My Experience After Reading Negative Articles on the Internet

(Minghui.org) I would like to share my experiences after reading some disparaging information about Dafa on the Internet. I’m not an experienced writer and I often struggle with the right words, but after hearing that some practitioners wavered in their faith or had doubts due to negative things they read on the Internet, I felt the need to share my own experience.

In the past year, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ramped up its manipulation of the media in Western society to steer public opinion away from supporting Dafa. Many Western media and social media published lies about Falun Dafa and about projects begun by practitioners. I usually do not look at such content, because it is not truthful, but I eventually read some of it because I wanted to gain an understanding of what nonsense is being used to turn people away from the truth.

I want to warn practitioners to use caution when reading such content: we need to keep our thoughts in check. [Editor’s note: Unless you absolutely need to read this type of content to work on a project, practitioners should avoid reading such content. There are many resources created by practitioners that summarize the key talking points of these attacks.]

Master said,

“Though some qigong masters have written books, I am telling you that those books contain all kinds of things and are the same as what they practice: They are snakes, foxes, and weasels. When you read those books, these things will leap out from the words.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun).

Although the articles were not written by a false qigong master, reading them can have the same dangerous effects as a fake qigong book. While I read those articles, my thoughts strayed, and I wondered whether the content was true or not, which really shows a lack of faith in Master. I soon regretted these thoughts immensely. I didn’t expect that reading them would affect me. For the next few weeks, I felt very uneasy. I kept experiencing sickness karma, including fevers, extreme migraine headaches, aches, and pains. I felt very heavy and was easily angered.

In some ways, I thought the horrible picture portrayed of practitioners described myself to some degree. I was moved since it touched on my attachments to money and self-image. I found it difficult to control my xinxing and kept getting into arguments with my husband and children over little things that normally wouldn’t bother me. Superficially, I kept studying the Fa and doing the exercises, but in my heart I wavered.

A Wake-Up Call

Although I read this content in mid-December, it wasn’t until after the holidays when I was putting some boxes up in my garage using a ladder that I started to recognize that my thoughts had been interfered with. I tried to steady my mind, but my thoughts were not in check.

This was the first time I forgot to check the safety lock on the ladder. As I climbed up the ladder to reach a high shelf, the ladder collapsed when I reached the top. I began to fall, but my arm was pinned between the shelf and the heavy box I was holding.

At first, I felt fear, but I quickly adjusted my thinking and kept repeating “I am okay.” I remembered that our initial thoughts matter most – “Good or evil comes from that instant thought.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun).

I bounced back and forth between hard objects below me before I landed on the cement floor. I am 47 years old, and before I practiced Dafa, I bruised very easily. A fall like that would have broken my bones. But I didn’t have any pain or issues, except for a small pain in my shoulder from my initial fearful thought. Overall, I was fine.

Coming Back to the Truth

Soon after, Minghui.org published “Our Master,” an article about how Master actually lives. While reading the article, something miraculous happened to me.

I felt a steadiness in my heart as I realized how truly warped those false depictions of Master were. I felt a sense of being light, as the heaviness lifted from me, along with the physical discomfort I had been experiencing. I had also read some other resources written by practitioners to expose the distorted picture painted by these media and social media outlets. The truth was the antidote for the poison I read.

Recalling my whole experience now, it’s really as Master warned us:

“I was also told, “You’ve made their cultivation too easy. People only have that little bit of hardship of their own. There is only that little bit of trouble among them. They have a lot of attachments that they still can’t give up! It remains a question of whether they can understand your Dafa itself while they are in the midst of confusion and tribulations.” It involves such an issue, so there will be interference and tests. I just said that this is a form of demonic interference. It is very difficult to truly save a person, yet so very easy to ruin a person. Once your mind is not right, you will be ruined at once.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)

As I continued to look with in, I found attachments to guilt and fame. I was worried about what others might think because I questioned Master. I want to thank Master for helping me see my attachments and discern what is true. I believe things turned around for me because my heart was open. Master has done so much for me already, and this experience encouraged me to work harder to cultivate with my whole heart and not let Master or sentient beings down.

I hope practitioners will keep their hearts open to the truth and study the Fa well. It is very important now for us to clarify the truth thoroughly and comprehensively to everyone, including fellow practitioners who may be confused. We have the power of the Fa to provide the truth, which is the antidote that can help them wake up.

This is my current understanding. Please point out any inconsistencies.