I was used to be a lay Buddhist. I practised Buddhism for 36 years. I realise now that I wasn't looking for simply spiritual sustenance during those 36 years. Instead, I was genuinely hoping to find a way to truly practise cultivation. However, my mind was contaminated with so many of the common interests of the materialist society. Even those from religious circles and cultivation circles contributed to this. I eventually lost my true nature, but I kept my reverence toward Buddha and never gave up hope to cultivate and return to heaven. After dozens of years I didn't improve the state of my heart a great deal. On the contrary, I had a lot of questions.
One day, as I reflected on my cultivation as a lay Buddhist during the past dozen years, one of my relatives visited me. He told me that Falun Dafa is also about cultivating Buddhahood, and that the basic law in the universe is Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. He also explained why it is difficult for Buddhism in the dharma-ending period to offer salvation to people, and why one does not improve one's heart nature after having cultivated for a long time, and other pearls of wisdom. He also brought me a copy of the book Zhuan Falun, containing the Falun Gong teachings.
After my relative left, I opened Zhuan Falun and read it tirelessly without stopping. After I read the nine lectures in Zhuan Falun, all of the questions in my mind were answered. I felt every sentence in the book was a truth. Telling people to cultivate their hearts, to let go of all kinds of thoughts of personal fame and interests, and not to fight with the world is the genuine Law in the Buddha school!
From then on I focused on cultivating in Falun Dafa. I couldn't read much. At the beginning I could barely read Zhuan Falun. But I found I felt really good when I read Zhuan Falun. I kept studying it over and over. Shortly afterwards I was able to read all of Master's articles and could easily read the articles on the Falun Dafa website Clearwisdom.net.
Through studying the Fa (universal law, the teachings in Falun Gong) and practising the Falun Dafa exercises, I believed more in Master and Dafa. Master gave me a renewed life. From the Fa I came to understand that Buddhists in the dharma-ending period couldn't save people.
"In the Dharma-ending Period, even monks in temples have difficulty saving themselves, let alone offering salvation to others." (Zhuan Falun)
Since I started cultivating in Falun Dafa, I believed that Falun Dafa is great. I wanted to spread the Fa to the people engaged in religions, to talk to them about why the persecution is wrong, and to offer salvation to people. Whether it was before or after July 20th, 1999, when the persecution officially began, I didn't change, although the situation had changed. I kept spreading the Fa to the religious people I knew in the past.
When Jiang Zemin's group wildly slandered Falun Dafa, I sent VCD's and other information to clarify the truth to Buddhists and lay Buddhists. Numerous religious people and lay Buddhists don't cultivate according to the teachings in Falun Dafa. Some of them even held an attitude to exclude Falun Dafa. I kept a mind of compassion and tolerance and gently discussed cultivation with them on an equal footing. I explained my understanding of Falun Dafa. But I never fought with them, as if I were superior. I respected their cultivating Buddhahood and looking for goodness. I affirmed and encouraged them to learn more Falun Gong principles and let them know that Falun Dafa is great.
All kinds of legends in religious and cultivation circles proliferated at the end of the last century. Some people could see that there was no more genuine Buddha in the temples. I used my own experience to talk about the connotation the legends in the religious and cultivation circles entailed, and told them clearly that Master came to save people. Speaking of the persecution that the Christian religion and the primitive Buddhist religion encountered, I talked about the truth of the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident. I pointed out the calamities that Jesus suffered, the patient enduring, that Buddhists emphasise the Chinese people's weakness, which was the result of losing their sense of justice and conscience in the last century. And I gently pointed out that the abnormal conduct of the old forces in the universe caused the moral degeneration in the world. I further emphasised that even faced with the evildoing group of a bunch of people manoeuvring a huge, suppressive persecution machine, Falun Gong has not been crushed! Instead, Falun Gong practitioners have opposed the persecution non-violently during the past few years. I told them of the number of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death, and of those who have been illegally sentenced to the labour camps. I told them of the persecution's insidiousness and misery, which reflected Falun Gong practitioners' stepping out to clarify the truth for their righteous cause and showed their compassion. In the meantime I told them the truth that Falun Dafa has been spreading to the rest of the world. I made it clear to them that the craziness of the persecuting group is just temporary and superficial, that the righteous will eliminate the evil soon, and that those who persecute righteous beliefs have never succeeded throughout history!
Besides disseminating Falun Dafa to religious people, I also spread the Fa and clarified the truth about the persecution to other kindhearted people. I made sure that I always talked on the basis of Fa-rectification in my daily encounters. I realised that my every word or behaviour has its material existence in another space and would affect lives in different dimensions. The places I walk past and the things that I carry should be compassionately purified with genuine energy. If I had too many human notions I would lose more opportunities to help people to correct themselves. Besides the words that we speak, our compassion and the power we carry affects everything we encounter.
In the early days when I had just started to clarify the truth, I once played a VCD containing the true facts about Falun Dafa at one of my relatives' homes. The TV was showing the truth unimpeded. But whenever it came to the part that exposed the truth of the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident, it skipped that part. I replayed it three times, and yet it always skipped the self-immolation part. I examined the tape and didn't find any problem. Some practitioners also told me that the new VCD about the self-immolation could not be played on certain VCD players. The practitioners returned many VCD copies because of this.
I suddenly realised that this is not accidental. When I had introduced Falun Dafa and clarified the truth to the religious people, I could clearly feel some of the religious people experiencing interference from other dimensions during their process of obtaining the Fa. Such interference sometimes came stronger than what the non-religious people experienced. I immediately focused my mind and sent forth righteous thoughts. I could feel the support from the VCD. The truth of the self-immolation was then flawlessly shown. As soon as I relaxed myself and felt that my connection with the VCD was weakened, the rest of the self-immolation program was skipped! I replayed the VCD, and sent forth righteous thoughts to surround the entire space. I maintained the righteous thoughts and didn't relax. This time, the program was shown clearly without any skipping.
Since then I have renewed my understanding of the information used to inform people of the facts and our work to clarify the truth. Whenever I pick up factual material about Falun Dafa, I treat it as a god who rectifies the Fa. I connect my field with its field. When I leave the material somewhere or hand information to anyone, I increase my righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference from different dimensions at that location or on that person. Then, in the days after, I keep supporting that god with righteous thoughts so that he can play his biggest role.
Sometime later I realised that I had cultivated a supernormal capability that connects my energy with the material I distribute. When I distributed materials, that supernormal capability would function by itself.
A practitioner at a Falun Dafa materials production site told me that at the beginning he could feel that the computer emitted bad things onto him when he operated the computer. And the computer used to make trouble for him. Sometimes the computer problem could waste lots of his time. After a period of Fa study, and having righteous thoughts and righteous actions, he rectified the situation through his diligent cultivation. Then the computer cooperated very well. Occasionally, when he didn't have a strong main consciousness, evil entities would suppress the computer to make trouble for him. He was able to strengthen his main consciousness through diligent cultivation. It is my understanding that the computer that used to have all kinds of problems has become a righteous god with mighty powers.
In 2000, when evil was rampant, some practitioners met to share experiences. Sharing experiences in this environment involved a process of genuine cultivation, of giving up the attachment to fear, and eliminating the un-righteous thoughts, behaviour, and notions in our minds. More than a dozen practitioners gathered together. There were righteous thoughts, and there were human notions. At the beginning of the sharing, some practitioners couldn't help paying attention to the conditions outside the room. The sound of footsteps caused fear and other attachments to rise up. Seeing that some other practitioners were not bothered by the sounds from outside, these practitioners saw their own shortcomings. Melting away in the strong field of the righteous Fa during the sharing meeting, their fear and other human attachments that had been hiding in them were completely cleared away. During the latter part of the sharing, the practitioners no longer felt unsettled. The practitioners' energy field already had a corresponding level and supernormal capabilities. Even when facing the evil, they had the strong will and power to shock the policemen and eliminate evil.
Some of those who only stay home to study the Fa could spend six or seven hours studying the Fa and practising the exercises every day. But they don't step out to clarify the truth. Or their heart nature doesn't improve over a long period of time. Why? The Fa has clearly told us the difference between Fa-rectification cultivation and individual cultivation. My personal understanding is that those who stay home to study the Fa have learnt the Fa but do not follow what Master required us to do. How can they be genuine? Aren't they studying the Fa with pursuit? Seeing that the evildoers are slandering Falun Dafa and Master, and are persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners yet not coming out to validate Falun Dafa, how can that be compassionate? Not wanting to give up their human notions, fearing the pain when their bad matter is being taken away by the power of Falun Dafa, can that be forbearance?
We pledge to Master: no matter what hardship we encounter, we will be able to position well the basis of Fa-rectification, do the three things well. We will cultivate diligently together, and will not let down the name of Falun Dafa disciples!
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