Greetings Master, greetings fellow practitioners
I obtained the Fa just before the persecution in 1999. Even though I was still a relatively new practitioner at the time, by studying the Fa and listening to the sharings from veteran practitioners, I understood it was important for every practitioner to step out to assist Master in Fa rectification.
Master said: “The actions they are now adopting in the persecution of Dafa and its students are extremely evil and shameful, and they fear these will be exposed. You must let the world’s people know about their evilness—this is saving people, as well. While eliminating the evil, you consummate yourselves and strengthen the Fa’s manifestation in the world. Rationality
Validating the Fa and clarifying the truth to predestined people in India
At the beginning of the persecution in China, many Dafa practitioners were constantly packing their suitcases; traveling from country to country to validate the Fa and clarify the truth. It was on one of my trips to Geneva where the head office of United Nation is that many of us from all over the world came to support practitioners in the front line to clarify the truth to the members of United Nations. By chance, I met this practitioner who had inspired me and encouraged me to join her on a trip to India to spread the Fa to predestinated people and clarify the truth to the government. Shortly after I returned from my trip to Europe, I received a call from her that she was planning another trip to India. I asked her when and she said the next week – could I come? I said yes without hesitation. Everything happened so fast; little did I realize my life was already rearranged by Master based on my experience in the past working as an everyday person.
On the plane, she was telling me her predestined relationship with India. It happened during one of her business trips to India. She was doing the exercises during her lunch break in the park and there were many people who came to learn the exercises. Since then, she’s been traveling back and forth using her weekends to spread the Fa and clarify the truth. When we were almost there, she asked me how long I could stay? I said I would stay as long as she stayed. She said she can only stay for the weekend and needed to leave Sunday night to go back to work on Monday. I remember I was in shock, but I tried to cover up my horror and disappointment. I wondered at the time if she knew I had no experience apart from giving out flyers and clarifying the truth to people on the street.
We arrived early in the morning after one of those overnight flights. She wasted no time. The minute we got out of the airport; she was already on the phone making appointments for me. Right after we dropped off our suitcases, we headed off to the appointments she had previously made before the trip. I had no time to indulge in my human notions of fear and worry; I was determined to take on my responsibility to safeguard the Fa and save the sentient beings there. I listened intensely to how she clarified the truth and how she engaged with the politicians, and took note how she was on the phone making appointment in-between the taxi ride from one appointment to another. She wasted no time during the two days there. Before she left, she gave me a list of appointments that were confirmed and hundreds of names and phone numbers for me to continue to make phone calls to. I looked at the list of names and most of the India names were so long, some were difficult to pronounce. What was worse was I couldn’t even tell if the people were male or female by their names.
That was the beginning of me walking my path clarifying the truth to government and VIPs. I followed her steps to make sure my days were filled with people to see and phone calls to make. Between appointments, I visited media and NGOs to clarify the truth. From talking to these people, I was introduced to more people to see. It seems everyone was waiting for the Fa and eager to hear the truth. I was getting better and gaining more confidence in how to clarify the truth. Sometimes, I was amazed at the things that came out of my month. One day, I was visiting the biggest media in New Delhi to clarify the truth. The Chairman of the media company passed by the office and I was introduced to her. She asked me to come to her office after my meeting. She knew the practitioner who brought me to India and asked if I was comfortable where I was staying. I told her I was not comfortable, but I would endure it, because this was nothing compared to what the Falun Gong practitioners experienced in China. She knew the purpose of my coming to India. After the conversation, she invited me to come and stay with her, so I would have a safe place to continue to do what I came to do. I was over the moon. She said to take her home as my home away from home and to stay as long as I wished. My human thoughts at the time was that I must have said something right that touched her. Now, looking back, I realized it was that Master saw my determination to safeguard the Fa and save the people there and He arranged this place for me. Thank you, Master.
Close to where I stayed, I set up a practice site every morning. In the beginning it was only a few people, then more and more people came to learn; sometimes there were 40 to 60 people. She also gave me an office so I could set up a 9-day lecture class for those who came to learn the exercises. My daily routine started at 6am at the exercise site and finished at 8pm in the evening. The whole day, I was charge with energy. I had breakfast in the morning, most of the time; I went without water and food the whole day until I got home in the evening. I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty. Before I knew it, three months had already passed since I arrived.
During these three months, I also travelled extensively within India, met many predestined people and visited many NGOs and head of government departments to clarify the truth. There were many amazing experiences during this journey made me feel tears in my heart for my gratitude to Master for being there by my side, watching me, compassionately protecting me. There are no words that can express my gratitude to Master.
In one of my return trips from Mumbai back to New Delhi traveling in the overnight train, I experienced a breathing problem. I felt my airway was closing and I used all my strength to breathe until I had no more strength. People stopped and asked if I needed help? All I could think of was I am a Dafa practitioner, I can’t tarnish the reputation of Dafa. I remember so clearly that I asked Master to please help me if this was not His arrangement. After I handed over the decision to Master, I felt calm and focused on listening to the Fa. It was in that split second that I had no memories. I didn’t remember how long it was by the time I opened my eyes. I saw the sun was rising on the horizon and I saw myself still standing leaning on the side of the bed, still alive, breathing normally. I thought to myself: “Was it a bad dream?” No, it was not a nightmare, as I could still feel the pain in every part of my body. When I got off the train, I was feeling energised and brand new. Thank you, Master.
By writing this experience sharing; it had brought back many memories of the early days of my cultivation in validating the Fa and clarifying the truth in India. What Master had showed me is all that is required of us is to step out and do what Master has asked us to do and one will be bestowed with all the wisdom by the Fa even without having any experience.
I remember on one of my trips back to India at the invitation to speak at a conference where the leaders from the Tibetan government in exile meet. I didn’t realise this was another arrangement by Master to help me to elevate in my cultivation. I was hoping a practitioner from US would speak at the conference, but no one could make it, so I had no choice but to go reluctantly. I remember public speaking was the scariest thing to me during my school days. I wrote the speech so many times. Until the day when I had to deliver the speech at the conference I still didn’t have a satisfactory speech. The conference was located in a valley far away from any civilised place, with no phone or computer connection. I gave up after I tried my best but still couldn’t improve my speech. I studied the Fa and meditated to calm myself down. When the time came, I went to the conference room and there were over 30 plus people, mostly men. I sat down and my mind was blank. When it was time for me to give my talk, I got up and spoke calmly from my heart. When I stopped and look around, some were clapping and some were wiping their eyes. They all got up and some came to shake my hand and said something like they wished they had more Tibetans like the Falun Gong practitioners …That was the moment I felt very humbled and Master’s compassionate energy filled the room. I went back to my room, but I couldn’t recall what I said. I remember I was in that beautiful energy field feeling calm, serene and energised with no human thought for a long time. Master was showing me the power of the Fa; all I have to do is trust and let go of my human thoughts. I enlightened about one thing: when the opportunity is presented to me, it is arranged for me to elevate my cultivation. If I said no or passed it on to others, in reality, I was saying no to Master’s arrangement. I came to cherish each of those opportunities.
There were so many predestined people in India Many I met and clarified the truth to. In-turn, they invited me to speak to their groups through their connections and contacts so that many more came to hear the truth about Dafa and the persecution. After I visited the Tibetan cultural centre, the person in-charge asked if I could travel to Ladakh to speak with those heads who were in charge of the monasteries there and tell them about the persecution. Ladakh is a city up in the Himalayas. Another practitioner and I flew up there from New Delhi. Because the high altitude of the place, there were signs at the airport warning all the tourists arriving on the first day to rest and stay in their hotel until they acclimatised the altitude. The host was horrified to learn we had no time to lay down for that long. Right after he dropped us off at the hotel, he said we must rest without going out and he would see us the next day. I told him that we practised Dafa and this wouldn’t affect us. After he left, we went out for a walk. Someone stopped in front of us and asked if we need a taxi. We got in and asked if he could take us to where the government departments were. In the taxi, we told him why we were there. He said he was a human rights activist and he knew everyone in the human rights department. He said what we told him was very important and the world needed to know about this. he told us he would make sure we spoke to all these people before we left so they would know about what had happened in China. He took the rest of the day off and drove us around. Because he knew them, we were able to see each one of them without any appointment. By the time the Tibetan came back to pick us up the next day, we had already met and visited all the people that we needed to see. When we told him what we did, he just couldn’t believe it, the power of the Fa. During those days, as soon as I stepped out to clarify the truth, it never ceased to amaze me what I experienced. A thousand words are all thanks to Master. Without Master’s constant care and protection, I would never be able to accomplish anything.
Clarifying the truth to Chinese tourists
When I heard there were a lot of Chinese tourists traveling to Thailand because of the easy visa scheme between the two countries, I always stopped over in Thailand on the way back to Australia from India. The Thai practitioners didn’t step out to clarify the truth at the early stage of the persecution. I met a Chinese practitioner who was at the refugee camp waiting for the country to take him in. He helped me to make the sign boards in Chinese and printed out persecution photos. We went to the tourist places with the boards and clarified the truth to the precious Chinese. At night, we went to the restaurants and waited for them to come out to give them truth clarifying materials. There were many touching stories to share each day at the practice site with the local Thai practitioners. They were inspired and slowly, overcoming their fear, one by one stepped out.
Master said:
“You have to get personally involved, cultivate, and go and put things into action. Working hard is part of your cultivation. You need to think of ways to find the people that you are meant to save. All of these are things that Dafa disciples should do. Make efforts to cooperate well together.” 20th Anniversary of Fa Teaching
With years of experience clarifying the truth to government officials and VIPs, I have realised that besides perseverance, the most important thing is my cultivation state. Apart from never giving up and preparing background information well, it is elevating my cultivation state that is most important. I must focus on the people instead of me wanting them to do something for me or me achieving a result on my part. When I can remain calm, be kind, have an empty mind and just focus on saving each sentient being, allowing the divine in me to touch their hearts, they then respond to the Fa and not me.
With the increased work load of Dafa projects one after another, so often I forget as a cultivator to make Fa study my first priority, instead of relying on human skills. Therefore, the sacredness of saving sentient beings has gone, unclear of the Fa principles and along the way accumulating many attachments, including the mentality of not willing to accept other people’s criticism, fame and recognition, and still wanting to pursue ordinary people’s happiness and seek a comfortable life. My starting points are no longer pure. Instead of putting more focus on good quality Fa study to improve myself, I have been deluded by my past experience and success, and the recognition of my ability among practitioners. When xinxing tests have come, I haven’t sincerely looked within to improve my cultivation. My attachment to self has caused my failing to raise my level in my cultivation, and I’ve missed many opportunities to save more people.
By writing this experience sharing, it refreshes my memories that in the early days, because of my faith in Master and my humility, how everything was done for me by Master. All the ability was given to me by Master to validate the Fa, not to validate myself. Cultivation is serious. I must base my every thought and deed on the Fa. With all the hard lessons, now I remind myself, whenever my heart is moved, about Master’s Fa: “… just by remaining unmoved you could handle all situations”. Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference.
In recent years, Master has repeatedly reminded us of the importance of cultivating as when we first started. By writing and revisiting those experiences, I hope to re-ignite the will power and the firmness I use to have for the Fa. Although, after all these years I have not stopped doing Dafa work, but somehow I seem to have slowed down in my sense of urgency. I sincerely hope that I can return to the pure mentality of cultivation I used to have when I started. I hope I can be as good as I was at that time. Only in this way can I return what Master has done for me with utmost gratitude in saving me and fulfil and honour my vows to save sentient beings.
I thank our revered Master, I thank my fellow practitioners.