PureInsight | December 30, 2013
[PureInsight.org]
One of my good friends gave me a book in 1996. I was told this is a book teaching how to cultivate and I need to read it carefully and finish it in one reading. I finished reading the book in 2 days. I told him this is a very good book about cultivation; it is the book I had been looking for. At that time, I knew the author’s level was very high, higher than Buddha Shakyamuni. People were thinking Buddha Shakyamuni was the highest among Buddhas. However, In the 2nd lecture of Zhuan Falun, the author says: In his later years Shakyamuni said, "It is so large that it has no exterior, and so small that it has no interior." And what’s that mean? It means that at the Tathagata level, in terms of largeness, you can’t see the edge of the universe, and in terms of smallness, you can’t see the smallest microscopic particle of matter. That’s why he said, "It is so large that it has no exterior, and so small that it has no interior."
Also in the 2nd lecture of Zhuan Falun, the author says: “People wonder how large the universe is. I can tell you that this universe does have boundaries, but even at the Tathagata level it still seems like it’s boundless and infinite”. This shows the author’s level is much higher than Buddha Shakyamuni.
I told my friend that for sure I will learn this practice. He told me it’s called Falun Gong. He told me that I could find many practitioners in the parks. It’s a practice that cultivates both your nature and longevity. It’s introduced by Master Li Hongzhi in 1992. I was very happy because it was just the practice I had been looking for. The next day I went to a park and found the Falun Gong practitioners. There were many people and they all looked fit. I can feel compassion from all of them. I told myself this was just what I was looking for. I was very focused when learning exercises. Later I was arranged to stand in the first row because my movements were very good. After one month, one day the assistant gave me a ticket, it was for watching Master’s lecture videos. It was in a very big hall, there were more than 1000 people.
When I was watching Master’s lectures, I found Master was wearing Buddha's robes, with blue hair, the curly blue hair. His face was very benevolent. I had offered provisions to many Buddhas, but I never saw such benevolent Buddha. His Buddha’s robes were shining golden. The fellow practitioners sitting beside me only saw Master wearing normal suit with normal hair. I was so fortunate to be able to see Master’s Law Body. In my later cultivation years, I was very strict with myself, I required myself to strive forward, believe in Master, and believe in Dafa. I didn’t stop for one day doing the exercises, regardless of the freezing cold winter or burning summer. I believe Master has been beside me and watching over me. Sometimes during sitting meditation, ants climbed onto my face, I believed it was a test and so I persisted without moving. The ants would go away after a while. In winter, my hands hurt quite a lot by the freezing temperature. In my mind, I would think there was a hot stove beside my hands, soon my hands would not hurt anymore. Master said in the 4th lecture of Zhuan Falun, “My Law bodies are aware of everything. Whatever you think about, they’re aware of it, and they can do anything”. I firmly believed that Master knew all my words and acts, including the brain thinking.
In my cultivation as long as I have strong righteous thoughts, act according to the FA, believe in Master, believe in the Fa, Master will stand up for me and miracles will happen. There are no difficulties that cannot be overcome. All the incorrect status can be rectified. All the interference can be eliminated.
When I first came to Seattle, out of gratitude towards Master, I did a lot of Dafa work, I went to many places to clarify the truth, spread the Fa and save sentient beings. But in 2001, I found a job and became relaxed in studying Fa and doing exercises, I paid too much attention to earning money, I didn’t attend Fa conference.
One night when in sitting meditation, I saw a big spider on my head. It was black and as big as a chicken egg. This spider bit me hard, I tried to grab it using my hands but couldn’t reach it no matter how hard I tried. The spider had bitten my head so badly; I got more than 20 big bumps. I finally hit the spider down to the ground. When I touched my head, I found so many big bumps and they were very painful. They were all at the right side of my head. There were none on the left side. It was so painful I couldn’t fall asleep that night. Using a hot towel helped a little bit, but soon it became so painful again, it was very hard to stand. I looked inside, what did I do wrong? I asked Master to help me to search. I sat down facing the wall.
My first question was: What was the purpose that Master arranged you to come to US?
My answer: saving sentient beings, clarifying the truth, validating the Fa.
My Question: How well did you do these things?
My answer: Not good. It’s OK in the beginning but now it’s not good at all. I’m not behaving like a Dafa disciple.
My Question: Where did you go wrong? You need to look deep into your heart.
My Answer: I’m only thinking of earning money. I paid too much attention to it. I paid less attention to the responsibility of a Dafa disciple.
My Question: What exactly will you do to correct this?
My Answer: It’s so painful when the spider bit me. In order to eliminate the spider, I need to give up my attachment. (In Chinese, “spider” and “attachment” sound very similar) What is my attachment? The attachment I have now is earning money. Money is my attachment. I need to get rid of the attachment to money.
Once I found this reason, immediately the pain was gone. When I touched my head again, the big bumps were gone too. It was Master’s benevolence that helped me pass this tribulation. I truly realized that as long as we believe in Master and believe in the Fa 100%, there are no difficulties or tribulations that we cannot overcome.
Listen to Master’s words to go to Manhattan to clarify the truth and save sentient beings.
After this tribulation, I realized that my life was given by Master. I decided to fully dedicate my life to Master and to Dafa. In Essentials For Further Advancement, Master mentioned “What’s there to fear? My body would still sit there even with my head cut off.” I surely can do that. It’s not important at all to earn money, to eat good foods, to wear good clothes. The only purpose of my life is to return to the origin, achieve a True Fruition, and walk a true cultivation path.
In 2004, many Dafa disciples went to Manhattan to clarify the truth. Master said in Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York, “What I just said does apply to clarifying the facts in Manhattan. Those who have the ability and whose circumstances allow them to come may come, and those whose circumstances don't allow them to come shouldn't”. I thought I had the ability; I didn’t have family burdens. I didn’t have much money but there are no difficulties that Dafa disciples cannot overcome.
Many Dafa disciples didn’t have much money. We rented a room and shared among more than 20 Dafa disciples. The cost to each person was only couple of dollars. We slept on the floor and ate the cheapest food, fast noodles. When the supermarkets closed at night, we could buy a pile of left over vegetables for only 1 dollar. When we got home, we would pick up the good ones and throw out the bad ones. We bought eggs for 50 cents per carton – the ones about to expire. We used these eggs to make tea eggs. We brought these for our lunch so we needn’t bring cooked vegetables. My monthly expenses including rent was lower than 80 dollars. I limited my daily expenses to 2 dollars.
One day while sitting on a bus, I was chatting with couple of other Dafa disciples. They were quite surprised when they found out who I was. They said, “You are well-known; tell us how you can live for a month for only 80 dollars. Please share your experiences, we want to learn that”. I told them: “It’s quite simple, don’t forget we are Dafa disciples. Master is watching over every Dafa disciples, there are no difficulties that we cannot overcome. Don’t forget those fellow practitioners in mainland China. They cannot return to their families, some of them are detained in prison. We are in so much better situation; no difficulties can stop us”.
There were many projects in clarifying the truth in Manhattan, distributing truth materials, distributing newspapers, doing torture displays, demonstrating exercises, sending forth righteous thoughts in front of the Chinese consulate, participating in NTDTV’s Gala, setting up Gala’s stage,etc. I took part in all of them. In the mornings, I went out to distribute flyers and newspapers. At nights, I went to the Chinese consulate to send forth righteous thoughts. Evil field was very strong in front of the Chinese consulate, the other places were not very cold, only in front of that place it was especially cold and windy. The time period I sent forth righteous thoughts there was from 10PM to 6AM. I chose this time because it’s the most difficult time of the day. It was winter time around Chinese New Year and it was also the coldest time of the year. One fellow practitioner from Taiwan said now he truly knew what it feels like when one says, “Cold wind stabbing bones” (an old Chinese saying to describe a very cold situation).
One day around 11PM, there were 2 Americans driving by. When they saw us sitting there still sending forth righteous thoughts, they were very moved and said some words I didn’t quite understand. They returned after a moment and gave each of us a blanket. Both of them raised their thumbs to us. No matter how bad the weather was, it never interrupted me. I didn’t stop even on the eve of Chinese New Year and Chinese New Year day. It snowed really hard during those 2 days. Thick snow could cover the whole foot. Because of the Chinese New Year and the heavy snow, there was no other practitioner there. I was the only one there. Even alone, I decided to stay there till the end. Even the people inside the Chinese consulate had to admire Dafa disciples. Dafa disciples have strong will and tenacity.
I was very focused when distributing truth materials. I walked towards sentient beings with only one thought, if I could distribute one more flyer, there would be one more person to know the truth and this person would be saved. There was one person watching me doing this, he came to me and said, “I’ve been watching you for 1 hour, my company really needs employees like you. Please come to work for us, I can pay you 10 dollars per hour”. I smiled to him and said, “I’m focused on distributing flyers, not earning money, it’s for saving people. It cannot be measured by money”. I refused the offer. Everyday people cannot understand Data disciples.
All performers of NTDTV’s New Year gala were practitioners. I signed up for 2 performances. One was dragon dancing; the other one was for the backup for the big drummers. The requirement was to be proficient for both performances. During the training especially dragon dance, my foot hurts a lot. Running even one step was very difficult. I treated this as a tribulation to overcome, a test to see if I can stand up. At the last day before the Gala, I suddenly caught a fever, felt very cold and all my body was shaking. I knew this was another test. I forced myself to stand up to fight the evil. If I was scared of it, it would bully me. If I was not scared of it, it would be scared of me. At the end, I defeated the evil and passed this tribulation.
The 3rd point I want to report that under Master’s help, miracles happened when I was driving in New York City.
At one Fa study, one practitioner asked who could drive and was willing to help. I stepped forward and asked if I could do the job. He said as long as a person is a Dafa disciple and has Master and the Fa in the heart, he or she can do the job. I knew I could definitely do it, because I knew myself. I always have Master and the Fa in my heart.
The next day, I found out it’s a big truck, I was a little worried. But then I thought to myself, no need to worry, I am a Dafa disciple, no difficulties can stop a Dafa disciple, I have Master watching over me, “When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn back the tide” (The Master-Disciple Bond from Hong Yin Volume II). After these thoughts, I bravely went ahead to be the driver.
The main task of this truck was to transport display boards for truth clarification spots in Manhattan, things for staging torture displays and other materials. The difficult part for me was that I don’t understand English and couldn’t read the street signs. I was not familiar with the roads in New York City. Traffic was heavy there, lots of taxies, drivers were not polite. Without Master’s help, I could not last for even one day. Many times, I relied on my feelings. I felt Master was just beside me directing me. I didn’t get lost for 2 years. One time, I seemed lost, didn’t know the place and directions. I didn’t know whether I was getting closer or further to the place I wanted to go. I felt blank in my head and I was so anxious that I had a big sweat. I asked for Master’s help in my heart, “Master please help, your disciple is lost”.
I was on a highway and I saw there was an exit. I took the exit and then saw a man walking slowly on the side of the road. I parked my truck beside him and thought now finally I could get some help. I asked him for directions. This was a Chinese who speaks Mandarin. He was very nice and told me not to worry. He gave me the directions in detail. Afterwards, I felt this is very strange, there was no homes close by and this person didn’t have a car. Especially he was Chinese and speaks very good Mandarin. This must be arranged by Master to help me get back.
Another time, the truck was fully loaded and was very heavy. I was in a hurry so I didn’t slow down during a turn. Because the truck was fully loaded and the speed was a little too fast, the truck tilted significantly. I immediately realized the danger and shouted in my heart. “Master, please save me”, immediately the truck titled back and didn’t rollover. This was a miracle. I was so scared that I was in a cold sweat.
Under Master’s watch, I didn’t have any accident in those 2 years driving in New York City. I didn’t get any tickets. The truck also didn’t get any scratches.
After Fa rectification in Manhattan finished, I returned to Seattle. In the recent years, Seattle holds Shen Yun every year. I actively participated in Shen Yun’s promotion to save sentient beings quickly and to save more sentient beings.
I always tried to do more things quickly because of the sense of urgency of saving sentient beings. During the project of putting brochures in plastic bags, I required myself to finish 6 boxes every day. I didn’t allow myself to sleep without finishing 6 boxes. Sometimes I was very sleepy; I would get up again after 1 hour sleep and continue the work. I finished 281 boxes in 2 months. I thought I must do more of this work because my conditions for this work were very good. I have a big room and no interference. My place has elevators and a cart and it’s very easy to move the boxes. In last year 2012 I only did 6 boxes but still I was very tired. I was living on the 6th floor without an elevator. I was so tired just by moving the 6 boxes onto the 6th floor. Now Master had given me a good place. It’s all arranged by Master so I need to finished more boxes. My condition is better than anybody’s.
I spent 4 days every week to hang the brochures onto the doors. I came home very late every day. I tried hard to hang materials onto one more home, save one more person. Every day I was tired of walking but I continued. It’s not easy to save a person. It’s impossible without compassion and perseverance. Evil tried to interfere and made my foot hurt, every step was painful. Sometimes I thought if it’s painful walking then I could just run. Running seemed less painful. One time, my legs were so tired that I fell down and couldn’t get up. I looked up the home in front of me and thought should I go? It’s such a long walk. Finally my righteous thought prevailed. I thought, this family had been waiting for me to save them, how can I not go just because of this little hardship? Master asked us to save more sentient beings, why shouldn’t I listen to Master? I definitely need to go. This hardship is nothing. It is Master who keeps encouraging me to overcome all the difficulties to save sentient beings, and to save sentient beings quickly. After I hang each brochure, I would send forth righteous thoughts. I must tell people about Shen Yun and let those people having predestined relationships come to watch Shen Yun and don’t miss this precious opportunity.
Clarifying the truth, saving sentient beings by collecting signatures.
In Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference, Master said, “For cultivators there are no real role models to follow. Each person is cultivating himself, and each must walk his own path; there are no references to draw upon or examples to follow. There’s just one thing: how you follow the Fa in your actions.”
Pike market place is a famous tourist spot in Seattle for over 100 years. Many people around the world come to visit here every day. It’s a very good platform to display the materials, clarify the truth and save sentient beings. Every week I was there for 2 days. I demonstrated the exercises; fellow practitioners who can speak English would clarify the truth and collect the signatures. We worked together really well. Every day many people came to know the truth, sign the petitions and be thankful to us. I demonstrated exercises for 4 hours every day. In summer, it’s very hot. Sometimes a layer of skin would come off but I’m still there every day. I required myself to have correct movements in exercise demonstrations because the audience was from all over the world. Every movement represented the image of Dafa disciples, I didn’t allow myself any wrong movements which could damage the image of Dafa. Facing so many cameras, our movements needed to be very carefully and we treated it very seriously.
At this year’s Seafair parade, I was arranged to demonstrate exercises on the float. I had a lot of feelings. I attended this parade many times. At the beginning, sentient beings didn’t know what Falun Gong is. Their expressions showed they didn’t understand and had doubts. They were insensitive. They didn’t object but also didn’t welcome us. Slowly because Dafa disciples had been clarifying the truth worldwide, sentient beings were coming closer and closer to understand what Falun Gong is. Now they welcomed us so much, people were cheering when they saw us. I was really moved. This showed the result of Dafa disciples’ hard work over the years and also showed sentient beings are coming to understand. Those people who supported us had been saved. This was the result of Master’s benevolence and Dafa disciples’ hard work. I often waved to them and felt so excited that so many people had been saved.
In What is a Dafa Disciple, Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 New York Fa Conference, Master said: “Do you realize something? My Dafa disciples, your righteous thoughts do have an effect. And the combined effect of each of you together is powerful beyond compare. The reason you can’t achieve such an effect is that your faith is lacking, and your righteous thoughts aren’t strong enough. With so many Dafa disciples around the globe sending righteous thoughts at the same time, 100 million plus Dafa disciples sending righteous thoughts together at the same time globally, would that not be terrifying to the evil and the old forces? To the gods, it would be a truly magnificent sight. What power! Even with just one Dafa disciple, if your righteous thoughts are strong, the power is enough to split a mountain—just one thought will do it”.
Sending forth righteous thoughts according to the clock is a big deal. I think it’s really important and didn’t stop doing it. Especially the one at 3AM, sometimes I asked Master’s help to wake me up. I often got Master’s reminders. I often thought of those Dafa disciples in china who was in prison or could not return to families. If every Dafa disciple around the world can listen to Master’s words to send forth righteous thoughts, Fa’s rectification of the human world will arrive.
If we have Master in our hearts, have righteous thoughts, believe in Master and the Fa, nothing can stop us on our cultivation path, just as Master said “always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank” (Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference). Thank you Master. Thank you everyone. Heshi.
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