Looking Inward When Praised and Being Vigilant about Not Showing Off

By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) It has been a relatively smooth experience for me in clarifying the truth. I did not want to miss any opportunity to tell everyone I know about Falun Gong and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." After the Nine Commentaries were published, I started to advise people to quit the Chinese Communist Party. Since I had clarified the truth to people I knew before, it was very easy for many of them to withdraw from the CCP. Later, I started to work on clarifying the truth to people I ran into in markets, buses, and on the street.

I believe in Master and the Fa, and I do my best to follow Master's requirements for us. Clarifying the truth and persuading people to quit the CCP has become an important part of my life. Master told us:

"Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master." (Zhuan Falun)

As long as I try my best to do it, Master will arrange everything. I do not focus on the results, but they have been very good. There have been times when people threatened to report me to the police, and each time righteous thoughts have taken me out of danger. I can often help more than 20 people to quit the CCP on a given day.

After encountering some success, my mentality of showing off and zealotry surfaced. When I did well, fellow practitioners praised me. Although I told them not to, I was very happy to hear it and, gradually, I did not like to hear criticism anymore. Sometimes I noticed this problem and sent righteous thoughts, but many times I did not notice it. Sometimes I felt fear, accepted the old forces' arrangements, and forgot about righteous thoughts. All of these factors provided opportunities for the old forces to take advantage and interfere.

In the past, I always sent righteous thoughts before going out to clarify the truth, but once I handed truth-clarification materials to a person without sending righteous thoughts first. I did not feel alarmed even when the person refused to take it, and then a police car came to take me in. At that point, I remembered to send righteous thoughts, and I asked Master to help me while I kept clarifying the truth to the policemen. After arriving at the police station, I asked to go to the washroom and went out to shout, "Falun Dafa is good!" and "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance are good!" The police immediately surrounded me and dragged me back. The team leader hit me, and my mouth bled. They asked for my address, but I refused to tell them and kept clarifying the truth. They found my ID and learned my name from that, and I was taken to a detention center.

At the detention center, I looked inward and found many loopholes. I remembered that not long ago, a practitioner reminded me to pay attention to our safety, but I ignored him. When I felt my human attachments surfacing, I recited Lunyu:

"The Buddha Fa is most profound; among all the theories in the world, it is the most intricate and extraordinary science."

When I felt pain, I remembered about Master's poem in Hong Yin II:

"A Great Enlightened One fears no hardship. Having forged an adamantine will. Free of attachment to living or dying. He walks the path of Fa-rectification confident and poised."

I thought I would only follow Master's arrangements. I sent righteous thoughts, denying the persecution of the old forces. I thought, "I will not allow the evil to persecute me even though I had loopholes, because I am not supposed to be here." At the beginning, I felt lonely but soon I realized that Master's law bodies and countless Fa-safeguarding gods are by my side. I firmly believed that I would get out of there with righteous thoughts, so I sent righteous thoughts and recited the Fa. I felt a strong energy field around me, and I knew that Master was helping me, together with the righteous thoughts from practitioners outside.

On the fourth day, I exhibited symptoms of an illness. My legs twitched, I vomited, and I fell to the ground. I knew what was happening so I did not try to get up, and the next day, I was able to leave the police station with Master's help.

As soon as they heard that I was arrested, local practitioners immediately exposed it on the Internet. They sent righteous thoughts for me and put up truth-clarification posters on the streets. My family members also cooperated. They went to the police station and detention center and asked for my release. My family members had already quit the CCP, and they did very well. Of course all these are surface manifestations -- everything happened because of Master's help.

This tribulation helped me to see the importance of looking inwards. If we study the Fa well and look inwards whenever something happens, and get rid of human attachments, the evil will not be able to take advantage of any loopholes.

Please point out anything improper.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/2/19/172663.html

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