Greetings to Revered Master
Greetings to fellow practitioners
One day in January 2000, my husband arrived home with the newspaper 'Morgen', and told me that he had found an article about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He said that there were 5 exercises in Falun Gong, that it was free of charge. Since it was prohibited in China, it would certainly be something good. Therefore, he was going to give it a try.
At that time I was searching for something that would help me to find tranquillity and inner peace. All my life I was guided only by sentimentality. I was cheerful when things were going well and I was down when they were not. I was tired of living like this. Not being able to handle situations, I felt that I was destroying myself and what was most beautiful for me: My husband and my two children. It was imperative to find a solution to this situation.
There was another problem. I am a podiatrist nurse, and I used to give reflexology massages as a complimentary gesture. After each session of massages I would feel very tired. I thought I did not master the technique well and I did not want to improve. I thought some meditation ,might help improve my emotional instability.
It was precisely when I was in this distressful situation, that the Fa entered my house. Ever since I obtained the Fa, I have been constantly amazed by the profound nature of the Great Law of the Universe. The Fa has guided me through a process of learning, of understanding and of constantly raising my realm of thought to a point beyond imagination.
I started the practice by attending, together with my family, Master's 9-day video lectures. One day while I attended these lectures, I had a dream related to my hands. I shared this dream with a practitioner who told me that if my giving massage was not part of my work, it would be better for me to stop it. I followed his advice right away. I have never regretted having done it and later on I understood fully the reason behind it. I understand that to give massages one establishes a link between one's own energy field and that of the patient, thus, an exchange of energy, good or bad, was inevitable. If I absorbed the dark energy, this could retard the purification process of my body. Moreover, I came to understand that there exists a karmic reason for a person to suffer an illness and that I should not intervene.
Whenever a newcomer spoke about this kind of things at the practice site, I would tell him what I thought about it and how I have stopped doing it. I would rather share the most beautiful thing that I have found in my life, Falun Dafa. Everyone can learn how to take care of oneself; the cultivation of body and mind allows us to achieve good physical and mental health, and it depends on how much effort one puts in to achieve it.
The first three years, my cultivation was slow. I did the exercises once or twice a week and it took me a year to go through Zhuan Falun. One day, another practitioner gave me the Essentials for Further Advancement, which helped me to understand Zhuan Falun better. Later I understood that it was my karma that prevented me from understanding Zhuan Falun. After that I continued reading any teachings from Master that I could get hold of.
In 2002 I had a car accident that left a serious problem in the cervical area. I already had a whiplash injury to my neck from an accident in 1994. I had 9 years of treatment and medication to relieve the pain, but I hardly made any progress. With the new accident, my body felt like broken doll. I started to lose strength in my right arm, which made my work as a nurse difficult, it was an ordeal even to do the exercises. A specialist advised me to undergo neck surgery. All this looked like it could happen to anybody, yet I did not realize that if I was diligent in my cultivation, I could rise out of such situations. Besides, I was not clear-headed when handling different situations.
My cultivation continued at a slow pace until 2003, when the first Benelux Dafa Conference took place in Brussels. Thanks to this event and to my experience sharing with seven German practitioners who came to the conference and stayed in my home, I finally came to realize that if I wanted to make real progress in my cultivation, I had to study the Fa diligently and do the exercises regularly. I remembered when we were riding in the car, one of the German practitioners asked me if I was a practitioner of the Fa rectification period, to which I answered 'yes', but I realized now that I was not really aware of the meaning of being a practitioner in Fa rectification period. The day after the conference, I felt as if I were born again. My daughter felt the same. I started to look at life in a different way and I was so happy.
From that moment on, I started to read and to do the exercises on a regular basis, I also started to send forth righteous thoughts at fixed hours. A fellow practitioner told me that to send forth righteous thoughts would help me cross my legs in the lotus position when meditating, and to achieve tranquillity and concentration when reading Zhuan Falun. I felt that it was time for me to stop any sort of therapy and medications, so I did so, and have remained like that today. The discomfort from the two car accidents started to minimize. I can even carry heavy things now. It does cause a little discomfort from time to time, but it disappears in a couple of days.
A great source of inspiration for me is from Lecture 4, in Zhuan Falun regarding 'Transformation of Karma':
We have said that Dafa is boundless, and it is completely up to your heart to practice cultivation. The master takes you through the entrance, and it is up to you, yourself to practice cultivation. It all depends upon how you, yourself practice cultivation. Whether you can practice cultivation all depends upon whether you can endure, sacrifice, and suffer. If you can commit your mind, no difficulties can stop you."
Now, I will go over another aspect of my cultivation in the period of the Fa rectification. When I started the practice, the most horrific persecution was underway in China. Practitioners from all over the world were stricken by it. In order to offset the propaganda campaign to ruin the reputation of Falun Gong (which the Chinese Communist Regime even extended beyond China's borders) practitioners started to find ways to counteract the evil that was behind these harmful actions. They started to appeal to the governments of the world and to draw the attention of the people with the aim to gain their support and bring the persecution to an end. Practitioners of different talents started to emerge and many got involved in different projects.
However, due to my sluggishness in my cultivation, my xinxing was not making obvious progress. I could not understand yet the urgency to clarify the truth and neither did I get involved in any project. Only when I attained discipline in doing the exercises and reading the books, could I see how my understanding of the Fa made real progress and did my xinxing upgrade. I finally woke up and started to participate in some activities. I lacked confidence at first. I remembered the moment when I handed the first flyer out. I could feel my heart beating strongly and I was not sure whether what I had said was correct. My shyness, fear and the lack of more understanding limited me from doing well. But, inside I could feel the force that pushed me to continue. I could not understand things well yet, but I followed my heart and continued distributing the flyers.
Two years ago, the opportunities for me to participate in different projects started to emerge. With fear I got involved in the Fadu Petals of Peace Project. When my my daughter was a little girl, I was once involved with creative workshops, thus, I immediately felt that I could handle this project. Besides, this project would allow me to work with children, to share the beauty of Dafa with them and to tell them the truth about the persecution against Dafa. The story of Fadu would make an impression on them, they would talk about Falun Dafa to their parents, grandparents, other family members and friends. Moreover, the director and teachers of the schools would know about Falun Dafa as well.
Other projects started to emerge, and I started to get more and more involved with them. I realized that every time I participated in one, my xinxing would upgrade. However whenever I heard of a new project, despite the fact I knew about its importance, my attachments would emerge again and the evil would take advantage of that to make me resist taking part. It took me some time to understand that I should not look to the exterior (project's difficulties, responsibility, conflicts, the issue of the resources, etc) but look inside myself and search for what was causing such a reaction, and once recognized to proceed to rectify it. My family tried to help me by stressing the issue of looking inside myself and insisting that I should read more Zhuan Falun. I tried it but even when I thought that I understood better, I would again not be able to look inside myself and ended up looking outside, and then I would have the same reaction of resisting participation in the projects. Once more, the day arrived when I was finally able to look inside myself and discovered that my attachments were the cause of such a reaction. In the same way, I came to understand that improvement of my xinxing was a decisive factor if I was to make progress in my cultivation. Furthermore, I discovered I was lacking Shan (compassion) and Ren (forbearance) in my heart.
In Essentials for Further Advancement, in the article "A Person in Charge is Also a Cultivator", Master says:
The persons in charge of our assistance centers in different regions are those who can work hard for Dafa without complaint. Yet many of these persons just cannot seem to get along well with one another, and so fail to cooperate in their work...
Don't you know that the tensions among those in charge are arranged by me for you to improve yourselves? ...
It's not that just because you're the coordinator of a center and work for Dafa you can reach Consummation without having to improve your xinxing. Even a student can realize that he's improving his xinxing in any disagreement--why can't the coordinator of a center? In order for you to improve, your heart has to be provoked when problems arise; otherwise it won't do. Working for Dafa is also a good opportunity for you to improve your xinxing!
Reading this paragraph made me understand that the involvement in a project was the opportunity that my Master was giving to me in order to improve while confronting with all the difficulties that a project may bring.
Among theses projects and activities to clarify the truth, study the Fa and the exercises, I came to realize that I should find a balance among my work, the family and those activities. I am lucky that in my family we are all Dafa cultivators, thus, together we have found that balance, each one at his own pace and following his own path.
I think I have integrated Dafa harmoniously in my daily life. To hand out a flyer or a newspaper, to attend a practice site, to help at the 'Truth, Compassion, Forbearance' Art Exhibit, or to participate in any other project, I always see an opportunity to share the beauty of Dafa, and there is always the opportunity to make known the truth about the persecution that our fellow practitioners suffer in China. I feel blessed and I will always be thankful for having such an opportunity. I may be very busy after a day full of activities, yet I still have the energy and time to prepare a delicious meal for my family, and work to the best of my capabilities.
Finally, I would like to share what Master says in the Preface to "Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa":
"When every assistant spreads Falun Dafa, he must be responsible to himself, be responsible to the students, be responsible to society, and be responsible to Dafa. When promoting [Dafa] and answering questions, he should advance Dafa appropriately, as fitting the recipient's degree of understanding of Dafa and capacity to accept it."
I understand now what it means to be a true Dafa disciple in the Fa rectification period. I want to be worthy of such a title. Therefore, I will continue to improve in my cultivation and upgrade my xinxing. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I will do my best.
I will finish with Master's poem:
Solid CultivationStudy the Fa and gain the Fa,
Focus on how you study and cultivate,
Let each and every thing
be measured against the Fa.
Only then, with that,
is it actually cultivation.October 7, 1994
(Hong Yin, Version A)
Thank you for your attention.
What I have said is my understanding. Please kindly point out its shortcomings.
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