(Clearwisdom.net) I started to practice Falun Gong in 1996. When I look back at the rocky road I have journeyed, I realize more than ever that without Teacher's care and Dafa's guidance, I would not have made it to this day.
After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, Teacher's articles such as "A Dialogue with Time," "Expounding on the Fa" and "Digging Out the Roots" helped me face the sudden changes with a clear mind. I never had a thread of doubt about Dafa. I went to the provincial capital to appeal for Falun Dafa with some local practitioners. In January 2001, I went to the Office of Appeal in Beijing with some fellow practitioners. At the same time, I had been writing to people in all professions to explain the truth of Falun Gong and expose the lies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
I was detained in a local detention center after returning from Beijing. There were dozens of practitioners detained in the center. We came to the same realization that we shouldn't sign any detention certificates. We insisted that all detained practitioners must be released unconditionally. Whenever the police interrogated us, we tried to clarify the truth to them and let them know the greatness of Falun Dafa. They also acknowledged that we didn't violate any laws and they were only carrying out orders from above.
We studied the Fa and practiced the exercises every day in the detention center. Later, the police started body searching every one of us. The body search was done very thoroughly. After I was searched, a practitioner secretly told me that she had a pocket size book of Zhuan Falun hidden underneath her clothes. She asked me to take it. But there was no time. A policeman came to search the practitioner before her; she was next. The practitioner before her was searched very carefully. But when it was her turn, the policeman only patted her a couple of times and let her go. We truly felt that Teacher was right besides us and taking care of us all the time. We were moved to tears. When we achieve the Fa's requirements for us, the Fa will display its power. Only genuine disciples can feel the wonder, holiness, and mystery of Falun Dafa through cultivation.
After several weeks of detention, we started a hunger strike. Three days later, we were released. With the Fa's guidance and Teacher's care, we were able to leave the detention center. This experience also helped me to discover what was lacking in my understanding of the Fa. Initially I couldn't decide whether to go to Beijing to validate the Fa. My thoughts were still based on human thinking. Through studying the Fa, I found my selfishness.
My daughter started to practice Falun Gong with me. Her third eye was opened when she was only six. Later, my father-in-law started to practice too, because there was no cure for his illness in medicine. After he started to practice Falun Gong, his disease was gone without any medical treatment. Through our changes, our family members, relatives and friends all know that it is Falun Dafa that changed us, so they are all very supportive of our practice.
During over ten years of cultivation, I gradually learned some Fa principles, always regarded myself as a cultivator, and regarded everything in my life as a part of the environment that helps me cultivate. As long as I can study the Fa, I am the most fortunate life in the universe and nothing could make me feel otherwise. Gradually, I have learned to let go of my attachments and notions, strengthen my main consciousness, think about others first in whatever I do, and let go of my ego. Now, through cultivation in the Fa rectification period, I learn that only when we cultivate our xinxing through solid Fa study, always regard ourselves as cultivators, always take Teacher's words to heart, and watch every thought we have, can we keep up with Teacher's Fa rectification process. I also realize that we should treasure the time of cultivation during this Fa rectification period and truly understand the responsibilities and missions of Fa rectification period disciples. We should do better in saving sentient beings and help people quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Nothing in the human world should stop us from our missions.
I am a hair stylist who has the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Once, a person who just spent eight years in prison came to my salon. I told him about Teacher and Falun Dafa. He was every excited. He told me that everybody looked down on him but I didn't. I told him that ordinary people may look down on him, but practitioners wouldn't. We practice "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," and our benevolent Teacher doesn't hold the past faults of any sentient being against them. I told him, as long as he quits the CCP and its affiliated organizations and doesn't participate in persecuting Falun Gong, he will have a good future. I told him to remember "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" and be a good person. He was touched and thanked me repeatedly. At that moment, I really felt Teacher's boundless compassion and Dafa's grand power. I was happy for his choice.
I also want to share a recent incident with fellow practitioners, and hope the lesson I learned can help other practitioners to avoid similar losses.
My elder sister started to practice in 1994. Recently I found out she had slacked off in cultivation. One day she had a dream. In the dream, somebody told her that she needed to die. She agreed and thought that she had let go of the attachment to life and death. After she woke up, she was very afraid. She used to be very timid, and the dream worsened her fears. Several practitioners and I tried to help her. We told her to study the Fa more and deny all arrangements by the old forces. What she saw and heard in the dream was just an illusion and interference. But I still felt her main consciousness was not strong enough. Now when I think about it, I know I should have taken it more seriously and treated her with true compassion. At that time, I thought as a veteran practitioner, she could pass the test after our sharing. Although I called her every day and talked to her face to face once, she didn't change much. I felt she didn't truly realize the missions and responsibilities of Fa rectification period disciples, and didn't do enough to help people quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I felt she didn't realize the seriousness and urgency of Fa rectification and was bewildered by illusions in ordinary people's society. Several days ago, she had a cerebral hemorrhage (bleeding from a ruptured blood vessel in the brain) and passed away.
My sister had high blood pressure before she practiced Falun Gong, but it never recurred over ten years since she started to practice. Then why did it happen when practitioners are trying to save more sentient beings? When the pain eased a bit, I calmed down to think it over. I know as her sister and fellow practitioner, when she couldn't let go of human attachments, I didn't show true compassion to her, or treasure a fellow practitioner's life. I didn't help her to strengthen her righteous thoughts, or to find her fundamental attachment. I let the evil persecute a fellow practitioner as it wished.
Teacher gave me an opportunity to enlighten on this matter. I saw my sister laying on the ground. I could have helped her get up very easily but I didn't. Teacher said, "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference") I awakened from the pain and realized my fault. I must learn the lesson and prevent similar things from happening again.
At the same time, I also realized that some practitioners are still indulging in their attachments and do not take Fa rectification period cultivation seriously. How could they be worthy of Teacher's salvation and everything Teacher has done for them? Fellow practitioners, we cannot let the old forces exploit our loopholes again and again. Every Fa rectification period disciple is affiliated with boundless sentient beings. The losses are huge. We should wake up.
I hope the lessons I learned can be helpful to other practitioners. Let us treasure the time and opportunity to cultivate in Fa rectification and hurry up to clarify the truth to people. Let us save those people polluted by the CCP's lies, and assist Teacher in Fa rectification.