It Is not work but cultivation

I came to Sweden from Beijing in 1991. In 1994, I took part in the 10-day workshop run by Master in Jinan and I started my real-life journey from then on. I came to realise the true meaning of my arrival to Sweden. Swedish people have a very close connection to Dafa. In 1995, Master came to Sweden in person to spread Dafa and run workshops. Maybe because I had obtained the Fa at an earlier time, I became the contact person as well as coordinator for Sweden. This has turned into a very good cultivation experience for me.

Treating Fellow Cultivators With Compassion

I am very fond of doing things for Dafa. However, when things were piling up, I became anxious and my attitude deteriorated and I was very hard on others. In contrast, I could clearly remember when Master came to spread the Fa in Sweden, he was very patient when he gave lectures, taught exercises and answered questions from westerners.

One day, Master called me to one side and talked to me in a very serious way: They are all your same school fellow disciples. Some of them cultivate better than you. You must treat them very nicely. Otherwise you will regret it in furture. I felt extremely shameful after hearing Master’s words. I was merely busy doing jobs and completely ignored my attitude. This touched me in a big way. I really appreciated Master’s timely warning. Many years later, whenever I started being very impatient with fellow cultivators, I would soon be extremely regretful. Master’s voice would echo in my heart very often.

Master mentioned in the article “It is not a Job, but Cultivation Practice” from Falun Dafa Essentials For Further Advancement: “Falun Dafa is for cultivation practice—it is not a job. All of our volunteer workers must first be genuine cultivators with high-level xinxing, as they are role models for xinxing cultivation. We do not need the types of leaders like those among everyday people.”

Quite often, I would make a list of things to do for Dafa and hoped to do a bit more and a bit faster in this way. Although these things are all for Dafa, I often handled them with an ordinary person’s mentality and many ordinary people’s notions.

I recall at the very beginning of the evil CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong, I did not know how to do things with western fellow cultivators. One day, one Swedish cultivator asked me: “Why can’t you sit down and share with us, for example, for 6 hours and then we can do them together? Can’t we achieve better results this way?” My first response was: “Six hours? Such a long time!” However, I thought about it afterwards and felt it was reasonable so decided to give it a try. I gradually came to understand: When I do things, I only emphasize the result but neglect the process of doing it. However, isn’t the process of doing it actually cultivation as well? During this process, I could see the preciousness of fellow cultivators and witnessed my shortcomings. It took me a very long period of time before I formed the habit of sharing more with fellow western cultivators as well as working and cultivating together and upgrading. Every now and then, I remembered Master’s words I,n “Solid Cultivation”:

“Learn Fa, obtain Fa; Compare with one another in study, in cultivation; Examine how each and every thing measures up — Achieving these is cultivation.” (Hong Yin)

Saving People Is the Responsibility of Dafa Disciples

I have been responsible for communication with the Swedish Foreign Office since 30th July 1999. We have been in touch with them for the last 18 years. Their staff have changed many times during this period. One common question remained the same for newcomers: What is Falun Gong? Why does the CCP persecute Falun Gong? I remember during the few early years, I remained in contact with a female diplomat. I talked to her about my personal experience and what I had witnessed and heard. She listened to me very carefully and was moved to tears. However after years of truth clarification, there was hardly any visible result. The Swedish government still insisted on closed-door dialogue with the CCP when it came to the issue of human rights. I began to complain to them. One day she rang me up and said: “I am about to change my workplace to the embassy in another country. I feel so powerless regarding my ability to handle the human rights issues in China. Is there any news on professor Changxin Yu (a Dafa disciple from Beijing) yet?” I understood that she knew the truth of Dafa very well but she was not able to do much to help. I saw her feeling of guilt. I realised that I was wrong. I am a cultivator and I have the mission of saving people. How could I blame the people that we wanted to save? Things were not done well and it was my responsibility, not hers.

Master said to us: “As Dafa disciples, you have no reason whatsoever not to fulfill your mission.” And He said: “How enormous is the responsibility you shoulder! You’ve never considered issues on such a basis as saving sentient beings, but always think with human notions! As soon as you come across specific issues your human attachments will come to the fore! As soon as you come across specific things your human attachments will resurface!” (Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference)

Saving sentient beings is the responsibility of Dafa disciples. What an ordinary person can do is to position himself/herself. Our righteous mind can help to get rid of their various kinds of doubts as well as to inspire their good thoughts and sense of justice so that they can step out bravely to speak for Falun Gong.

In 2002, we invited the vice prime minister of Sweden to join our rally in front of parliament. In the beginning, she only agreed to sign our petition. After she came to our rally, she took the initiative to pick up the microphone and speak. She supported us in a very positive way.

The annual book exhibition in Gothenburg is a good opportunity for us to clarify the truth to politicians. Each year, the Swedish parliament would have an exhibition stand there. Every 2-3 hours, there would be a politician from a different region to meet and talk with the public. I have been their regular guest for the last 10 years. A lot of my connections with members of parliament were established there. Each time before I went there, I would check the schedule and find out who would be there for the day. I then checked their CVs and decided whom I should chat with. One day when I arrived at the book exhibition, the first person I saw was the MP whom I wanted to talk the most to. He already knew the truth about Falun Gong and watched the documentary film on organ harvesting. He also got involved in an early day motion to amend the legislation. However, I still felt he needed to know more about Falun Gong. He arrived there an hour earlier that day. He was very happy to see me. He wanted to know more about Falun Gong. He raised many questions and we talked non-stop for over an hour. Later on, when he was interviewed by Swedish television regarding issues on forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, he talked really well and I was happy for him to position himself well.

Getting Rid of the Attachment to Fear

Under normal circumstances, I am not afraid of clarifying the truth to members of parliament. But there was once an important elderly MP with a very serious expression on his face. I had a bit of fear in my heart. I walked around twice there but didn’t have the courage to approach him. I was just about to give up. Just at that moment, I came across a fellow cultivator and I asked her if she would go with me to clarify the truth to that MP. Normally I was the one to encourage her, but that day she agreed without any hesitation. In the end, we had very a good conversation with that MP. His serious face turned very happy and he thanked us a lot in the end.

I often prefer to choose the person to whom I like to clarify the truth and choose the ones that I can easily manage. However, this thought could block many that were supposed to be saved and make a lot people lose the opportunity of being saved. Master said to us: “You’ll save those you like, and not save those you dislike—can you save sentient beings then?” And He said: “How could those human attachments and fear mobilize gong?” (Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference).

I truly thank Master to send fellow cultivators to help me when I had fear.

Regaining Patience by Cultivation

Some of the MPs would step forward to support us quite quickly after they learned the truth. Some of the MPs know the truth very well and I have clarified the truth together with other fellow cultivators to them. For many years they have not stepped out to support us. I have developed a grievance towards them. Through Fa study, I realised that my heart needs to be clean and pure when clarifying the truth and saving people. We need to be genuinely good to others and should not pursue results. Also, an ordinary person’s mind is not very stable and can be easily interfered with by various sides. When our heart is not stable and our righteous thoughts are not strong, we could affect them directly. After sharing with fellow cultivators, we managed to adjust our minds and support the MPs with our righteous thoughts. Hereafter, when they stepped out, they appeared to be very righteous. The interference from the Chinese embassy and consulate made them even more determined to support us.

Using Heart to Listen

In the early days of my truth clarification, my main focus was what I was going to tell them and I didn’t pay much attention to listening to others. Sometimes I would even interrupt others’ conversation. I was not focused on listening to what others said. The same situation existed when I was dealing with fellow cultivators. I spoke more than I listened and hardly used my heart to listen to others.

One day, my daughter texted me and asked the meaning of the Chinese word “listen聴”. I saw the word “listen聴” so similar to the word ‘virtue 德’. The traditional Chinese character of the word ‘listen’ not only uses ear but also uses heart to function (for there is the character “ear 耳” and character “heart心” in the traditional Chinese character “listen 聴”). It has a connection with virtue. The simplified Chinese character ‘listen 听’ doesn’t need ear or heart. It only requires a mouth and has no virtue at all (for there is the character “mouth 口” in it).

I came to understand now “to be able to listen” requires cultivation and it requires a person to let go of himself. I grew up in the environment of Party culture, which always encourages putting forward one’s opinion. I hadn’t learnt how to listen to others, let alone listening using my heart. If I want to save people, I must cultivate and relinquish all Party culture and my self. Slowly, I noticed that it would be easier to find the shining part of a person if I use my heart to listen. It would be easier for me to find the right starting point for truth clarification. Only by doing things this way could I clarify the truth with the right direction as well as reach the right point.

I have been doing truth clarification work towards government for over 10 years. However, I didn’t use all my efforts and I had too many attachments to fear. Therefore the truth clarification process moves very slowly and is far away from Master’s requirements. I feel the biggest obstacle in cultivation is human thoughts. The truth clarification work to government is a process of getting rid of the various human attachments including attachment to fear, attachment to the final result and not working wholeheartedly etc. And it is also a process of making more effort to have a genuine, kind and pure heart.

Master has already laid the path. It is up to me to place my xinxing in the right place. Only by cultivating myself well will I be able to save more sentient beings.

Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!