dafa." One woman who was badly addicted to gambling said,
"Sister Falun Gong, I know you can save me and my family." I knew it
was a predestined relationship for us to meet there. They learned Falun Dafa
under these circumstances. In prison, people would come and go and I kept on clarifying the truth to
them. One day I suddenly burst into tears. One woman inmate came and gave me a
few words of comfort. She thought that I missed my family, but actually that was
not the case. At the moment I really did not miss my family but thought of the
mercy and the greatness of our Teacher. I thought it was not easy to save
sentient beings and I only did what a practitioner had to do. With rock-solid
belief in Teacher and under his compassionate care I walked out of the prison
with righteous thoughts. It was just like what Teacher said in "Eliminate
Your Last Attachment(s)": "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid
will cease to exist." In 2002 someone reported to the police that I was handing out
truth-clarification materials. Before this, the 610 Office of the local police
sub-station had been looking for me for more than a year and listed me as a key
target for arrest. In March, I was taken away from home and sent to an
"education class" run by the district authorities. It was actually a
brainwashing center. At the time I had only one thought, "I must escape
from the center." However, when I learned that the staff there would loose
their jobs if I did escape from the place, my human sentimentality emerged. I
failed to realize that if I accepted their persecution they would actually be
doing the worst thing in the universe--persecuting Dafa practitioners. Since I
did not understand the Fa properly and had an attachment to fear and human
sentimentality I became softhearted. I knew that they were not well off, already
had unemployed family members, and had children in school. Thereafter, I
experienced psychological torture. To be exact, I was not allowed to speak to
other Falun Dafa practitioners. Every day and night I was forced to watch video
programs that slandered Teacher and Falun Dafa. They also told those former
practitioners that I was acquainted with who had enlightened along an evil path
to try and brainwash me around the clock using all kinds of evil means. The most vicious act of the 610 Office was to bring in my aging parents to
visit. I was almost suffocated mentally by this evil act and about to collapse.
One of the staff from the "education class" who ate with and shared a
bedroom with me finally said with tears running down nonstop, "You have
suffered even more than my mother did during the Cultural Revolution."
During the days when I really wanted to die rather than suffer the pain I wrote
the three statements. I can still clearly remember the moment. When
I picked up the pen my hands were shaking and my heart almost stopped beating.
It was the worst lie I had made in all my life. I felt ashamed before Teacher
and Falun Dafa. After leaving the brainwashing center I wrote a statement right away
declaring that what I had written during my detention was null and void, and
expressed that I would redouble my efforts to make up for the damage I had done
to Dafa and to be firm and diligent in my cultivation. 3. Totally Negate the Arrangements by the Old Forces and Save Sentient Beings
using Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions In trying to do the three things well simultaneously, at one
point I detected that I had an obvious fear. Although I did not relax my Fa
study or xinxing cultivation, I seldom did truth-clarification work. At
the time I did not notice it because of my human attachment. I left loopholes
for the evil forces to take advantage of. Sometimes when I studied the Fa I
could not concentrate, in sending forth righteous thoughts my mind would drift
away, and in doing truth-clarification work I acted passive and mechanical.
Owing to a lack of righteous thoughts I was still affected by the human
sentiments of fame, gain, and emotion. Teacher's words echoed in my ears, "If you hold on to humanness with one hand and won't let go, and you
hold on to Buddhahood with the other hand and won't let go, just which one
exactly do you want?" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the
Metropolitan New York Fa Conference") But it seemed that I took all this passively. Sometimes I knew it was a human
attachment but I still firmly held it and would not let it go. Sometimes I would
knowingly fail xinxing tests. Because I was moving from one house to
another, I did not read articles from the Minghui/Clearwisdom website or
Teacher's recent writings and lectures. Then during a dream, Teacher gave me a
hint, pointing out that I had ventured further away from the path of returning
home. I knew it clearly in my heart, but it seemed that there was no way for me
to return from being an everyday person, and I could find no solution. In early 2006, I read Teacher's new article "The Closer to the End, the
More Diligent You Should Be." It seemed that this article was specifically
written for me. I asked myself why, as a practitioner, I could only correct
myself when I read Teacher's new article and why could I not set a strict
standard for myself and act in accordance with the principles of the Fa and
righteous thoughts. For a long period of time I had not really understood or
enlightened to the perspective of the Fa regarding what Teacher had said about
totally negating the old forces' arrangements. Wasn't my situation a
manifestation of passively accepting the arrangements by the old forces and
letting the demons and rotten ghosts take advantage? Was I still worthy of being
a Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioner? I knew it was useless to blame myself, but I needed to fundamentally solve
the issue with righteous thoughts. When my righteous thoughts became strong,
with the guidance of Teacher's Fa principles I instantly jumped out of the
status of being an everyday person. With the deepening of my understanding of
the Fa principles I truly enlightened to the profound connotations of what
Teacher said about totally negating the old forces' arrangements. It is just like Teacher said in "Explaining the Fa During the 2003
Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference:" "When you're able to walk a righteous path, that means your righteous
thoughts are strong, you're doing things according to Dafa's requirements, and
you're doing things according to Master's requirements, then you are negating
the old forces, and you are walking your path in a righteous way." Because my will to be diligent weakened, I failed to realize that it was
caused by interference from wrong notions and my attachment to the timetable of
Fa-rectification. Therefore I was taken advantage of by the factors left on the
surface of the human world by the old forces as well as by the evil forces and
rotten ghosts. They strengthened my attachments and human notions, therefore
creating this depressed state for me. Now I understand that doing the three
things in a down-to-earth manner is itself totally negating the arrangements
made by the old forces. Practitioners must walk righteously on the path of
cultivation, totally negating the arrangements of the old forces. When I take the Fa as Master and have strong righteous thoughts, once again I
can merge the three things into my daily life. Teacher said in "Drive
Out Interference:" "The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa
can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." When I heard the song "Coming for You," tears fell again and again.
Yes, I came here to save sentient beings. I am shouldering the mission. On the
path ahead I must be diligent in my cultivation with other practitioners. The main purpose for my writing this article was to notice and understand the
shortcomings in my cultivation and the seriousness of cultivation. The process
of writing this article was also a process of getting upgraded on the Fa
principles and the process of righteous enlightenment. All this is to warn
myself to cherish everything Teacher has done for us. I must be worthy of Dafa
and worthy of sentient beings. Please kindly help me understand any shortcomings
I may have.
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/4/7/124667.html
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