PureInsight | March 2, 2009
Experience sharing at the 2009 Los Angeles Fa Conference
Greetings Master,
Greetings fellow practitioners,
I obtained the Fa in 1995 and have cultivated for over a dozen years. However, as I don’t study the Fa and cultivate diligently, I have not yet done well with the three things Master asks us to do.
Today, I thank Master and thank fellow practitioners for giving me such an opportunity to review and summarize my personal experience in saving sentient beings so that I can see my drawbacks and shortcomings and improve myself as I walk the path from now on.
On January 12, 2005, the article, “Solemn Statement of The Epoch Times” was published in The Epoch Times newspaper. As soon as I read this Statement, I discussed the issues it raised with my husband and we decided to renounce the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated associations using our real names. My husband quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese Youth League (CYL), Chinese Young Pioneers (CYP) and I quit the CYL and CYP as well. I remember at the time that around 40 million people had made such an announcement back then. I felt relieved and excited after we quit all of the CCP's affiliated associations. To me, the Solemn Statement was right on time because I had always held the wish to do so. My wish was finally fulfilled. When I really thought about it, I realized that we should let more people know about the Statement and the global movement to quit the CCP. We shouldn’t let them miss such a precious opportunity to be saved. In doing so, we will take the first step on our path of helping people make the three withdrawals.
Master lectured in “Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006”, where he told us, “So what this says is, the goal of Dafa disciples' clarifying the truth during this period is to save people and eliminate the poisoning of people by those old elements and by the vile party's evil specters. The reason is, the old forces are to be weeded out during Fa-rectification, the vile party and the evil specters will likewise be weeded out for sure, and all who have a hand in what they do will be weeded out. This is a law laid down in Fa-rectification, and it has to be done this way. If we don't go and save someone like that, he or she will be weeded out by history along with the evil.”
I enlightened that saving sentient beings is my huge responsibility.
In the beginning, I did not know where to start. Neither did I know what to say. As we often distributed flyers in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, we met many Chinese people each day, and we tried to persuade them to quit the CCP while we distributed flyers. As a result, thousands of people withdrew from the CCP. The more people that quit, the more we were encouraged, and the more we felt Master's benevolence. In those days, by the words from the sentient beings, by their emotion and reaction, I could feel their high expectations. Many people were determined to say "Chinese people are hopeless if the vile party doesn't get eliminated. You are the modern-day hero, the people's hope. Thank you so much for your effort!" At the same time, they would say, "You should pay much attention to your safety and take care of yourselves."
I remember a young man from the Northeast of China who said to me, "I wanted to quit the CCP a long time ago because I am pretty sure this vile party is not the Chinese people's hope but their disaster. Not only would I like to quit the CCP, but since my whole family is a registered as a vile branch of the party I would also like to persuade them to quit. I will persuade more people to quit the CCP.”
One day, three gentlemen said to us with sobs of emotion, "We don't even remember how many hardships our entire family has borne from this vile party: My father was beaten to death and our whole family was implicated and torn apart. We will not keep silent like this anymore. I am determined to quit the CCP. I would like to see their fall with my own eyes. Such a vile party is an offence against both Heaven and reason!”
From then on, we took advantage of any opportunities we came across to meet Chinese people and help persuade them to quit the CCP and its affiliated associations. This took place at the supermarket, convenient store, restaurant, airport, on the street, on the bus, anywhere. Whenever we met Chinese people, my first thought was: “I need to grasp this opportunity and persuade people to quit the CCP.” I felt that since Chinese people are concentrated in the Los Angeles area, I must explore every avenue to find such an opportunity.
I remember there was a time Master came to Los Angeles and taught the Fa. Coming in, he said to us with a smile: "Ha, there are so many Chinese people in the Los Angeles area!" At the time I felt very motivated upon hearing this. Immediately, I was enlightened that, although, on the surface Master joked a bit, in fact, Master pointed out to our LA practitioners that the responsibility of saving sentient beings on our shoulders is very heavy! I felt that I had done a lousy job, that there are still a lot of Chinese people waiting to be saved. I was so sorry for taking up Master's time and effort on us.
I kept thinking of this question through both day and night: “How can we set Master's mind at rest? To do well with what Master asks us to do?’
Since I was raised in Mainland China, I can speak several dialects of Chinese. I figured this might be an advantage for me when persuading people to make the three withdrawals. After a lot of thought, I came up with the following ways to increase success.
The first was to listen: You can tell where the individual was from by his/her dialect. Once you’ve detected it, then try to speak their dialect to be closer to them and have something in common. This makes persuasion much easier and more natural.
Secondly, their appearance: Based on the individual's age I would approach them from different perspectives. For example, I call them big brother, big sister, elderly gentleman, elderly lady, little brother and sister, etc. I used their life experience and memories to lead to our talking points and reached the goal of persuading them to quit the CCP.
The third regards questions: Specifically, talking about my experiences in life outside of China. As we discuss, I would ask them whether they had any questions. Then I could tell them how I miss my hometown and segue from that to quitting the CCP.
The fourth is persuasion itself: Tell them about the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party and lead this toward exposing the Party’s evil. We would discuss how everyone has suffered under their reign and how everyone should stand up for themselves, to quit the CCP and reclaim their minds.
The fifth is persistence: Stay with them until they make the claim to quit.
Sixth, prepare phrases: Prepare many nick phrases in advance and quickly catch their attention, such as how to “Quit the CCP, CYL and CYP.”
The seventh, gratitude: Show your gratitude toward their patience and understanding. Support their choice for self-salvation and contribution to all human beings.
Eighth and final, urging: Advise them to persuade people around them and their relatives to quit the CCP.
I remember one time that we went to a Chinese business exhibition, and we collectively persuaded 80 people to quit the CCP that day. Yet, I felt that when facing so many Chinese people, I could not reach all of them, even though I had the voices of others by my side. I thought I really should do better with what Master asks us to do. Seeing the sentient beings, my heart shook. My mind flew around wildly. Oh, revered Master! I, as a Dafa disciple, did very badly! Very badly!!! Even though I went to a Chinese business exhibition to implore people to make the three withdrawals, this is just one of the few occasions I did so, amongst many others where I did not, despite the chances. How can I make sure to seize the opportunity in other times? This was on my mind constantly! Then, Master saw my heart and offered the opportunity to me and with great wisdom.
One day my husband and I went to a coin operated laundromat and saw a cart that holds clothes. All of a sudden, it occurred to me that we could modify it to help people quit the CCP. Right! After our discussion, my husband re-equipped the cart. With help from other practitioners, I designed and put up a special sign with the following words: "Los Angeles Quit the CCP Service Floating Unit," and "The Downfall of the CCP is the Will of Heaven.” It also said, “To Quit the CCP is a Human's Desire,” “Expose the Evil, Tell Right from Wrong,” “Good is Rewarded with Good and Evil with Retribution,” “Cherish the Opportunity of Self-Salvation,” and “Seriously Consider the ‘Three Withdrawals.’"
And so there we went with this portable Quit the CCP Floating cart. It was very helpful as we could go wherever we wanted to with all of our supplies, which enabled us to overcome our inability to drive. Furthermore, there was no need to pay for a rental service cart from a shop, it was attractive to ordinary people, and was a convenient way for people to quit from the CCP. We could freely pick the location and the time to save sentient beings.
In the days of what we now call the "Quitting the CCP Cart," we helped hundreds of beings withdraw from the CCP. I remember one day two old folks came up to us. They held our hands with tears in their eyes and said, "You are the ones we are coming to. We would like to quit the CCP." Afterward, one of them handed us two silver dollar coins and said, "Even though I don't have much money, this is from my heart. I know you guys sacrifice a great deal, please buy yourselves some cups of tea with it."
I also met with an older gentleman in his 80’s. He said he is a loyal Epoch Times reader. He was so encouraged by the Nine Commentaries. The Nine Commentaries tells the truth in a very profound way. Although he was not a practitioner of Falun Gong, he said that as a true descendent of China, he would take responsibility for the future of China. He would place a digital version of the Nine Commentaries on to a CD, wrap the CD with various Chinese folk songs or program packages, and then send these to relatives, friends and social groups. He said he spent a lot of money to let all of these people receive the Nine Commentaries. He also clipped good articles from the Epoch Times newspaper and sent those to Mainland China.
Hearing this, I felt moved and ashamed. I said to him, "Good people like you will be rewarded. You are doing the best thing in the world." At the same time, I was enlightened that even an ordinary person could do this, so as a Dafa disciple, I should do much better with what Master asks us to do. I also realized that there are a lot of Chinese people waiting to be saved by us!
Of course, during all of these events I ran into many things that tempered my xinxing. I remember on one occasion I met with a few people that spoke with an arrogant tone. They did not show any respect to Master and Dafa and even insulted us. Furthermore, it escalated to the point where it almost became physical. Because I did not guard my xinxing, I sometimes lost patience and argued with them. At one point, I thundered with anger, smoldering with indignation, and even said in my heart: “This man is finished, he is hopeless.” Master says, “Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring, Righteous thoughts can save the people in this world” (“The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos,” Hongyin II). In such cases, after careful deliberation, I realized that I suffered from a lack of benevolence due to not studying the Fa diligently. I will overcome such a shortfall in the future.”
So far we have persuaded 956 people to quit the CCP. I understand that all of this has been done by Master. All we need is the willingness to save sentient beings. Perhaps such a thing is too trivial to mention compared to our fellow practitioners here. This is my thought: Master wants us to "Compare how you study, compare how you cultivate. Measure yourself against the Fa in everything." I believe he wants us to find our shortfalls through our experience sharing so we can improve in the future. Thereby enabling us to truly achieve the goal of "Saving sentient beings with our benevolence."
Due to my limited understanding, please point out anything that is not up to cultivation standards.
Thank you, Master!
Thank you, Fellow practitioners!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2009/2/27/58030.html
