| Published: Sunday 6th September 2009 |
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By a Dafa practitioner from Heilongjiang Province
Assisting Master in saving people is our responsibility as Dafa practitioners. We need to have righteous thoughts in order to offer more people salvation. Master said,
"Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring
Righteous thoughts can save the people in this world."
("The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos," Hong Yin Volume II, Translation Version A)
I have walked the cultivation path for a while. Whenever I was anxious to offer a person salvation but had fear, the old forces took advantage of me. On the other hand, whenever I looked inward and had righteous thoughts, Master has helped me. Saving people is our current priority, which is not a task for ordinary people; therefore, we should remain calm and focus on Fa study so as to save more people. I would like to share several of my cultivation experiences.
In 1999, when a number of us practitioners were illegally detained for practicing Falun Gong, we continued doing things according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Although we were isolated from the outside, the detention centre guards and the criminal detainees still had an opportunity to learn the truth and to feel our compassion.
We treated the criminal detainees equally, even though others treated them badly for what they had done to society. Under our influence, some of them understood the facts about Falun Gong and therefore could be saved. They paid us great respect, knowing that the only reason we were being detained was because we sought to live according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and to become better people. We inspired the inmates with our words and actions. Many of them wanted to practice Falun Gong, and many started to read Dafa books after they understood the facts.
We taught the inmates to memorize Hong Yin. We could not provide any Fa written on paper because paper and pen were banned. However, later on, we saved small paper notes when we were doing labour and brought them back to the cell. One day we discovered two short pencils an inch long in an opening between two wooden floor boards. We were very excited and felt that this was help from Master. We copied Master's newest article and Hong Yin onto the back of the small notes and shared them from one cell to another. When Dafa articles arrived, everyone would read them and memorize them. At recess, a prisoner came over and commented, "Your cultivation practice is so good. I will practice it after I am released from here. How will I find you?"
Another long-term detainee was in poor health. She coughed frequently and was in pain and had a hard time falling asleep. She told me, "Reading your Master's Hong Yin and memorizing the poems every day gives me hope. I don't feel such physical discomfort and don't cough anymore."
The detainees were anxious to learn more. Once, someone from a distant cell shouted from the window, "Please make several copies for us. One is not enough!"
We took turns copying the Fa on paper. A week later we had used up the last possible piece of those little pencils. The guards arrived and told us to pack up, that we practitioner were being transferred to a forced labour camp. As we walked down the hallway and passed each door, a banging sound came from each door. A detainee who understood the truth shouted, "You are good people!" and many of them cried. They did not know our names and shouted, "Hi, Falun Gong sisters, where can we find you to practice Falun Gong?"
I knew a couple in their 60s. The husband had had hypertension and diabetes for many years. Medication and hospitalization did not help him. The wife had had heart surgery. I tried to tell them about the goodness of Falun Gong and the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) evil persecution. They realized that Falun Gong is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good, but were afraid of being persecuted and refused to quit the CCP. Later on I gathered Dafa materials related to their concerns and shared them with them. They were so frightened that they returned the materials to me and walked away. I was calm, smiled, and did not say a word. I wanted them to think things through, but I was certain that they would be saved.
A couple of days later I met the wife again and asked about their health. The wife told me she wanted to watch the Shen Yun DVD. I said, "Why don't I make up an alias for you to quit the CCP; what do you think?" All the while I was sending righteous thoughts. She did not object and appeared happy. "OK," she said. "I will let my husband know this good news."
This incident made me realize that saving people requires not only righteous thoughts but also patience. We should not let our attachments prevent us from offering more people salvation. We should be patient and help them understand the facts first and awaken their kind nature with Dafa's great compassion and practitioner's righteous thoughts. In this way, eventually, they will select a bright future.
A guard whom I had known for years listened to me talk about Falun Dafa every time we met. I told him, "I am determined that you will be saved." He had no objection to Dafa and acknowledged that Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good. He knew that practitioners were good people. He admired practitioners involved in the April 25 Peaceful Appeal (This refers to the "sensitive" anniversary of April 25, 1999, on which date ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners peacefully gathered outside the Zhongnanhai compound (China's central government building) and successfully appealed for the release of forty-five practitioners who had been illegally arrested in Tianjin City). He said "It is unconceivable that so many people participated and stayed on the sidewalk in such an orderly way for hours. And when they left, there was not even one piece of trash on the ground! No one could do this but the Falun Gong."
He continued, "No wonder the CCP is afraid of the Falun Gong that seem to come and go soundlessly and without commotion, as if coming from the sky. I respect Falun Gong whenever I think about that event."
We chatted, and all the while I was sending righteous and asking Master for support. I was confident that one day he would be saved. Another time when we met I offered an alias for him to quit the CCP. He smiled and nodded. Before we parted, he reminded me to be careful about my safety. In the past he had the concept that Falun Gong cultivation was merely personal cultivation, which did not need to be shared with others. His reaction, and this incident, made me realize that people are imperceptibly changing once they understand the facts. It is exactly as Master mentioned "The Buddha Law is Boundless."
Master also said,
"With those people that you run into by chance, who you run into in daily life, and the people you run into at work, you should always clarify the truth to them. Even when in your daily life you pass by people so quickly that you don't have a chance to talk to them, you should still leave them with your compassion and kindness. Don't lose those who should be saved, especially those with predestined connections." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")
Let us make full use of any opportunity and every moment to offer more people salvation.
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