(Shared at the Mid USA Falun Dafa Conference)

(Clearwisdom.net)

Greetings Teacher, Greetings Fellow Practitioners!

In this paper, I'll report to Teacher and you my cultivation experience after attaining Dafa in Chicago at the end of 1995.

1. How I Obtained the Fa

Soon after December 25, 1995, one of my neighbors went to a friend's home. While she was there, she spotted a book that looked interesting and decided to borrow it. When my neighbor came back, we met at the door and she proceeded to tell me, "I discovered a great book. Would you like to read it?" I said "O.K.," and so she then let me borrow it. After reading the whole thing, I also liked the book very much. That great book was Zhuan Falun. Later, I requested that her friend come to my home and teach me the Falun Gong exercises. I borrowed another copy of the book from him when he came over. At that time, the book was not available in Chicago, and I didn't know where I could find it. Later, I told two co-workers about the practice and the book called Zhuan Falun, and they also became very interested. We then decided to make copies of Zhuan Falun so each of us could have one.

I knew that Teacher began to care of me, but I didn't have a good understanding of it. Whenever I would begin to watch the exercise tape, I saw a golden Buddha come down through the roof to my sofa. I didn't know why this had happened, but I was not afraid. When the friend later brought me the 9-day lecture tapes, I told him what had been occurring. After hearing this, he told me, "This is Teacher's Fashen (a body made of gong and Fa)." I said to him: "It is? When he came down from the roof of my house, I was wondering why the ceiling did not block him!" The friend said: "Teacher's Fashen came so early to your place!" This is how I learned about Teacher's Fashen.á

The friend who told me about Teacher's Fashen then went back to China in February of 1996. My co-workers and I read the book and practiced constantly. Gradually, some people discovered that I practiced Falun Gong. One of my tenants said: "I know some other people who practice Falun Gong." I said, "Please, give me their phone numbers." He did not know the number offhand, so he asked another friend who had it to give it to me. This number was a practitioner from Atlanta. When I called, no one was home. Then I left a message in Cantonese, along with my Mandarin, which was hard to understand. Although unclear about what my message said, he managed to understand that the call was from some far away place. They finally got in contact with me. The practitioner from Atlanta mailed me three Dafa books, one for each of us. He also gave us other books of Teacher's lectures.

In the month of October 1996, the Atlanta practitioner was going on a business trip to the United Kingdom. Knowing that Teacher would give a lecture in Houston on October 12, he called fellow practitioners in Atlanta on the 10^th of October and asked them to inform me about the news. We quickly bought a second day air ticket and were able to see Teacher for the first time. Due to a relationship formed in some unknown and distant time, we were able to attain Dafa. We were overjoyed to see Teacher lecture.á

2. Personal Cultivation and Spreading Dafa (Hongfa)á

At the moment I began practicing, Teacher arranged for my karma to be eliminated. On one occasion just as I started to do the sitting mediation, I smelled electric wire burning. I immediately got up from the sitting posture and turned on the light to search for the cause, but found nothing. When I went to sleep that night, I happened to smell my hands, and I again smelled the burning scent I had smelled before. I discovered that the smell came from the center of my palms. It was Teacher getting rid of my dirty substances through my palms. On several occasions, I found blood in my stool along with my urine. I knew it was my karma being eliminated and was not nervous. After drinking a few cups of water, I would be fine within two hours. Sometimes I would come down with fevers and it would make work difficult. I once talked to Teacher's picture and said: "Teacher, it's hard to go to work if I have a fever. Could you please let me eliminate my karma on weekends only?" Then during the next few weeks, I felt fine, but would get high temperatures during the weekends.

During the second year after I moved to the US, my nose would get itchy and runny, which would get worse whenever spring came. It disappeared after I began practicing Falun Gong. The liver spots on my hands also disappeared. My face was not dark anymore, and a reddish color returned to my lips. When my friend would see me they would remark, "You look like you're doing great! You look younger now!" I would say, "Of course, it's because I practice Falun Gong." Many would then say, "I'd like to come and practice when I have time." My personal changes through studying the Fa and practicing the exercises began to draw other people to come. Everyone who knew me knew that Falun Gong was good. When I went grocery shopping, I would tell people about Falun Gong. Some friends would say: "You talk about it all the time. In a few sentences, you always turn to Falun Gong." I said, "You bet! Such a great thing, I should let everyone know about it."

Because I had received wonderful benefits from the practice of Falun Gong, I was eager to let people know about it. My Mandarin is poor and my English even worse, so I didn't know how to tell people about Falun Gong. This worried me. Therefore, I decided to tell everyone I knew. I knew a woman named Maria through going to a temple earlier and thought she was nice. I kept telling her about Falun Gong and sometimes even called her. Though all she'd say was: "I don't want to learn anything else because I've already learned a lot of those practices. Plus I have no time." Such was the case at that time.áI was not discouraged by Maria's refusal, and persisted in calling her again every once in a while. On occasion, I went to her office and gave her Dafa literature. Maria was really busy so I was not able to talk to her thoroughly. When I did have the chance to speak with her, she could only talk a little bit each time. I hoped more people would come to practice Falun Gong, so I kept trying. One day, I went to Maria's office and put some Dafa literature on her desk. She saw it and decided to bring it home to read. After reading them, she felt something like water was rotating inside her brain, so she went for a medical checkup but nothing was found wrong with her. Later she asked me to bring her a copy of Zhuan Falun. After she went through the book, she thought: "This time I should return the book by myself instead of asking her to come pick it up." After seeing me, she thought: "I didn't see her for some time. Yet, in such a short time, her appearance has totally changed." I told her something I had learned from Zhuan Falun, and she was amazed that in such a short time, I had learned so much. She then asked me, "Are there any other materials?" I told her that there were, so I lent her the exercise instruction tape and other Dafa books of mine. She started to practice Falun Gong after she finished those books and learned the exercises.á

Maria is good at English and also knows a lot of people. Months later, the practitioner from Atlanta moved to Chicago for his new job. Thus, we had more Falun Gong practitioners in Chicago. We started a 9-day seminar by putting an introductory ad in a newspaper, and over 30 people joined the first class. I was listed as the contact person for Cantonese speakers, and the people who spoke Cantonese would all come to me. I played the 9-day seminars in Cantonese my home many times. Sometimes two people came, and sometimes more than ten. Other practitioners held similar classes in other areas. Falun Gong gradually spread throughout the Chicago area. Some people learned Falun Gong in Chicago, then moved to other states, and would spread Falun Gong in other places.á

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3. Fa-Rectification Cultivation and Clarifying the Truth about Falun Gong

After attaining Dafa, karma elimination was frequent. Later I found that if I took part in any Dafa activities or did Fa-rectification work, karma would be eliminated very quickly. In the fall of 2000 when the chief of the evil came to New York, I experienced a three to four weeks spell of coughing and nasal problems, but I still went. My nose healed without my noticing while I was busy. Once I had trouble raising my hands for a while, but found it was all right after I went to a Dafa experience sharing conference.

Every morning the practitioners living in Chinatown practice Falun Gong in a sports field. Many other people also go there for morning exercises. During the exercises, I would give Dafa materials to them to read and they enjoyed them. Sometimes they would remark, "Falun Gong is good!" Even after the persecution began, they still thought the same. There were a few people who had been deceived by Jiang's propaganda against Falun Gong. We are truly saving people by telling them the truth about Falun Gong. Most people know Falun Gong is good, and only a few believe Jiang's lies.á

After the persecution against Falun Gong began, the Chicago Chinese Consulate would take the opportunity of gift-giving at festival times to distribute slanderous material to Chinatown businesses in order to turn them against Falun Gong. Several fellow practitioners and I then went to those business offices to tell them the true situation. I went to every office and gave them the Dafa truth clarifying materials and videotapes. Some warmly welcomed us and said, "At tomorrow's meeting, I'll show all this to them. What you are practicing is very good." When some offices were cold to us, I would say, "I'll leave the materials for you, and you can look at them when you have time. It's easy to read. There is no harm in knowing more." In one office, they were preparing for a mahjong game, and one of them would not accept my materials. But another said: "It's O.K., just take a look. Good or bad, we'll know after we see it." Some people had been expecting our materials. I would give them one copy of all the materials.á

On one occasion I went by a bus station and passed out truth clarifying materials to the people there. A man there believed the Jiang's lies. He didn't accept our materials and was unfriendly. I met him again the same day and I talked with him in the Taishan dialect. I found out that he is from the same hometown who used to live very close to the school where I studied. I told him, "Falun Gong has been persecuted. If you watch this tape, you'll understand everything." He was a little embarrassed for having been so rude to me, and said, "I'll treat you to tea if you have time." I said, "I'd like that. I can treat you also. Please read these materials first. Your point of view will be changed." He accepted the materials and said, "I'll take it to my office." If someone challenged me while clarifying the truth I would remain calm and think that I'd talk to them again when given a chance.

Once, we were doing the sitting meditation in front of the Chinese consulate. One man rushed out and yelled a lot of bad words and pointed his finger at me, almost touching my nose. He spoke very fast, and when he stopped I would say, "Falun Dafa is righteous! Falun Dafa is good!" He left after he finished. I know where he lives and kept in mind that I would clarify the truth to him. Later I met the man in an insurance company and talked to him again. He knew that I knew him and was embarrassed for what he had done, and accepted the materials I handed to him.á

During the truth clarifying process, the effort of one or two times may not be enough for people to know the truth. It may take many times, and it may also take years. Once they know the truth, they will not believe the lies spread by the Jiang regime. I have a friend who has a PhD, who I have known for more than ten years. I talk with him about Falun Gong whenever he visits me, or I call him to talk about Falun Gong. Once he went to China for a business trip, and when some people there attacked Falun Gong, he would say, "Falun Gong is good. I know Falun Gong people in the US are very good. I have friends who practices Falun Gong, and they are all nice people." He clarified the truth of Falun Gong to the deceived people in China. Recently, I called former friends and colleagues in China to tell them the truth about Falun Gong.

Six years ago, we just had merely three or four people who practiced Falun Gong living in Chicago. Now there are around one thousand people who practiced and benefited from Falun Gong. In recent lectures, Teacher has told us to do three things well: Studying the Fa, clarify the truth, and send forth righteous thoughts. If we could do all of these things well, more people will be saved.á

Thank you, Teacher!

Thank you all!á