FALUN DAFA India Newsletter for April 2013

FALUN DAFA - INDIA
TRUTHFULNESS - COMPASSION - FORBEARANCE

Newsletter for April 2013

Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:

Welcome

What’s Happening?

Dafa Practitioners Should Not Slack Off

The Issue : Slacking Off

Can We Protect Ourselves?

Reflections on "Always Cultivating as if You Were Just Starting"

Eliminating “Self” in Cultivation

Keep the Mind Even More Righteous During a Tribulation

1. Welcome: Welcome to the April 2013 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.

In this issue, we have a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom that always shine through because of their insights and fine quality of sharing. It is important to read the Clearwisdom, Pureinsight and other Dafa sites.

We make an effort to select Articles from the Archives which people don’t go back to and are relevant even today. Contributions are welcome from practitioners.

Heshi! Hope, you like the selection of Articles and gain some new insights!

Note: "All the contents in this newsletter - except for quotations and excerpts of writings of the founder Mr. Li Hongzhi - are only ideas and experiences of practitioners and do not represent Falun Dafa in itself."

Top

2. What’s Happening?: Practitioners from Hyderabad introduced over a week Falun Dafa to 500 central industrial security force, which takes care of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, Hyderabad and clarified the truth and presented the books in Hindi and English to senior commandant and sold the books to the staff.

Hyderabad practitioners also met a Psychologist, who is the founder of international stress management and explained about the practice and clarified the truth. He requested us to come to their meeting on 6th April 2013 at Ravindra Bharathi.

At Elbit Diagnostic centre, practitioners met a senior Doctor, staff and patients and distributed fliers.

Practitioners from Bangalore conducted a 3 day workshop at SAATHI where Falun Dafa was introduced some months back. The workshop will be on a continuous basis held at regular intervals.

Bangalore practitioners met the Cultural Director of Dayanand College and made a presentation and gave the material. He said after the vacation is over and when the new term starts we could make a presentation again.

Top

3. Dafa Practitioners Should Not Slack Off A young Dafa practitioner

(PureInsight.org) Recently, I often considered accomplishing Dafa projects as cultivation. Whenever finishing something that validates the Fa, I wanted to take a break and relax for a while by visiting everyday websites, shopping, playing games, or watching movies. After reading several experience sharing articles from practitioners recently, I regretted this situation, and decided to do better in Fa study and doing the three things. However, my progress was slow and the interference was severe. Every time I had to send forth righteous thoughts to clean up the degenerated substances that were interfering with me.

When sending forth righteous thoughts today, however, I found the root cause of why I could not resist the temptation from the everyday society’s entertainment. That is, I have had a human notion since a very young age—whenever finishing something important, I deserve a break. This notion made me stumble many times on my cultivation path, as Keep the Mind Even More Righteous During a Tribulation. In “Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Master said, “When I teach the Fa infrequently though, what worries me most is not the hardships or ordeals you face, which you know to be plenty hard. They are not the hardest thing; after all, however trying hardship may be, it's over after you get through it, and at that point things are clear to you. Rather, to quietly cultivate in bleak loneliness, unable to see hope, is the hardest of all. Doing any form of cultivation entails undergoing a trial such as this and a path with such features. Only if one can persevere and continually forge ahead does it amount to true diligence. It's easy to talk about, but putting it into action is tremendously difficult. That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.” These words of Master opened my thinking, making me wonder why I had not been able to consistently focus on things that need to be done. That is, I have to remain diligent all the time and always follow Master's requirements; otherwise, the old forces may take advantage of my loopholes.

I remember there were some experience sharing articles that remind practitioners not to be interfered with by the relaxed atmosphere. Rather, we should let go of the attachment to comfort and take on more responsibilities to validate the Fa. Every day of a Dafa disciple is precious, since there are many things to do. Facing such great responsibilities, how can we pursue comfort like an everyday person? In fact, the most comfortable state for us is to completely assimilate ourselves to the Fa, do the three things well and use every minute to validate the wonderfulness of Dafa. Were we to indulge ourselves as everyday people, we are ruining ourselves and are destroying sentient beings. Therefore, we should view things as cultivators. Only by remaining diligent and fulfilling our responsibilities can we repay Master's compassionate salvation.

Top

4. The Issue : Slacking Off Wuchen

(PureInsight.org) During discussions, we often talk about the issue of diligence. Many practitioners, including myself, sometimes complain about why we are unable to remain diligent and then find several reasons. It seems that we know all this from the Fa, but are still unable to overcome it. Right after the discussions, the situation might be better for a few days, but then would go back to usual. To fundamentally solve this problem, I would like to discuss this in detail.

One reason is laziness. After waking up in the morning, we often want to sleep for a few more minutes instead of getting up immediately for exercises. As a result, we fall back to sleep again. Without sufficient exercises, we lack energy for the whole day, causing a vicious cycle. Laziness results from the attachment to comfort. Thus, a lot of time is wasted instead of being spent on doing the three things.

The second reason is lust. This issue is often seen because we are living in the everyday society. Regardless of being married or single, this imposes a major challenge, especially to young practitioners. Because the environment at large is degenerated, there is temptation everywhere. Whatever we see or hear might bring up an attachment that interferes with us doing the three things. After discussing this many times, I found that the fundamental issue is not being married vs. being single, but instead whether or not one can completely let go of the desire. Imagine ancient practitioners who went to mountain caves to cultivate, they may still face this issue of lust in their mind. Therefore, the critical thing here is whether we have strong will power, and whether we can completely let go of such thoughts.

The third reason is thought karma. It happens to some practitioners that, whenever we want to do the three things, there are many negative thoughts surfacing. As a result, we spend lots of effort resolving the conflicts in our mind. Let us take writing an article as an example. One may be afraid that he or she is not good at writing, that there are not enough things to write about, or it is hard to organize the materials. These struggles delay the article writing again and again. Writing articles, in fact, is also related to one’s cultivation. Only when doing it can one find ones shortcomings and rectify them with the Fa. It is also a process of becoming enlightened, that is, a process of improvement. The old forces pay close attention to every thought of ours, and they try to take advantage of every loophole that we have.

I think the best way of eliminating thought karma is to recite the Fa and write articles. In this way, we fill every cell with the Fa and eliminate any thought inconsistent with the Fa. Whether it is lust or any other type of attachment, we should pay attention to it and completely eliminate it. When our mind becomes pure, our wisdom will naturally emerge. We will then be able to handle things smoothly and remain diligent.

When digging further, we may find dozens or even hundreds of reasons that keep us from being diligent. However, the above-mentioned reasons may be the major ones that hinder us from making steady progress. In addition, the cultivation environment Master left to us is one for us to improve together. Therefore, when incorporating ourselves into one body, and consistently comparing ourselves to other practitioners and the Fa, we will be able to find our gaps and thus catch up quickly. Loneliness is an attachment that weakens our will and, when that happens, thought karma is more rampant in interfering with us. Therefore, only when forming one body and focusing on doing the three things can we rectify the environment and remain diligent.

Top

5. Can We Protect Ourselves? By a practitioner in Mainland China

(Minghui.org) It is not uncommon that when one of us senses danger or feels threatened, we will ask others to help send righteous thoughts. To be sure, sometimes we ask all practitioners we know to act as one body to give us strength and assistance. What I would like to point out is that we do not want to fall into the habit of asking others to send righteous thoughts when we feel the slightest bit of danger, regardless of the situation, getting into the habit of relying on others.

Let me use an example to describe this. One evening a fellow practitioner heard someone knocking on the door. She looked out the peephole and saw a stranger. She worried that the person could be someone sent by the Chinese Communist Party regime to persecute her. She started asking practitioners around her to send righteous thoughts to help her.

Things that we run into as practitioners all have reasons. We should think about why we encounter them. A stranger knocking on the door is nothing unusual. It happens all the time to everybody. It could be someone knocking on the wrong door or handing out an advertisement, it could be a thief, or, as the practitioner suspected, the person could be a plainclothes officer. We should continue to think, “Why is it happening to me? Is it because I have had shortcomings in some areas recently?” When we encounter such an event, as genuine practitioners, what should we do? What thoughts do we have? Do we feel intimidated? Or did we stay unperturbed? Did our thoughts meet the requirements for disciples during the Fa rectification period?

If the stranger was not sent by the communist regime, we should still think about why it happened. If he was a plainclothes officer showing up to harass practitioners, we should then think about whether we did something wrong or had a poor understanding on some issues. Look within ourselves, and then think about how we should react, whether we should study the Fa more diligently, calm ourselves down, and stabilize our thoughts. We can send forth righteous thoughts regarding each unique situation ourselves. Of course, we can also share with fellow practitioners and ask them to send righteous thoughts to help.

Someone might wonder, “You, too, will go to fellow practitioners. How is this different from the practitioner in your above example?” On the surface the two approaches look the same. However, the processes are different. In one case, as soon as something happens, we get frightened and start to worry whether the regime has called for meetings to start a new round of persecution. Are they going to arrest me? Should I leave home? We immediately ask fellow practitioners to send righteous thoughts for us. This has become a habit. Even if it is effective to a certain extent, it is not the best approach.

Before we can determine what was really happening (it could have been someone who was knocking on the wrong door), asking many practitioners to help send righteous thoughts can divert them from important tasks they are working on. What this amounts to is interference. Imagine how much interference it would be if each practitioner asked everyone else to help him while it is his own responsibility to look inside himself for shortcomings?

This could be a test for you. If you thought it was targeting you instead of looking within yourself, and you did not handle it as a practitioner should have, it could turn out to be really targeting you. On the other hand, it could have been targeting you, and yet you did well, and there could very well be no follow-up of the original planned persecution. Whether or not you will be truly persecuted is a test of your attachments.

How a practitioner thinks about an issue is important. What we think is what we will encounter, what we are experiencing, or what we are asking for. The Fa has been taught to us. We have to gradually become more mature. We have the ability to protect ourselves. Some may ask, “How can we protect ourselves? Isn't it that we are all protected by Master?”

Indeed, when each of your thoughts are on the Fa, the evil will not dare come near you. Aren't you then protecting yourself? Of course, our ability comes from Master and the Fa. When we meet the standard set by the Fa, we are more capable than when we don't meet the standard. If we fail to remember that we are Dafa practitioners, human notions will overwhelm us. Then we will not be capable. As a result, all practitioners during the Fa rectification period have the capability to protect themselves. When we have righteous thoughts, that is when we are conforming to the Fa in our minds and when we have the capability to protect ourselves.

Legend has it that Bian Que, the earliest known Chinese physician (ca. 700 B.C.), said his elder brothers were good at “treating people before they were ill.” Shouldn't we practitioners all become good at taking care of problems before they develop? Let us assimilate to the Fa in our minds, let our thinking and the process of our thinking all conform to the Fa. Then let's see who dares to harm us. If they have that intention, we will be able to destroy them directly ourselves. Only then will our guardian gods protect us and Master's Fa bodies not allow us to be persecuted. Of course, under such conditions, they dare not come near us because they can find no excuse and they will not rush over to have themselves eliminated.

We all hope we can remain in such a state. However, we may not be able to be like this all the time. What we can strive to achieve is that, when we encounter issues that touch on our attachments or expose our shortcomings, we keep strong righteous thoughts, remain unperturbed, and apply the wisdom Dafa has bestowed upon us. Dafa has taught us new perspectives and approaches to solving these issues. “This is because the Buddha Fa is boundless. What does “the Buddha Fa is boundless” mean? It has unlimited ways...” (“Teaching the Fa at a New York Meeting” as part of “Lectures in the United States”)

Each of us practitioners of the Fa rectification period is capable of resolving these issues independently. Some special cases do need the coordination of the strength of the whole or to help fellow practitioners overcome tribulations. However, we should not fall into the habit of doing this whatever the situation. We should avoid interfering with other practitioners by arbitrarily getting them involved in things we are able to handle independently.

Top

6. Reflections on "Always Cultivating as if You Were Just Starting" By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) Some time ago I introduced a person who has a predestined relationship with Falun Dafa to begin cultivation. One day she said to me that she had broken a few branches of a plastic flower while she was cleaning her house, so she asked me to get some white liquid glue for her from my company.

When I was doing the sitting meditation that night, Teacher's Fa, "That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference") entered my mind and reminded me of what had happened that day. I thought about how this practitioner was a new practitioner. The fact that she did not have that high an understanding of the Fa was normal, whereas I was a veteran practitioner who has cultivated for more than 10 years, so how could I not know what to do? I talked to my daughter, who is also a practitioner, and we decided to buy her a bottle of white liquid glue.

This new practitioner came to our home to study the Fa with us a few days later. We studied this paragraph in Zhuan Falun:

"One practitioner works in a textile factory in X city of Shandong Province. After studying Falun Dafa, he taught other coworkers to practice. As a result, the factory has taken on a new look. He used to take home pieces of towels from the textile factory, and so did the rest of the employees. After practicing Dafa, instead of taking things home he brought back to the factory what he took home before. When others saw his actions, nobody would take things home anymore. Some employees also returned to the factory what they previously took home. This situation occurred throughout the entire factory."

Then I told her about buying her a bottle of white glue. I said to her, "From the day that we began to cultivate, we have been holding ourselves up to the standards of the Fa, otherwise, our gong cannot grow. It seems minor, yet it's a test of whether we are cultivating solidly or not. If we are not steadfast in cultivation, it's very easy for us to overlook small things." Teacher said before that, "on your path of cultivation there is nothing that is by chance." ("Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan") Therefore, with everything we run into, we should try to enlighten to it based on the Fa. Whether we should do particular thing or not, we should measure it against the Fa, as opposed to the standards of ordinary people. This is the difference between practitioners and ordinary people.

Enlightened by this incident, the following is how this practitioner passed one of her xinxing tests. One day as she was reading Zhuan Falun, her son came home, and as soon as he saw what she was doing, he went over and grabbed the book. In addition, he challenged her, saying, "Who gave you this book? I'll go to talk to her!" As he was saying this, he held the book in front of his chest and ran out of the house. She followed him outside and, as she tried to catch up to him, she shouted, "Give me my book back, or I will not acknowledge that you are my son anymore!" Hearing that his mother was really angry, he turned around and returned the book to her. He calmed down and said, "Mom, you should at least be considerate of your son who is a government worker. If you insist on practicing Falun Gong, then I can't keep my job anymore." Hearing this, she said to him, "You are right. What you have seen on TV, the propaganda about Falun Gong, is all staged to deceive people. Take a look at this book. Then you'll know what Falun Gong truly is. If you can behave as well as Falun Gong practitioners, then a government worker would truly become a servant of the people. That's for their benefit! I have personally witnessed that people who practice Falun Gong are not corrupt, nor do they deceive others, and they are the ones who do not take anything from work that does not belong to them." Hearing this, her son was speechless.

After this new practitioner talked to me about it, I was very touched as well. I didn't expect that what I said had any positive effect on her. I realized that only by cultivating myself well can I help new practitioners. Because new practitioners lack a deep understanding of the Fa, they pay more attention to veteran practitioners' behavior. Therefore, as a veteran practitioner, one carries a lot of responsibility. When running into things, one should not overlook one's behavior. One must start from doing little things well and rectify one's behavior. "He is full of great aspirations while minding minor details." ("Sage" in Essentials for Further Advancement) What often happens is that after having cultivated for a while, some veteran practitioners easily overlook the details, which might bring unnecessary damage to the Fa. We must walk our cultivation path well because this is something to be left for ordinary people for their future reference, so it is not a small issue.

Top

7. Eliminating “Self” in Cultivation By a practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) I've always thought that I have been diligent and have been truly cultivating myself. But somehow I just couldn't thoroughly let go of my attachments, especially to “self.” It seems to be deeply rooted, and it is also often exposed. I know very well that for the attachments I'm unable to eliminate completely, sentient beings in a corresponding microcosmic world could be eliminated because they do not meet the standards of the Fa. Lately, I have clearly felt that Master has been pointing things out to me. It must be because I still have many human attachments and Master does not want me to fall behind. The things that I encounter seem ordinary on the surface, but once I look inward I find many human attachments.

For example, I recently reconnected with a former classmate with whom I had lost touch for the last thirty years. I found out that one of our fellow schoolmates had become a bureau chief. After I hung up the phone with my classmate, I said happily, “One of my schoolmates became a bureau chief!” I was very happy and proud, and those around me were happy for me as well. Someone said, “Good for you! It's like a compliment to you!” His words made me ponder, “What is behind my desire of wanting to show off and save face? Isn't it 'self'?” I kept digging and noticed there were many human notions underneath this “self.” Whenever I learned of reunions amongst friends and former classmates, I often asked, “What is the highest position any of your classmates has achieved?” Why did I ask questions like that? Aren't all sentient beings equal? When the police harassed me, I would say, “I know your bureau chief or department head,” implying, “I'm not an average person, and I have some connections, so don't threaten me.” I showed myself off instead of trying to save them with righteous thoughts.

One time I went to my mother's place to have lunch. I saw my sister, who is also a practitioner, cooking, and said to her, “You are working hard!” My sister immediately replied, “I don't need your instructions at all.” I said, “I wasn't going to say anything.” She replied, “You just haven't said anything yet. Look at you. You are walking around with your hands behind your back, as if you are a higher-up inspecting things here.” I realized this attachment of “self” was deeply hidden. This “self” had accompanied me life after life, and is still hanging around even as I'm cultivating. An obvious manifestation is, wherever I go, “it” likes to discuss and critique. “It” is very talkative, likes to interrupt people's conversations, and does not cultivate speech. I actively participated during practitioners' sharings, and often talked over others even when they had not finished talking. I sometimes felt like something was missing from the sharing if I didn't say anything. As time went by, as long as I was present at a sharing, practitioners would say, “Why don't you say a few words first.” Other practitioners would say, “You are cultivating well. Why don't you share something rational.” Although I acted humble on the surface, I felt good inside. In fact, whether we have a high or low xinxing level, are diligent or not, depends on how well we cultivate, and not how well we can talk about cultivation. I used to think that I was above others, and talked about others or critiqued others during sharing, as if I was giving a lecture. I couldn't harmonize with practitioners outside of my immediate circle, and thought they weren't diligent or were only average cultivators. When I saw them I would ask, “How many lectures do you read every day? Do you do the exercises? How many people have you clarified the truth to? You should be more diligent!” I often hinted at others, “You have not cultivated as well as I have. Don't fall behind. I need to help you,” as if I was a teacher supervising the students.

My mother didn't receive any education and suffered quite a bit on her cultivation path. When I visited her, I sat on the sofa facing her, like a teacher trying to help a student. I asked her, “So how is your cultivation? Is there anything you don't understand?” Quite often, after a couple of questions, she would talk back. I figured she didn't have good enlightenment quality and had poor understanding, and was thus refusing to listen to what I had to say. I thought Master must have had a hard time saving her. My mother said to me, “You should take the time to cultivate yourself well. You are not up to par.” I didn't agree with her at all and smiled back.

I once saw my mother taking pine pollen (which has been used since ancient times as a herbal medicine). I was surprised that she had the wrong basic understanding and made a mistake. I said a few words and she replied, “I know about it. Why don't you just cultivate yourself?” I thought about her words but couldn't find any problem on my part. I later read a Minghui Weekly article to her, and added my own notion as I read, “This article is talking about you. See if you can understand it.” My mother didn't finish listening, waved her hands, and said, “Whose standard is this? Only the Fa is the standard.” I felt helpless, frustrated, and even resentful. I thought, “Why is it that while I can talk about the Fa principles my mother cannot, and she still refuses to listen to me? She is always criticizing me and saying that I'm not cultivating well. Am I really not cultivating well?”

Later in the evening, as I lay in bed looking inward, I gradually discovered that I had many problems in my cultivation. I didn't see the process of helping others as a process of cultivating myself. The mentality that we have when we help others comes from the realm that we're at. When I tried to help my mother, it didn't come from the mindset of being selfless, and doing things completely for her own good. Instead, I was condescending, and my words lacked compassion. So how could I move or change anyone? Moreover, I constantly focused on her shortcomings and not her strengths, so whatever I shared contained elements that made her feel uncomfortable. So how could she accept that? I was sad when I found so many human notions, and thought that my mother was a better cultivator than I was.

My mother is eighty years old. Prior to practicing, she only recognized a few words. She can now read all the Fa lectures. When her karma was being eliminated, she could not sleep for days, but was still able to read one to two lectures each day, and could sometimes go out and clarify the truth to the neighbors or the vendors. If she was unable to stand up, she did the second exercise sitting down, and finished the exercises! She was very diligent! How high of a level did I want her to reach? Once I recognized that, I felt so little, and was able to put down a lot of things. When I saw my mother again, I thought she was kind, generous, and diligent, and I could talk to her, heart to heart. When I noticed that, I clearly felt that I had elevated.

I went to my mother's house yesterday, sat on a small stool next to her, and we casually and calmly shared our cultivation experiences. I realized that we had never truly shared from our hearts in the last ten years. She said, “I'm no longer taking pine pollen. I felt itchy every time I took it.” She realized it was not the right thing to do, and shared some of her experiences in overcoming sickness karma with righteousness. I thought she was really cultivating well, much better than I had.

A few days ago I read this article on the Minghui website, “Some Thoughts on Submitting Experience Sharing Articles to the Minghui Website”, and was very touched and felt regretful. The author shared many rational understandings. The article was simple and sincere, especially the author's self-analysis when looking inward, and the truthful and selfless realm. I saw where I fell short. I have often submitted articles to the Minghui and Pure Insight websites in recent years. Most of my articles were published in the Minghui Weekly, and some were even selected as featured articles. After a while, my “self” was exposed and I often thought I was better than average. In addition, a practitioner whose celestial eye was open said that I was once a famous cultural person in history. I often thought that I was an unusual person, and didn't cultivate myself when I wrote articles. I even thought that as soon as I had accomplished something, my cultivation level was raised substantially, perhaps by many layers in the cosmos. I was haggling and bargaining like an everyday person.

Dafa and Master gave me so much. Let's eliminate the humanness and the “self” that came with the old universe, and return to our true homes. Every now and then, these thoughts came into my mind, “I came from a high level, I'm on an important mission, I have great virtue, and I have a high fruit status.” When I accomplished a bit in a Dafa project, I thought about the many layers I had broken through. How selfish that was!

Master said,

“I said that a cosmic body is still but a speck of dust in the universe. Whatever I told you that you could understand and what is larger than that by billions or trillions of times is still but a speck of dust in the universe.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference”)

Master also said,

“As for how massive the cosmos ultimately is, suppose we considered a massive universe that consists of a trillion layers to be one domain, and then grouped a trillion of these one-trillion-layer domains together—we could then call this trillion one-trillion-layered domains a particle of air. Such particles permeate the conference hall here. Although that amounts to a massive number of universes, this is still but a small, insignificant particle in just one dimension of the universe.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching”)

A being that can become a speck of dust or particle in the new universe is extremely fortunate. So is there anything pertaining to the “self” that I cannot let go? I often worried that I could not reach the standard required by the Fa, especially in these final moments. But I have noticed that “self” and “I” have gotten smaller. As soon as the thought emerges, I'm able to catch it. I shared with fellow practitioners, “No matter which Dafa project needs my help, I will do my best to harmonize with it, supplement it, and do it quietly. At the same time, I won't insist on 'my' opinion, or impose it on anyone else.”

These are my recent understandings, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Top

8. Keep the Mind Even More Righteous During a Tribulation By a practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) Several days ago, my left leg suddenly started to really hurt, and I was unable to do the sitting mediation. When I tried to put my legs in the lotus position, I felt extreme pain. The pain would increase and extend all the way down from my lower back to my heel, through the tendon and the connected muscles.

I began to look inward to see whether I had any attachments or whether I hadn't done enough of something. I was able to realize some apparent human thoughts and eliminate them easily. However, my leg continued to hurt and became worse.

Master said in Zhuan Falun,

"The enlightenment that we actually refer to is a matter of whether in the course of cultivation practice one can enlighten to and accept the Fa taught by the master or the Tao taught by the Taoist master, whether one can treat oneself as a practitioner upon encountering tribulations, and whether one can adhere to the Fa while practicing cultivation." (Lecture Nine)

So I started to examine my xinxing around "fame," "self-interest," and "sentimentality" again and again. I did find some things to be improved, but they were not the root reasons I was looking for. I thought I had thoroughly dug deep, but my leg still hurt day and night, which kept me from sleeping and even from just resting. I had to kneel down to study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. In the beginning I thought it would soon pass as long as I followed the Fa principles to overcome whatever might be inconsistent with the standards of the Fa and assimilated myself into the Fa completely. Although I was in pain, I still tried to do what I needed to for the Fa.

I have been a Dafa practitioner for over 10 years. Any beings made by Dafa should not act like ordinary people, especially at this late stage. I reminded myself to maintain righteous thoughts and keep calm when cooperating with fellow practitioners. I tried not to show how I was suffering in front of fellow practitioners or ordinary people. I believed the tribulation would pass quickly since Master and Dafa were with me.

For years, regardless of how busy I was in validating Dafa, I have been able to calm down to study the Fa and send righteous thoughts, and this was the case even during this tribulation of leg pain. A week passed. The pain showed no signs of going away; instead, it seemed more intense. I was unable to practice the exercises for a few days. At night, the pain became more unbearable. One night, I said to Master in my mind, "Master, I cannot find what the problem is. Please give me a hint."

After I fell asleep, I had a dream. In the dream I was with several people. It seemed they were all practitioners. Everyone was carrying something used to clarify the truth, and we were trying to go home. Others were very relaxed, but somehow I was carrying a pile of equipment and raw materials on my back, and it was hard to walk. However, others were still trying to give me more stuff that they should have been carrying themselves. I bent over and held the stuff on my back with one hand. In the other hand I held a big umbrella that I was going to share with others. There was snow and ice on the ground. If there was rain, I would not be able to open the umbrella, since it was difficult to simply walk.

The dream was so clear that I kept thinking about it after I woke up. Was it a hint from Master? Then I thought it was just a dream. I thought that I should follow the Fa, not the dream. I was hoping to gain some enlightenment during Fa study, so I didn't pay much attention to the dream.

After breakfast, I spoke to a fellow practitioner who mentioned dreams. I remembered the dream I just had and casually mentioned it. The practitioner said to me, "I have been concerned about your safety for a while. The dream is just like your current state." I suddenly realized this dream was a hint from Master.

For two or three years, many practitioners in our local area were put in a forced labor camp, sent to jail, or sent to brainwashing centers. Several truth-clarifying material production sites were destroyed, which slowed down the process of validating Dafa and saving sentient beings. I was very anxious and took on more responsibility in validating Dafa. Whenever I heard of any practitioners who wanted to set up a family-based site to make truth-clarifying materials, I would coordinate with practitioners with the appropriate skills and do my best to help. To encourage fellow practitioners, I would not refuse any requests. In time, I was even asked to help the material distribution sites that had been set up for long time. Taking all this on like I did posed potential security risks as well as affected quality.

The other practitioner helped me to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of what I was doing. I was so busy going around that it was difficult to remain secure, although I did pay attention to the safety issue. We realized clearly that Master wants every disciple to find his or her own path. Responding to every request encourages fellow practitioners to depend on others for help, and they may then lose the opportunity to improve themselves. I realized that truly helping them with reason and wisdom would help them become more mature, so that our situation as a whole would improve and become more stable.

In discussing this with the other practitioner, I thoroughly understood what I could do better in the future. Suddenly, during the conversation, the pain in my leg disappeared. At noon, I was able to send righteous thoughts with double-crossed legs. A week-long suffering had passed. With Master's help, I overcame another tribulation.

Top