Greetings, Master. Greetings, fellow practitioners. The title of my sharing is called "Inspiring Moments"
1. Joining the Divine Land Band
I was nervous when I held the flute in my hands again after so many years. Why? I had been a musician for several decades and I know it is not a simple thing to master a musical instrument. One needs to learn it at a young age and practice in a disciplined way every day. Even after exhausting a whole lifetime of practicing, there is still no guarantee one will become an accomplished performer, not to mention the fact that I was already over 60 years old. Also, my teeth are uneven and air can leak through. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make any sound or play well. However, having cultivated under Master's guidance for the past ten years, I knew for a long time that anything Master asks us to do is for the beings in the cosmos and for ourselves. If Master suggested establishing a marching band, then it must be out of the needs of Fa-rectification. Therefore, following Master is definitely not wrong. I should just do it! With a timid heart, I joined the Divine Land Band. I have, of course, experienced many difficulties just as the other band members have.
I am not going to talk about how I overcame the difficulties, but rather share with you two inspiring moments in which Master showed me the magnificence of Dafa.
I was not chosen to play when the band recorded its first three pieces of music for the first time. Instead, I just practiced with the rest of the practitioners who were not chosen either. However, I could not focus on practicing. It was not because I felt bad for not being chosen for the recording, but that I felt something might happen during the process of recording. I then decided to put my flute down. As soon as I walked out of the door, I heard music coming from far away. I walked toward it as if I were being pushed in that direction and I listened attentively.
Everything around me - the sky, the earth, the mountains, the palace, and the trees - seemed to be listening as well. Even the wind stilled to listen. Everything was very quiet and there was no other sound except for the heavenly music. There are no words to describe the feeling. I can only say that it was music from the heavens because the music was so sacred and pure.
When the music stopped, I quietly walked to the back of the hall and continued to listen to the next piece of music that was going to be played. The hall was filled with an energy field that was compassionate and harmonious, and it was so dense that it was tangible. When the playing started again, I saw that all the players had fused together and their bodies were so transparent and pure that I could not tell them apart. The band played together in a gentle and graceful way, and what radiated from the performance was an extraordinary, colorful light. The conductor's body was also transparent and her graceful movements turned into a colorful pink stripe in the air. I also melted into them.
When the music stopped, I immediately felt an explosion deep in my soul and a cheerful child with open arms appeared, shouting loudly, "Great Master! Great Master!"
My tears flowed down my cheeks. I suddenly understood why Master had arranged for me to listen to this sacred music. Master had not only helped me eliminate my attachments that had locked me up and prevented me from cultivating diligently, but also let me witness again the mightiness and sacredness of Dafa. Master helped me gain further understanding of Fa-rectification and become clearer on how important it is for one to have resolute faith in Master. I once again felt what Master had painstakingly arranged for me. "Thank you Master!" Since that day, the music coming from my flute has fundamentally improved. Although I am still not mature in my playing, my flute has given off a much purer sound.
There was another inspiring moment. I had traveled over ten hours in a bus with other practitioners to participate in the West Virginia Strawberry Festival Parade. On that day, I had diarrhea and had not eaten anything. I was worried that I would not be able to finish the parade. As a result, the evil took advantage of this loophole of mine.
Not long after the parade began, my throat started to feel scratchy and I coughed continuously. Not wanting the onlookers to see me in such a bad shape, I played my flute on the outside edge of the band farthest from the watching crowd. I also kept sending forth righteous thoughts. Gradually I stopped coughing. However, shortly after, my stomach started to hurt and I felt weak; my legs were heavy and I could not walk. I looked ahead and was unable to see the end of the parade. I only knew that it was still pretty far away. As I was feeling disheartened, I saw Master. I shouted in my mind, "Master!" (Numerous times in the past when I was having tribulations, Master would appear in front of me.) Almost at that moment, I felt lifted up with my feet off the ground and my body relaxed. I immediately became about half a head higher than the practitioners in front of me! I thought that this would not do as I should not elevate in public. With this thought, my feet came down, but they did not touch the ground. I was like this the rest of the parade, floating forward. However, no one could see that my feet were off the ground. I knew that Master was taking me forward! With Master's help, I happily played the flute and finished the rest of the parade in a relaxed way.
2. The 2007 Chinese New Year Spectacular
I remembered that it was on a Tuesday morning (the morning of the first performance). When I woke up, even before I opened my eyes, I felt something special. When I did open my eyes and looked up, there were numerous enlightened beings in the sky. It really was a spectacular view. I could not help but ask in a foolish way, "Oh! You came to watch the show too?" Immediately after the words came out of my mouth, they all vanished. Now when I recall this incident, I feel that I was really disrespectful. I was using my human thoughts to ask the question. With human thoughts being dirty, how could the enlightened beings converse with a human?
Every day during the show, after I finished helping backstage, I often went to the last row of seats to watch the show. It was not right to do that, but I could not help it because I really wanted to see the show. Maybe it was also my attachment to seeing things in other dimensions. I always saw many Falun flying and spinning on and off the stage. What was inside the theater was splendid and glorious beyond anything in the human world. The audience, whether they were old or young, all watched the show attentively and leaning forward in almost the same position. Seeing such a scene, I was really happy for them. How lucky they were! When they know the truth someday in the future, they will not know how to thank Master for his boundless compassion!
I also saw that behind each performer on stage, there were gods dancing, singing, or playing music together with them. Even the numerous lives on the backdrops came to life. The higher beings together with the performers turned the stage into a three-dimensional world. While watching the "Dai Ethnic Dance," the peacocks on the river bank in the backdrop also danced together with the young female dancers, while the waves kept rising and falling, and two huge enlightened beings sitting by the waterfall were nodding their heads while their bodies swayed to the music. That kind of happiness and harmony can in no way be seen in the human world. In the dance, "A Dunhuang Dream," the gods in the sculptor's dream were actually dancing simultaneously with the dancers in exactly the same movements. Their dancing postures were floating, light, and graceful - their beauty beyond description. Furthermore, every gesture or movement struck my heart. When the sculptor went back to sleep, all the lights dimmed except for one shining sculpture, because two enlightened beings were still giving off light. I felt anxious and said in my mind, "Please come down quickly." When the dance was over, they too quickly stopped shining.
As for the male performers who had to do flips in the air, one of them had his head too close to the floor every time he flipped his body. If he flipped a little slower, the consequence would have been severe. Every time the show came to this part, I would get very worried as if I could not breathe. However, what I saw every time was that a finger, like a dense cloud, always followed him while he did his flips. With just one push, the performer would be able to finish his last flip. My tears poured down because I knew that Master was watching and protecting him!
At the end of the first show, I was crying in my heart. "Master, it is not that the disciples performed well, it was you doing all of this. How could we truly know how much you have sacrificed?"
I also saw that some performers dropped their handkerchiefs, some had their long ribbons intertwined together, some made incorrect hand or foot movements, and some stood in the wrong places. However, the gods behind them did not drop their handkerchiefs, their ribbons were still flying, and their hand and foot movements and their positions were all correct and accurate. Their movements were all synchronized and their dancing was graceful. They had plunged themselves into the mighty current of Fa-rectification. New Tang Dynasty Television's Chinese New Year Spectacular show is actually Master personally rectifying the Fa, and it is in no way just a simple show. Master has mobilized righteous gods in the cosmos to assist him in the Fa-rectification. Being Dafa disciples who are also performers (including myself), if we are not able to seriously and whole-heartedly assist Master in accomplishing the Fa-rectification according to Master's requirement, then we would have caused disorder to the Fa-rectification field and made unimaginably huge mistakes.
Before the show ended in New York, one fellow practitioner gave me a ticket to watch the show. After getting the approval from the performers, I finished the preparation work ahead of time. While I was watching the show, it felt like I was touring different heavenly worlds; the magnificence, sacredness, purity and wonderfulness was beyond description. I truly felt that I, as well as all the people in the theater had melted into Master's incomparably huge body. The powerful energy of the Fa-rectification field cannot be described with human words.
On my way home after the show, I felt as if I had been soaked in warm spring water. Due to my poor enlightenment quality, I thought it was because Master was doing "guanding" to me as he had done so many times before. I even thought that I should take a shower as soon as I got home because I had perspired so much. However, when I got home and took a look at myself in the mirror, my face was glowing and there was not a trace of perspiration on my face. Neither was there any on my body, which felt cool, smooth and firm like glass. The hot currents inside my body kept churning like sea waves. It was actually Master's gong!
As our human body is still being cultivated at this level, we do not really know what Buddha's Infinite Grace means. However, my body has been purified to such an extent, and it is evidence that the Buddha Fa is boundless and Master's gong is omnipresent. Being a veteran Dafa disciple who has cultivated for so many years, I know that Master gives a lot of himself in order to give us gong. I conjoined my hands and stood in front of Master's portrait for a long time. My mind was blank although deep in my heart, I was in pain for what Master is enduring for all sentient beings. I did not kneel down as I usually did. For the first time, I felt that what Master wanted me to do was to ask myself whether my heart is pure, genuine and selfless in my cultivation, and not to kneel down in front of his portrait every time I felt grateful to him. I asked myself if I was a qualified Dafa disciple and if I was worthy of being a Dafa disciple. I felt ashamed.
I felt that I had done something wrong that day - I should not have gone to watch the show as the seats are for sentient beings as they are waiting for Master's salvation. Master wants to give his boundless blessing to those with predestined relationships. Since I have already been saved from hell by Master a long time ago and I have already become a Dafa disciple, I should use the time to validate the Fa and save sentient beings. So how could I take up a seat meant for someone waiting to be saved! How could I compete for Master's gong with sentient beings, who like me, were also once Master's loved ones in this world! At this point, I remembered Master's Fa:
"From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism." ("Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials for Further Advancement)
I felt even more regretful. I am really far from the requirements of Dafa.
Every time I see Master, I feel very happy, but also ashamed that I have not lived up to his requirements. I have a lot to say to Master, but do not know where to start. I can only say to Master in my mind that I will walk my steps steadfastly in the Fa-rectification and follow Master to return home.
Thank you everyone. Thank you Master.
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