A Sixty-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner Learns How to Use a Computer

A sixty-year-old practitioner decided to learn the computer so that he could read Teacher's articles and other materials on Falun Gong websites.

"A handful of calluses began to move the mouse..."

I am an elderly Falun Gong practitioner who was forced to leave my home to avoid further persecution. I have not had much education. Because there hasn't being a Falun Gong material distribution centre in my home county over the past few years, we've had to go to other areas to pick up any materials, and this has been a big hassle. Aside from the long distances, there were times that we picked up the Minghui Weekly (a weekly posting by the Falun Gong website Minghui.org, the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) and the next day Teacher published a new article, so we needed to take the midnight bus to that town again. Not only was this quite inconvenient for us, but it also created a big burden for practitioners in other towns. Later, we repeatedly saw suggestions on Minghui.org that practitioners try to establish local distribution centres if possible. We tried this a few times, but they all failed. Sometimes the police raided the distribution centre as soon as it was established. I wanted to establish a small distribution station to reduce the burden on practitioners in the other towns, because I could not see why we should rely on others when all of us were practitioners.

I began to try making materials myself. Some practitioners avoided me because of their attachments or because they were scared. I decided to stay inside and make the materials. I felt bad now and then, but each time I thought of the practitioners beside me who had been abducted, beaten, and even persecuted to death because they had helped produce factual materials about Falun Gong, I shed tears non-stop. In comparison, the suffering I went through was nothing. I would hear Teacher's words in my ears,

"When Dafa is about to consummate you, you are unable to step forward from humanness, and when the evil persecutes Dafa you are unable to stand up to validate Dafa. These people who only want to take from Dafa and not give for Dafa are, in the eyes of Gods, the worst beings." ("A Suggestion" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

I studied the Fa (universal teachings, the teaching in Falun Gong) carefully and I realised that, as long as our righteous thoughts are strong, then nothing can stop us. With the help of fellow practitioners, our work producing the materials got better and better. We could completely supply our own needs. Those practitioners who had not wanted to be with me in the past were happy to share experiences with me and join me while validating Dafa. On top of this, the Fa-rectification situation in our area has turned over a new leaf. I truly felt that,

"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." ("Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

After this, I thought that it would be much better if we had a computer. Not only could we print the materials from Minghui and other Falun Dafa websites, but we could also download lots of other things, thus relieving the burden on practitioners in other towns. With Teacher's blessings, we got hold of a computer soon afterwards. Not all our problems were solved, however.

Because I was old and had little education, I had never touched a computer or any other high-tech gadget before, and I totally lacked confidence. However, I thought it would be so great if our local practitioners could visit the Minghui website, so I made up my mind: As long as someone was willing to teach me, I would learn to use a computer. Teacher and Dafa would also give me wisdom. The thought that I am not good enough is a preconceived notion that I decided to get rid of it.

When I saw that I was holding a mouse with my callous-ridden hand for the first time in my life, I could not stop trembling. My palm was also perspiring. I felt like my heart was trembling, too. With the help of fellow practitioners and their immeasurable patience, I started from the beginning. Gradually I learnt how to download and upload and how to print files. What I feel most happy about is that our local practitioners can now read Teacher's new articles and the materials on Minghui.org, which are of ultimate importance to us. Once, during Fa-study, I suddenly realised that true unselfishness is to let go of oneself to save more sentient beings. Doing it this way is truly following Dafa's requirements.

Recalling my experiences from silk-screen printing to learning how to use a computer, the most important lesson I learnt is that we should not feel we are too old or uneducated to learn new tasks. This thought itself is a big obstacle that we need to overcome. I hope that all practitioners with the proper conditions will go and learn to use computers, so that we can have distribution stations for Dafa materials everywhere, and we can do a good job validating Dafa.