(Clearwisdom.net) When I first took the flute from Teacher's hand, I felt very timid. Why? I had been in musical circles for decades, and I knew it was not a simple matter to master a musical instrument. You have to start training every day from childhood, year after year, with strict discipline, and even if you do that, you may not have much success, much less a 60-year-old person like me with crooked teeth and unable to hold in air. It was not an issue of whether I could play well or not. I was not sure if I could even make a sound.
However, after cultivating with Teacher for over ten years, I understood a principle: Regardless of what Teacher does, it is always for the sentient beings of the universe and for us practitioners. Teacher wants us to establish a music group, so this is definitely something Teacher arranged for the needs of the Fa-rectification, and there's nothing wrong with going along with such an arrangement. "Then we should play!" With this thought, I got rid of my feeling of trepidation, and I joined the Celestial Band. Of course, my process of learning to play the instrument has been identical to everyone else's in the band, and full of difficulties.
What I would like to explain here is not how to overcome such difficulties, but instead two instances where Teacher allowed me to enlighten to the miracles of Falun Dafa.
The first instance was when we were recording the first three songs. I had not been selected, so I practiced separately with the others who also had not been selected, but I couldn't calm my heart down. It was not because I was upset about not being selected, since I knew that I did not play well. Instead I felt that something was going to happen, so I decided to put away my flute. Just as I left the place, I heard music from afar and felt as if I was being drawn towards it. I was in a tranquil state, almost without movement, and I was just quietly listening, listening, .... The sky, the earth, the mountains, the water, the hall, and the trees were all listening quietly just like me. Even the wind stopped, as if everything was frozen still, listening.
I have no words to describe it, and to this day I can only describe it as celestial music from Heaven, because I have never heard such sacred and pure music in this human world. When the music stopped, I quietly entered the hall and sat down not far from Teacher to listen to another song. The whole hall was filled with a field of compassion so dense that you could touch it. When the music began, I saw that everyone melted together. Everyone was transparent and pure, and you couldn't tell one person from another. It was one entity gently producing magnificent light. The transparent body of the band conductor moved exquisitely and drew a ribbon of light pink color. I felt I had melted into the whole thing.
When the music stopped, Teacher turned his head and looked towards me. Immediately I felt in the depths of my heart something exploding with a loud sound, and from it a child appeared, cheering with his arms spread. The child shouted loudly, "Teacher is magnificent! Magnificent Teacher!" Tears flowed down my cheeks. I instantly understood why it was arranged for me to hear this sacred music. Not only did Teacher blast open the locks on the attachments that were keeping me from being diligent, He also gave me another opportunity to witness the dignity and magnificence of Falun Dafa. I now have a deeper understanding of the Fa-rectification, and I understand more clearly how important it is to have righteous and firm faith in Teacher. Once again I felt deeply Teacher's painstaking arrangements for saving me. (There have been so many of these arrangements!) Thank you ,Teacher! Thank you, our magnificent Teacher! From that day on, there was a qualitative change in my flute playing. Even though my skills were not especially mature, my sound was much purer than before.
Another instance that shook me to my core happened when I participated in West Virginia's Strawberry Festival Parade. I sat in a jolting bus for over 10 hours during the trip. I had diarrhea and had not eaten anything. I was attached to my old age and worried about whether or not I would be able to make it through the parade. As a result, I was taken advantage of by evil. Soon after the parade started, I felt my throat itching, and then I started to cough incessantly. I was on the side of the band where the audience could clearly see me. I did not want to let the audience see me like that and leave a bad impression of the band, so I continually sent forth righteous thoughts, and gradually I stopped coughing. However, the moment that my coughing stopped, my stomach started hurting. I felt listless, my legs were heavy, and I had difficulty walking. I could not help looking ahead of our band. When I saw the different bands from different countries far, far ahead of us, I realized how far we were from the end. Just as I was about to feel discouraged, I saw Teacher in the crowd! It was almost the same time I called in my heart, "Teacher!" (In the past, in countless tribulations, Teacher would always appear before my eyes.) At nearly the same time, I felt a hop in my step, my body felt lighter, and my feet lifted into the air. In a moment, I was a half-head higher than the practitioner in front of me, and I was about to fly. I thought, "This won't do, I can't start flying." As soon as I had this thought, I came down again, but my feet didn't touch the ground, they floated over the ground. No one could see that my feet weren't touching the ground. I knew that it was Teacher carrying me along! With Teacher's support, I happily played my flute while traveling the rest of our route.
Like other practitioners, I have many cultivation stories about my path arranged by Teacher, of rectifying the Fa and returning home. Some of these stories are pleasing to the ears, and some are much worse. Just as some stories have me ascending, in others I am falling down. Each time I ascend, I see Teacher's Fashen smiling at me, but when I fall, I see Teacher shedding tears. When I catch up again, I again see Teacher smiling at me with tears in his eyes. Every time I see Teacher, my heart is full of both a feeling of being blessed and of shame. There are so many things to say but no words to describe them. So I will just say now to Teacher: This disciple will indeed remain firm and follow Teacher on His path of Fa-rectification step by step, always awaiting Teacher to take us home.
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