(Clearwisdom.net) Editor's note: The author of this article started learning the Falun Gong exercises and teachings from Master Li in person during the very early days of Master's teaching the Fa. However, since he did not study the Fa well for a long time, the writer detoured from his cultivation path significantly after the persecution started. Recently, he realized his mistakes and wrote down these stories. We are publishing the article so that more practitioners will benefit from stories about Master, learn how to better respect Master, and treasure this precious time when Dafa is being spread in the world. Let us all do well to be worthy of Master's benevolent salvation and position ourselves well for the future.
As for the author of this article, we sincerely hope that he learns from his own mistakes, studies the Fa well and publishes his solemn statement soon. We hope he will do the three things well that Master has required of every Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, make up for his past mistakes and choose the righteous path in the future.
I was born in Beijing, and was interested in qigong ever since I was little. One day in 1990, I came upon some people practicing an unknown qigong in a park. A very special kind of power attracted me, which I could not resist. So I sneaked over to watch, but I was too shy to ask what they were doing, since I was so young.
That night, Master explained the practice of Falun Gong to his students, and I attended the talk. Though Master explained it in very simple words, he eloquently outlined the basis of cultivation practice. I had never heard of such great Fa, and right then I decided to learn Falun Gong. When I awkwardly asked Master to teach me, he looked at me and explained that he could not because he would not stay in Beijing for long. I did not give up hope, however, and I followed the practitioners and watched them practice in the woods next to the Military Museum. Four or five days later, I noticed that Master was still there, so I requested once again to learn from him. This time, Master asked me why I wanted to learn. Somewhat confused, I said that I wanted to cultivate. Master said there were three conditions that I needed to understand before he could teach me. He said, "First, I am teaching you a practice that takes you to higher levels, I am not teaching you anything like fortune telling, or Fengshui, or curing diseases, and I don't allow you to learn any of these. If you are interested in these, please feel free to find others who teach them [and don't practice Falun Dafa]. Second, let's test each other for a period, I will test you and you can decide whether I am the right Master for you also (Master was very polite when saying this). Third, you are not supposed to tell any one about what I teach you, not even your family members." [Translator's note: This was before Master made Falun Gong public.]
I agreed with the three conditions and started to learn the practice of Falun Gong with Master.
1. Exposing several lies perpetrated against Falun Dafa
In 1991, Master and his mother went to Thailand to visit relatives, and he stopped in Beijing on his way back to Changchun, his hometown. During Master's stay in Beijing, Li Jingchao's older brother Li Jingfeng introduced him to Master and he started to learn from Master. At that time, several other practitioners and I had already followed Master for more than a year. Starting on July 23, 1999, CCTV began broadcasting a program slandering and defaming Master. In the program, Li Jingchao claimed that he created the exercises with Master. Li Jingchao has twisted the historical facts and betrayed his conscience.
As a matter of fact, in early 1992, before Master made Falun Gong public, Master had criticized Li Jingchao because he tried to cure diseases with his Celestial Eye and he collected money for doing so. Back then, Li Jingchao had attachments to his Celestial Eye, and to acquiring money for curing diseases for others. He ignored Master's admonishments and departed from Dafa further and further, finally going to the opposite side of Dafa. This is a serious lesson for us.
Recently there has been a person in Beijing with the last name of Liu, who claims that he followed Master since he was nine years old, and that he could see through his Celestial Eye. Liu has spread his view among Dafa practitioners and has confused some practitioners. Liu has even asked for money from fellow practitioners. The fact of the matter is, prior to 1990, Master never taught anyone the practice, and even his family members were not aware of the practice. I had followed Master from 1990 until he went abroad to spread Dafa, and I had never heard of such a person named Liu.
2. Master took each step righteously, saving people and teaching the Fa without putting on any performances
In 1992 when Master started to introduce Falun Gong to the public, it was a period when qigong was really popular in China. There were various different schools of qigong and among them were also practices that involved spirit or animal possession. At that time, people recognized a qigong practice by only two standards: one was whether the qigong practice could demonstrate some supernormal power, and the other was whether the practice could heal illnesses. At that time, the Qigong Institute also used these two standards to evaluate a qigong practice.
Master Li maintained a very firm position ever since he came out and started to introduce Falun Gong to the public: he transmitted Falun Gong only to save people, without putting on any performances. Dafa is serious and dignified; Dafa should never be mixed with other types of qigong that are only for healing illnesses or that involve spirit or animal possession. Showing off supernatural powers was never used for attracting people to learn Falun Gong. It is just as Master said, "In being saved, only when you seek righteousness can your attachments be eliminated." ("Further Elimination of Attachments," from Falun Dafa Essentials for Further Advancement).
Therefore, Master chose to adjust people's bodies and to provide qigong consultation in order to help people understand Falun Gong. The earliest public appearance of Falun Gong was in June 1992, in the form of a large-scale qigong consultation. The consultation was in the assembly hall on the fifth floor of the building housing the Bureau of Building Materials, located at Ganjiakou Shopping Center in Beijing. The consultation continued for 10 days, and each day the consultations lasted from morning and continued into the afternoon. These consultations achieved a very good effect. Whether a tumor or other growth, they all disappeared after the treatment. As verified by medical examination after treatment, endocrine disorders disappeared. A number of other physical problems, including protrusion of the lumbar or cervical vertebrae, were healed right away after the treatment, with X-ray examination showing the problem completely healed. People with heart disease were very uncomfortable when they first came to be treated, but after the treatment, their pain was gone right away.
A Dafa practitioner, Mr. Tang, was at that time the volunteer in charge of the assistance center in Beijing. After Master treated his heart disease, he went to the Third Hospital of the Beijing Medical University for an X-ray, and the examination showed that his illness was healed. Everybody witnessed how miraculous Falun Gong was, and they all wanted to learn the practice. Then Master held the first Fa lecture class in Beijing. According to the recollections of some veteran practitioners who attended the class, there were about 200 people in the first class. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Mr. Tang was forced to take a stand on TV to defame Dafa; but we, as well as Mr. Tang, all know that it is Falun Dafa that gave him a second life.
3. The first time I ever experienced a teacher paying for his disciples' meals
Before, when I practiced other types of qigong, I had always seen that the disciples provided for their teachers. I had never, however, seen a teacher paying for his disciples' meals.
In 1991, after Master returned from his visit to Thailand, we went to the Jietai Temple in Beijing with Master. At lunchtime, we ate at a small roadside restaurant. We all tried to pay for the meals after we finished eating, but Master told us to stay put and he went to pay for the meals for all of us. This touched us deeply because we all knew that it had always been customary for the disciple to provide for their masters in other qigong practices; this was the first time for us to experience seeing a master paying for his disciples' meals. Over a dozen of years have passed, but the scene of that moment still leaps before my eyes.
4. During the years of following Master as he traveled spreading the Fa, all we ate were instant noodles
During this early period, I followed Master as he traveled from place to place holding classes. During those years, Master ate only instant noodles when he traveled. When we arrived at the place for the class, Master usually did not eat dinner before teaching the evening class. After the class, when we returned to the boarding house, it was already 8 or 9 p.m. and the boarding house had stopped providing meals by that time. Master did not go out to eat in a restaurant; he always ate instant noodles and we also ate instant noodles with Master. For those several years, I ate instant noodles so much that I came to a point where I was really sick of eating them. I even felt uncomfortable when I smelled instant noodles. Sometimes we ate instant noodles that we had bought in bulk wholesale, and we would eat that for many days.
Master did not eat a lot and he ate fast. If there was any food left over, Master would pack it up and take it with him. Master was very thrifty. Later, I found out another detail about Master: when eating with the practitioners accompanying him, he always finished eating before the others and went ahead to pay for all their meals.
5. In the hot summer, Master traveled on crowded public transportation
In July 1992, Master had just come to Beijing and I went with him on some errands. It was a hot day and I was thinking of hiring a taxi for comfort, but Master took a crowded public bus. I had to then quit talking about the taxi. I sweated profusely on the bus, but Master's thriftiness deeply moved me.
Some people have fabricated and spread rumors on television, saying that Master lived luxuriously. I do not know where such rumors came from and I do not know what kind of people they were who slandered and defamed my benevolent Master. I followed Master for many years, starting with him two years before he introduced Dafa to the public. By now, I know that there is no limit to cultivation in Falun Dafa. When I think of the hardships Master suffered in those years to introduce Dafa to the people in order to save them, I cannot stop the tears from flowing.
(To be continued)
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