PureInsight | May 17, 2004
[PureInsight.org]
I. Govern Every Thought, Speech and Action Strictly According to the Fa
I recently reread the Fa lectures that Teacher has given over the last two years. After I finished reading them, I strongly felt one thing: as Falun Dafa cultivators, we should really govern each and every thought, speech and action strictly according to what Dafa requires of us, because we must set good cultivation examples for the future cultivators on the earth. Besides, we are not only responsible for the sentient beings in our own cosmic bodies, but are also responsible for our everyday friends and families. If a thought or an action of ours isn't righteous, there will be a negative impact on not only the countless sentient beings in our cosmic bodies, but also on our everyday friends and families because they are likely to misunderstand Falun Dafa due to our less-than-perfect speech and actions. It follows that it is of utmost importance that we shouldn't compromise our cultivation standards at any time. For me, that translates into conducting myself according to the Fa at all times; keeping righteous thoughts and righteous actions at all times; refusing to acknowledge the old forces' arrangements at all time; and governing each and every thought, speech and action with the Fa at all times.
If we were capable of writing down our every thought around the clock, we would certainly find an infinite number of attachments that are yet to be removed through our cultivation. Therefore, we really should try to seek inward on everything and not just seek inward when we encounter obstacles. We should decide what to do and how to do something according to the standard of the Fa, and remember that we are Falun Dafa practitioners at all times. If we can conduct ourselves in this fashion, I am sure that the evil in other dimensions will be unable to interfere with us in any way.
II. Calling People in China to Clarify the Facts about Falun Dafa Provides a Cultivation Opportunity Where We Improve Ourselves
When Dafa practitioners call people in China, we are not only clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa with our righteous thoughts, righteous actions and our supernormal capabilities, we are also upgrading our cultivation level during the process. If we let go of the attachment to ourselves and instead clarify the truth with immense compassion for the well-being of these sentient beings in China, the Chinese people who are called would be more receptive to the truth. During the process of calling people in China, we keep getting feedback in various forms that reflect whether we have studied the Fa well and whether our xinxing (mind nature) can stand up to close scrutiny in real situations. For example, when our phone calls do not get through, do we waver in our heart and think of giving up? When the person on the other end is not receptive to our truth-clarification efforts and is rude to us, do we feel defeated or doubt our capabilities? When we dial each number, do we fear that the called person might hang up on us? When a Chinese person who we called is receptive to the truth about Falun Dafa, do we develop an attachment to zealotry and still feel giddy even the next day?
Speaking from my own experience, I feel that I have made a lot of progress in my cultivation since I started calling people in China. Here are some typical cases I often encounter when I call people in China.
Once I called a large corporation in China. The [telephone] operator who answered my phone call was very eager to learn the truth. During our phone conversation, she had to keep interrupting the conversation to take or transfer other calls; we were, therefore, interrupted a dozen times during our phone conversation. But each time she would apologize and ask me to wait on the line for her. I waited patiently each time and finally finished telling her the truth. It went on until she said that she would definitely remember what I said, and then we concluded our conversation.
When we called people in Hebei Province as a group effort, a female college student answered one of the calls I made. She hung up as soon as she heard that I was someone that she didn't know and was calling from overseas. I waited 20 minutes before I called her again and kept sending forth righteous thoughts for her while calling the next person on my list, which is what I would usually do in this type of situation. When I called her the second time, she sighed when she realized that it was me calling her again. At first, she reluctantly listened to what I said. But by the time I finished clarifying the facts to her, I was surprised to hear her asking where she could buy a copy of Zhuan Falun. I said that I could mail a copy to her, and she gave me two addresses. When we were calling people in Wuhan as a group, a person who sounded like a government official told me that the actual number of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners was much larger than what I had told him, and that we should somehow try to conduct a thorough investigation on the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. He also said that all his friends and relatives knew the truth about the persecution. Before he hung up, he said with caution and secrecy that a major action would soon take place in China: that many organizations are about to file a lawsuit against Jiang at the United Nations.
III. Encourage More Fellow Practitioners to Call People in China to Clarify the Truth
In the past year, I often exchanged cultivation experiences with fellow practitioners so that we could help each other improve together. One fellow practitioner used to dread making phone calls to strangers, and, therefore, didn't participate in the truth-clarification project of calling the people in China. Once I took the initiative to go to her home and call Chinese people in China in her presence. To relieve her jitters, I first explained to her, "Don't worry. I won't ask you to join me today. Today, I'll just demonstrate for you how I converse with strangers on the phone." She then began to relax. Because the Chinese people I called that day were very receptive to the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution, confidence began to register on her face. [I decided that it might be a good time for her to give it a try,] so I dialed the next number and asked her to take the phone. She was surprised but didn't refuse my request out of politeness. So she took the phone and announced very fast, "I want to tell you that the principles of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance are good, Falun Dafa is good, and it is wrong for Jiang to persecute Falun Gong," and then hung up when the person on the other end of the line was still listening. Afterwards, I acknowledged her courage before I suggested a few things she could work on, and she did much better on her second and third phone calls. Nowadays, she not only actively participates in the calling project with a local group of Dafa practitioners, but also clarifies the truth to those police officers in China who have been participating in the persecution. [Her righteous spirits have a positive impact on] those police officers who received her calls. They quietly listen to her talking about the facts concerning Falun Gong.
Western practitioners in our area have also overcome the language barrier and many other types of difficulties in truth-clarification work in the past year. They are becoming increasingly good at calling people in China. They would speak English with those Chinese people who can speak English, and they would ask for their email addresses and have other fellow practitioners send them truth-clarification materials electronically. If they call someone in China who doesn't speak English but still wants to learn the truth [judging from his/her response,] they pass this person's phone number to a Chinese practitioner who follows up with that person. The results are great.
4. Only Dafa Practitioners Can Do Fa-Rectification Work Well
As Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period, we are cultivating ourselves, enhancing our cultivation levels, and trying to eliminate our attachments through each type of truth-clarification work we are engaged in. Take the project of mailing truth-clarification VCDs to China as an example. Do we send forth righteous thoughts when we write each Chinese character in the address and when we mail the letters? Do we perform these tasks without trying to maintain pure thoughts? Do we perform these tasks absent-mindedly? Do we perform these tasks in a hurry as if we were trying to complete a quota or as if we were trying to get it over with? Do we fear that these letters might not pass the inspection at the Chinese customs when we hear a rumor that they now have a new type of inspection equipment? Do we fear that our efforts might be wasted and stop mailing the VCDs to China when we hear a rumor that many post offices in China have begun to de-magnetize the VCDs?
These questions all come down to the most fundamental question. Why can't we have everyday people do Fa-rectification work for us? Why is it that only Dafa practitioners can do Fa-rectification work well?
It is because Dafa practitioners are playing the leading role in this unprecedented Fa-rectification period. Each of our thoughts has a tremendous impact on the human realm. On the other hand, everything occurring in the human realm is challenging our thoughts. [In order to keep our thoughts righteous,] we must follow Teacher's Fa at all times. [In order to keep our thoughts righteous,] we must progress forward in cultivation through our truth-clarification [otherwise we will fall behind and compromise our righteous thoughts.]
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/10/19/24021.html
