M. and Me

[PureInsight.org] Honourable Master and fellow practitioners, my name is O. and I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I have been practicing for 4 years now but what I would like to share with you is what happened about nine months ago. Master presented me with an opportunity to step forward as a Fa-rectification disciple.

M, a practitioner in my area had fallen about 50ft from a tree. A practitioner called my house and told me what had happened the day before, the extent of M.'s injuries and that he had asked for practitioners to SFRT and wanted practitioners to come read to him. I knew immediately what I had to do. No thoughts just understanding. M. should not be left alone while he was unconscious. The evil was attacking a Dafa practitioner trying to take his life. I knew I had to protect M. to keep this precious Dafa practitioner safe. One practitioner who worked at the hospital had already been to see M. in the intensive care unit. I thought I had understood why I was there. I didn't think about it I just knew I couldn't leave M. alone. I had to read to him out loud to provide the Fa to his main consciousness until he could read on his own. I had heard of attacks on other practitioners but never so close to home. I thought Master was giving me this opportunity. I have retired and don't have a work environment to cultivate in and I had the time to stay with M.. If it meant staying at the hospital day and night I would do that. M. is a practitioner and my things are his things and his things are my things. So I stayed. But this was only the surface manifestation of the whole situation. I had much more to do.

In those first few days I read and read to M. Zhuan Falun over and over. And as I read I came to realize the magnitude of the situation. Not only was I protecting M. but I was being given a magnificent task. To save so many. I became aware of all the opportunities to clarify the truth to M.'s family, the doctors, nurses, volunteers, the minister and even other visitors.

The next challenge was his family. M. had shared that his family didn't understand about Dafa and one of his brothers had been poisoned by misinformation on the internet.
So as I stayed at the hospital family members started to arrive. M. was going back into surgery and one of his sisters-in-law came to wait. We talked about the family and Dafa. I felt that I needed to help his family through this difficult time. To be there for them. To show them that as practitioners our compassion extended to all beings not just each other. I also thought that by showing them that we put others needs before ourselves they would realize that Dafa is good. Later that day more family arrived and I could tell they were waiting for something, reluctant to talk to me. As they went in two by two to see M. I sat and just read focusing on M. and talking to him in my mind. I knew that even though I was not in the room with him there were no physical barriers between us. We were together in other dimensions. As the days past I realized if his family were to learn the truth about Dafa I would have to talk to them. So I clarified the truth and tried to show them the selfless compassion of a Dafa disciple. Slowly they began to change. From not wanting to talk to us in general or even tell us how M. was doing to eventually including us in the consultations with the doctors. Once when we sat down with a doctor, a Chinese doctor, M.'s brother proudly said as if we were some sort of special people " and these are Falun Gong practitioners". This did not happen overnight. It was over the weeks that followed.

I tried to think of ways to be more compassionate to all involved. They were frightened of losing M. and burdened with making life altering decisions. I shared with one brother the time my oldest brother had a motorcycle accident and I understood the pain of waiting to hear that he would be okay. Defensive walls broke down and as time past I talked about Dafa and its goodness. But I think it was more our actions that convinced them that Dafa is good. I remember one evening as they were leaving one of M.'s brothers pulled my aside and told me that he was so relieved knowing that practitioners were there with M. when they couldn't be.

M.'s mother had just started practicing and I knew she may not understand why this was happening to M. and I wanted to support her to.

Another challenge during this time was coordinating practitioners' time with M. As word spread of his fall and that I was reading to him practitioners started contacting me wanting to read to him to. I would get phone calls at home and on my cell phone at the hospital as well as emails saying, "When do you want me to come read to M. And how do I get to the hospital I don't have a car." I would tell them, "I know everyone is very busy and I didn't want to impose a time schedule. Instead I asked them when could they spare some time and I would tell other practitioners what times were covered. That way no one felt that they were torn between reading to M. and their responsibilities to their Dafa projects. So I would go home for short periods of time and email out a schedule so everyone knew what times were not covered off. I also sent out regular updates on M.'s progress as did other practitioners. I also got information on the bus routes and times. There were some problems that did arise. The rule at the hospital is that only two visitors were allowed at a time in the critical care unit. So I told practitioners that if family came we would have to wait to read or if M. had to go for a test we had to wait sometimes for hours. So that sometimes practitioners would come to read and didn't get in to see M. Some told me that if they couldn't see him they wanted to come at a different time. We were also limited even to the numbers in the waiting room, especially during the day. Other people were waiting to see patients and we couldn't crowd the waiting room. That's why keeping a schedule was so important. I was honest and told practitioners there was never any guarantee they would see M. and let them decide what they wanted to do.

Then there was the time a practitioner and I disagreed on what I was doing. This was before other practitioners started reading to M. She told me that I couldn't stay such long hours at the hospital. I was too tired, my other responsibilities were suffering and that we should have a meeting and discuss how best to handle this situation. I listened and waited. When she was done, I told her I appreciate her concern but I was fine and if she felt she needed to discuss this with other practitioners she should. In the meantime I would be here at the hospital as needed. I also told her that as I read more and more I found that I was not getting tired in fact I felt invigorated and there seemed to be more time not less. Not only did I fulfill my Dafa obligations but I also had time to do the exercises as well. It felt like time was stretching for me.

Even the hospital staff got use to us being there. I often talked to nurses, doctors and therapists and even gave a Zhuan Falun to a nurse who wanted to read it. I made a point of always asking them if they wanted me to leave while they were checking M. At first I was be sent out regularly. Later on they would tell me it's important for me to read to M. and I didn't have to go. There was one nurse who was very strict about the rules. She wanted to make it very clear to me that M. was her patient and practitioners were only being tolerated because M. had asked for us. She tried everything to keep us away, the rules, intimidation, M.s fragile condition, and superiority. At first I didn't do well and competed with her. Until one day I saw her fellow workers very solicitous of her. I thought to myself, what happened to her? Maybe she was dealing with some personal problem. Suddenly I felt so bad for having unkind thoughts about her. I talked a bit to her the next day about M. and Falun Dafa and she read from Zhuan Falun over my shoulder. When she saw the word Karma she said, "Oh I know all about that." So I talked about the goodness of Dafa and then told her that in China they persecute people even to death for Truthfulness Compassion and Forbearance. The evil really had a vice-grip hold on her. She didn't say much but after that when I would read to M. she would stay close by listening.

I also got to spend quite a bit of time with the minister assigned to the hospital. My heart went out to her. She seemed so young and had to deal with so much sorrow and pain every day. I talked with her for hours about the goodness of Dafa and about the evil in the world and the persecution. She would come and talk to me every time I came to visit M. In the end she wanted to read Zhuan Falun and have a book available for anyone at the hospital. As we spoke my own understanding deepened and I was so grateful to Master for giving me this opportunity.

Over the weeks that passed my own attachments to fame and self-importance melted away. Over and over I got to explain to others about truth and compassion and forbearance. As I spent hours and hours reading to M. I remembered how Master is always telling us to study the Fa more. Study the Fa more.

I remember when M. kept trying to take out his IV and other tubes. I told him that he was a practitioner and I understood he felt he shouldn't have this stuff. But he was not considering others, like his family and the doctors and nurses trying to do their job, which was saving him. His family was starting to worry about his mental state and the nurses would sedate him even more so he was getting the opposite result. I told him he was being willful and selfish and as a practitioner this was not good. Of course they had sedated him so much I had to go through this a couple of times with him. But he would not listen. Then I asked Master to help him.

During this whole time I was reading so much that as Master exposed my attachments to me I slowly let them go one by one. He showed me the magnificence of Dafa. How we were here to save others. I remembered that I had arranged to come to this world now to be a Fa rectification disciple and save others. That is my mission. There was one particular night when I was the only one reading to M.. It was actually about four in the morning and I had been reading since about 10:30. My voice suddenly seemed very loud. I tried speaking more softly but it didn't help. My voice resonated through the whole critical care unit. I asked the nurse if she wanted me to leave. But she said I had a pleasant voice to listen to and not to worry. So I kept reading and then M. and I were in a bubble. I could see clearly a border all around us. I could feel the Fa as I understood it. M. was still in bed and we were in that room but I could feel our more pure existence in other dimensions. Everything outside the bubble grew dark and menacing. When I would stop reading and just listen I could hear moaning, and crying and cars screeching just a cacophony of noise. So I kept reading. Then I looked down at my hands and I watched as my pores got bigger and bigger until my skin was gone but I was still there and felt that I was one with the presence inside the bubble. The same happened to M. Our bodies felt light and yet heavy with the Fa. We had melted for a time into the Fa. It was amazing. During the whole time M. was in intensive care I had many tribulations and tests. But the more I read the easier it was to put others first. I was so fortunate to have been given this opportunity by Master to touch so many with Dafa's goodness. Thank you Master. And thank you all for listening.