(Clearwisdom.net) After July 1999, when the CCP began persecuting Dafa practitioners, thousands of practitioners lost their good jobs and positions, and some even lost their families. They lost any social status they held and in the eyes of non-practitioners were pushed to the bottom of society. Many practitioners were forced to work for minimum wage to make ends meet. As cultivators who can even give up their lives for Truth, these bitter experiences are not hard to endure. We practitioners should relinquish all human attachments.
But in today's China, people only admire wealth; they desire a happy family and a good income. However, practitioners who once also had these fortunes have now lost their money, their power and even their marriages; some have even lost their lives. Every day, they are being harassed, chased and illegally arrested by the police. In the eyes of non-practitioners, the practitioners appear foolish. When practitioners tell people about being rewarded with good fortune from doing good, they have difficulty believing it: "So why is it that practitioners have nothing?" Non-practitioners cannot understand these higher truths, for their attention is focused on comfort and accumulating material benefits.
I recalled Master's words in "Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference" when He talked about the need to wear gloves during outdoor practice in the winter. If we tell people that we are practitioners, and we are not concerned about being poor, that we have no fear of detention and torture, and we can endure everything, new practitioners and non-practitioners may not agree or understand. In order to make it easier for people to learn Dafa, we should consider "wearing gloves" (to behave in ways they understand). It is true that we can tolerate any difficulties, but if all practitioners were divorced and penniless, people may think of us as strange or foolish. Although a foolish person may accumulate a lot of virtue, as Dafa practitioners we should not lose sight of our objectives: To validate the Fa, to help people to learn Dafa in the future, and to save people.
I believe, from now on, all practitioners who suffered from persecution should thoroughly review their past: We do not pursue money and leisure, and even if we make a huge amount of money, it is for validating Dafa and saving people. But we must not think that being persecuted is in any way acceptable. Even a non-practitioner may be rewarded with good fortune if he often recites "Falun Dafa is good," so why should practitioners who have given up everything to save others have to live in hardship and poverty, and be ridiculed? Those who suffered severe persecution, to a large degree, may have had omissions in their cultivation or unrighteous notions. After we relinquish our attachment to money, fame and sentimentality, people will see Dafa's mighty virtue and a practitioner's grace. No matter what we do, we think about validating Dafa and saving people and we follow the righteous Fa-principles. We should change this wrong perception that Falun Dafa practitioners are supposed to be miserable.
Due to the persecution, I lost my good job. When I was removed from the job that I liked, and stripped of my prestigious title, few people around me understood what was happening; my family members were very upset with me; and more than once, my husband almost divorced me. They blamed Dafa for what happened. Because they had negative thoughts about Falun Dafa, they were also being indirectly victimized. After several years of tribulations, my strong attachment to having a good career and my ambition disappeared. Thus my cultivation was elevated to the next level. I always wanted to show them Dafa's great power; therefore, I refused to acknowledge their "pessimistic expectations." In the past few years, my marriage has become stronger and my husband stopped fighting with me and is now sympathetic and supportive of Dafa. As a result, his salary has doubled, and we bought a big house and a car. We also saved several hundred thousand yuan in the bank. I became a full-time housewife, staying home to take care of my husband and child. I was not attached to money and I knew all my fortune was given by Master to allow me to have a normal cultivation environment, and to validate Dafa. I have no mentality of zealotry, because these good things are the natural result of taking the right position and doing the Three Things. Whenever people admire me, they say I have a good child who is an "A" student in school, a caring husband who makes good money, and a happy family. I tell them all these things are a natural result of my being a Dafa practitioner. This explanation has helped people to appreciate Dafa from a positive angle.
Recently, I read an article titled "Maintain Righteous Thoughts When Facing Police Brutality." I felt the same way as the author. Dear fellow practitioners, we really should change our notions, and should not consider suffering from persecution as an admirable accomplishment! If we position our hearts according to the Fa, Master will give us the best.
My cultivation experience has proven this point. Since I try to always do things based on saving people, my own cultivation has been relatively smooth and diligent. Even when I faced some serious dangers, compassionate Master looked after me. As a result, I have been doing Dafa work with relative ease and success.
My level is limited. Please correct my mistakes.
Written November 5, 2009
