Letting Go of Attachments Depends on the Fa

Greetings Revered Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners. Through this experience sharing conference held by Minghui, I would like to report some of my experiences during more than ten years of cultivation for the purpose of validating Dafa and encouraging others.

1. I was Fortunate to Learn the Universal Law--Mind and Body Bathed in Teacher's Grace

In the spring of 1996, I attended a local class and watched Teacher's lectures on video. Through frequent Fa study and sharing with fellow practitioners, I realized the importance of studying the Fa. Fellow practitioners and I studied together and read, transcribed and memorized the Fa. Bathed in Teacher's immense Buddha Fa, I felt incomparably happy.

While paying great attention to Fa study, I regarded promoting Dafa as my duty. Fellow practitioners and I often played Teacher's lectures on video locally or in surrounding remote areas, and taught people the five sets of exercises. With our joint efforts, the number of local practitioners doubled and steadily grew in that period of time. It reached several hundred people, which also led to further promotion of Dafa in our city and surrounding villages and towns.

2. Validating Dafa in Beijing--Losing My Direction Due to Strong Human Notions

On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party and Jiang Zemin launched the insane persecution of Falun Gong. Like many other practitioners, I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in accordance with the law. Another practitioner and I went together, and we were both arrested and taken to an office in Beijing. After being brutally tortured, we were escorted to a local detention centre. I was physically abused at that detention centre for nearly two months.

In order to force me to denounce my beliefs, the officials there tortured me. The local police station manager clamoured, "If I can't conquer your spirit, then I must conquer your body." Threats combined with inducement could not force me to give up my Dafa practice. When those evildoers saw that the "hard" methods did not work, they used my family against me. My elderly father knelt down in front of me and begged me to give up Falun Gong. My elderly mother had tears running down her face, and my young child was crying. My wife threatened me with divorce, and gradually they overcame my psychological defense due to heavy human notions, which was the result of not being able to study the Fa. Finally, under such pressure, I compromised with the officials, wrote a guarantee statement (A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practicing Falun Gong and guarantees not to practice Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners) against my will, did things that were not worthy of Teacher and Dafa, and left a stain on my cultivation path.

Thus, I returned home. My family watched me even more strictly and cut off any contact with fellow practitioners. I still believed that Teacher was righteous and Dafa was good, and wanted to rejoin the Dafa practice, but I could not break through. At the same time, I believed that since I had done wrong to Teacher and Dafa, I had no chance to restart my practice with that deep stain. Because of this wrong thought, I drifted further and further away.

3. Teacher Guided My Return, Rectifying My Home Environment with Righteous Thoughts

I was lost in ordinary society due to my heavy human notions, but our merciful Teacher did not give up on me, a practitioner who had failed to live up to expectations. Fellow practitioners also frequently broke through my family barrier and delivered Teacher's new articles to me. Through studying Teacher's lectures and sharing with practitioners, my heart was gradually infused with new life. It was our Teacher and fellow practitioners who awakened my righteous thoughts.

With the help of fellow practitioners, I further understood my responsibility and mission as a Fa-rectification period practitioner. I realized that in order to assist Teacher in rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings more effectively, I must fulfil my sacred duty as a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period. My home environment was obviously a barrier. If I could not break through in this aspect, I would not be able to do the three things (study the Fa [the teachings of Falun Dafa], send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and about the persecution to the world's people) well. Therefore, I decided that I had to break through this barrier.

One day, I came home a bit late from talking to people about Falun Gong and my wife asked me, "Where were you?" I felt that it was the right time, and I should not keep avoiding this conversation. Therefore, I calmly answered, "I went to tell people the facts, and to save people." My wife said harshly, "Can't you just practice at home! Do you have to go out?" I said to her with kindness, "As a Fa-rectification period practitioner, I shoulder the mission of assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification, and saving sentient beings. Not only will I continue to practice, I also must help more people know that Falun Dafa is good, and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." She saw that I was unmoved, and she cried loudly, "I might as well just die now!" Then she walked out.
Watching her slamming the door on her way out, I hesitated a bit and thought, "Am I not being compassionate? Will she really do something irrational?" However, as soon as this negative thought emerged, it was negated by my strong righteous thoughts. As a Fa-rectification period practitioner, I am doing the most righteous thing in the universe. As long as I have faith in Teacher and Dafa and remain strong in my righteous thoughts, nothing bad will occur. I realized that my wife's actions were a last-ditch attempt by the evil to interfere. As long as I have stable righteous thoughts and remain unmoved, the evil will not have a chance.

I indeed remained unmoved, and my wife came back the next morning, as if nothing had happened. I took this opportunity to announce to my family members, "As a Fa-rectification period practitioner, I will firmly fulfil my sacred duty of assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings. No one and nothing can prevent me from returning to my true self." My family saw that I was determined and stopped trying to hinder me. On the surface, they could not control me any longer. Actually, it was because evil beings in other dimensions were eradicated by my strong righteous thoughts.
Breaking through in one's family environment appears to be difficult because of our human thinking and emotions. When we let go of human notions, eliminate attachments, and emerge with strong righteous thoughts, those "tests" can no longer stop us. Looking back after passing such a test, it really was nothing when confronted with righteous thoughts.

4. Assisting Teacher in Fa-rectification-- A Flower Bloomed in My Home

The great changes in mind and body that I experienced after resuming cultivation gradually influenced my family members. In the beginning they did not hinder me from practicing because they opposed Dafa, but because they were influenced by the Chinese Communist party's culture and feared persecution. After I returned to Dafa, they saw its power and how wonderful it is. My wife and parents also started to practice. The turnaround in my home environment gave me more power for doing the three things well. Through Fa study, they gained a better understanding of what we are to do. They also actively participated and became sacred Fa-rectification period practitioners.

After my home environment was created in 2004, with the encouragement of fellow practitioners, I decided to establish a small family-operated materials production site. In order to lighten the burden on the larger production sites, my family and I began making some materials, but we were far from being independent.

Soon, I began participating in the local coordination work and often had contact with practitioners in other cities in the process. When they found out that only a few practitioners were in our area who wanted to learn how to operate a computer in order to produce informational materials, they encouraged me to learn this skill and establish an Internet access point.

In the very beginning, I had a strong attachment to being dependent on others and to fear. I believed that I was only able to perform menial labour tasks, and felt that it was impossible for me to use technology like a computer! I thought that perhaps it was very difficult to learn. After many contacts with practitioners in other cities and sharing about this matter, I looked inward and found my shortcomings. I also realized that it was my strong attachments to fear and dependency that caused me not to want to learn to operate a computer.

With merciful Teacher's strengthening and strong righteous thoughts, I learned to access the Internet, download, print, engrave and typeset within a short time. I also learned how to do system installations and how to solve general hardware problems. This is simply a miracle for me, because I knew nothing about computers before. Actually, as Fa-rectification period practitioners, as long as our righteous thoughts are strong, we are capable of doing anything with Teacher's strengthening, since after all, we are not doing everyday people's things. When I opened the Minghui homepage and saw Teacher's picture sitting amidst the mountains, tears filled my eyes. I said to Teacher, "Your practitioner failed to live up to your expectations. Today I have returned to the Fa boat, and I will certainly return to our true home with Teacher!"

Through looking inward, I got rid of my selfishness and fear, and set up an independent family-operated materials production site. A small flower that assisted Teacher in his Fa-rectification thus quietly bloomed within my family. One after another, Minghui Weekly and Teacher's new articles were delivered to fellow practitioners. One after another, we mailed informational materials that explained the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution. I was able to get onto the Minghui website frequently, and exchange views and share experiences with practitioners all over the world. I indeed benefited greatly from reading practitioners' articles from the Internet Fa conference, which in turn enhanced my improvement.

5. Participating in Coordination, Looking Inward, and Abandoning Attachments

Working together with several local practitioners, we established several more sites. I then undertook the responsibility for coordinating several sites and machine service. I thus came into contact with more practitioners, and this also provided me with a good opportunity for looking inward and abandoning my attachments.

(a) Looking Inward, Improving Xinxing First and Repairing Machines Second

On December 29 of the Chinese lunar calendar, I returned from a trip and noticed that quite a few machines with problems were sent in from various materials sites. Many machines had broken down at the same time, and I immediately realized that we had some problems in our small one body. Every participating practitioner should look inward. I searched inside as I sent these machines to a practitioner who knew this technology. This practitioner also felt that it was unusual to have such a situation occur and that we should all look within.

Through Teacher's merciful hints and our own sharing, we finally found our fundamental problem. During the period prior to the New Year, we were too attached to the holiday celebration. We thus neglected Fa study, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth to people. We were busy in our preparations for the New Year's celebration, to the point of competing with non-practitioners in that regard. When we gathered with relatives and friends, we were immersed in it, and gradually forgot our sacred mission and responsibilities.

Because we found our problems and corrected them, those machines, which had broken down, also started to function again one after another. Within a very short time, they started working again, and some machines resumed normal work without needing any repair. We looked inward and found our attachments and eliminated them, and our fields were also rectified. These tools used to validate Dafa were then also naturally rectified and fixed. It was just like what someone mentioned in an experience sharing article, "...improve your xinxing first, then repair the machine!"

After the machines were all fixed, I shared my experience with the practitioners who came to pick them up, and they also saw their own human notions. Originally, they were in a hurry and wanted to produce the materials before the New Year, so that they could make preparations for the New Year. Indeed, our whole group had this attachment, so all the machines broke down one by one. It was our xinxing that had a problem first, and that led our Fa implements breaking down.

(b) Looking Inward and Abandoning My Attachment to Doing Things

Because some local production sites were just set up, they needed extra attention to grow and flourish. However, when I noticed that some sites had problems, I had little patience and was eager to see success quickly. I behaved irrationally due to my intense attachment for doing things, and notified every practitioner who operated a production site to convene an experience sharing meeting on a certain date.

Doing this deviated from Minghui's requirements with regards to one-way contact between the coordinator and the materials production sites. Convening these practitioners undoubtedly created a serious safety issue and danger for everyone involved. When I informed each site of this meeting, everyone felt that it was not right, but they agreed to it. Thus my attachment for doing things was exploited.

On the predetermined night of the meeting, the weather forecast predicted a clear sky, but we received a continuous downpour, making it impossible for the practitioners to make it to the site. It seemed as though Teacher had prevented the meeting from taking place, thus alleviating the danger for us. Luckily, practitioners around me later pointed out the issue to me. With their help, I began looking inside.

I checked and found my attachment of doing things and to myself, and realized that my attachments had gradually grown over time. By looking within, I saw that this happened because I had neglected Fa study for a long time, which led my attachments to grow and cause this situation.

After coming to this understanding, I felt that it was necessary to temporarily stop doing things and to focus on studying the Fa and adjusting myself. After a period of studying the Fa, solid cultivation and self-adjustment, I gained a deeper understanding of Teacher's Fa, "...it is not to work but to cultivate." (Essentials for Further Advancement) After this period of time, I resumed the local coordination work. Every materials site also gradually got back on the right track.

(c) Looking Inward and Abandoning Selfishness

An elderly practitioner's laptop at a materials production site recently broke down. I went to check it and found that it was not a big problem, mainly caused by the laptop being too old. Because this practitioner did not know how to repair it, it frequently caused problems. At that time I thought about giving this practitioner my new laptop in exchange for the old one, since I could fix the old one much more easily.

But soon I changed my mind, because my selfishness took over. I have many things to do, and time is very tight. If I use the new laptop, it will be much quicker and it will save me lots of time. Therefore, I fixed the elderly practitioner's laptop and went home, feeling very satisfied.

After I got home, I felt more and more uncomfortable. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that I had acted incorrectly. I looked inside myself and saw my selfishness. I had gone about addressing this issue by thinking of myself first. After I found my fundamental attachment of selfishness, I immediately decided to give my new laptop to the elderly practitioner. Once I made up my mind, my body suddenly felt very light, as if a big stone had been lifted from my body.

6. Rescuing a Fellow Practitioner and Forming One Body

Several days ago, a practitioner in my town was arrested by the police. We published this news on the Internet first and notified fellow practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts. We also used letters, phone calls, and truth-clarification materials to expose the persecution and help save people.

After this incident, we realized that while we are looking inside and improving, we must form an indestructible one body. We must use righteous thoughts to disintegrate the evil, rescue our fellow practitioners, and help them return to the mighty current of Fa-rectification. This is also an opportunity for us to explain the facts to sentient beings, so that they can be saved.

Before I had finished this article, the practitioner left the detention centre and returned to the mighty current of Fa-rectification. He had originally been sent to a forced labour camp for a planned two years. This was one of the few successful rescue cases in our city, so I wrote about this experience for the purpose of sharing it with fellow practitioners.

(a) Forming One Body and Rescuing Practitioners with All Our Strength
Reflecting on previous experiences when we were rescuing practitioners, we felt that we had not yet formed a powerful one body. Oftentimes, one person did his thing, another one did her thing, and like a bunch of loose sand, we could not form one strong body. However, this time, we indeed formed a powerful one body.

We began by sending forth righteous thoughts around the clock in over twenty villages, towns, and in our city. Some even sent forth righteous thoughts every hour for the entire day. We used strong righteous thoughts to strengthen practitioners and eradicate the evil. Meanwhile, we wrote letters to the local police station and people who participated in the persecution of practitioners, and with compassionate hearts, we encouraged them to behave well. At the same time, we made truth-clarification posters, exposing this persecution and demanding the practitioners' release. We put them up all over the city.
Meanwhile, practitioners outside of China used the contact list that we had posted on the Internet to call those who participated in the persecution, and explain the facts to them. The evil fears being exposed the most, and those calls from overseas were critically important. The magnificent deeds of Falun Dafa practitioners, who are forming one body inside and outside of China, frightened and disintegrated the evil.

(b) Stabilizing Righteous Thoughts without Slacking Off

In the past after practitioners were persecuted, the first thing we did was send forth righteous thoughts. However, we did not persist for a long time, and often when we sent forth righteous thoughts for a period of time and saw no effect, we gradually slowed down and finally stopped. Although some practitioners were sending forth righteous thoughts on the surface, they had no righteous thoughts in their hearts. If they saw sending forth righteous thoughts as not being important, then could this be called righteous thoughts?

However, along with the advancement of the Fa-rectification process, we became more mature through studying the Fa and improving our xinxing. When we learned about the arrest of a practitioner, everyone sent out righteous thoughts and sincerely believed that this practitioner would certainly return soon. When we did not slack off, we were able to eradicate the evil.

(c) The Rescue Is Not Just for Its Own Sake

A fundamental reason for failing to rescue practitioners before was that we did not have the right starting point. Often we rescued someone simply for its own sake, instead of using this chance to explain the facts to people and save sentient beings.

This time, I realized that this process is also one of looking inward, improving oneself and abandoning attachments. When I contacted family members of arrested practitioners, I felt irritable and could not offer much help, nor was I able to dispel their misgivings. I sometimes didn't react well to them, and that made matters worse.

Looking back over my ten years of cultivation, I went through some rough times and made some detours. But with the merciful protection of our Teacher, I was able to make it through to today. Dafa's boundless power has opened up my wisdom, and Teacher has compassionately guided me in the right direction. Our merciful and great Teacher has fished me out of hell, cleansed me, and tempered me to become a Fa-rectification period practitioner, who practices solidly with righteous thoughts and actions. I feel incomparably honoured and proud! No human words can express my gratitude for Teacher's salvation.