Be a Beacon of Light in the Darkness
(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Revered Master! It has been 13 years since I obtained Dafa. Looking back at my cultivation
path, I have many experiences and realizations that I would like to report to
Master and exchange with my fellow practitioners. 1. Stepping Into a New Job Position After I had completed my military service in 2000, I was transferred to a
critical governmental media department. At that time, the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) was recklessly slandering Falun Gong and Master, as well as
persecuting Dafa disciples. With so many rumors circulating about, it was hard
for people to separate the truth from the lies. It was indeed the epitome of
"Red Terror." And to make matters worse, the department I had just
been assigned to was at the forefront of this evil persecution. So there I was, a practitioner working in a job that persecutes Dafa. All of
a sudden my life got very complicated! From one point of view, I wanted to quit
my job, because I was unwilling to harm Dafa in any way. My family members and I
had already practiced Dafa for more than five years, so we all experienced the
boundless joy and blessings that Master and Dafa had brought into our lives.
That kind of feeling cannot be expressed in words, as it transcends all human
language. Also, I was concerned that if I continued working in my department, I would
inevitably come into contact with all sorts of vicious rumors, making it
difficult for me to properly cultivate. In addition, I worried that I would
unknowingly hurt Master and Dafa, thus adversely affecting the local Dafa
community and destroying my chances to cultivate, in an instant. After studying
the Fa and exchanging understandings with fellow practitioners, one
paragraph in "Zhuan Falun" seemed to sum up my situation in a
nutshell: "All the professions out there should exist, it's only that people are
short of integrity. It's not about what type of profession you are in.[...]
You can be a good person in any social class, and there are different kinds of
conflicts in different social classes. The upper class has upper class type
conflicts, and they can all be handled correctly--whichever social class you're
in, for how to be a good person, you can all let go of different desires and
attachments. In different social classes you can all show yourselves to be
good people, and all of you can cultivate in your own social classes." (Lecture
Four, Zhuan Falun) Fellow practitioners also helped me analyze the "loss" and
"gain" aspects of my new job. As practitioners, we all know that our
paths in life are arranged by Master, so it was no accident that I was working
where I was. Therefore, I needed to follow the natural course of things: The
more evil a CCP department was, the more it needed Dafa disciples to explain the
truth there. I thought to myself, "If I can stop the evil from persecuting Dafa and
clarify the truth in the worst of places, isn't this the best way to
safeguard Dafa?" Therefore, I vowed that I would cultivate in Master's Dafa
in any environment that I found myself in, and would not allow anyone to change
my belief and faith in Master or Dafa. With this righteous understanding, I
stepped into my new position. 2. Firmly Upholding Dafa In July 2000, I reported to my new job. At that time, the CCP literature that
I had come into contact with was mostly fabricated rumors attacking Dafa. The
Chinese Propaganda Department once issued a notice ordering all regional news
media to republish some slanderous Xinhua News Agency articles. Because of the
influence of the CCP's evil propaganda, the articles my colleagues wrote also
followed this same anti-Falun Gong pattern, repeating verbatim those virulent
rumors. When I saw our respectable Master and Dafa being viciously attacked, I felt
as if a knife was twisting in my heart. Before 1999, there were several hundred
thousand people practicing Dafa in my city alone, plus there were over one
hundred practice sites set up in the urban areas. I personally witnessed many
people's health and character, as well as the social environment, improve by
practicing the Falun Gong exercises and adhering to the standard of
Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Jiang Zemin's brutal persecution of such a wonderful practice was totally
unacceptable to any true Dafa disciple. At that time, whatever propaganda our
work unit drafted would be passed on to several hundred other work units,
exerting a very broad and powerful influence. Under these conditions, I felt
that my first responsibility was to firmly safeguard Dafa. It was the first time
I had truly felt the significance of the responsibility I was shouldering. I
knew that I could not allow even a single word to be printed attacking Dafa. Soon I was promoted to a leadership position in a department that was
responsible for writing massive amounts of propaganda. I told the personnel in
my department that I would need to approve of all draft copies. If I came across
any materials from any other work unit that contained any words attacking Dafa,
I destroyed them immediately. In fact, I kept a file of all of these slanderous
articles as evidence of the CCP's persecution, and even sent some files to the
World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG). This
is how I have firmly and consistently safeguarded Dafa for the past several
years. 3. Explaining the Truth with Wisdom Most people in the CCP have been forcibly brainwashed, making their thinking
very narrow-minded. Some of these people have no mind of their own and will
follow the wicked Party to the very end. Other people know that Dafa is good but
they still persecute practitioners anyway, just to keep their jobs. It is very
difficult to explain the truth to these people, but once they do understand, not
only are they saved, but they also stop accruing massive amounts of karma by
committing crimes against Dafa. This is how I have dealt with this type of person: First, I mail them truth
clarification materials from Clearwisdom.net. If I am too busy to do this, I
collect the names of the work unit leaders and pass them on to fellow
practitioners, asking them to mail out the materials. Second, while I am
working, I tell others the truth about Dafa face-to-face, using whatever
opportunities present themselves, such as talking to drivers, colleagues,
reporters, and the staff in my department. Third, I select some material specifically targeting the few degenerate
beings who recklessly commit crimes against Dafa, and mail it to them. Fourth, I
frequently give my colleagues copies of "Minghui Weekly" that I
download from Clearwisdom.net and other literature that can help to clear up
their misconceptions about Falun Gong. Over the past several years, my colleagues have basically understood the
truth about Dafa. Some have withdrawn from the CCP and its related
organizations, and others have actually taken up the practice of Falun Gong.
These new practitioners have not only conducted themselves according to the
principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, but they have also played a positive
role as Dafa particles in their respective jobs. 4. Disintegrating the Evil with Righteous Thoughts Because my job covered an especially broad range of activities and
responsibilities, I frequently attended conferences hosted by the CCP. When the
persecution first started, the CCP leaders would talk about the need to
"maintain stability" at every meeting. At the same time, they took the
opportunity to fabricate rumors attacking Falun Gong, especially at the
conferences convened by the political and judiciary departments and the
610 Office. There the atmosphere was even more intense. From the very beginning, I used any excuse that I could think of to avoid
such conferences, thinking that a practitioner's mind should not be polluted in
such an evil environment. In addition, as soon as I heard a few disrespectful
words aimed at Master and Dafa, I would become very indignant and walk out of
the meetings. Then Master published the article "Dafa is Indestructible,"
requesting us to "Clarify the truth thoroughly, eliminate the evil with
righteous thoughts, save all beings, and safeguard the Fa with
determination." When I look back, I realize that my understanding about
having righteous thoughts was not up to par at that time, nor did I have a firm
belief in Master or Dafa. One day at a conference, the CCP leaders passed on a high-level cadre's
document attacking Dafa. As soon as I realized that they intended to announce
the contents of that document, I started to send forth righteous thoughts to
eradicate the evil factors in other dimensions, forbidding them from using that
document to attack Dafa. Then, even though the document was read aloud, the section attacking Dafa was
skipped! This allowed me to witness the mighty power of sending forth righteous
thoughts. Prior to this year's Olympic Games, the local 610 Office announced that it
would hold a special meeting to discuss plans to intensify the persecution
against Falun Gong. As soon as I heard about this meeting, a few practitioners
and I sent forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate the dark minions and rotten
demons behind the 610 Office personnel, thus weakening their overall effect. 5. Validating Dafa with Action Under the despotic CCP practice of "Whatever I say goes," the
state-controlled media do not have the freedom to publish their own independent
views. Instead, every newspaper, broadcasting station, and television station
needs to toe the Party line, without deviation, passing everything through the
official News Department before it it is allowed to be broadcast. In order to force the local leaders and lower-level cadres to participate in
the persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP carried out (from top to bottom) the
so-called "one ticket veto system," which works like this: No matter
how well a work unit did or how effective and profitable a company was during a
particular year, as long as even one Falun Gong practitioner was discovered
working in the company (practicing Falun Gong is deemed to be a "political
incident") or one significant appeal event took place or even one major
accident occurred, etc., the unit leaders' commendations, promotions, and
bonuses would all be withheld. Since the beginning of the CCP persecution of Falun Gong and its mistreatment
of the general Chinese populace, both natural and man-made disasters have
occurred in China, one after another. When an accident happened at a particular
work unit, the related department's staff would often be asked to cover up the
incident by offering and accepting bribes, engaging in embezzlement and
corruption, and spreading rumors and lies. This is now a very common practice in
China, mainly because of the "one ticket veto" policy. I often had the feeling that working in such an environment was similar to
falling into a filthy drainage ditch. When people are constantly surrounded by
lies and rumors, they become accustomed to telling lies and rumors and having
unrighteous thoughts. Just like Master said: "I'd say that people aren't able to tell right from wrong these days.
When you say to someone, 'What you're doing is wrong,' he won't believe it.
That's because people's moral standards have changed. Some people just seek
profit--as long as they can get money out of it they'll do anything. 'Life
will get the best of you if you don't look out for number one'--that's even
become a motto!"(Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun) After I started working at my new position, I often reminded myself to
strictly adhere to the standard of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, correctly use
the authority that I had at my disposal, lead my colleagues in such a way that
they were left with a good impression of Dafa, and help people to gradually
understand that Falun Dafa is good and that Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is
good, thus saving them. One year, a company leader gave me several thousand yuan in an
effort to seek some "special treatment" from me. I personally visited
him and returned all the money, then told him that I was a Falun Dafa
practitioner. When I received money that I was unable to return for various
reasons, I either turned the money in to my work unit or donated it to worthy
groups that had financial difficulties. In recent years, I have returned or turned in several tens of thousands of
yuan. Among ordinary people, when you do a good deed for others, they want to
thank you and reward you. For ordinary people, this is normal, but as a
practitioner, I cannot look at things the same way. Master taught us that, "Whatever you do, you should consider others
first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and
altruism." ("Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" from Essentials
for Further Advancement). Because I persevered in adhering to the standard
of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance while doing my job, my excellent job performance
was recognized and affirmed by everyone in my work unit. Year after year I have
been officially honored as an "outstanding public servant." The above represents a few of the many cultivation experiences I have gone
through over the years. Fellow practitioners, please mercifully point out
anything improper.
Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/11/27/190542.html
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