My name is Thai-Vu Ton from North Carolina and I am a biologist working at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. I was born in Saigon, Vietnam and my family came to the United States as refugees from the Vietnam War when I was about 7 years old. I have been practicing Falun Gong for 2 years. I dont think my experiences in cultivation are anything special, but I would like to share them so as to give a little back for what I have gained so much at conferences such as this one.
The Great Law came to me one day over the 1997/1998 holiday season. I saw something on the Internet called Falun Dafa. It caught my eye, yet I thought it was just another system of self-improvement. I printed out China Falun Gong and read it over the holidays. In January of 1998 I taught myself and began to practice the exercises from the pictures and video clips. For the next month, I printed out and read Zhuan Falun. That February, I woke up one night and vomited badly and then had flu-like symptoms and felt weak for several days. I knew it might be my body being purified like Master Li said but I still thought it was probably due to food poisoning.
Over the next few months, I tried to deepen my understanding of the Great Law through self-study and practice. This was the first time that the importance of Xinxing cultivation was revealed to me. In the beginning, though, I acted more like an ordinary person. For example, Master tells us to practice Tolerance but one time someone suddenly cut me off in traffic on the highway and I lost my cool. I chased him briefly at high speed until my sanity returned, after which I felt really embarrassed and ashamed. It was just a simple incident and I acted like an ordinary person and could have made things worse. There are numerous incidents like this. However, the Great Law started to assimilate into me more and more as I kept studying. I began to consciously watch my thoughts and behaviors around people. At work, I stopped feeling resentful as my co-workers got better equipment and office space. I began to stay aloof of many conflicts between my co-workers and even supervisors. I became more open, kind, and tolerant to my family, relatives, and friends, trying to think of other people first instead of just myself.
I kept studying and practicing on my own for several months. I had the contact information of the local practitioners but my thought-karma and notions kept telling me, You can keep learning this on your own. You dont need their help yet. Whenever I was about to inquire for more information, something would always come up and I would procrastinate or forget about it. I was finally able to get in contact with the practitioners in June and went to the 9-day lectures. I drove about 30 miles each way every day for 9 consecutive days to watch the video of Master Lis lectures. At that time, the videos only had English subtitles, yet my concentration was good and my eyes never got tired. The practitioners were very nice and helpful, and they taught and corrected my exercise movements. I finally got a hard copy of Zhuan Falun and have been reading this precious book everyday ever since. I still regret taking so long to contact the practitioners but probably I had to repay some karma before I could advance plus this was a test to see if I could cultivate further.
In October 1998, I went to New York with fellow practitioners and felt so fortunate that Master Li answered my question. My note asked him what is the one important thing he can tell the practitioners to help them succeed in cultivation and he said to read the book more. I have kept the Masters words to heart and try to read and study the Fa as much as possible every day. In fact in his article Seeking the Discipleship with the Master, Master Li has already mentioned this, All energy and all Law are in the Books, and you will naturally attain them by reading the Great Law over. The learner will have a natural change, and he has already been in the Tao when he reads the Book over and over again.
In December 1998, two days before Christmas, I received a phone call from work. It was a co-worker telling me that another co-worker that I had worked with closely for the last year and a half had died of meningitis. He was only 36 years old and it was very sad that his family had to come to his funeral all the way from Florida during the holidays. I felt compassion but I knew that it was his time to go, everybody has his fate. His death awoke me to the realization that there is not much time left for cultivation and we are not guaranteed anything as cultivators so we must use our time very wisely.
This last year of 1999 has been one of much growth and cultivation. In May, I was volunteered by a supervisor to be chairman of the committee for promoting Asian/Pacific Islander Month at my workplace. It would take much work and responsibility and I could have gotten out of that position rather easily, but I remember Master Lis words about conforming to the state of ordinary society which is also the performance of protecting the Law of a dimension. As a Falun Dafa cultivator I should set an example with my conduct. I am usually a quiet, introverted person and public speaking does not come naturally to me, but that month I tried my best and gave a talk in front of a large audience and was told that the people enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, with the help of some practitioners, we later that month did a Falun Gong demonstration as part of the Asian/Pacific Islander Month celebration at my workplace. If this had happened a year earlier, I would probably have turned down the position and lost the precious opportunity to promote Dafa.
During the coming summer, I decided that I still needed to cultivate more in earnest and do more to promote the Fa. I felt complacency and laziness beginning to take hold. Therefore, after work, whenever I got the time, I would go to the local park with my little bulletin board and flyers, and do the Falun Gong exercises. It was very hot sometimes and I would get bitten a lot by insects. Not many people picked up the flyers but I thought it was all worth it if only one person was introduced to the Fa. Before cultivation, I would usually go home after work tired and just nap for an hour.
Like all cultivators of Falun Dafa, when the situation broke in China on April 1999 and became serious in July, I found this a strong test of my cultivation. Different conflicting thoughts arose and my mind became confused on some matters. Master Li told us that as practitioners we should follow the course of nature, so at first I didnt understand why the practitioners went out to appeal in Zhongnanhai. When the early propaganda and inaccurate news reports came out, although I never wavered in my cultivation, my notions and thought-karma were having a great time. They were whispering in my ears things like, See, this is just like everything else. Youre just wasting your time in cultivation. People are going to laugh at you and say you are in a cult. Fortunately, I knew them for what they were and didnt go along with these thoughts.
Sometimes when I read the accounts of the torture and abuse endured by the practitioners at the hands of the Chinese government, my eyes would get tearful. How could human beings do these things? Especially to compassionate, enduring people who dont fight back and have done nothing wrong and actually are good for society. I was indignant at the things they said about Master Li and Falun Dafa. Sometimes I would notice thoughts of anger, Ha, theyre going get whats coming to them in the future, but I would always remember what Master said about how we should always be compassionate and kind to others no matter how they treat us. After all, we are cultivating Zhen Shan Ren, how could we hate our enemies?
Perhaps the most important thing I learned personally from the tribulations of our fellow practitioners in China is the level of my own Xinxing. Honestly, I dont think I could presently endure what they have gone through, and to do it while maintaining the heart of compassion and kindness. Their sacrifices serve as a model to me in what it means to make a higher giving for the sake of cultivation and the protection of Dafa at this level.
In October 1999, I experienced more disease karma being pushed out. I felt very weak, cold and the top of my head pulsated painfully for almost a week. Blood started to come out in my urine. At times, the pain and discomfort from my head pulsating was almost unbearable and I had to take time off from work because I could not concentrate on doing my job. However, my enlightenment quality was better and Master Li had already explained the concept of disease karma so clearly in his article. I never considered going to see a doctor, besides I had already canceled my health insurance anyway.
In November 1999, I went to Seattle to attend an experience sharing conference and to help promote Dafa since there would be many people from different countries gathering for the meeting of the World Trade Organization. I saw people of all kinds and different Xinxing levels. When I was doing the meditation with some practitioners on the crowded sidewalk to attract people for signatures and to promote the Fa, there was this one man from what looked like a religious group across the street. He came over and kept shouting bad things to us concerning our beliefs and the exercises we were doing. After he was finished, I heard tear gas bombs exploding in the distance and crowds of people rushing around. I cant say I was not undisturbed but I managed to stay relatively calm and still until the meditation ended and never opened my eyes.
Also, collecting signatures and handing out flyers was an interesting and sometimes testing experience. Some people would give you dirty looks and walk away. Others would come up to you smiling and wanting more information. I do remember one lady just suddenly saying, I will sign your petition because this is a very historical moment. I was surprised. I didnt know why she would just say that. It was like she knew what the true situation was about concerning the appearance of the Great Law in human society.
Another vivid moment for me was when during the parade, one of the processions walked by our banners and started chanting loudly, Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance! I thought how great it would be if all humanity could be in unison like that. My overall impression of the Seattle trip is that there are many kind-hearted people of good inborn quality out there who have not had the chance to know about the Great Law, and as cultivators, it is our responsibility to introduce Dafa to these people if they are so predestined.
In the past 24 months, I have changed so positively and I have become a new person. Actually, to me, it is the Fa rectifying my being, bringing me back closer to my original nature. It is indeed The Buddhas light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities. However, I still have much cultivation work ahead of me and many things to become enlightened to. Sometimes cultivation would seem so difficult and impossible. Thought-karmas and bad, indecent thoughts always rear their ugly heads. There are so many attachments that I just cant seem to let go. When I think I have passed some tests, other situations would arise and I would fail. Still, I am determined not to waste this great and precious opportunity that Master Li has given us the immense compassion that he is showing us.
Finally, I would like to say sincerely: here on the first day of this new year of cultivation. I truly wish that everyone of you, my fellow practitioners, old and new, will practice cultivation well, overcome all your tribulations and tests, enlighten to the Masters words, and succeed in achieving the consummation.
Thank you very much.
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Category: Experience Sharing Conferences
