For example, when we feel thirsty during Fa-study, we will stop to get some water. When we feel cold or hot during Fa-study, we will stop to add or remove some clothes. These things seem like very normal things to do. But for a practitioner, it is not normal. Sometimes, when I was in a very good state and studying the Fa, suddenly I would feel thirsty. When I stopped to drink some water and returned, my focus would be gone. Why had this happened?

During these past few years as I distributed materials containing factual information about Falun Dafa in or spoke about Falun Dafa and the persecution face-to-face, I often faced danger. However, each time Teacher helped me and rescued me. My understanding is that as long as we believe in Teacher and Falun Dafa on our cultivation path, we can brave through anything no matter how difficult it appears to be.

In the past six months, several Falun Dafa practitioners in our city were illegally arrested, after which we held some sharing on this among local practitioners. We all realised that we fell short in saving sentient beings because we could not let go of life and death, and we all had different degrees of attachment to fear.

After I took this task, I began to look for the next level contact person. I found three practitioners and told them my thoughts, and asked them to find practitioners who would be in contact with them. In this way, we set up the distribution network. Due to many practitioners having righteous thoughts and righteous acts, and who were rational and cultivated their speech, the network ensured the safe operation and fast distribution of materials from the production site.

There were many moving stories throughout the Guangzhou seminar. Before the lecture, Teacher would come to class early and answer questions for everyone. Before beginning to lecture, He would pick up off the ground lost money and train tickets dropped by practitioners and place them on the table and announce that whoever lost anything should come and pick it up after class.

Actually, "good or bad" can not be seen by others; the true measurement is in the heart and mind of the individual. If a practitioner is able to keep his righteous thoughts at all times, that would be considered solid cultivation. What is seen on the surface, is, in a way, only a matter of formality. The status of another practitioner's cultivation practise is impossible to determine.

It's normal that practitioners have different views. But when conflicts arise, the key is to put the Fa as the most important and look inward according to the standard of the Fa. When stalemates occur, the major reason is that we are not studying the Fa well and not looking inward to find out our own problems, but instead blaming others.

On September 12th, 2005, after getting off work, I was suddenly hit by a horrendous headache. I sent forth righteous thoughts on my way home. After I got home, it only got worse. I felt dizzy and chilled, and my heart was beating rapidly. I could barely stand to change my clothes. It was indescribable how I felt; the headache was unbearably intense. I realised that it was evil interference and that I had to disintegrate and eliminate it, so I sat down to send forth righteous thoughts. I felt so dizzy and my heart was so painful that I thought I was going to die.

When I told this practitioner about my thought, he laughed, "You must be joking." He really thought I was joking. At the time, the environment was still very evil as the persecution was rampant. Besides the local police station sending people to investigate him, the school officials also named him in the school meetings. But I still said to him seriously, "Really, I want to practise!"

Although we could not have a time and place to study the Falun Gong teachings or practise with other practitioners, we kept studying and practising at home. We kept exchanging views with fellow practitioners, no matter how great the pressure we didn't give up practising. How can suppression change a heart enlightened by the universal truth?

During the stalemate I said, "I won't run away, but first, listen to me!" I held his hand and spoke to him about Falun Gong and how the persecution was initiated by Jiang Zemin out of his own jealousy and pride for over 20 minutes. He understood somewhat and said, "Ok, just go." I thought, "I can't just go like this." I continued to clarify the truth about Dafa to him until he completely understood and promised he would no longer persecute those who practise Falun Dafa.

When I heard about a fellow practitioner who wanted a divorce, I thought of talking about my own experience. My past history is very similar to the situation that the fellow practitioner discussed about his wife. I was addicted to smoking, drinking, and playing games all day long and couldn't control myself. Afterwards, I met my husband, who started to practise Falun Dafa not long after it was first introduced to the public in China and soon his righteous thoughts changed me.

Before I was a weak child and often fell sick. My family went to a lot of trouble to take care of me, but my health didn't improve. In the spring of 1998, my whole family started to joyfully practise Falun Dafa. I was four and half years old then. Within six months of beginning to practise Falun Dafa, my health greatly improved.

The news that I would conduct a project on Falun Gong travelled around the 12th grade quickly and was well received and supported by fellow students. Every student could choose any project as one pleased. To my surprise, half of the students attending the 12th grade chose my project. Since each project could accept at most twenty students, additional students had to be assigned to other projects. The school assigned a teacher as the manager.

A few times practitioners heard that government officials were coming again to confiscate our Falun Dafa books. I told them to send forth righteous thoughts to deny the evil people coming to our area. We sent forth righteous thoughts many times under these circumstances and everything turned out fine.

In the days that followed, I passed by that lamppost several times. I discovered that this particular flyer lasted longer than any other flyer that I had put up during the past few months. It lasted so long that the colour eventually faded. I realised that if we always keep our thoughts very righteous, we can reduce greatly the number of flyers that will be wasted.

I was reading some recently published Falun Dafa materials and did not have time to hide them. Upon entering, the director of the security office displayed a search warrant and said: "We need to search your home." He asked me to sign it. I refused, saying, "I do not have anything you are looking for." The instructor of the Political and Security Office said, "If you have Falun Gong materials, you should hand them over voluntarily. Otherwise the situation will be different if we find them."

Another time, I tried to send a fax to China, but someone answered the phone. He asked me what I was trying to send. I answered, "The important facts about Falun Gong." He said, "It is against the law." Then I started telling him the truth about Falun Gong. I introduced Falun Gong to him and told him the facts of China's persecution of Falun Gong. He kept saying "Oh." After I finished, he said, "I have never heard such things. Why don't you fax the information over and I will have a good look at it."

In addition to distributing materials, they also sat in meditation, or practised a kind of slow-moving eastern exercise along with music. A lot of Germans felt curious because it was not in the German tradition to be practising such exercises in public. Yet most Chinese knew at once that it was Falun Gong practitioners who were engaging in petitions and calling for the termination of the persecution to Falun Gong that has already lasted for six years in China.

Some practitioners always discuss when Fa¹ Rectification is going to end, and they have joy written all over their faces as if they are hoping that it will end soon. They don't realise something. If they have not cultivated well, if it ends early, won't they lose the opportunity to cultivate?

At noon I arrived at Tiananmen Square and sat down to send forth righteous thoughts. Then I stood up, walked a few steps and took out a piece of paper from my bag. A plainclothes policeman immediately rushed over to me. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the demons behind him and pretended to ask him for directions. As a result, he just left. I continued to send forth righteous thoughts.

The fact is, many practitioners are stressed out with the many things that they are already doing, and in some cases, the things they're already doing are not going as well as they should. It is also the case that veteran practitioners who have taken on many important responsibilities are being attacked with huge illness karma. Why is this the case if doing more things is supposed to be the answer?

Whenever practitioners mention sending forth righteous thoughts, many of them think of eliminating evil using divine powers, yet they don't look inward when facing problems or issues. They consider erecting palms as a universal way of solving their problems. True righteous thoughts give Falun Dafa practitioners wisdom. Why can't they think of proper solutions when they encounter problems?

After reading Teacher's new article "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be" (October 8th, 2005), I felt that all the words were meant for me. I felt ashamed for still having so many attachments after seven years of cultivation. Here I share my painful experiences in getting rid of attachments during the past month and hope that fellow practitioners can benefit from it.

Currently, I am a senior at the university. At the beginning of this school year, during the freshman military training period, a junior from the Student Association invited me to represent the seniors in a joint meeting between the seniors, juniors and freshmen. I declined at first, thinking the event was being held for the younger students, and that I am now a senior. But I changed my mind after realising that I could use this opportunity to let more people learn the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution and so I happily accepted the invitation.

I realised that it is the field of righteous energy and righteous thoughts of a Falun Dafa practitioner. This also awakened some of my attachments so I thought that I had cultivated well. That is when my dad started to swear again. I gave it a second thought and my father restrained himself. I told him several times that he is causing himself big damage when he swears. My father also said that Falun Dafa must be something splendid since it made me quit smoking and drinking, speak the truth and value my job in his office.

The work of guiding the paintings was an unforgettable experience. I learnt to forget about myself and turn all my focus on the person to be saved. Sometimes both the visitor and I would both have tears in our eyes. It was about meeting another human being heart to heart, and to give the visitor the best gift he or she could ever receive.

I was reluctant to think or talk about them, and I only felt that I shouldn't behave so poorly. After reading Master's new article "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be," I was touched by Master's great benevolence--He is watching over us and taking care of us all the time. I have been lax and I feel unworthy of Master's benevolent salvation. I mustered the courage, however, to write this article, in the hope to remind other practitioners not to repeat my mistakes.

Recently, when Rourou was practising the second set of exercises, holding the law wheel, she saw many people kneeling down in front of her. The people wore shabby clothes and looked very worried. They kept on begging her, "Save us! Save us!" Rourou asked them to get up but one old man among them said, "We are the sentient beings of your world. You must promise us to cultivate diligently. Only then will we get up and stop kneeling, because only when you manage to successfully accomplish cultivation can we be saved."

In the old days there lived a philosopher named Sokrates. One day he said to his students: “Do you think you can each morning 300 times swing your hand like this? All the students simultaneously answered: “Of course. There could be nothing more simple as swinging the hand like this each morning.” In one month he asked them again: “Who swung their hand in the morning?” A few of them raised the hand. After one year he asked again: “Who swung their hand this morning?” One of them, Plato, raised his hand. He was later his best disciple.

It was once told that Buddha Sakyamuni asked his disciple, "How could you keep one drop of water from drying up?" All his disciples could do was look at each other and were unable to offer an answer. Buddha Sakyamuni then told them, "Put it into the ocean." Indeed, the life of one drop of water is short. Yet when it is put into the ocean and becomes part of the ocean, then it obtains a new life. Since the ocean never dries up, the drop of water will live on forever in the ocean.

Each day we live in a society full of temptations. Unconsciously, our thoughts are accepting all kinds of deviated cultures and trends. These have been slowly eroding our mind. Studying the Fa¹ everyday can help us to stay vigilant and expel the bad thoughts, and improve our cultivation according to the Fa.

Many fellow practitioners that were close to me also heard them and felt uneasy about them. However, I was not moved. Thinking as a cultivator, I should not be moved by negative factors. I must keep my character high. Was it because I did not study the Fa well these days? The answer was no. Was is because I did not do enough exercises and send forth righteous thoughts? The answer was again no. I sent forth righteous thoughts at least eight times a day and also did the exercises every day. What was the reason for these rumours? I felt frustrated.

Some elderly practitioners are very attached to affection for family. They put most of their attention on their grandchildren, and worry about their health and comfort. With such a strong attachment, their grandchildren "happen" to have accidents all the time (actually it is the evil interference). As a result, those elderly practitioners are so busy taking care of their grandchildren that they have no time for Fa-study and no mood for truth-clarification.

The cadre from the 610 Office replied, "You have been detained for three years. You don't know that the Falun Gong followers now openly act against the CCP and the government." I explained, "We are only fighting for basic human rights and for a peaceful cultivation environment. We only want to be a good people. Does that constitute a crime? As an innocent person, I was incarcerated for six years. How do you justify that?" They were left speechless and didn't dare say one more word.

Since then, I have never been afraid again. When my attachment of fear shows up, I use righteous thoughts to eliminate it. In these years I have posted words in support of Falun Dafa anywhere possible in our area. In the beginning, when we finished our tasks, people who had been influenced by the anti-Falun Gong propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party would cover them up, but we would post them again. Thus, our righteous thoughts and righteous actions helped stop the persecution. Now when we post the words, "Falun Dafa is Good," and "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance are Good," no one will cover it any more.

When the taxi driver heard we were heading to Tiananmen Square he said, "Only people from other places of the country want to be there. The people in Beijing dislike the heavy smell of blood there." I asked him about the situation of Falun Gong. He said, "There are some people who get rich when they report Falun Gong practitioners to the authorities. If they look at you and think you might be a practitioner, they can drag you to a police station and get a 200 yuan reward. I don't do those evil things. It will bring retribution." I was deeply moved. There were still sensible people who wouldn't go along with the evil Party when they live in a place full of lies and deceit.

In traditional Chinese culture, the relationship between husband and wife always placed great emphasis to the meaning of the word "respect." Marriage symbolised the goodness that culminates in the union between the two sexes, thus resulting in continuous societal consensus that a husband and wife should mutually respect one another as one would respect a guest. This was how the tradition was born and later passed down.

In 1996, at the age of five, I began to cultivate in Falun Dafa. Since then my parents and I have continued with our cultivation, which in turn greatly benefited my mind and body. Before I began practising, I suffered from pneumonia and bronchopneumonia and was often hospitalised. My right arm still shows the needle marks from many injections. Since I started practising Falun Dafa, my health has improved and I no longer need to be hospitalised or take medicine. My mother endured severe rheumatism and was bedridden at that time. After she started practising Falun Dafa, she regained her health within one month.

During this process, when the practitioner kept righteous thoughts, and with the help of fellow practitioners who also sent forth righteous thoughts to help him, his physical well-being returned very quickly. When his feelings of gratitude emerged, his physical health situation grew even worse than previously. When he later came to understand what was happening, he saw that he needed to get rid of his deeply rooted feeling of gratitude to progress in his cultivation. In the following, I will share with you my understanding of what is perceptual and what is rational.

My use of the phrase "outstanding figures" does not carry any complimentary or derogatory meanings. I use the phrase to refer to those who have a relatively strong influence in the society, including those who have a strong sense of justice. During Falun Dafa practitioners' efforts to let more people learn about the practise and the persecution, we are bound to make contact with these people. When we associate with them, we should base our views on the Fa¹, and always use these principles to guide our words and actions. Only by doing so can we achieve the effect of letting people learn the truth about the practice and the persecution.

A practitioner recently mentioned to me that he is pressed for time and feels drained at the end of the day, and has regrets for not being able to do any Fa¹ study. I realised something from this. Aren't we all slaves of time, programmed by the physical clock that tells us the time of day or night and what to do--it is time for lunch or dinner, or time to go to bed?

By making a comparison between the farmers’ miserable life with that of the wealthy people, Bai Juyi also criticised those wealthy but depraved people. A lot of people with kindness and the spirit of justice are capable of writing commentaries, but there are few people who will reflect on their own life style or blame themselves for not being able to improve the farmers’ life like Bai Juyi did. His lofty morality is precisely what makes Bai Juyi a great poet in the Chinese history.

Immediately following the start of the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th my parents were placed under surveillance after appealing to the provincial government. Our phones were tapped, the local police frequently came to our house and harassed us, and my father was sometimes followed and tracked. Those elderly men and women whom we knew very well were afraid to greet us on the street. Terror was everywhere.

Ancient Chinese people believed that "marriage" was a combination of morality and obligation including "grace, obligation, affection and love." Marriage is a lifelong contract in which the husband and wife put their trust in each other. Ancient Chinese people claimed that the husband was obligated to show "grace, affection, and morality," while the wife should demonstrate virtues such as "propriety in behaviour, speech, demeanour and employment."

We were bestowed with such a heavy responsibility. Then won't our actions and demeanour be imitated by people in the future? Although we may view this as a minor detail, it is in fact closely related to the future of mankind. This is not something minor. Master said in the article "Sage" that "he is full of great aspirations while minding minor details". I understand that he is actually telling us the characteristics a cultivator should possess. Therefore cultivators should be strict with themselves in their demeanour and actions, including details that are considered to be minor by others.

Ancient people believed that marriage was predestined. There is a Chinese saying, "It takes a hundred reincarnations to bring two persons to ride in the same boat; it takes a thousand years to bring two persons to share the same pillow." It demonstrates how precious the predestined relationship between husband and wife is. In a vast human world, two persons who do not know each other originally are able to join together through their predestined relationship.

Being a docent was a new challenge for me, because I knew nothing about traditional Chinese painting and I was going to have to talk about the ideas, the spirit, and the painting skills of these traditional Chinese paintings to Americans. But in order to allow more people to learn about Falun Dafa and the persecution, this challenge was no reason to feel intimidated or to walk away. Moreover, I believed that the wisdom gained from Falun Dafa would allow me to fulfil this responsibility.

Master Milarepa said, "Since you insist on it, I will transfer half of the illness to you. If I transfer all of it to you, you definitely cannot withstand it!" Then he transferred half of the illness to Caopu. Caopu immediately suffered from great pain and he nearly fainted. He could not even tremble or breathe. When he nearly died, Master Milarepa took back most of the illness and asked him, "How do you feel after I transferred less than half of the illness to you? Can you withstand it?"

One time I carried sandbags to the sixth floor. It took me less than a half hour to bring up eight sandbags, each weighing 110 pounds. The customer was very surprised and said, "You're so skinny. How can you do that?" I said, "I am a Falun Gong practitioner." I told him about my health situation before I started practising and showed him the scars from my surgeries. I told him how I'd sold the house to cure my sickness, but it hadn't worked. Then I told him how I was cured after practising Falun Gong for a month. Falun Gong gave me a second life. He said that Falun Gong was miraculous.