PureInsight | August 3, 2009
Experience sharing at the 2009 Canada Fa Conference
[PureInsight.org] Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I understand that clarifying the truth through Chinese forums is growing in importance. Many Chinese do not accept truth clarification materials about Falun Gong and the persecution, read the Epoch Times or watch NTDTV because they have been poisoned by the evil’s media campaigns and have become afraid. How can we save them? There are so many of them and much of their information comes from Chinese websites. Therefore, we try to clarify the truth on Chinese web forums and let these Chinese people see articles and videos from the media established by Dafa disciples. Of course, we need to proceed with rationality and wisdom. When we take advantage of the topics discussed in forums to clarify the truth skillfully, we can achieve good results. People may not want to listen when we try to address the subject matter directly. However, if we stick to topics that everyday people are interested in to clarify the truth, such as when the CCP’s Internet spies tried to attack us, the result will be good, as people will want to read the truth instinctively.
Currently, a popular local Chinese website has improved tremendously. In the past, if one mentioned Falun Gong, Shen Yun or quit the CCP, the post would be deleted and the user name blocked. Now one can address many righteous topics. This is the result of practitioners’ combined efforts and cooperation. Our righteous thoughts have rectified that field. On the surface, Dafa disciples are battling with the Chinese Internet spies, but in other dimensions, a great battle must be taking place between the righteous and the evil. I will share some of my experiences.
1. Wisdom Comes from the Fa
At the end of last year, our coordinator asked us to post some videos about Shen Yun on local websites to assist with the Shen Yun performance. I was assigned this task. At the beginning, I spent a lot of time researching how to go about it. I even neglected studying the Fa and did the exercises much less than I should have. Alas, I didn’t make much progress. I began to worry deeply and felt that my cultivation state wasn’t good. After studying the Fa more, I began to calm down and searched inward. I pondered, “Why was I so worried? What was the reason for that?” I discovered that I was worried that I would lose face if I couldn’t figure out how to do this task. Isn’t this an attachment to fame and vanity? I was attached to self. I always thought my attachment to fame and self-interest was very weak, but to my surprise, I still had it.
I understand that Master arranged this cultivation path for me so that I could dig out these deeply hidden attachments. I know that the fundamental issue is to save sentient beings and, in the process, improve my own cultivation. Once I let go of this attachment to self, I was able to ask other practitioners for help and was able to share with them with an open mind. A practitioner told me to find the “url” (Uniform Resource Locator) where the video was located. Another practitioner offered further suggestions. A practitioner suggested that I could find the url by searching through the source code that played the corresponding video online. This search turned out to be very difficult and I couldn’t find it. A few days later, it suddenly hit me that the url might be located in the little window that appeared next to the video when it was playing. This was it. I found the url. However, this only worked for some websites but not for others. A few days later, it suddenly dawned on me that I could simply transfer videos from another site to these sites. I tried it and it worked. I realized that it is not that I was smarter than others. Rather, as a Dafa disciple, when you improve your xinxing, the Fa will give you wisdom.
This also applies to truth clarification. When I can give up my attachment to fighting and resentment, inspiration will appear. “Compassion should arise in the heart, and the facial expression should be peaceful” (The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa). One can quickly find the relevant truth clarification materials and one will have many good ideas about how to clarify the truth better. The result will be better and it will be easier for everyday people to accept what you are doing.
Master said in “Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference:”
People's ability to understand things, or lack thereof, and sentient beings' different thoughts and views on this, have become challenges for you as you validate the Fa and save the sentient beings of this world. But regardless of how they have behaved, we still need to save them, for their lack of understanding is on account of their being lost in delusion. They cause some challenges for Dafa disciples because they cannot see things as they really are. Whatever their reason for coming here millennia or eons ago, they have, all the same, been awaiting this final time. We cannot decide against saving them just because they conducted themselves poorly in one lifetime or did some particular thing wrong. When Master looks at a living being, [what he considers] spans the entire course of that being's existence. If someone did a lot of great things in history, and even had many great achievements in service of validating the Fa, can we not save him just because he has behaved poorly in this lifetime?
I realize we must follow the Fa principles when saving people on our cultivation path. When encountering problems, we need to search inward. Only then can we let go of our selves, purify ourselves, and develop compassion.
At first, I felt angry whenever I saw reply posts from Chinese spies. But later I was able to calm down because I remembered that these spies work for the CCP. They are actually quite pitiful. We also need to try our best to save them. Now I can let go of my attachment to fighting and resentment. I have been able to clarify the truth with rationality, wisdom and a calm mind. We need to tell people the truth from many angles, because knowing the truth is their only hope in gaining salvation.
2. Treat Fellow Practitioners with Compassion and Improve Together
I was put in charge of training practitioners how to clarify the truth on Chinese web forums. Many practitioners that volunteered for the team were elderly practitioners who had no computer background. But they really wanted to learn this tool to clarify the truth. I thought that we needed their help, as many young practitioners worked during the day. The elderly practitioners had more time and we could work with each other to form one body. We needed to clarify the truth to many overseas Chinese forums. We needed more practitioners to participate so that we could cover more forums. So I began the training classes.
After contacting practitioners, I found that regular training methods wouldn’t work well. If I brought everyone together and provided standardized teaching, those who didn’t know how would not be able to learn because they didn’t have the basics. So, I taught one-by-one, or at most three at a time. I found it easiest to demonstrate the steps once, and then ask everyone to do it themselves. I asked them to take notes in a language they could understand. Depending on their skills, I generally taught them how to post an article and copy and paste. Then I taught how to upload pictures, sound, and video files. I would first teach those who had a good knowledge base, so that they could help others. I decided to teach everyone until they were proficient and could be on their own without any problem.
Alas, in the beginning, I was quite nervous. When I was teaching, people told me they understood. But, as soon as I left, there were all kinds of problems, including very simple problems. I became frustrated and sometimes when I spoke I sounded impatient. When I saw other practitioners talking at too high a level when clarifying the truth, I became anxious. Through studying the Fa, I realized that this was not a good cultivation state. Though it is training and truth clarification, it is also cultivation. I need to learn to be considerate of others. They didn’t have any actual knowledge or experience and were just beginning to learn. Of course it wouldn’t be easy for them to remember everything. Posting articles is the same. Some practitioners just learned to post words, but hadn’t become familiar with the forums yet. I remembered that when I first started to post on forums, I also posted content that was not entirely appropriate. I should treat fellow practitioners with compassion. When I see problems, I should point them out.
As Master said:
“…but you should mind the way you do it. I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears. I have not only taught you Dafa, but have also left you my demeanor. While working, your tone of voice, your kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person’s heart, whereas commands never could!” (“Clearheadedness,” Essentials For Further Advancement)
I realized that when training and clarifying the truth, cultivation should be given the highest priority. If fellow practitioners on our team can improve together and cooperate well, we can save more sentient beings. We should allow people to make mistakes, since this is the process we went through ourselves.
When we can calmly and compassionately share our understandings about problems that have occurred, the effect will be better and it will be easier for fellow practitioners to accept what we say. So, I thought if I see problems in other practitioners, I should first look within and look to see if I’d made similar mistakes. Then I search for the cause from the other people’s perspective. Only then can I offer help with a calm mind and kind intention, rather than simply placing blame.
Master talked about gods’ mentalities when they do things together in “Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.:”
So what's their state of mind? It’s tolerance, an extremely immense tolerance, being able to accept other beings, and being able to truly think from other beings' perspectives. This is something a lot of you haven't achieved yet in your cultivation, but you're gradually catching on and achieving it. When another God proposes an idea, they aren't eager to reject it, and they aren't eager to express their own ideas and they don't believe that their own ideas are good. Instead, they look at what the end result of the other God's proposed approach will be. The paths are different--everyone's path is different--and the truths that beings validate and enlighten to in the Fa are different, too, but the results might very well be the same. That's why they look at the results, and if the result of a God's idea can achieve the goal, if it can truly achieve it, then all of them will go along with it. That's how Gods think. Also, if there's something lacking in it they'll unconditionally and quietly supplement it to make things more complete and perfect. That's how they handle things.
So whenever I felt angry or impatient when clarifying the truth or training practitioners, as soon as I remembered Master’s words, and as soon as I realized that this is cultivation, these bad states would disappear immediately and I was able to clarify the truth with compassion and a calm mind. I was able to share and cooperate with other practitioners with compassion and a calm mind. In the future, I will cooperate well with others to do a better job in training. I will save more sentient beings together with fellow practitioners and fulfill my vow.
Thank you Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
