(Clearwisdom.net) My wife and I have been practicing Falun Gong together. The two of us learned the exercises around April 25, 1999. After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20th 1999, I gave up the practice because of my lack of understanding of the principles. I had only practiced the exercises for a very short time and was afraid of the persecution. Poisoned by the lies in the pervasive propaganda, burdened by my own attachments, I even did something that was detrimental to Falun Dafa. It was only by the time when the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic was brought under control in the spring of 2003 that I came back to Falun Gong.
On the other hand, my wife has never given up her belief. I still remember my first impression of the persecution. My first reaction was that it was just like what Teacher said, "The vows of Gods in history are being fulfilled." ("Further Comments on Superstition" from Essentials for Further Advancement II) I returned to the path of Falun Dafa cultivation under my wife's repeated persuasion.
Around the time when I was about to come back to Falun Dafa, but didn't, something had happened to me. From this, I enlightened to some principles taught by Teacher. At the time I quit, a large amount of fruit had already grown in the greenhouse. During the SARS epidemic, the selling price of the fruit dropped again and again. I thought to myself, "If I began to practice Falun Dafa again, then the two of us would be Dafa practitioners, and that means we could not bargain with our customers over the prices. We would have to accept whatever price our customers would offer. But, if we can't make enough money by the end of the year, how will we live? It would be better for me to practice Falun Gong again after I sell all the fruit."
However, in my heart I faintly remembered a particular paragraph of Fa (1) and felt that I could not wait any longer. Therefore, I opened the book "Zhuan Falun" (2) and turned to Lecture 4. Teacher said,
"Someone may say, "I'll earn some more money to settle my family down well so I won't have to worry about anything. Afterwards, I'll practice cultivation." I would say that this is your wishful thinking. You are unable to interfere with the lives of others, and neither can you control others' fates, including those of your wife, sons, daughters, parents, or brothers. Can you decide those things? Furthermore, how will you practice cultivation if you do not have any worries or troubles? How can you do the exercises comfortably and restfully? How can there be such a thing? That is what you think, from the perspective of everyday people."
I suddenly enlightened that, actually, people cannot even decide their own fates. So long as we truly come to learn Falun Dafa, Teacher will give us the best of everything. Therefore, I decided to resume my practice of Falun Gong as soon as possible. It was really just as it is described in a poem, "After passing the shady willow trees there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!" My fruit sold extremely well in the market at a good price and the customers were all willing to come to pick up the fruit themselves. In recalling the event now, I am sure that at that time my thought of learning Dafa was not pure, and it seemed that I was using Dafa. However, our merciful Teacher still gave me the best and kept giving me hints and encouragement. I vow to live up to the expectations of Teacher.
(1) Law and principles
(2) The book containing the teachings of Falun Dafa
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Category: Improving Oneself
