Assisting the Teacher by Doing as He Says

Hong G. Hong (Taiwan)

Recently, the Teacher published 5 articles in less than one and a half months: The Knowing Heart, Towards Consummation, A Reference for Prophecies, Using at Will, and Deter Interference. This made us, the disciples, feel touched and guilty. We feel touched due to Master's mercy in suffering for us and still waiting for us, not wanting to abandon any disciple; we feel guilty because of our not advancing assertively enough in learning Fa.

Thanks to Teacher's benevolence, we have been given another chance time and time again. He has been waiting for us to advance and step up on this Heavenly Stair.

I attained Fa on 4/24/96, almost 4 years and 3 months ago. I used to be a senior member of a Christian church. By chance I took a ride with a co-worker and he took me with him to a 9-day Dafa class. So I found it! This Cosmic Great Law as shown in the book Zhuan Falun gave me all the answers that were missing in the Bible. Teacher says it all so clearly. Thus I decided to take the Dafa and maintain cultivation practice all the way until completion. My family members were Christians. My wife was a third generation believer and our son grew up in the Christian environment, a sincere one, and was Chairman of the Young Christians at his college. They were worried by my participation in Falun Gong study. They asked the preacher and other senior members of the church, sisters and brothers, to pray for me. They invited the clergyman that I respected most to come to persuade me. After talking not more than half an hour, he realized that Falun Dafa is the universal great law. So this clergyman gave up the idea of talking me out of it. He told his wife that there was no need to try to give me the Christian book she had brought for me to read. This Fa is so good that I wished my family members to learn it too. Usually they would listen to me on everything, but not this. I knew that I could not force them. The only thing I could do was to ask them to try reading the Dafa books. They had been tightly bound by their religion and could hardly believe that there could be such a great Fa. I realized that while it is hard to change others, the Great Law can change me from the microscopic particles up. I used to behave nicely at the church but would explode into a mean guy at home. Then, after learning Dafa, my quick temper disappeared and my mind became peacefully happy with real physical heath. I started to enjoy the status of being illness-free. Due to my progress in changing, my family members came into Dafa gradually, one by one. In these 4+ years, I have studied the Fa continuously and done the Falun Gong exercises every day. Some tribulations I passed and some I failed. During all the struggles of falling and getting up, failing or passing, I would detect the regrettable areas to improve. For some period of time, I tried to shorten my sleep for more time in reading Fa. Whenever I woke up at 3 or 4 a.m., I would think that Teacher had already let me sleep enough and waking up early gave me more time to learn Fa. However, I did not know that within my actions intended to do Dafa work well there was too much of the ordinary person's thinking. The following event will illustrate what I mean. The day after Teacher's Law Lecture in Taiwan on 11/16/97, I drove him to the Historical Palace Museum. With the everyday person's concept, I wished to give Teacher the best possible tour for his rare visit to Taiwan. So I was in a hurry to find a museum tour guide, while leaving Teacher alone waiting for the elevator. Teacher was giving me a chance to "wu" (figure out), so he did not wait for me but took the elevator up by himself. Then I ran upstairs and searched around but could not find him anywhere. So I rushed back to the first floor to wait for him. When Teacher showed up downstairs, we continued to view the display of the historical treasures. Then I found out that Teacher knows about every detail of every treasure craft there, better than the best tour guide does. He could talk about how and when the craft was created, how it was used, and its historical background. Thus I came to be enlightened to the fact that I should not judge Master using ordinary humankind's thought. When I was in various European countries this March and during my April and May tours of Hong-Fa activities in North America and in Brazil in South America, I tried to spread Dafa everywhere while breaking through the everyday person's boundaries. For example, I jumped out of the limiting human concept that in Western society you should not be pushy and volunteer to teach strangers. I offered to and did teach 6 or 7 young white guys Falun Gong in a market square in Switzerland. The result was excellent.

Back home in Taipei, we practice Falun Gong early every morning at the park. Sometimes we are bitten by insects. I always try to forbear the insect bites with the thought that if it is for me then I will take it and endure it. One time during meditation, some animal falling down from a tree bit my neck. At the moment I felt some swelling and acute pains but did not take it seriously. I had no thought of chasing it away or crying for Master to help reduce the pain. I almost forgot about the bite during the practice until we went home. Then, when I checked my neck, the swelling was gone as if nothing had happened. I think it was so because I did not care about it and let the concern go so everything would be all right.

While sharing my experiences at the Los Angeles conference, I talked about how I was able to pass the test of internal conflicts among Assistants in Taiwan. At the very beginning, I thought Dafa was so much to be cherished that I unselfishly took the lead in responsibility for spreading it all over Taiwan. Some practitioners might not have known that I had already realized "Not seeking fame or gain. No fancy title. But all being responsible for Dafa". To facilitate a normal way of development and to reduce my administrative power, they took some measures to put checks and balances on me. I could understand this so, no matter how someone badmouthed or criticized me, or even mounted personal attacks on me in public or behind my back, I always stuck firmly to Dafa and tried to do as Teacher says, to reflect and to cultivate inwardly. I have never been in anger or in debate without feeling grateful for what was happening. (In these 4+ years, my zeal in spreading Dafa has never diminished. If somebody misunderstands the Assisting Station or is not cooperating, I will silently resolve the issue. It is so because, to me, Dafa work is all of ours and we must absolutely not split or act against each other.) At that time I thought there would be limitations with only me doing the work. With others involved, we would have more power to do Dafa work. Therefore, I quietly endured others' behavior with no fighting back. I would take my self as a true practitioner to keep reflecting inward, without wondering why, as veteran practitioners, they were still talking or acting like that. Maybe the Master arranged it as an opportunity for everyone involved to get rid of one's own attachments. I did not complain nor try to explain to the others. I believed that sooner or later they would realize the fact and give up their own attachments. So the administrative conflict was never in my mind. But those guys still did not believe that I really let go of it. They kept giving me critiques in meetings that lasted till two or three o'clock in the morning. (That did not hinder my getting up at 5 to bring the music player to the park for morning gong practice.) No mater what they said, I was not moved in my heart. They could only shake their heads, saying at least this guy has one virtue, i.e., not losing his temper. They were really helping me to raise myself up, by helping me detect my own show-off nature, inattention to details, and lack of straightforward communication. This Dafa is going more and more righteously due to Teacher's guidance to us to reflect and cultivate inwardly. During experience sharing, I used to emphasize that "it eased my passing a test when I took myself as a practitioner (while not treating others as practitioners)". One practitioner on one occasion reminded me that if I take others as practitioners then I'll be searching with more effort to find the root of my attachments; otherwise they just provide a test for me without requiring serious inward reflection. Again, thanks to Master's arrangement, via John's words, I was awakened for a need to look for the root, not only the surface. Later, then, in my learning of the Fa I knew better the inner meaning of searching inward. When we were aboard an airplane flying out of LA, all of a sudden I sensed the state of "No selfishness, No me" so much that as I was reading the Fa book, circular golden light was shining at the four corners of each word. While mind and body undergoing a big change, I started to understand more and more. I felt lighter and lighter and sensed that on board the airplane I became kind of closer to the Heavenly Paradise. I then stood at the open pathway to stretch my two arms. When I was doing Falun Gong Exercise #1, warm tears flowed down my cheeks amidst my sincere gratitude to the Master for his Greatness and Benevolence! On the second day back in Taipei, there was a vivid picture in my dream: Behind every word of tribulation in the book, at its fundamental base there was a Buddha or a Tao!

During these 4+ years, there was a time period when I could not sense anything. I was feeling like I was lost as to whether Fa was taking care of me or not. Then after just a few seconds, I remembered what Teacher says - Not to take the thought karma as your own self. I want to cultivate. It interferes with me, trying to cause me to stop my cultivation practice. But I have to insist on cultivation to the end for completion!

Here I can relate to you another thing. In July, 1997, I went through a realistic flying up experience in daytime, not in a dream. One weekend that summer, I took my kid to play golf at the Yang-Ming-Mountain Club. Without a caddie, I was carrying my own heavy clubs. As I was stepping on the stairs to the 8th hole (which was about one story higher than the 7th hole), all of a sudden, without any warning sign, I felt itching at the end of my spine. And then, wow! the heavy clubs on my shoulder lost their weight and then my whole body was not touching the ground but floating and drifting to the floor of the 8th hole. It was so magically wonderful! I can completely understand that one will fly if the Universal characteristics can no longer control him.

After the 4/25 event last year, practitioners from Mainland China would call to ask for my advice as to what should be the next move and whether they should step forward. My personal opinion would be that all practitioners should step forward, based on Law (Fa) but not on a personal basis. Then we will not do something wrong. To appeal is a fundamental right given to the citizen by the PRC's Constitution. People should be the boss of the nation. (It seems like China does not really mean that.) The Chinese Government reversed the right with the wrong. It accused people's appealing as "surrounding and attacking", classified Falun Gong that teaches people to behave good as a "cult", used fabricated reports and books of fake stories, even programs in the media to slander Falun Gong. We respect the Mainland practitioners who stepped forward to tell the truth and display the powerful virtue of the Dafa. They did that one after another at the risk of their fame and gain, even of their lives, in an unselfish and without-personal-concern way. Under such a circumstance, the practitioners abroad should step up bravely to "assist the Teacher get it going on earth". We should utilize all channels and various media such as newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, magazines, etc. to make more of the people in the whole world aware of Dafa so that they will not fall for the cheating by Communist China. This way we are helping people in the world to choose and take their future position.

On the second night of the 4/25/99 incident, the Taiwan Dafa practitioners decided to stand up bravely and face the media, the government, and other influential groups. We prepared reference materials and Falun Dafa books for them, hoping to give them a positive understanding of Falun Gong instead of the misleading international press coverage. For more than a year, the facts have proven that Teacher's Fa is so great that it passes all tests. Practitioners in the world have stepped forward to spread the Fa, protect the Fa and so made more people attain the Fa. The same progress is occurring in Taiwan. The number of practitioners has increased from a little more than two thousand last year to more than twenty thousand this year. The number of Falun Gong sites has gone from 10 or so to the current 300-400+. Now the North America has a World Falun Dafa Radio Station, while there is Dafa program being broadcast in Taiwan. The goal is for the world to hear more positive news about Falun Gong using all possible channels.

I have one more experience to share with you. This April we came for the New York Fahui and the 3-day exercises in front of the UN Building. Then we went to Washington DC for Experience-Sharing on 4/25. On the next day, A practitioner took us to the Lincoln Memorial for Falun Gong exercises and hong-fa activities. She was mentioning how powerful her new cassette player was, which she let us borrow to use. Right there, when we started the exercises, no music came out at all. I ended up shouting out the commands for the exercise steps. Many tourists took the Falun Dafa flyers we set out there. The practitioner has since e-mailed me saying that she has been going there every day to do the exercises and for spreading the Dafa on the spot. Knowing there would be a group exercise activity in front of the Chinese Embassy on that afternoon, we took a taxi there. Waiting at the doorstep for other practitioners, who came later and whose activity there has lasted for nearly a year, I thought that, without the music our exercising there might not be impressive enough. Then a good idea popped up. Why don't I try to communicate to the personnel inside the Embassy, using my Taiwan passport? (Usually they refused to meet with practitioners in the US.) So I went ahead and rang the doorbell and said "Take me to your Leader." After some consideration, finally a First Class Secretary came out to greet my wife, a young Taiwanese guy named Tony who was with us, and me. Chatting with the Secretary, I tried to explain the truth of Falun Gong to him. We talked from the Chinese human rights angle about Falun Dafa. I gave him Introduction of Falun Dafa printed in Taiwan. I told him to remember the fact that Communist China was wrong before when they criticized their Chairman Liu and Vice Premier Deng. Later it proved all the charges had been fabricated. The same situation is going on with Falun Gong now. The 1400 death cases had nothing to do with any true Falun Gong practitioner. I also told him the story about "Conversation between an Old Farmer and Two Officers" and the following story. A CNTV reporter went to a hospital and coached some seriously ill old patients to blame Falun Gong for their critical diseases. An old man spoke out his righteous heart: "I have already committed too many bad karma in my life. Before my death, I don't want to do any more bad deeds." So on and so forth, my appealing to the Chinese government officer lasted for two hours. It was amazing for us to step on to Chinese territory (the Embassy) and be able to tell them the truth. I wonder could the Master have arranged this? If the cassette player had worked and if the other practitioners had not been late, would all this have happened?

Thanks to Teacher's benevolence. Teacher, in his latest article Deter Interference says: "In the several years of your cultivation practice, I have not only endured a great deal for you, but also, in the meantime, I have constantly given you hints for your improvement, looked after you for your safety, and settled the debts that you've owed at different levels so that you can reach Consummation----these aren't things that just anyone can do, and neither can they be done for everyday people. ....I had told you beforehand in my Fa lectures about all of the problems that might occur during this vicious and destructive test. For those who haven't genuinely practiced cultivation, it is really difficult to pass. Everyone should now be more clear on why I've often asked you to read the book more! The Fa can reveal all attachments, the Fa can eradicate all evils, the Fa can expose and dispel all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." As I am quoting these sentences, I think we must "follow Teacher closely, steadfastly cultivating Dafa" but don't be that "With attachments too strong, bearings are lost."

We all are so lucky that our cultivation is tied together with the Universal Fa-Rectification. Master gave us this Great Cosmic Law as a stair to Heaven. We can never return his immense favor and grace. Master says in Towards Consummation that "Dafa has perfected and harmonized everything in the cosmos. The mighty virtue is majestic and ever lasting. Those disciples who have passed the comprehensive and most rigorous tests have laid a rock-solid foundation of Dafa in this world, displayed in the human world the true manifestation of Dafa, and at the same time have perfected their own most majestic positions. ....Everyone's behavior -good or bad- fully reflects the outcome he or she will obtain. Sentient beings, your future positions are chosen by you, yourselves." Right now Communist China is, regardless of cost, doing more vicious and more comprehensive suppression of Dafa and Dafa disciples. They are using all channels and all means to spread more lies to confuse people and further carry out the persecution. When the demonic group is struggling in their fighting, as they are being cornered now, and practitioners in the Mainland China are protecting Fa with their lives, can we just sit inside the house waiting for the Consummation? "In the present, to tell the truth of Falun Gong to the people in the general public is the most important thing in assisting the Teacher get it going in this human world. This way will be a big support to practitioners in the Mainland China." Today we all step forward; such a heart is to be congratulated. I hope that all genuine practitioners in the world will step up and become a true part of the Fa-rectification as the Teacher says in a poem inside the book Hong-Ing: