(Clearwisdom.net) I became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1996 when I was between 13 and 14 years old. For the past more than ten years, I have experienced a cultivation path resembling that of a maze and have been in the state of an ordinary person for long periods of time. Recently, after I returned to cultivation in Dafa, I have truly realized what Dafa is and why people need to cultivate.
When I was in elementary school, I was reluctant to go to the exercise site with my mother. As for the time in middle school, I was addicted to martial arts novels and the corrupt information in ordinary human society. In university, I drifted with the tide and went further and further away from Dafa.
Spending my life like this for several years, when I graduated from university, the mere fragment of memory left in my mind was that Dafa was good. But at that time, I had lost my belief in gods and Buddhas. In school I liked to read inspirational books and books about marketing and management. Every time I finished reading a book, I would attach more importance to "reality" and felt that I had made a step closer to my "dream." I thought that I could realize my dreams by hard work. Master said in Zhuan Falun,
"Once he became well-known, fame and profit would easily interfere. He would think that he still had a long way to go in life, and he still wanted to make every effort to achieve some goals of ordinary people."
Looking back, my thought at that time was really preposterous.
After I graduated, for the past two years, I went around pursuing my dreams, but ran into trouble in all everything I did. I was unwilling to give up. Last year, I set up a trade company with a friend, thinking that I finally had an opportunity to utilize my capabilities. However, in the course of half a year, I couldn't make even one single transaction. Instead, I encountered many conflicts with others. It was really a difficult time for me.
In December, my mother came to Guangdong Province to visit me, bringing me some materials. Since I spent my life idly and my mother urged me, I finished watching some of the videos she had brought, including Prophecy and Life, which prompted numerous stimulating thoughts. What do I live for? No matter how great those ancient celebrities were, they just had to follow what the gods arranged for them. No matter how successful they were, they were just a piece of history. If I don't have that as my destiny, how can I obtain what I am pursuing? Even if I become wealthy and well off, it will be for just a short period of time. After that, I started to be aware of the minuteness of life, realize that I was so small in the universe, and decided to reconsider my concept of life. After reconciling my thoughts, I returned to Falun Dafa cultivation practice.
The first and most important thing is to study the Fa well and to be regular about doing the exercises. My business was very slow at that time, so I had a lot of spare time to study the Fa. Besides studying Zhuan Falun every day, I used my extra time to study Master's new teachings (I rarely studied them before). After a period of study, I understood that I needed to study both Zhuan Falun and Master's new lectures. Just studying Zhuan Falun was not enough, because Master's new lectures could help us profoundly understand Zhuan Falun and give us wisdom to appropriately recognize and deal with issues during the Fa-rectification period. It's very important to pay more attention to studying the Fa well. In addition, the articles from Clearwisdom are also very helpful to help me mature. When I have some Xinxing problems that I haven't realized, those articles act as mirrors for me to reflect my state and also indicate the gaps that I have compared to fellow practitioners.
After a period of time, I found that my attachments to fame and fortune lessened, and I no longer stressed myself worrying about the loans I had taken out for my business. I can deal with those problems with a peaceful mind. I felt as if I had cast off my old self and taken on a new one.
Previously, I was afraid of the sitting meditation because I was overweight and my legs were big. When I practiced sitting cross-legged, the flashes of pain seemed to snap every fiber in me, the soles of my feet became jet black, and I trembled all over, gasping for air. However, after persisting, I was able to successfully sit in the full lotus position, with both legs crossed. In order to extend the time of the sitting meditation, I also sat in meditation style while studying Zhuan Falun. Doing this day by day, I have now extended my meditation to 45 minutes.
I didn't know any local practitioners in Guangdong Province, because I am from another province. At my mother's introduction, I got to know an aunt that cultivates diligently. With her help, I learned how to send forth righteous thoughts and have come to understand its importance. Since then, I often send forth righteous thoughts whenever I have time. I also feel the power of righteous thoughts from this aunt and realized that the righteous thoughts are the thoughts of gods. We need to use divine thoughts instead of human thoughts to enrich ourselves. I also realized that we cannot consider ourselves as ordinary people. Any thoughts of ordinary people are just human ways of thinking. The best way of changing our human thoughts into divine thoughts is to pay more attention in studying the Fa well and to send forth righteous thoughts. Moreover, we must keep righteous thoughts all the time. Only in that way can we come closer to the truth and can our body become much purer and stronger. This allows us to restrain the evil, rotten demons.
In order to do well the three things that Dafa disciples should do, I took advantage of my office to tell people the truth about Falun Gong through the Internet. It has been demonstrated in practice that we also need to upgrade our xinxing while doing this. When we are attacked with a torrent of verbal abuse, our hearts cannot be moved. Instead, we need to save these people with compassion. Every time I encountered bad messages from people, I still encouraged them to do good. Some of them later told me that they wished to make friends with me. In addition, while explaining the true situation, I found that Master often gave me hints via computer malfunctions. Before, I always thought that they were issues resulting from hardware or software problems. Afterwards, I made a summarization of those phenomena and noticed that when the computer malfunctioned, I was always attached to ordinary things on the Internet, viewed some bad information, or was attached to doing things. If we consider things using the philosophy of materialism, I can hardly reconcile how so many coincidences can occur in this world and how they can occur so precisely. Since I started to study Zhuan Falun again, I have encountered many things that seemed ordinary but were actually amazing, which led me to realize that Master is with me every moment, and also how powerful righteous thoughts really are. Miracles happen around every practitioner. I always hear from fellow practitioners, "I feel nothing," or "Nothing special happens around me." Actually, it is not that miracles do not take place, but because we lack the heart of firmly believing in Master and Dafa. Miracles are indeed everywhere - it is Master's infinite grace.
Overall, the process of Fa-rectification advances faster and faster. A day just easily passes away while I do very little. I have still many attachments to eliminate, and there are a lot of people to save. In addition, with my own business, time is really tight for me. Several years ago, I lost the righteous belief in Dafa because I wrongly believed in the "reality" of ordinary human society. I give thanks to Master, who has never given up on me. Nowadays, the more I study the Fa, the more righteous thoughts I have towards Dafa. Master said,
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts" ("Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I would like to say to all those fellow practitioners who, like I was, are still attached to ordinary human society, wealth, and fame: "You need to be vigilant! You cannot let the evil make you more attached or let them seize your attachments and make you unable to extricate yourself."
At the same time, I want to take this opportunity to say a few words from my heart to the young practitioners in China. It is right to study well, however, there are many bad things in ordinary human society and in your school classes. You need to distinguish between good and bad, rather than to just learn everything without evaluating it. Do not consider them valuable in the practice of life. We are so lucky to have encountered Dafa in this human world, but society's pitfalls are everywhere. We need to walk on the main road to return home. Firmly believing in Master and Dafa is the fundamental approach to practicing the true value of life. Do not be muddleheaded about the concept of the "reality" of ordinary society. Dafa can show you as much as you can believe.
Thank you, Master. Thank you, the fellow practitioners who helped me.
August 30, 2009