(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Studying Dafa, Solving a Puzzle with a Firm Heart
Entering the Door
I began to practice Falun Dafa in September 1997. With Teacher's merciful protection, I gradually matured on the path of cultivation. Without Teacher, I would not be here today. When I first started, due to poor enlightenment quality, I did not understand what practicing meant and simply began with the purpose of having my illnesses cured. I was only a little over 40 years old but I had many diseases such as rheumatism, tracheitis, and a heart problem. Because I was suffering with these illnesses, I learned many kinds of different qigong, but my illnesses were not cured completely. When I started to practice Falun Dafa, my body showed obvious changes after only one week. My body felt light, and all of my illnesses gradually disappeared. At that time the practice environment was very good. We studied the Fa and practiced the exercises as a group. We exchanged our views, and through continuous Fa study, I realized that it is not just for removing illnesses and keeping fit, but a practice of Buddha cultivation!
Being Firm
After I was completely involved in Dafa practice, the evil persecution began on July 20, 1999. Instantly, police officers guarded all the practice sites and refused to allow us to practice. Virulent slander was published in papers and carried on TV and other media everywhere, as if the second Cultural Revolution had arrived. I did not study the Fa seriously enough at that time. Moreover, I had been indoctrinated with the Party culture from childhood, and everyday people's notions kept cropping up. I hesitated, paced back and forth, and felt panic and confusion. When I saw that some veteran practitioners went to the provincial government and Beijing to appeal on behalf of Dafa, I actually felt helpless. I calmed down and looked at it from a human level: "Dafa lets people improve their minds and become compassionate and good. There is nothing wrong with this. I had done other qigong practices for many years but did not recover from my illnesses, yet Dafa helped me to thoroughly get rid of all my illnesses." I understood this from my heart, so I practiced as usual without hesitation, and have not stopped to this day. At that time, fellow practitioners also came to study the Fa and exchange understandings with me. I read "Huge Exposure" in Essentials for Further Advancement:
"If we change the situation in human society and reverse the general climate, then let's see who still says that Dafa is good and who changes his mind."
I suddenly understood: isn't the current situation the same as what Teacher had warned us about? Actually, Teacher controls everything! This made my confusion and puzzlement vanish into thin air during Fa study. I strengthened my faith in Dafa from my innermost self and was determined to use my own, true experiences to validate and uphold Dafa and do well what a practitioner should do. Since then, I have been telling my co-workers, family, relatives, and friends about the benefits I gained from practicing Dafa, and so I have been validating and upholding the Fa. Because I had a small child and because of my attachments to sentiment and fear, I did not go to Beijing to validate Dafa when the persecution first began, which I will forever regret.
Memorizing the Fa
I began to memorize the Fa in 2000 with the encouragement of other practitioners. The process of memorizing the Fa was also a process of cultivating my mind and tempering my will. The interference was huge during that time: I either had things to do that day or was busy the next day. I feared that this would affect my reading of the Fa, so I memorized up to lecture three of Zhuan Falun in 2006 and then stopped. By reading other practitioners' sharing articles on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, I made a firm decision at the end of October 2007 to remove all interference and start memorizing the Fa again. Thus far, I have memorized it four times. As I memorized the Fa, I indeed felt the difference from just reading it. I had a tranquil mind, concentrated thoughts, and sometimes I suddenly understood different connotations of the Fa. For instance, this happened when I was memorizing "Loss and Gain" in Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun. Teacher said:
"Many different attachments must be discarded, for the loss we discuss is one in a broad sense. During the entire course of cultivation, we should lose all everyday people's attachments and various desires."
My previous understanding of this section was all these attachments and desires are of everyday people, but this time I suddenly realized these attachments and various desires are for everyday people, but practitioners should not have them. This allowed me to understand the difference between practitioners and everyday people.
2. Focused on Study and Cultivation; Doing the Three Things Well
Having a Fa in the Heart, Breakthrough with Righteous Thoughts
Prior to July 20, 1999, my home was a Fa study site. During the persecution, my home has remained a sharing place for practitioners. I also naturally accepted the responsibility for producing materials in our area. During this contact with fellow practitioners, we share experiences while studying the Fa, encourage each other, and focus on studying and cultivating. I benefited greatly from all of this and sensed that I no longer had any fear. Then a fellow practitioner came to my workplace and told me, "You are being traced by the police." I felt my heart jump in my throat. But Teacher's Fa immediately flashed into my mind. I immediately calmed down and quickly went home to pack up Dafa books and truth-clarification materials. Now, when I look back, I feel that this thought was wrong--it was as if I was asking to be persecuted. Nothing happened afterwards, and I thought while I memorized the Fa and abandoned my fear that Teacher had surely protected me.
Taking the Fa as Teacher Is the Right Course
Dafa was wildly persecuted in 2000, and I had no news of Teacher for a long time. Pne day out of the blue a practitioner sent me a new article that stated that Teacher asked practitioners to do the exercises at 11 p.m. facing a certain direction, and then the energy field would be intense. I was so happy (it was not easy to get Teacher's articles at that time), did not consider it carefully, and just followed this false article. The next day, I got blurry and dizzy and felt that something was wrong. Then I read Teacher's Fa where it says:
"We practice without any concern for time or location." "We do not require facing certain directions for practice or require certain ways to end the practice." (Zhuan Falun)
I suddenly awakened. Teacher repeatedly warned us to "take the Fa as the teacher," but I ignored it when I encountered an ordeal. I quickly found that practitioner and studied the Fa and shared with him and corrected the mistake in time. This incident made me deeply realize how serious Dafa practice is and that only by studying the Fa all the time and taking the Fa as teacher can we walk on the right cultivation path. Another practitioner once told me that Teacher had published a "Lecture Ten." I was alert and said immediately, "Teacher's Zhuan Falun only has nine lectures. I have never heard of a lecture ten. You should stop, not pass this around, and destroy it at once. This is serious. Have you forgotten the last lesson? We must take the Fa as the Teacher." So the spreading of these false articles was stopped in time in our area.
Saving Sentient Beings, Establishing a Home-based Material Production Site
In 2002, practitioners who operated big material production sites in our area were arrested, and our supply of informational materials was interrupted. A few of us discussed this and decided that we couldn't wait or rely on others to save sentient beings and that we should work on it ourselves. We allocated work, edited truth-clarification pamphlets, and then printed, photocopied and distributed them. Our home-based material production site was thus established. We could not use the Internet at that time, and while we were worrying about this, we accidentally ran into a practitioner we had not seen for many years. He taught us to use the Internet. When we had this wish to make these materials, Teacher arranged everything for us. Our home-based material production site has been in operation for seven years under Teacher's merciful protection. Moreover, we have gradually achieved the goal of having material production sites everywhere, in order to validate Dafa, clarify the truth, and save sentient beings. We have done well what Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners should do.
Looking Inward Is a Practitioner's Magic Weapon
Through unceasing study and memorization of the Fa and gradually removing attachments, I also learned to look inward during ordeals and emotional conflicts. During a sharing with fellow practitioners one day, we talked about the three things that we should do well. We could guarantee studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts, but fell short on going out to explain the facts and advise people to withdraw from the Party. How could we manage that? We thought we should take our time, and first make sure that we are doing the other two things well. However, this thought brought interference, and the printer suddenly had no yellow ink. (It worked fine before, because it was new.) I thought about what Teacher said, that nothing was accidental in cultivation and that we should look inward. However, no matter how hard I tried, I could not find the problem. When I was practicing the exercises the following day, I suddenly recalled that my opinion at the sharing was incorrect. Fa-rectification period practitioners should do all three things well. Just like the printer that originally had red, yellow, and blue colors, we have to work together to produce the proper effect so that the printed materials will be nice and neat. Well then, in cultivation, we Fa-rectification period practitioners especially must meet Dafa's requirement by doing all these three things well. I thought that the problem with the machine was a hint and that I should not be doing only two out of three things. I must do them all well so that I could meet the standards. However, deep in my thoughts, I wanted to evade the important thing and replace it with an easy one. I thought it was risky to go out and explain the facts, but actually it was my fear. I decided to get rid of this deeply hidden attachment. I sent forth righteous thoughts towards the printer and corrected my wrong thinking, and the printer started to function normally again. I enlightened through this that every thought of a practitioner must be on the Fa. We must always look inward during ordeals, as looking inward is a practitioner's magic weapon.
During my more than ten years of practice, I have experienced hardships and staggered along. There are many things I want to write down, but my sincerest experience as a genuine Dafa practitioner is first and foremost to study the Fa more and well. Instructed by the Fa and guided by Teacher, we won't lose sight of our direction, and we will be able walk correctly on our cultivation path. As a Dafa practitioner, we must listen to Teacher's words and believe in Teacher and Dafa. Anything that Teacher asks us to do, we are duty-bound to do and cannot to turn back. Only then will we not disappoint Teacher and his expectations for us. We will not forsake our mission of assisting Teacher in Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings. We will complete our prehistoric pledge!
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Category: Clarifying the Truth
