(Clearwisdom.net) I have practiced Falun Gong for nearly four years. It all started one day when my colleague Mr. Park asked me, "Are you interested in qigong?" I responded, "Is qigong the thing that can knock people down with an unseen force? Is it different from Tai-chi?" Mr. Park replied, "This kind of qigong is very different from those things. It is very wonderful." Although I still did not understand, I surmised there must be something more behind qigong, as I knew Mr. Park very well.
Mr. Park played the exercise music and taught the exercises for about twenty minutes on top of our office building every day at lunchtime. Although I did not have much time and sometimes wanted to slack off, Mr. Park always encouraged me, "It doesn't matter whether you come early or late." Because of his kind guidance, I was able to carry on. Later on he invited me to Baichun Park to participate in the group exercises. For a person who was not used to getting up early, it was too difficult for me to go to the park at eight o'clock to practice on Sunday mornings.
Several months later, I made up my mind to get up early and go to the park to have a try. There were many plants in the park and I felt very happy and light at heart after the practice. Because I got up early, I had more time to do many things during the day. I felt it was really a waste of time for me to lounge around on Sundays like I was doing before. It was very tough to practice outdoors, as it was very hot in the summer and often snowed or rained in the winter. However, after being able to persist by overcoming all these difficulties, I felt that I could achieve anything. My mind became very broad.
Some time later, fellow practitioners told me that it was not good enough to only do the exercises, I also needed to study the Fa-principles. So I started studying Zhuan Falun and Teacher's articles with several colleagues. In the beginning, I felt that it was hard for me to understand the book. However, little by little, with continued study I enlightened to the contents, and was able to measure myself against the Fa. Gradually, whenever problems occurred, I became more peaceful and calmer by looking within and trying to change myself first. I used to feel inferior because the people around me did not understand me. This inferiority complex disappeared after my thinking changed. My mood became unclouded and I could handle things well. The conflicts with others almost totally disappeared as well. I felt so happy to upgrade my xinxing according to "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," the characteristic of the cosmos!
Through Fa-study and the exercises, I became very healthy. For four years, I have never caught a cold or asked for a leave because of illness. Previously, I often went to hospitals and took medicine, and was too tired to do anything on weekends. My friends who knew how poor my health had been all felt very surprised when they noticed my improved state. Some of them said that they also wanted to practice Dafa and came to the lectures. I felt extremely grateful when I understood what a wonderful thing it was that my fellow practitioners had introduced to me. Presently, I practice the exercises every night with my mother.
In the first two years of my practice, I tried very hard to carry on, only considering myself. Although I knew that fellow practitioners were organizing Falun Gong activities, I did not quite understand why they exerted such painstaking effort to do so. But without practitioners' encouragement and guidance, I would not have been able to carry on until today. After realizing that I had received so much help and attention from practitioners around me, I began to consider how I might also help others.
I started distributing informational flyers about Falun Gong lectures at the civic center. At the beginning, I was very afraid that people would notice me and look at me strangely. It really required courage. I thought that even if the result was that there was only one person in attendance at the lectures from the area where I was responsible for distributing flyers, I must not leave out one a single house. So I checked very carefully when distributing the flyers to make sure that no houses were missed. It was early summer and the sunlight was very strong. For me, it was really a hard job, but practitioners had been working like this quietly for all these years. I realized that this was real compassion. I felt that anyone involved in such activities would be deeply moved by Falun Gong's wonder and profundity. I believed that whatever Falun Gong activities I participated in, I would gain a lot. From then on, I tried to attend as many activities as I could.
In September 2004, the Conference of Human Rights for Lawyers was held in Miyazaki. Lawyers from all over the country gathered there. Falun Gong practitioners from all over Japan also went there to inform the attendees about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and of the lawsuits filed worldwide against the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin. In addition, practitioners enlisted support for such a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin in Japan. I also participated in this activity.
The facts of the persecution were so cruel, too cruel for a Japanese to know. At first, I was very afraid of reading the facts of the persecution. I was in a state of denial. I thought perhaps the Japanese people felt the same. It took me quite some time to accept the facts of the persecution. In the process of reading large numbers of facts courageously published on the Internet, I realized that this was not an affair for others and that we should all do our part to raise awareness in society. After learning the facts, it was my feeling that citizens of the U.S., Canada and Europe had paid much more attention to the human rights violations against Falun Gong, in as much as the persecutors had been sued there. It was Japan, I felt, that lagged behind.
With these reflections on my mind, I went to Miyazaki to participate in the activities, not really knowing what I could actually do. I felt fearful to speak to a lawyer. During conference recesses, other practitioners took the initiative to speak to lawyers relaxing in the foyer by warmheartedly telling them the facts about the persecution in China. I felt ashamed to watch the Chinese practitioners trying so hard to speak with their limited Japanese while I did nothing as a native speaker. With this I summoned my courage and started talking to a lawyer who was passing by. It was unthinkable that I did not feel timid as though I was talking to a "lawyer." To my own surprise, I was speaking about the facts of the persecution in an open and noble way, and the lawyer was listening very seriously. I came to realize that there was nothing that I could not do if I just did it courageously. I felt confident about myself and started trying my best to clarify the facts about the persecution like other practitioners.
I also participated in the translation and proofreading of Dafa related projects. When I read the experience sharing articles about activities in Manhattan to call for an end to the persecution, I also wished to go there to participate in the Fa-rectification activities. Then, in November, I heard that there was going to be a Fa-conference in Manhattan. Practitioners from all over the world would gather there to listen to Teacher's Fa-lecture and share cultivation experiences. I thought I must go no matter what. Another Japanese practitioner also wanted to go. Both of us spoke no English at all. We felt very uneasy, but we really wanted to go. So we decided to get prepared anyway. The time for departure was very near as I hesitated between two positions. I was undecided whether to study English and find out information about Manhattan, or study the Fa and do the exercises. In the end I said to myself, "I am a Falun Gong practitioner, so I should study the Fa and do the exercises first."
Right before our departure, we were still worrying about whether we would be able to transfer the flight smoothly at Chicago. In New York, could we find our way from the airport to the hotel? Practitioners suggested that we send forth righteous thoughts whenever we felt uneasy. It was just unimaginable that we did not encounter any problems at all. We found our hotel smoothly with the help of some strangers. From the second day on, be it participation in the parade, the Fa-conference, or activities to call for an end to the persecution, all went extremely well through the help of fellow practitioners. From our departure to our return to Japan, we did not encounter any problems. I felt that I had achieved something very great.
At the end of Zhuan Falun, Teacher Li said, "When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find: 'After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!'"
In the process of truly cultivating Falun Gong, my courage, spirit, health, confidence and xinxing were all upgraded a lot and I have gained so much. I would like to work together with fellow practitioners to spread the most wonderful Falun Gong to more people, and at the same time, to improve upon my shortcomings.
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