By a Falun Gong practitioner from Changchun City, Jilin Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Watching Master's "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners" deeply moved me. Master has endured too much for sentient beings. We practitioners should do better and offer more sentient beings salvation. I watched the video twice in a row. I felt as if I were right there listening to Master's teaching. Master has done so much for us, changed our fate, and has given us the opportunity to cultivate Buddhahood and attain the Dao. Do we have the profound reverence for Master that we have for Buddha? Master mentioned tests, which awakened me to pick up a pen.

People think that living a comfortable life is a good thing. What we, as practitioners who are walking on the cultivation path to godhood, need are righteous thoughts. Enduring hardships is a good thing, Master tells us. Yet we are not recognizing this principle in our daily cultivation if we often like to hear what pleases us and do not like to hear negative things. Other people can enjoy their lives. Practitioners should be strict with themselves and maintain righteous thoughts. The difficulties we encounter are all good things, according to Master. They are opportunities for us to look inward and correct ourselves, thus enabling us to resolve any issues we might have. For example, in the past when doing the morning exercises, sometimes I feared the cold and was worried that I would not get enough sleep. Then I slacked off a little and did not practice every day. After I realized that enduring hardship is a good thing, I practiced every day. I am not sleepy, and in fact I feel great. A single thought really makes a huge difference.

People are afraid of death, a human notion. As Master encourages us, practitioners on the cultivation path to godhood should abandon the thought of life and death. If you can do so, you are a God. Different people have different points of view regarding "life and death." Some people cannot let go of their job. Some cannot let go of love. Some cannot let go of money. Some cannot let go of their friends. Some cannot let go of other human notions. Some are really afraid that they will have nothing after they die. We are lives assimilated to the Fa. No matter what we face, we should always let go of our human notions and put Dafa in the primary position.

I had a strong attachment to my job. I wanted to find a job that paid more money and could get me out of this place where persecution exists so I could avoid persecution. I had gone to Beijing to appeal for justice for Dafa and was apprehended by the authorities and sent back. My employers later on monitored and persecuted me. They tried to force me to watch brainwashing videos. I was often harassed during holidays. My normal life was severely disturbed.

I wanted to find a job away from my hometown, but the reality was different than I thought. The old forces took advantage of my loopholes. I was out of a job for half a year without any income, yet I needed to pay my mortgage. I had to borrow money. I thought about my situation, "Why have I encountered this?" Looking inward, I discovered my fear of death. I was afraid of being persecuted and dying as a result of persecution. Later on I did the three things well and eliminated the attachment to my job. I understood the Fa from the basis of the Fa and corrected my thought processes and eliminated the fear of persecution. Practitioners should follow the path Master has arranged for us. The old forces are not qualified to have an impact on us. They are not allowed to persecute us. With fellow practitioners' help, my xinxing improved rapidly. Soon after, I found a decent job, and I once again established a new environment and am again walking steadfastly on the cultivation path Master has arranged.

People seek rewards and conditions when they do things. Falun Gong practitioners never seek rewards. We are doing things to assimilate into Dafa. To do the three things well, we should make full use of our abilities to validate Dafa. We should also establish an environment to validate Dafa. While doing so, we should eliminate any attachments and unrighteous thoughts. For example, when we help others, we want others to say "thank you." This is an expectation stemming from the notion of seeking a reward. Validating Dafa is done unconditionally.

After the onset of the persecution on July 20, 1999, I kept up my efforts to validate the Fa. But sometimes I had an excuse--the environment was not mature enough for me to expand many projects. Because of my work, I always had a recorder, a printer, and a computer. I did not realize that having that job was for me to validate the Fa. I did not take advantage of that situation and I missed many opportunities. When I finally realized this and wanted to reestablish everything, these conditions became available again. Master arranged everything for me. As long as we have reached the standard, miracles will happen. Our surrounding environment and things in this world are all for Fa-rectification. As long as practitioners can use them righteously and compassionately, they will function well for Fa-rectification and serve justice.

Practitioners focus on selflessness, cooperation, and a harmonious environment around them. I began working on these also once I noted overseas practitioners establishing truth-clarification groups, some making phone calls, some mailing letters, some sending faxes, and some distributing flyers on the street. To begin with, I sent my company phone numbers and email addresses overseas. Then I leveraged different channels to collect contact information, including fax numbers, email addresses, and phone numbers, for several hundred thousand people. In the process of doing it I had more and more ideas. After the overseas practitioners sent truth-clarification materials and clarified the truth over the phone one round after another, it became easier when clarifying the truth to these people again. The situation in China changed as well. It is easier now to convince people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I hope that more Mainland Chinese practitioners will participate in collecting relevant contact information, exposing the evil, and offering sentient beings salvation.

Anytime people encounter issues they usually get anxious and want to argue, trying to establish who is right and who is wrong. Practitioners need to have a compassionate and peaceful mindset, especially when we clarify the truth to our family members. We usually view them as family members instead of viewing them as sentient beings to clarify the truth to. When they do not understand, we often get anxious and raise our voices and try harder to persuade them. I realized that this is an incorrect mindset. For one thing, there is the factor of validating ourselves in it. We need truly think of and be responsible for them, and then we can successfully clarify the truth. After I made that change, and again clarified the truth to my family, they really accepted it and quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

Doing the three things well is the responsibility of Falun Gong practitioners during the Fa-rectification period. It also helps practitioners establish mighty power and virtue and walk the path to consummation. It is something that every practitioner must do. It is fulfilling our prehistoric vows. Being able to do the three things during the Fa-rectification period is a supreme glory that all lives in the universe want. Many lives in the universe who do not have this opportunity are watching. Master bestows glory on practitioners and has faith in us. Therefore, we practitioners should be even more confident in doing the three things well.

Studying the Fa is crucially important for practitioners. Master has mentioned the importance of studying the Fa many times. Our righteous thoughts are stronger when we study the Fa well. We achieve better truth-clarification results. We are wiser. I have cultivated for over ten years. I always put Fa study as priority. Because I moved to a new place and am not familiar with the local practitioners yet, I have not yet participated in a group study. I developed my own Fa study environment. Now I have people around me studying the Fa. Some read the Dafa books. Some practice the exercises. I set time aside every day after work to ensure Fa study time. Due to frequent business travel I listen to the Fa using an MP3 player. When studying the Fa, we should not put too much focus on quantity. It is important to study the Fa with a calm mind. When I saw that other practitioners started memorizing the Fa, I got anxious and started focusing on the quantity of my Fa study. The result was poor. Now when I study the Fa, I calm my mind and sit in the double lotus position. I immediately feel the effect.

When clarifying the truth, we should first be clear of our motives. Clarifying the truth is not getting political. Practitioners are not involved in politics. But it does not mean that practitioners ignore things when something bad is happening. If practitioners do not clarify the truth, people whose minds are deeply poisoned by the CCP will not have an opportunity to be saved. Master does not recognize the old forces' arrangements. Practitioners do not recognize them, either. Therefore, to offer salvation to sentient beings whose minds have been poisoned by the CCP means we have to let them understand the truth and help them quit these evil organizations.

We need to avoid being anxious while clarifying the truth. We need to do it gradually. I spoke with a certain person four times before he agreed to quit. But some people, as soon as you talk to them, agree to quit right away. Every time we clarify the truth we need to adjust our approach based on the situation of the person we are talking to. We can initiate the conversation with a discussion of their hobbies, for instance. Once they trust us, it becomes easier.

Clarifying the truth should be blended into our daily work and life. Once, while buying a full bag of potatoes in a market, the seller offered to deliver it to my home. On the way there I asked him whether or not he "had quit." He asked, "Quit what?" I talked to him about quitting the CCP and why it is important to do. At first he said, "No thanks." With my continued efforts he finally agreed to quit. I was so happy for him having made the right choice for his future. Clarifying the truth can be done anytime. We should wisely look for opportunities. Sentient beings are all waiting for the truth.

We would be even more successful if we could coordinate the truth-clarifying efforts between overseas and Mainland practitioners. First, we practitioners in China can send telephone numbers, email addresses, faxes of our friends and people we know to overseas practitioners and let practitioners overseas immediately clarify the truth to them. It would then make things easier for Mainland China practitioners to continue the effort. Clarifying the truth should not be limited to certain projects. Whichever approach is convenient, we can adopt it. We should not rely on others, and we should not wait. We should do it anytime.

When my fear occasionally surfaces during truth clarification, I immediately send righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference.

Sending righteous thoughts is one of the three things Master asks us to do. It is the solemn and sacred moment for Falun Gong practitioners to validate the Fa. Sending righteous thoughts is also strengthening and enriching practitioners' righteous thoughts fields. If we do a poor job sending righteous thoughts, the unrighteous factors may interfere. It is crucial to do it well. I am able to send righteous thoughts at the four set times every day. If I miss one, I find another time to make it up, which is why I have been able to walk steadfastly on my Fa-validating path. When I take buses and pass by police stations I send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors behind the people in those places. When I see police cars, I also send righteous thoughts to keep the evil from having any space to survive.

I have encountered interference from past cultivation factors along my path. For example, we might have cultivated in past lives. We might have an understanding of prior cultivation ways. Sometimes I would see the reflection of a Dao. Sometimes I see a kasaya. Sometimes I see a Buddha. If there is interference, it must be that I have issues. I still have human notions. I am worried about my inability to follow the most fundamental principle of "committing to one discipline." Because I practiced other qigong in the past, I have fear of being interfered with. Having fear is a loophole that can be taken advantage of. It was those past cultivation factors that were interfering with me. It was the old forces' factors. I need to negate the old forces' arrangements! This told me how important it is to follow Dafa's cultivation practice. Even one small unrighteous factor can bring interference. We practice Dafa cultivation in the human world. It directly targets our minds.

We need to be responsible to ourselves and be responsible for future living beings on our cultivation path to divinity. We should study the Fa well and do the three things well. We should treasure every single moment we have now to offer more sentient beings salvation.

Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/1/16/170431.html