The Challenge of Taking One's Own Path of Fa-Rectification Cultivation

I am a practitioner from Taiwan. I am also a doctor of Chinese medicine. In the daytime I am busy diagnosing patients and at night I am required to teach.
Since April 25, 1999, Falun Gong has been severely persecuted in China. Practitioners have withstood incomparably immense pressure in this severe environment. In the face of varied and slanderous propaganda and an overwhelming persecution unequalled in history, the practitioners have remained focused. Most practitioners have stepped forward everywhere to clarify the truth. While placed under great pressure by the evil, practitioners have not yielded, and they have become more determined in safeguarding Dafa. If this Dafa did not have such profound and great content, how could it be possible that these people would safeguard it so resolutely?

What we have seen on TV news is the viciousness of the police who violently restrain and beat practitioners who are given no chance to explain. Through this violence we have never seen even a single scene of practitioners fighting back. What kind of group could this be? These people chose not to fight back even when they were beaten and cursed at. Moreover, they have stepped forward one after the other to safeguard their beliefs, and to request that the reputation of Teacher be restored. Let's think about it. It is easy for one person not to fight back when being punched or insulted. It's also easy for ten or twenty people to make it. Is it still easy for a thousand, ten thousand, or even more people to accomplish this kind of restraint? They have completely followed the principle of the Fa [law or principle] that Teacher addressed--"To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator," ("What is Forbearance" from Essentials for Further Advancement). They take this as a guiding principle for their behaviour. Isn't it good that there are more and more people such as this in society? Why has it happened that they are being suppressed?

Whenever I thought of the practitioners in Mainland China who were suffering hardships and torture, I felt very bad because I felt that we could neither participate, nor could we do anything for them. At that time it was due to my inadequate experience and understanding of the Fa's principles that I really didn't know what to do. During the second half of 2000, a lot of practitioners went to the streets or went abroad to distribute truth-clarifying literature. They traveled everywhere to clarify the truth to people. And I suddenly awakened. Isn't this, then, a method of action? Why didn't I realize this trend earlier? It was simply because of my inferior enlightenment quality. Since I participated in distributing the truth-clarifying literature, I have realized that the work that Teacher arranges for us is so sacred and magnificent. It must be the easiest way to have practitioners develop a heart of compassion.

It is absolutely not a simple thing to clarify the truth on a large scale to numerous people. While we clarify the truth and distribute literature, all of our human thoughts are pushed to the surface. The better our understanding of Dafa, the more naturally we can do it. Although we all have inadequate understandings, we can still gradually understand the true meaning of Dafa. Our gradual improvement occurs as we removed so many attachments through practice. Teacher said, "The Buddha School emphasizes cultivating Shan of Zhen-Shan-Ren. Because the cultivation of Shan can generate great, benevolent compassion, and when compassion develops one will find all beings suffering, the Buddha School thus develops an aspiration to offer salvation to all beings." (Zhuan Falun). With this activity I realized the meaning of compassion. I have developed compassion for people and even for other sentient beings. I have become able to treat many things with compassion. In Teacher's article published at the end of 2000, Teacher called practitioners "disciples" and "particles of Dafa." At first, I was pleased because Teacher accepted that we are practitioners and particles, and because we have truly become members of Dafa. However, what on earth have we done for Dafa? Are we worthy of being called particles of Dafa? How do we consider Dafa? Do we think about looking for something that we can do?

Finally, a new article ("To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference") came out. "So in clarifying the truth, don't wait, don't rely on others, and don't just hope for changes in external factors. Every one of us is creating history for the future, that's why everyone is not only participating in group activities, but also taking the initiative to look for things to do. As long as something is good for Dafa, you should take the initiative to do it, take the initiative to work on it." Doing things depends fully upon our own heart. As long as it is good for Dafa, we can do it whether it's big or small.

I was moved by the practitioners who put all their efforts into widely clarifying the truth to the Chinese people all around the world. They have made various truth-clarification materials and media such as broadcasting, writing articles, filming, cutting and editing TV programs. At first each practitioner was an amateur, but through trial and error they became professionals. At the beginning they asked for help from professional filmmakers and videographers. Later on, the practitioners filled these roles by themselves. After coming back from shooting scenes everywhere, they would hurry to cut, edit, and complete the production of TV programmes. I was deeply touched.

My work schedule is fixed so I have to work when others take a rest. Should I distribute flyers, or should I clarify the truth to the visitors from China in various tourist sites? Should I go out to shoot some film footage, or work on completing the production of audio and video recordings? What can I do if I am unable to participate in any of these? I was upset, and I have thought about it for a long time. It is not easy to take my own path of the Fa-rectification cultivation.

In the past, I was attached to my concerns about spreading Dafa to people on a large scale. I didn't know if doing this large-scale Hongfa [Introduction of Falun Dafa] met Dafa's requirements. I had been hesitating and I dared not to do it. Now I have realized that it is also an aspect of the Fa. I had thought that it was right only to distribute flyers to people one by one. I had also thought spreading Dafa to the government was the affair of a few select practitioners. Later on, I realized that all practitioners should do it. Practitioners should spread Dafa to people on a large scale. Am I the right person to take on this matter? I have considered this, and I have realized I have rich teaching experience, I don't have stage fright, and I'm capable of expressing myself.

I attended several activities to promote the Fa at a teachers' study camp in Taiwan. There, I succeeded in accomplishing this mission of spreading the Fa on a large scale. I started out with well-received topics like how to maintain health and keep fit, and then went on to how to be a good person, how to be a healthy, and then how to be a good person following the principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Finally, we arrived at using Truth-Compassion-Forbearance as a standard in all aspects of life. Hearing this, many middle-school teachers in Taiwan rectified their points of view. Then I discovered that there is so much more that I can do. I was finally taking my own path. Later, I read Teacher's article "Path," in which Teacher said "Studying the Fa and doing cultivation are a person's own affair. Yet often there are quite a number of students who consistently take other people as their role models -- they look at how other people do things and then follow suit. This is a kind of poor behaviour developed among everyday people." So we should not wait for the assistance centre or for other people to arrange everything for us, instead we should develop our own path.

Through the efforts of North American practitioners in 2001, an educational channel that was able to broadcast Dafa programmes was finally found. In order to produce and broadcast these educational programmes as quickly as possible, they began by asking for practitioners who had teaching experience to immediately produce educational videotapes. I cooperated with the filming team and fortunately everything has gone well. We broadcast the programs at every opportunity. Recently, the ongoing TV programs have required increasingly detailed attention, and the content of our educational programs has needed to be perfected, as well. At first I was not used to it, but I gradually I became skilful at professional lighting and at makeup technique. Every week in order to enrich the content of the programmes; I spared no effort in browsing through volumes of ancient books. In the past, I thought that Teacher asked us not to read cultivation books such as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Alchemy. At that time, I only knew that it would help keep our cultivation free of disturbance. I thought that there were only some healing principles of Chinese medicine in those books. However, in order to produce interesting programs for everyday people, I decided to take out The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Alchemy, which I hadn't read for a long time. To my surprise, I found that The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Alchemy does not simply talk about healing illnesses. Its medical principles are also based on cultivation, and they particularly emphasize the cultivation of xinxing. In programs for everyday people we talked about cultivation in Internal Alchemy, and meanwhile we added some passing references to Dafa cultivation. We simply hope that this program will exert a subtle influence on everyday people, and that it might make them understand the importance of cultivating xinxing.

Dafa is all-encompassing. Recently, an everyday person with whom I was unacquainted went back to Taiwan from Toronto, Canada to visit his family. He told me that our programme had aired in North America and had been very popular. I have experienced the magnificence of Dafa, which created us. Everyday people changed their warped notions after they watched our programmes.

Having now read other ancient medical books, I have a better understanding of medical principles from Dafa’s perspective. I no longer understand the many kinds of illnesses of everyday people with a narrow and limited view. Instead I have a newer and deeper understanding. I don't treat illnesses as I did before, and I have a wider view on the state of illnesses. Teacher said, "In the future there will then be many experts and scholars whose wisdom will be broadened through the Buddha Fa. They will become the new mankind's pioneers in different fields of learning. Yet it is not for you to become a pioneer that the Buddha Fa has given you wisdom. You have attained it because you are a cultivator. That is, you are first a cultivator and then an expert. Then, as a cultivator, you should make use of all feasible conditions to spread Dafa and validate Dafa as a correct and true science, rather than preaching or idealism--this is every cultivator's obligation. Without this enormous Buddha Fa there would be nothing--and this includes everything in the universe, from the most macroscopic to the most microscopic, as well as all of human society's knowledge." ("Validation" from Essentials for Further Advancement) Teacher helped us progress and further improve by arranging for us to do some actual work, simply because we are members of Dafa and because we have a heart to spread Dafa. Therefore, Teacher opened our wisdom and made us become experts. All knowledge in ordinary society was created by Dafa. We are fortunate to cultivate Dafa and we have attained more wisdom. Everyday people will never understand what we have known. All the experts in the new epoch will be created by Dafa.
Now, I am able to take the initiative to spread Dafa. While healing illnesses in my clinic, I find that some of my patients are well-known people from associations or religious groups. They always have health problems and wish to become healthier. I have gradually learned how to take the initiative to ask to lecture about health or life to patient communities. My purpose is to introduce the wonder of Dafa to the predestined people, and to meanwhile tell people about the truth of the persecution of Dafa. I also explain to people that they will attain health by upgrading their morality and by taking attachments and desires lightly.

I also know that with the incomparable compassion of being "responsible to society and practitioners," Teacher has opened our wisdom. Moreover, Teacher arranged everything for us long ago. In ordinary society I have obtained some prestige as well as some clinical experience. This, in turn, has allowed me the opportunity to spread Dafa when treating patients and to be able to introduce Dafa to the students in my classes. I am able to spread Dafa to numerous people in a large auditorium or lecture hall, or even to spread Dafa to the audience in TV programs. Without this so-called "high credibility," "respectability," without this fame or experience, it would have been very hard to spread Dafa widely. It is obvious that Teacher arranged everything for me long ago so that I could step forward and clarify the truth as I have.

"The Buddha School teaches self-salvation and salvation of all sentient beings. One does not only cultivate oneself, but also offers salvation to all sentient beings." (Zhuan Falun) I believe every Dafa practitioner has compassion for self-salvation and salvation of others. If all of us practitioners can fully play the role of Dafa particles in our own professions, and if we can find our own paths, we will find it more favourable and efficient to walk along these paths.