My Sharing on Studying the Fa and Fa Rectification (Irish Fa-Conference 2003)

Greetings to our respectful Master!
Hello everyone!

I always feel uneasy talking about my path of Fa Rectification at the solemn occasion of a Fa conference as I have only obtained the Fa for less than two years and have not made earnest progress.

I have considered giving up this opportunity many times. However, after I read about what Master has said: Teaching the Fa at the Midwest US Fa-Conference 1999: (Unofficial Translation) “For the stuff of ordinary people, I would say nothing makes me happy; however, I am most gratified when I hear or see practitioners talking about their cultivation experiences.”, my heart suddenly felt achy. Tears filled my eyes. Maybe it is the only opportunity for me to thank Master by listening to my experience sharing.

Looking back to the path that I have been through in the last two years, I have a lot of feelings.

“Dafa is Fundamental” – Studying the Fa

“The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts.” (Essentials for Further Advancement II: Drive Out Interference) Master has already conveyed to us the importance of studying the Fa. But at the beginning, I always treated Dafa work as the most important job for me to do. I adopted the way of judging one's advancement in cultivation by the quantity of the work one could do as well as how much money one could contribute to produce truth clarifying materials. Since I had not managed to study the Fa solidly, when I encountered those conflicts that deeply touch to one's mind, my human notions quickly occupied my whole mind. I was not able to maintain my Xinxing level and was affected at different levels from many aspects. With the help of veteran practitioners, I realised I needed to join the effort of studying the Fa, clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts together. The source of Dafa disciple’s work originates from abundant and solid Fa study. Only then can one melt into the Fa.

In the beginning, it was difficult for me to calm my mind when studying the Fa. Quite often I wanted to get up and do something else and felt I had some very urgent things to do. On some occasions, I even had to check my telephone every now and then while sitting there, expecting someone would call me to do certain things and therefore I would be happy to do it. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun: “Being able to still your mind indicates your mastery. Your power of concentration is a reflection of your level.” In the "Law Lecture at Florida ", Master even pointed out: “So when you study the Fa, don't just go through the motions. You have to calm your mind when you read it, and truly study it. Don't let your mind sneak away from you. Once your mind wanders off, you'll be studying in vain. If we look at it from another angle, when you study the Fa and your mind isn't on the Fa, it's not only a problem of just going through the motions, but also that the person studying the Fa is actually not being very respectful of the Fa. How could the Fa reveal itself, then?” After I realised these Fa principles, I made up my mind to secure the time for Fa study at a certain time of the day. I told myself that even if heaven falls on me, I still need to finish reading three chapters a day. It was easy to say but hard to fulfil it. When Fa study time arrived, various things appeared as well. Some people wanted me to go to the town, some wanted to invite me for dinner, some wanted me to deliver newspapers.... I had to grit my teeth, and kept reminding myself “just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations” (Essentials for Further Advancement II: Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s) ). One day, two days... A few weeks went by. My fellow practitioners all commented that I had changed a lot. I also felt that the surrounding environment had become more serene, pure and righteous. I finally experienced the joy of melting into the Fa. I got to understand “No matter how difficult your environment is, no matter how busy you get, you cannot forget to study the Fa. You must study the Fa, because it is the absolute, most fundamental guarantee of your improvement.” (Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.)

“Predestined relationships Spanning Endless Lifetimes” – Clarifying the truth to my parents and relatives

I recall at the early stage my obtaining the Fa, my attachment of complacency emerged and I didn't pay attention to secular things. During conversations with my parents over the phone, I said some words that my father could not understand. Since he did not agree with my words, inevitably he was not willing to listen to my words on truth clarification. I am the only child in my family and I haven't been back home from abroad in the last three years. It was easily imaginable how much my parents had missed me. I could tell that my father blamed my cultivation for my failure to return to China for a visit. Later on I enlightened that I needed to embrace their feelings and emotions towards me under the condition of maintaining principles of cultivation. I also needed to understand them with compassion. This would also enable them to understand me, supporting Dafa as well as supporting the action of telling the truth. Master said: “while we’re cultivating in the ordinary world we’re supposed to respect our parents and be good to them, just as we should teach our kids and discipline them. In every situation we should be good to others and be kind to people, let alone your family members. We should treat everyone the same, be good to our parents and our kids, and always be considerate of others. Then your heart isn’t a selfish one when you do that, but a compassionate one—it’s compassion.”(Zhuan Falun) After I realised all these issues, I started talking about details of my everyday study and work in later telephone conversations. I also enquired about the health conditions of my parents and my other relatives. I also asked them about the conflicts they encountered in their work and life. I explained Dafa principles to them and offered my help. I made them feel that their son had become mature and changed to a new person through studying the Fa. Master said: “Furthermore, who among these 100 million people doesn’t have family, children, relatives, and friends? Is it a question of only 100 million people? So the number of people they are going against might be even more.” (Essentials for Further Advancement II: Some Thoughts of Mine) As regards to the fact that I was not able to return home temporarily, I explained that it was caused by the persecution and it would not last for too long. More importantly, I told them if they could help their son to tell more people Falun Dafa is good, and the truth of the persecution, then this persecution might end even quicker. Also the chance of their son returning home would be increased. After all, their son is doing the most righteous thing in the world. They should be proud of their son. Later, my parents began to understand me and positioned themselves during this persecution, establishing for themselves a bright future.

“Determined to Bring Salvation to All Beings” – Clarifying the truth at Internet Chatrooms

Prior to my cultivation, I was very keen on using Internet Chatrooms to make various friends. After I started cultivation, I began to realise that the Internet could develop many bad attachments for me. So I gradually distanced myself from computers. After I read an experience sharing article of a practitioner on Internet Chatrooms, I began to wonder - why couldn’t I be the same as that practitioner and explain the truth of Dafa to others through the internet? Therefore, I went back to find the QQ software which I had abandoned a long time ago and started the process of clarifying the truth over Internet. The majority of the people in the Chatrooms are youngsters. Most of the people use Chatrooms to talk about romance and pass the time. Because of their young age, many of them know very little about the society, relatively speaking. They are easily swayed by the evil propaganda. During the time I spent in Chatrooms, I have surmised many useful methods but also exposed many attachments of mine. I feel my heart and mind are being purified and elevated. I noticed that if I study the Fa better, then I can achieve better results in the chatroom. If my heart is filled with more compassion, the words I sent would touch people's hearts more. Quite often, I can sense the gratitude from the bottom of the heart of a sentient being who has realised the truth of Dafa. In the meantime, they promise me to tell more people about the truth of this persecution. Just like Master said: “Your every word, every flyer, every keystroke, every telephone call, and every letter is having a huge impact. Beings that have come to understand the facts become mobile media, and they too clarify the facts. It's had a big impact on society.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)

“Putting Down the Ordinary Person’s Heart” – Explaining the Facts to Classmates

I remember at the beginning of my entering the college, most of the Chinese classmates had never met with Dafa disciples. When I wore my Dafa clothes on entering the classroom for the first time, everyone went dead silent, quietly looking at me. I knew I needed to use my concrete actions to validate Dafa in the near future. Everyday I arrived the classroom a couple of minutes early, cleaned the blackboard and tidied up the desks and chairs in the room. I always warmly greeted my classmates first upon meeting them. I never got cross with them even if they did not respond to me. Next time I met them, I would still greet to them first. After a few times, situation got a lot better. I would offer my warm help if they had any difficulties. When the teacher was giving out reference materials and there were not enough materials, I would immediately offer others my own copies.

As the days went by, we all got to know each other. Some of my best classmates called me "Fa brother". One day a classmate told me that someone had cheated him and he was extremely angry. He said he could have done the same back to him. But he told me that since he had been with me for such a long time, he reacted differently this time. So he just let it be this time. I felt so happy for him after he told me the story. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun: “When people who have bad thoughts think about wrong things, under the strong effect of your field they might change their thinking, they might stop having bad thoughts for the time being. Maybe someone wants to badmouth somebody, but out of the blue he changes his mind and doesn’t want to talk badly about him anymore. Only the energy field from cultivating a true teaching can have this effect. That’s why there used to be a saying in Buddhism, “Buddha’s light shines everywhere, propriety and righteousness harmonize everything.” That is what it means.”

Those classmates who learned the truth also lent us a helping hands. Some of our practitioners didn't have jobs due to various reasons and had a hard time making ends meet. One of my classmates then helped us to find them a steady job and therefore they could establish financial security. Once, the local newspaper published a photo of us appealing outside the Chinese embassy with me in it. The next day, many of my classmates were all happy to see me in the newspaper.

“A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship”– Explaining the Facts to my Workmates

I changed between a few jobs and each time I met a few people with predestined connection. The most common sentence they would say to me was, “I seemed to have met you somewhere.” I immediately understood why I was working with them. I tended to smile at them and said, “I quite often went to the city centre to deliver newspaper. Therefore you must have met me there.” They also laughed and agreed to this. When we took a break at work, I quite often talked about some Fa principles to them. Master mentioned in Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference: “But they are able to understand things like what humankind, today's people, call "human rights" being squashed and freedom of belief being squashed. So when you're clarifying the facts your words should revolve around those topics, and people will be able to understand and they'll be supportive.” Some of them were really good people and they could understand the principles very quickly. I also try to awaken their benevolent thoughts by talking a few stories of cultivation. One workmate shouted out loud " Falun Dafa is good!" after I told one of the stories to them. It nearly made me cry. I knew the best future of a life had just began. One of my workmates didn't treat me in a very friendly manner at the beginning. He hardly spoke to me and often yelled at me during work. Once I was not able to uphold my Xinxing and threw a few words back to him. Afterwards, I stood there feeling so much regret. I asked myself, “why did I come here? To ruin this life?” After I got enlightened to this, I quickly walked towards him without any hesitation and expressed my sincere apologies. He also made some friendly comments. Through this encounter, we found some common topics of interest between us. He started asking me a few questions and I began to answer him little by little. The relationship between us got better and better. One day , I asked him, “what do you think of Falun Gong?”. he replied to me frankly: "I can't say it is bad because you are good person. However, I can't say it is good since I don't know it." I knew that answer came from the side of him which was longed to obtain the Fa, so I said to him: “no problem, I will bring the book for you tomorrow so that you can have a good read.” Later he told me that he knew Dafa was good, but he could not let go of his attachments, therefore he did not want to cultivate for the time being. He even commented that cigarettes seemed tasteless now to him. I looked at him and smiled. I thought to myself that Master had already taken care of him now. “But a lot of people are studying the Fa, are cultivating, and are entering Dafa. That's in fact establishing a foundation for the future. They are the future cultivators” (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)

“Each Connected by the Thread of Dafa” – Clarifying the Truth by making Phone Calls

The process of making phone calls was like a cultivation process for me. Just as Master said in Zhuan Falun: “he goes from place to place, begging for food and running into all kinds of people who laugh at him, and insult him, or take advantage of him. He runs into all kinds of things. He goes about everything as a practitioner, he keeps his interactions with people in the proper perspective, he guards his character well, constantly improves his character, and he doesn’t get affected by all the different kinds of ordinary people’s material temptations.”

At the very beginning, I was reluctant to make phone calls to the people from the South. I didn't really understand all that well. I was reluctant to make calls to the police in China because they would swear at me and I might start an argument with them. Once I was very reluctant to make a call to a few policemen from Henan province. In the end, they in turn started swearing at me using their home dialect. I burst out laughing while I was sending forth righteous thoughts. They all stopped swearing then. I felt I had passed this test. Since then, nobody has ever sworn at me over the phone.

While making the phone calls, I often felt a chill penetrating to my bones. I was shivering all over and even the heater next to me wouldn’t make any difference. On a few occasions, my left hand was shaking and I was unable to press the phone button. I had to use my right hand to steady my left in order to press the button. I realised that the resistance from other dimensions was definitely reflected upon me here before I was ready to pick up the phone to confront the evil force. It was crucial to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil in other dimensions.

After I read that a sister of one practitioner in the USA was being persecuted, I rang the local political and legal committee straight away and had a long chat with a local official. He was very good at talking. However, the lies fabricated by the Communist Party were built on the sand and were not able to be tested. When he mentioned that the ban on Falun Gong was based upon the willingness of the majority, I asked him: “If Falun Gong was given half an hour on a TV station, would you believe that majority of the people would turn back and support Dafa instead?” Suddenly he stopped talking. I then carefully talked with him about the wide spread of Dafa outside of China. He was carefully listening to the news that he never had the opportunity to hear inside China. I finally persuaded him to read the book for himself if possible so that he could know what Falun Gong really was.

I once made a phone call to the 6.10 office in Daqing city. After the evil people realised that I was calling from Europe, the first sentence he asked was: “what do you want from me?” Then he hung up the phone immediately. I felt a fear deep inside of him. Master says, “Every phone call from our students shocks them to the point that they can't sleep at night”. (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)

For a period of time, as long as Minghui website got some contact phone numbers, I then made phonecalls to clarify the truth, from Helongjian to Guangdong province, from Shangdong to Sichuan province and from Hubei province to the midlands. The long sessions could last over an hour while the short ones lasted a couple of minutes. Almost everyday I would talk to the police and officials from the 6.10 office. I wanted to let them hear the voice from Europe: “Stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners! "Good is rewarded by good and evil returned by evil" is the heavenly law!” From time to time, I thought to myself: Dafa is spreading in 62 countries and regions. If even one practitioner from each region made phone calls to a few places crowded with evil in China everyday, then that place would receive at least 62 phone calls from various regions and countries in one day and the shock that evil received would be so immense.

I always carry a shoulder bag with the words "SOS STOP PERSCUTING FALUNGONG IN CHINA" printed on it, everyday as travel through the streets and alleys in the city centre . I give truth clarification materials to all the Chinese that I meet. Many of my friends have said to me: “not many Chinese would recognise you by name, yet if you asked them whether they knew a young lad carrying a SOS bag delivering newspapers, many people would know that it was you. You have nearly became a scenery spot of Dublin now.

In the last two years, I have often looked back upon the path that I have been down, and the process of obtaining the Fa, understanding that all my paths have been created by Master. Often I was indescribably moved. I can only express what is in my heart by with one sentence: Thank you Master!