(Clearwisdom.net) My eldest sister started to practice Falun Dafa in 1996. When she was young, she worked hard and often ignored her health. As a result, she had to retire at the early age of 44 years old because she suffered from heart disease, chronic intestinal problems, severe inflammation of the inner ear, and headaches. With healthcare insurance not available at the time and a slow economy, my sister's financial situation did not allow further long-term treatments. She could only suffer from her illnesses. Her headaches became so bad that she couldn't lie down on her back. Also, a lump grew on the upper part of her mouth and caused her excruciating pain. She was ready to die. In 1996, however, she was fortunate enough to learn about Falun Dafa. In less than two months, she went from being a disabled person who couldn't take care of herself to an energetic individual who could work again and contribute to society. Besides the positive and dramatic change in both body and mind, my sister's practice of Falun Dafa also improved the mental and physical life of our family.
Influenced by my eldest sister, my mother, my other two sisters and I also started to practice Falun Dafa. When our family gathered together during holidays or on days off, we talked about the practice and shared our experiences. Afterwards, we did the exercises and studied the Fa together. I clearly remember my eldest sister saying, "As I become more energetic and lively and start to work again, I am determined to practice Dafa to the end, even if it costs me my life."
After the persecution began in 1999, my eldest sister went to Beijing twice to validate the Fa. She was constantly persecuted and harassed. The police department illegally imprisoned her twice for a total of 74 days. One time, she was sent to a forced labor camp but was refused admittance because she appeared to be sick. Another time, she was abducted and forced to attend brainwashing sessions for two months.
When she was not being detained, the authorities frequently called or sent people to harass us. We were mentally and physically traumatized. My sister stumbled on her path of cultivation practice but gradually became mature. Then, as the evil factors were suppressed and the path of our practice became brighter, her physical body became severely ill and she almost died.
Why did I see what happened to my sister and why did it move me? From what she did, I saw our shortcomings, and this set off an alarm for me. I would like to share my understandings on this.
1. When we slack off in cultivation, we (including our physical bodies) become like everyday people even if we have established a good foundation during personal cultivation and have been through a life and death test in the Fa-rectification.
2. Before the Fa-rectification period, practitioners formed a practice environment for studying the Fa and doing the exercises together on a regular basis. We could also share experiences and compare how we were advancing in our study and practice. We could feel that we were improving our xinxing. During the Fa-rectification period, however, we not only lost the environment for group practice and improving as a whole, we also had to face the evil persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the misunderstanding of the world's people, and the pressure from our families. The standard for true practitioners becomes even higher. We can no longer focus only on individual practice. We also have to do the three things well and, most importantly, we have to re-establish our practice environment with firm righteous thoughts. Everyone's social status and family situations are different, and this causes differences in everyone's cultivation environment. There is not one united way in the Fa-rectification period. Everyone needs to walk his or her path well and take the Fa as Teacher. We need to be mindful that every single thought of ours is based on the Fa and to constantly correct our shortcomings. This way, we can eliminate interference by the evil that exploits the gaps of our every attachment.
3. For those practitioners who have been persecuted by the evil for a long time and are interfered with by their families, they should clarify the truth to their family members and not just to the world's people. This way, they can improve their practice environment and better clarify the truth to the world's people and save them.
5. The life and death test in the Fa-rectification period is different from that during the personal cultivation period. During Fa-rectification, besides being tested on our attachments to fame, gain, and sentiment, we are also tested with the evil's torture of our minds and bodies. Of course we do not acknowledge the old forces' tests, but the persecution, the evil's slanderous reports on practitioners' clarifying the truth, and the "spirit" of the CCP every time it starts a new round of persecution are all tests to see whether we can firmly hold on to our righteous thoughts, deny the persecution, and steadfastly walk on the path of cultivation. If we succeed, we can suppress the evil, eliminate interference, and enhance ourselves from it. If not, the evil can exploit the gaps whenever we have the attachment of fear and comfort. Hence, constantly studying the Fa and having steadfast belief will decrease our tribulations.
6. Although the path of practice is getting brighter, it is also getting narrower. Only the middle is the right path. We need to walk righteously on the path of Fa-rectification that Teacher has shown us. We should help point out and encourage each other when we encounter tests and tribulations. For practitioners with better conditions, they should try their best to recover and improve the practice environment Teacher left us, namely, group study and exercise and experience sharing. In the Fa-rectification period, we improve as one body. We have to start a long term, safe and stable Fa study group and form a diamond-like body, which is important to keep us from slacking off in cultivation practice.
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