PureInsight | July 15, 2002
1. Get Rid of Interference by Strengthening Righteous Thoughts
From the moment I decided to go to Iceland to send forth righteous thoughts in close proximity, various tests came, one after another. Some tribulations were obvious, while others were difficult to detect. One can avoid being confused by interfering superficial phenomena only if one understands, from Fa-principles, the great importance of using righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors in other dimensions that manipulate the head of evil.
First, I met with interference coming from thought karma. For a few days, a certain thought kept lingering on my mind: 'Look at you. Sometimes you can't even guarantee that you'll do the global, four times daily sending forth righteous thoughts. Will you be able to display your capability to the full extent in Iceland? If your state of mind is not good at that time, you may as well send forth righteous in front of the local Chinese Consulate.' Self-doubts like this continued to flood my mind. I realized that my basic understanding about the trip to Iceland needed a breakthrough. Through studying the Fa with a calm mind, I discovered that this interference was originating from selfishness. Namely, I was attached to my own cultivation state, rather than truly considering the trip to Iceland from the needs of the Fa-rectification progress, or from the perspective of being responsible to all of the positive elements in the cosmos. As soon as I understood, from the Fa, that fulfilling the needs of the Fa-rectification progress is a sacred responsibility of Dafa practitioners, this interference disappeared instantly.
The next thing was applying for a visa. After receiving my form, the clerk told me: 'Since your time of applying for a visa is so pressing, we cannot guarantee you a visa before your prescheduled departing time (June 10th).' I replied with a smile: 'To tell you the truth, I've already purchased a plane ticket for June 10th. I believe that you will surely approve my visa.' Just as I expected, I got my visa the next morning.
When I told my husband about my plan of going to Iceland, he said, as if begging me,: 'Iceland is so far away-- just don't go. Jiang will be visiting the U.S. in the next half a year. You can go then, because I have nothing against this. Just don't go this time. This way, you can still read Zhuan Falun to me every day, and you can also teach me the exercises.' This statement made by my husband, who is not a practitioner, was really not a small test for me. Luckily my head was clear at that time, so I instantly rejected the thought of 'waiting'. Meanwhile, I realized that my attachment to my husband's obtaining the Fa to cultivate was being used as a test. Even though my husband didn't understand this completely, he still saw me off and gave me a ride when I left for the trip.
The day before I left, I heard a practitioner telling me over the phone: 'You guys probably won't be able to enter Iceland. Icelandic Consulates in some areas are already rejecting visas applications. Those who have gotten visas will be facing the possibility of being barred from entering Iceland.' I said to the practitioner: 'No matter what news you read or hear, don't ever be affected by it. Just be firm in one thought: as a practitioner following Teacher's Fa-rectification path, only what Teacher says counts. Not only will we be able to enter, also not one single person will be left out from entering the country.'
2. Omission in Understanding Creates Loopholes for the Evil; Elevating as One Body Enables Overcoming Obstacles
In the discussion among practitioners before we left, we seemed to have tacitly acknowledged in our minds the obstacles that we were about to face upon entering Iceland. We even considered, with our human notions, how we would deal with them, including answering questions. Everyone seemed to think that entering Iceland was the immediate priority, and other issues should be avoided as much as possible. Dafa practitioners' tacit acknowledgement of the obstacles that we were about to face, as well as our anxious intention to pass into Iceland quickly, created loopholes for the evil to exploit.
We were to make our flight connections in Boston. Under pressure by the Chinese Government, the Icelandic judicial department and Icelandair, respectively, gave each passenger an open letter. The limited police force in Iceland, the necessity to guarantee public safety, and the like, were used as excuses to request each passenger to sign a document guaranteeing that the passenger would not participate in any protest or demonstration during Jiang's visit to Iceland. We were also informed that if we refused to sign the document, we would not be allowed to board the airplane.
At the time, since everyone was afraid of encountering obstacles, and hoping to enter Iceland as soon as possible, many practitioners tried to pass the test using their human cleverness. We all thought that our entering Iceland was for sending forth righteous thoughts and we didn't plan on protesting or demonstrating to begin with. Some practitioners realized that they should clarify the truth to airline workers. However, feeling that it would be difficult for the airline company to make any changes in such a short time (insufficient righteous thoughts), even though practitioners thought something was not right, we still all signed our names on the relevant documents. Afterwards, in our conversation with a lawyer, we understood that Icelandair had no right to ask passengers to sign any papers at all. This kind of action not only violates business ethics, it also violates the law.
Looking back, in fact, it's not the content of the signed paper that matters. What matters is that we should not have cooperated with or acknowledged this kind of request that didn't even comply with human legal law. Practitioners' tacit acknowledgement of the evil's arrangement had increased the difficulty of entering Iceland.
Once we arrived at Icelandic customs, our passports were taken away by the police, after which we were interrogated one by one. Then we were all taken to a closed, isolated school and guarded by the police, who also claimed that we would be repatriated. Realizing the existence of loopholes in our xinxing, we started group Fa-study, group practice and sending forth righteous thoughts. We explained the true situation to the police, media, lawyers, American Consulate officials in Iceland, officials of the Canadian Consulate in Iceland, school staff and local people who came to support us. After several rounds of heart-shaking, soul-stirring big confrontations in another dimension, between the righteous and the evil, late that night the chief of police of the airport personally delivered our passports back to each and every one of us. He took pictures with us and shook hands with us, and then he sent practitioners off all the way to the town on a big bus.
As a matter of fact, in the Fa Teacher has clearly told practitioners the three big things that Dafa disciples need to do at present: study the Fa, clarify the truth and send forth righteous thoughts. We cannot neglect any one of them. Wherever we encounter an obstacle, that is the place where we need to clarify the truth. Moreover, clarifying the truth cannot be obstructed by the old forces. The key to overcoming interference is practitioners' state of mind. While participating in Fa-rectification activities, practitioners should not be trapped by everyday people's logical deductions and various assumptions. When practitioners' xinxing reaches the level that they are supposed to reach as a whole, and do things without pursuing, Dafa will naturally display its boundless power.
3. Maintain Righteous Thoughts Constantly
That night, after checking into a hotel in Reykjavik, I started to meditate and was completely in a wonderful, empty and light state, not feeling my body's existence in this dimension. Beyond the space of a small cosmos of boundless length and breadth is the boundless Dafa of truthfulness-compassion-forbearance. I felt the sacred solemnity of life being melted into the Fa and Teacher's infinite grace. Quietly, with tears flowing, what I broke through were levels after levels of heavens. Being tranquil, I was without a shred of distracting thoughts. After doing heshi and coming out of ding, I really understood this: We always said that we could give up everything and sacrifice everything for Dafa, but in fact, we are the ones who truly gain. Our lives and everything we have was originally granted to us by Dafa's merciful creation.
We started to send forth righteous thoughts every hour or every half hour. During the break, we studied the Fa, practiced the exercises and kept purifying ourselves. After communicating with the police, we were permitted to send forth righteous thoughts at a location twenty meters away from a road where the head of evil would be passing. When we were about to sit down, the police let us advance another twenty meters from another direction. While sending forth righteous thoughts, I felt strong, pure energy flying out of my head and my palm.
On the day when Jiang was leaving Iceland, Dafa practitioners applied for a permit to be near a location where he would be passing. The police marked off an area with yellow lines and requested practitioners to stay in that restricted area. Several police cars blocked an intersection to prevent practitioners from entering the airport before Jiang took off. As if we had had a prior agreement, two American practitioners and I wanted to break through this restriction. With strong righteous thoughts in practitioners' minds, after several attempts a police officer allowed us to enter the airport. After we broke through this critical point, our mentality of zealotry was triggered and we failed to maintain righteous thoughts. Losing our righteous thoughts for one moment, we saw the police chief's car driving toward us, and we were forced to leave the airport with the police car right behind us.
We realized where the problem lay and understood the key of constantly maintaining righteous thoughts and not being moved by any single shred of human thought. We pleaded with Teacher to give practitioners another chance. Teacher saw our firmness; so on our way out of the airport, we came upon Jiang's convoy face to face. Coincidentally, a police car stopped in front of our car at that moment, helping us to extend our time of sending forth righteous thoughts in close proximity.
I've gained numerous understandings from my trip to Iceland and I cannot describe them all. Our Teacher, who treasures us more than we treasure ourselves, is still waiting for all practitioners to really step forward from humanness and return to the position where our lives originated. Beneath this infinite grace, what reason do practitioners have not to strive forward, not to cultivate steadfastly, and not to fulfill our sacred vows of assisting Teacher in rectifying the Fa with full confidence?
Edited from:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/7/2/23685.html
