(Clearwisdom.net) For quite some time local Falun Dafa practitioners had planned to hold a "Nine-Day Class" for young practitioners. The summer of 2006 their plans were finally realized. Even though we were called "young practitioners," we were not all that young since we were all in high school. Often we were so busy with our schoolwork that we did not have enough time to study the Fa and practice the exercises.
Since we did not pay attention to studying the Fa regularly, we encountered significant interference while we were watching Master's "Lecture in Dalian" on the morning of the first day of the class. Quite a few of us felt tired and could not stay alert and focused. We could not even sit straight. One young practitioner even fell asleep. An aunt practitioner [in China, it is polite and affectionate to address an older woman outside the family as aunt] told us it was interference from a demon and that we must overcome it, so I shook off my drowsiness and sat on the floor to watch.
Many young practitioners still could not stay focused on the second day of watching Master's "Lecture in Dalian."
After talking it over, the aunts came up with a different idea for our Fa study. They asked us to sit on the floor in the full lotus position and for each of us to hold the book Zhuan Falun with utmost respect. Each one of us took turns reading one page of Dafa out loud. We were asked to read without missing a single character. The result was much better and everyone was able to stay focused with a tranquil mind while studying the Fa. The aunts told us, "Sincerity is a prerequisite if you are to rectify your heart." That made us realize that if we want to cultivate in Dafa, we must respect our Master and Dafa.
In the evening, as a group, we watched the video documenting the crimes committed in Sujiatun. Everyone watched attentively and no one uttered a word. Even the rowdiest young practitioner watched with full attention.
The crimes committed in the concentration camp drew the attention of everyone. Watching Dafa practitioners being tortured and murdered at the concentration camp shocked all of us, who, as young practitioners, did not want to endure hardship but also did not cultivate and study the Fa with diligence. We must cherish the opportunity, seize the initiative to cultivate, and save sentient beings. We must not disappoint Master's compassionate salvation and the expectation of sentient beings.
With the devoted help and encouragement from the aunts throughout the nine-day class, all of us young practitioners diligently studied the entire book of Zhuan Falun and some new Jingwen (new scriptures). Each day we also read and memorized Hong Yin and Hong Yin II. As a result, young practitioners' understanding of the Fa became clearer and more thorough. Before this class, our thinking was blocked by the concepts of modern, mutated science. We tended to "dig into a bull's horn," using the shallow and limited knowledge that we had gained in the classroom, to understand Dafa. As a result we could not understand layer after layer of the more profound connotations of Dafa.
After systematic Fa study during the nine-day class, I realized that my Fa study had been very passive and lax and was not done with the right mindset. I had not put Dafa as my number one priority. I had not followed Master's words, "Cultivate Dafa with all your heart, Nothing could be more important." ("Gaining the Fa" from Hong Yin) I put study at school as the prerequisite for my future wellbeing. I never thought to validate the Fa with my hard study at school. It always ended up that, regardless of how hard I tried to study well at school, my grades were always lackluster. This time my ninth grade examination results were not good. They certainly did not accomplish the result of validating the Fa. After participating in the nine-day class, I started Fa study on my own initiative. Each evening after school I used half an hour to study the Fa with my mother, and each Sunday afternoon I joined the uncles and aunts for group Fa study and experience sharing.
Before the class I did not understand the meaning of "clarifying the facts," so I did that poorly. too. After the nine-day class I understood the importance of clarifying the facts. I tried to clarify the facts to one of my good friends. I knew her family disliked the CCP, so I let her watch the CD "Traveling Heaven and Earth Through Wind and Rain" and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. She was very interested in these programs. The next day, she specifically asked me to help her quit the Communist Youth League and the Yong Pioneers. Later I persuaded another two classmates to quit the CCP and its associated organizations.
During this Fa study class, I felt the compassion and forbearance of Dafa practitioners. Those aunts who helped us never got tired of waking us up every day. They cared about and encouraged us during Fa study and when we faced tests, and they helped us to raise our levels step by step.
The most difficult task that we faced was getting up each day and practicing the exercises. We always dawdled and lingered in bed. The aunts woke us time after time. They would earnestly point out our laziness. They also painstakingly corrected our exercise movements when we did not treat them seriously, when we did not follow the forms precisely, or when we did not persevere, and they continued to encourage and help us on a one-on-one basis.
I remember on the morning of the eighth day, three of us young practitioners finished half an hour of the second exercise. This was a major breakthrough for us, because before and during the class, none of the young practitioners could complete all four standing exercises for the full duration. I, especially, was the one who was most anxious over the Falun Standing Stance exercise. But on that day, with the encouragement of Dafa practitioners, we were determined to complete the 30-minute Falun Standing Stance exercise for the first time. All the aunts were very happy to see us do this. We were also moved by our own effort. It definitely strengthened our resolve to overcome hardships and our confidence to be diligent in our cultivation.
We all benefited a great deal from this nine-day class. In addition to the young practitioners, the aunts also told us that they had raised their own levels quite a bit. Because of this, I truly wish that all adult practitioners in China would organize a "Young Practitioners Fa Study Class," helping young practitioners to cultivate diligently together.
September 22, 2006
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