(Clearwisdom.net)

I saw Master in 1993, with thousands of fellow practitioners as we sat in an auditorium listening to Master teaching. The most profound Fa that I had ever heard woke me up, as I was enveloped by Master's enormous compassion. More and more people in our city came to learn Dafa, and numerous exercise sites were established. I improved by listening to fellow practitioners sharing their cultivation experiences and their understanding of Dafa. Many new cultivators experienced xinxing tests and karma elimination. At that time, my cultivation was very simple, and I only experienced happiness and purification. When nobody was around, I liked to jump up and down like a child, as my happiness was beyond words.

– by the author

Reverent Master: Greetings!

Fellow practitioners all over the world: Greetings!

Over the countless eons of history, no matter how far away in the universe, or how glorious our lives once were, or how sad , happy, lonely or empty, these experiences now only exist in the deep memory of the universe. Our original lives, once we dropped into the human world, have had all memory erased. I searched my memory in this life, and found that most of the memories in this life were also gone except for three very important years: 1993, 1999, and 2011. Under Master's compassionate salvation, and protection from all the righteous gods over the last twenty years, these three years mark the milestones in my life.

I saw Master in a Fa lecture series in 1993, where thousands of fellow practitioners and I sat in an old auditorium listening to Master. The most profound Fa I had ever heard woke me up and I was enveloped by Master's enormous compassion. Master's words echoed in every corner of the auditorium, and my layers upon layers of lives at the micro and macro level were awakened; every cell was listening and assimilating to the Fa. Dafa had welcomed its first true disciples; I became one of the most fortunate beings in the cosmos. That year, I became one of the hundreds of thousands of the first Dafa disciples walking onto the stage of Fa-rectification, where countless gods were watching the glory of the universe reaching the human world, and reaching my original home. That day I began my cultivation under the Buddha light.

After the April 25 appeal in 1999, and the escalation of the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), thousands and thousands of Dafa disciples including me stepped foward to safeguard Dafa without any fear. We had let go of the attachment to life and death. We did not know what would happen in the future. Newspapers, television stations, and radio stations broadcast all sorts of communist propaganda and slander attacking Dafa. Everywhere you looked, there were police cars, plainclothes agents and spies all over the street; the atmosphere was oppressive. People monitored you at every turn, and there were slogans and posters slandering Dafa everywhere, as people were detained in long lines to be searched.

The exercise sites became vacant. Our colleagues at work were curious, our leaders were shocked and our family members were worried. However, we remained calm, collected and righteous in facing this seemingly overwhelming tribulation. I went to Beijing without even bringing any extra clothes, as if saying, “If you want to persecute me, here I come, with my life.”

In 2011, I experienced the letting go of self, while assimilating to my true self and the true nature of the universe. In one big step I recognized the magnificence of Dafa.

While many people still viewed Dafa as an ordinary qigong for fitness and health, I knew through studying the lecture series that I was cultivating in the Buddha Fa. I was able to sit in the full lotus position at the very beginning. I felt sacred, as a disciple in the Buddha school with a true Master! I was able to sit for half an hour with both legs crossed after the class. It was rare at that time, as even the instructors could only sit in the half lotus. I was very happy each day, and I was studying the Fa all the time. I brought a jacket with a big pocket in the front, to carry Zhuan Falun so that I could study the Fa and do the exercises. I knew from within to study the Fa and do the exercises every day. I enjoyed exercise and Fa study, and it generated enormous happiness.

More and more people in our city came to learn Dafa, and numerous exercise sites were established. I improved by listening to fellow practitioners sharing their cultivation experiences and their understanding of Dafa. Many new cultivators experienced xinxing tests and karma elimination. At that time my cultivation was very simple, and I only experienced happiness and purification. When nobody was around, I liked to jump up and down like a child, as my happiness was beyond words.

Melting in the joy of Buddha light

One afternoon in 1996 or 1997, after participating in a large group exercise with all of the practitioners in our city, I was standing quietly on a hill in the park, when suddenly I felt the enormous compassionate energy of the universe enveloping me. It felt as if I had fallen into a furnace of molten steel. I knew it was the energy of the Fa purifying me, and in that moment I deeply experienced Master's explanation of the characteristic of the universe: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. During the whole process I had no thought; I only existed as a being but without any thought. When the energy left, returning to the universe, I discovered that I was completely cleansed, with no notions, no attachments and no human sentiment. Instead, I had strong, compassionate energy filling every cell. I was in a state of compassion, calm and quiet with no thoughts.

Soon, my happy, smooth environment suddenly changed. My parents began forcing me to look for a girlfriend on a daily basis, and since I did not comply with them, they got all the relatives involved in trying to persuade me. When I did not attend to their wishes, they came to my exercise site and made a big scene. Fellow practitioners at the exercise site were mad at me, saying that I was damaging Dafa’s image by not conforming to a normal state. I was very naive at that time; I did not know the difference between a BMW and a tractor. I did not know what a billfold was for, as I hardly spent any money. I took the bus to and from work, and I lived with my parents. I was terrified by the idea of “damaging Dafa,” so I got married quickly. After the marriage, I noticed that I gradually developed human notions and attachments, and became an ordinary person.

After my son was born, my wife's attention was then focused on my son, who was so lovely that everyone would turn their head when they saw him. I was a volunteer instructor at that time, and I had ample time to cultivate again. At the beginning of 1999, I was again in a state of tranquility. The issues of ordinary society didn't interest me, as they seemed to be so distant. I just could not understand human desires and attachments.

In February 1999, when I first did the sitting meditation, my legs naturally crossed themselves, without the help of my hands to position them. My legs were no longer painful, and I often sat in in the full lotus position.

One time I participated in a large-scale group exercise, and when we did the sitting meditation, I was able to settle down but was not quite in complete tranquility yet, when I felt that my entire body was empty. Suddenly I felt an enormous energy rise from within and my body turned into pure energy. It was as if my body did not exist anymore. My chest was burst open by the energy, and when the energy moved to my head, I could not help but weep out loud. The thing was that I was not sad at all, and felt full of compassionate energy. The ground began radiating with strong light; my body also radiated rays of light. My entire body turned into light that became stronger and brighter, to the point of hurting my eyes. I had a strong feeling: I am about to enlighten. At this critical time I suddenly had another thought: “I am one with great inborn quality, I want the path of sudden enlightenment, Master help me close it for now.” After this thought, the light inside and outside my body disappeared immediately and I came back to this world.

From that point on, I no longer felt pain when I meditated. I took the tape recorder to the exercise site every day at around 4 a.m., and I was able to meditate for two hours each time. Our exercise site became the largest one in our city. After the April 25 appeal, all of the instructors, including me, came out with fellow practitioners to safeguard and validate the Fa. One day on the way home, my brain suddenly became empty, and I was in a state of tranquility, without any thoughts. I went to wait for someone in a hotel and he had a copy of Zhuan Falun in his room. As I began reading Lunyu, I saw layers and layers of different meanings while I read. For a period of time I could sense everyone else’s thoughts around me.

With the escalation of the persecution, I began participating in many Dafa projects, and I noticed that I was in an emotionless state. I was puzzled and asked fellow practitioners, “Why do I not have human emotions nor compassion?” They laughed, “How can that be possible? You absolutely have human emotions, how can you not have compassion?” I could not answer. Later I was sentenced to a labor camp. After I was released, I noticed that I had formed ordinary people's notions, desires, and attachments again, and I realized that I had dropped to the level of ordinary people. The attachments I had, even just a small one, would be greatly enlarged and intensified. The old forces destroyed my finances and I was trapped with an enormous amount of debt, with creditors chasing after me for payment. My finances and reputation were in shambles. My life, work and family were in total ruin. When I exercised, the state of sacredness and magnificence were both gone. I felt like I was just doing calisthenics. I could no longer see the essential properties implied in the Fa, and instead could only see the superficial meanings.

(To be continued)