(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Yang, my classmate's wife, was a volunteer contact person at a practice site in a small town in a nearby county before 1999. She was involved in organizing and coordinating practitioners' Fa-study, exercising and other activities for spreading Dafa. However, after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, since my classmate was the chief project manager and senior engineer in a big state-run company, to please the higher authorities of the CCP, he had all Ms. Yang's Dafa books, materials and videos handed in to the police station. They forbade her from practicing Falun Gong. When her family moved downtown, Ms. Yang became isolated from all other practitioners.
In the winter of 2004, we held a reunion party for our classmates. During the party, I clarified the truth of Dafa to that classmate, but noticed that everything he said was full of the culture of the CCP. He even said to me, "I am restricting her very tightly, so she cannot do things against the government's rules." Hearing this, I turned my focus on Ms. Yang. From the bottom of my heart I knew she must stand up and return back to Dafa again!
At the second reunion party, I introduced myself to Ms. Yang and told her that my husband and I were both Dafa practitioners, and that we have been denying the persecution from the very beginning. We never skipped studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and doing the three things that Teacher arranged for us to do. "You were once a volunteer contact person in your area. Before the final moment that concludes eons-old arrangements, how could you give it up? Don't you still want to come back?" She nodded and talked about her concerns. First, her husband and her son forbade her from practicing. Second, she felt ashamed for not practicing for so long. Would Teacher and other practitioners really forgive her? Third, she didn't have any books or related material to guide her moving forward. I gave her some materials and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. She said, "I've wanted to come back so much! You are just like the light of hope for me today!" Since she had the genuine thought of coming back, which was very precious, we knew that we must help her catch up and share with her based on the Fa, clear away her worries and help her broaden her mind.
She attended several small experience sharing meetings, in which we studied, shared and discussed based on the Fa. She read lots of Teacher's recent lectures. Some of the teachings that has a big impact on her included,
"Don't worry, and this includes some of those who've stumbled. Just hurry up and get up."("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
And also:
"No matter what, though, since the persecution hasn't ended, chances abound right now for those who have not stepped forward or not caught up with the progress of Fa-rectification." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco")
Practitioners counseled her that even if we fall down, we should get back up immediately. Do not be too upset or too regretful, since that was also a sort of attachment and human notion. There is no reason for us to miss this precious opportunity that Teacher have given us, which will never happen again. Teacher's Fa principles and teachings moved Ms. Yang heart so strongly that she was full of tears and said firmly, "We should be truly unshakable and solid, like diamond in the course of cultivation practice. This attachment, that attachment, especially the attachment of fear, there is no ground for keeping them any more!"
We also shared with her regarding the interferences from her husband and son. In the last analysis, they didn't help the evil to persecute Dafa, but they were cheated by the CCP. Because of the fear of being arrested, detained, tortured, and fined, they chose to stop Ms. Yang from practicing. Since she is a Dafa practitioner, it's very likely that they are also the sentient beings that she is supposed to save. This is what has been arranged for her. Teacher taught us in "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference":
"I can tell you, without a predestined relationship, you can't be a human being in this world today--not a single person without a predestined relationship could be in this world."
Through the sharing, we followed Teacher's teachings, and believe that with a compassionate heart we have no cause to be discouraged, nor do we have any reason to blame ordinary people. Quite the contrary. We are supposed to save them and make more of an effort to clarify the truth to them. We must look inward frequently and find our shortcomings. Being enlightened by Teacher's Fa, Ms. Yang told us very happily, "It is I who still have the loopholes! Teacher has taught us all the principles and prepared everything for us already. Only by following what Teacher told us to do and by melting into the Fa can problems could be solved."
Ms. Yang opened her heart finally, then we offered her all of Teacher's lectures since 2000 and Hong Yin Vol. II, and asked her to read them thoroughly to help her understand the Fa more deeply and catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification. Since then, another Dafa disciple returned to cultivation.
In September 2005, Ms. Yang was diagnosed with rectal cancer. In the face of the disaster, she was sent to the hospital by her family and accepted the surgery. When I asked her husband how she was doing, he lied to me, saying, "It's diagnosed as enteritis because she ate some corn, and she only underwent the transfusion therapy. It's nothing big at all. Please do not be so worried about her." He said this because he knew that his wife started to practice Dafa after talking with me. So he was full of fear, and asked me not to talk to her about Dafa again. He was afraid that if anything happened to his wife, his whole family would be ruined. I explained to him the importance of Dafa in a few words, and he showed that he understood. Since then, he has never tried to stop his wife from practicing.
I brought "Minghui Weekly" and other materials with me and visited Ms. Yang at her home after she finished the excision surgery and chemotherapy. She looked wan and sallow and had to walk with a cane. I was so astonished. Then she told me that it was all because she had the surgery and chemotherapy which led her to such a terrible physical condition. I became alerted at once that we must share why she met with such a huge test. It might be the interference and persecution which was enlarged by the old forces because of her newly returning to Dafa; or it also could be a test for her to see whether she could give up the attachment to life and death. Anyhow, what she needed at this time was to study the Fa more with other practitioners, send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate all the dark minions and rotten demons of the old forces, and to catch the progress of the Fa-rectification as soon as possible.
Teacher taught us in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference":
"The evil takes advantage of the slightest gap and glares menacingly at every single word and action of yours. Whatever you're attached to, that's what the evil beings will strengthen, and when your mind is off they will make you irrational."
I encouraged her confidence in truly believing in Teacher and Dafa, and told her she should not be moved by tribulations. For a practitioners, there is no choice other than studying the Fa and being enlightened from the Fa. As a Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period, this is absolute and serious! Through studying the Fa and being enlightened in the Fa, Ms. Yang strengthened her righteous thoughts and said firmly, with a gleam of understanding in her eyes, "If you do not care and do not put them on your mind, with the master and the Fa here what is there to fear? ... Ignore them!" (from "Lecture in Sydney") I told her, "Dafa disciples are one body. We will keep in touch somehow to see how you are doing, and we will update you on our situation as well."
About a month later, her grandniece told me on the phone, "Grandma Yang came to our home. Her face was glowing with health and full of energy; what's more, she has a very good appetite now. I told her about what you are doing these days, and she asked me to tell you that she is not ill at all! After you left, she threw the walking stick away, stopped the chemotherapy, and could take care of herself on her own. She felt an enrichment in her mind then. Except for missing you all, everything is fine! Everything is going pretty well! Don't worry about her! Please do not worry about her!" As her fellow practitioners, we could read between the lines and knew very well that she had so much more she would like to share with us. Since then, we were told continuously that she did the three things very well and was walking steadily on the great path of Dafa cultivation practice.
October 3, 2008
