Actually, Cultivation Is Not That Hard (Part 2)

Part 1

On the 20th day of my detention, the police told me to pack up my personal belongings. I asked her why, but she would not tell me. I thought that I would be transferred to another detention centre, because in the past they always transferred firm practitioners to other centres. I gathered my belongings and went out. Though I had a thought that I should not stay in jail any longer, I did not realise that they would release me. There are several gates at the detention centre. When I went out of the first gate, I saw the head of the police' Political and Security Section. He was in charge of my case. I asked him, "Where am I going to be transferred to?" He said, "You feel that you did not stay here long enough? I am releasing you." When I left the last gate, the police in charge of my case told me, "Don't go to Beijing any more. If you want to practise, practise at home." I regained my freedom.

The rule of the day was that all practitioners who went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for Dafa would be imprisoned for at least one month in criminal detention. If the practitioner did not stop practising by the end of that time, he or she would be imprisoned for another fifteen days of administrative detention. I did not accept such a concept in my mind. All I thought about was that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner. I would follow the cultivation path arranged by Master. After looking inward and not finding any attachment on my part, I told fellow practitioners that I should be released, and I recognised that I should clarify the truth about Dafa on a large scale after I was released. As soon as I had such a thought, I was indeed released. This incident told us that the purpose of our cultivation is not to be arrested. As long as we are truly validating Dafa and improving ourselves according to the Fa (law or principles, the teachings in Falun Gong), Master is protecting us all the time. At the critical moment of being tested, all Master needs is our righteous thoughts.

Outside the detention centre, my husband and two carloads of people were waiting to welcome me home, including two directors and one party secretary at my husband's work place. They took me directly to a restaurant for a banquet to celebrate my release. While eating, the party secretary tried to persuade me to give up cultivation. I took the opportunity to talk to them about Falun Gong. We went home after the banquet.

When I was in jail, my husband had visited the leaders at my work unit and complained that I worked so hard in the past yet they did not make any effort to get me out of jail. On the second day after I went home, the director and the party secretary of my work unit came to my home. They told me, "Your husband is great. His true love shone in a difficult situation. You should treasure him." Again I took the opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to them.

Since I did not go to work for more than twenty days, lots of coworkers came to talk to me as soon as I returned. I therefore spoke to them about Falun Gong. I was quite calm and open about practising Dafa. None of my coworkers discriminated against me for this.

In November of 2000, in an effort to improve profit, the company I worked for assigned a quota to each unit to reduce employees. All employees with bad records would be forced to go. The remaining redundancy quota would be fulfilled by low performers. My work unit tried to force me to "buy out" (accept a small lump sum payment in exchange for future retirement benefits - Translator), otherwise they threatened to fire me. I saw my attachment to personal interest in such a situation. In order to get rid of my attachment, I decided not to accept the "buy out," even if I was fired. After I thought about it from the standpoint of the Fa, I talked to my husband saying, "Though we may receive some money for buy out, I have to sign a contract accepting voluntary buy out, but it is not voluntary. There is nothing wrong for me to practise Falun Gong. Sooner or later, the government will acknowledge Falun Gong as being innocent. We should not be afraid of being fired; neither should we accept the buy out money." As a result, I did not take the buy out option and was not fired either. I signed a one-year work contact. All the other Dafa practitioners in the company were either fired or bought out. I was the only one left working there.

In November of 2001, when my one year contract expired, the condition for a new contract again requested me to "guarantee" that I would not practise Falun Gong. I firmly refused. Later I was offered a normal work contract again.

I would like to mention here that my husband is a blue collar worker, and he does not practise Falun Gong. Because I paid attention to harmonising my family environment and often discussed issues with him from the standpoint of the Fa, he greatly supported my cultivation. Prior to when the persecution against Falun Gong started on July 20th, 1999, when I participated in group Fa study and exercises, he looked after our child. After July 20th, 1999, he did his best to help me when I encountered difficult situations, and encouraged me not to give up. I greatly appreciated his support.

Since the end of June 2000 when I was released, I started to participate in activities to let others know the truth about Falun Gong. At first, I had to be very careful since I was the only "exposed" practitioner in the area. There were three practitioners in our area, and we coordinated very well as one body and clarified the truth well and safely. Our first activity was distributing Falun Gong informational materials to every home in eleven buildings in our area in one night. The next morning on my way to work, I heard people talking about the fliers. They thought that there had been at least twenty practitioners involved last night. The evil could never imagine that three practitioners could do so much overnight. This was a very good starting point for us to further clarify the truth.

During the National Day (October 1 - Translator) holidays in 2000, I went back to my hometown. In the meantime, the other practitioners posted Falun Dafa posters in our area. Some people came to arrest me the next day. The neighbours told them "She is not home, you cannot find her." As a result, all practitioners were safe. Another time I told other practitioners which rooms at my work unit were occupied and which were not. They went to distribute truth clarifying materials accordingly. Since I was attending a leaving-employment study class and did not go to work during those days, therefore, even though my work unit suspected that there were insiders, they did not even question me about it. We were all safe. We also distributed fliers, VCDs, and posted posters and banners in surrounding countryside areas.

Below I would like to share several stories:

In the summer of 2001, we coordinated as a group again to distribute fliers and post posters with the words "Falun Dafa is Great" on buildings in our area. That day we started when it just turned dark and there were still people on the street from time to time. Though we were safe that night, someone reported me the next morning. The security guard came to my home and tried to search it. I was at work and my husband called me from home asking me to go back home to hide all the Dafa materials and Master's photo. My work unit was only across the street from my home, and it would only take me a couple of minutes to get home. I told my husband with confidence that the guards could not enter our home. Master had told us that Dafa practitioner's righteous thoughts are powerful and told Dafa practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts at work. Later, my husband called to ask if the evil had caused any trouble for me. I said, "No, they have no reason to do so." As a result, they did not search my home. Instead, the security guards started to follow me whenever I left home to go to work, and from my workplace back to home. I did not avoid them and just kept sending forth righteous thoughts. Several days later, they stopped following me. During this period, fellow practitioners kept distributing truth clarifying materials. One day I heard an ordinary person reporting to the security guard that there were Falun Gong fliers in the building. The guard said, "It is none of my business."

In 2001, I wanted to buy a computer, but my husband did not agree, worried because it was known that I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I told him that I was a technical professional, and there was nothing unusual for me to purchase a computer even from an everyday person's point of view, and that there was nothing to worry about. In fall 2001, I bought a computer and a printer, and started to go on the Internet for Dafa materials. At that time, Minghui/Clearwisdom did not recommend small materials production sites yet, so most of our materials came from bigger materials production sites. But whenever fellow practitioners needed any additional materials, I would make them immediately. Eventually my home became a small materials production site, and I became responsible for editing local practitioners' articles and experience sharing materials for Clearwisdom net and also for printing materials. In the Fa-rectification process, fellow practitioners were doing better and better as they became more mature and experienced. I did my best to keep providing them truth clarification materials. In addition, I actively followed Clearwisdom's guidance and coordinated local practitioners accordingly so that we could improve together.

While writing this article, I could see each step on my cultivation path and there is so much I would like to share. Now five years have passed during the Fa-rectification. Even though the cultivation environment in China is still rather severe, I feel that as long as we follow Master's directions and do the three things well, cultivation is actually not that difficult. Though I did not meet all of Master's requirements for Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners at each stage, I am confident that I am making progress in improving myself.

Above is my cultivation experience in the past five years of the Fa-rectification period. Please kindly point out any mistakes.