(Minghui.org) During the period from April 13, 1993 through October 21, 1994, our great compassionate Teacher held five seminars in Guangzhou. Falun Dafa had spread and was deeply rooted in southern Guangdong Province. I was fortunate enough to have attended the Guangzhou seminars. Looking back, I feel truly blessed, as that was the most precious time of my life.
Ever since childhood, I had suffered from many illnesses, and took medicine year round. After I started working, my health gradually got worse. Since medication had never been very effective, I developed a strong interest in qigong and having good health. At that time, qigong had reached its peak of popularity in Chinese society. Various types of qigong emerged one after another. I had attended many seminars, but none of them had much effect. Some of the qigong seminars even started teaching people to heal illnesses and were really harmful to the students. They not only didn't heal their own illnesses, but also acquired more illnesses from others. I had been searching for several years but found nothing. I had lost faith in qigong, yet somehow I felt I was still searching for something.
In 1993, I attended a Guangzhou Seminar with a relative. During the seminar, Teacher's Fa lectures gave me a whole new perspective. Teacher said that he was teaching at high levels and that we needed to cultivate xinxing in cultivation. That was something I had never heard of anywhere else, and I was very inspired. During the seminar, Teacher also helped students to purify their bodies, and no other qigong master could have achieved such miraculous results.
At one time Teacher came down from the stage and talked to the students. That was the first time I was close to Teacher. I was very surprised that Teacher looked very youthful. He had a tall and stalwart build and a very healthy complexion. Teacher was very amiable and did not put on airs. He answered all of the students' questions and seemed to know everything about the students.
After nine lectures, my body had become like new again. Many illnesses such as severe insomnia, stomach problems, and many other unknown discomforts had all been swept away at once. I finally knew what it was like to be without any illness. I ended my long-lasting relationship with the medications and have not taken any since I started cultivation more than ten years ago. The most important thing was that I gained Dafa, and with great virtue, it is allowing me to return to my origin. This is what I was looking for.
I've recorded below the passages of time during Teacher's Guangzhou Seminars that I am aware of, with the intention of calling on all practitioners who had attended the seminars to participate in recording their experiences, and together witness such a precious course of history.
Sowing the Seeds
On April 13, 1993, in response to an invitation by the Guangdong Province Qigong Association, Teacher came to Guangzhou and taught the first seminar. The seminar was held at a factory downtown at the time with about two hundred people attending. This seminar sowed the seeds of Dafa in southern Guangdong Province. Since then it has gradually spread in southern China by word of mouth.
The second seminar was held in the auditorium of the provincial Central Labor Union, with more than 700 attendees. It was the beginning of what was called the “reform and opening up” at the time, and people of Guangzhou put their minds on making money. Teacher's Fa lectures were not well understood right away. Teacher patiently and gradually guided the students based on their level and understanding of the Fa, and tried to make clear the significance of cultivation and how to practice. Like waking up from a dream, everybody came to realize the meaning and significance of cultivation little by little. Many qigong fans learned that this was not an ordinary qigong practice, thus they started to listen more carefully to Teacher's lectures.
Falun Dafa started to flourish in southern China. One by one, many predestined people began to cultivate. Many regained health through practicing. Some diseases that were considered incurable by the hospitals, such as cancer, were healed. People who suffered from paraplegia walked again. More people's moral standards rose, and examples of good people and good deeds emerged one after another. Everyone did their jobs with a sense of responsibility, and did not fight for fame or pursue profit. People gradually rose to a higher moral state and played a good role in promoting and improving the moral standard of society. Those who had lost their inborn nature in a materialistic society were gradually waking up.
Climbing Baiyun Mountain
During the third seminar in Guangzhou, local practitioners saw that Teacher worked really hard teaching the classes and suggested that Teacher take a break and visit Baiyun Mountain, located in the outskirts of Guangzhou City in his spare time. Teacher readily agreed.
One morning, a student brought a van and took Teacher, the seminar staff and some local students to the bottom of Baiyun Mountain. We took cable cars to the top of the Motian Ridge of Baiyun Mountain. Local students also bought tickets for everyone to visit Mingchun Valley. When Teacher heard that each ticket cost five yuan, he said, “It's so expensive, let's not go.” Later he found out that the tickets were already paid for so he went. Teacher always thought about the students to avoid causing them inconvenience as much as possible.
We later stopped at a place and saw a few people meditating facing the sun. Teacher took us some distance away and whispered that those people would not succeed in cultivation. I now know that without the guidance of Dafa, one cannot succeed without cultivating one's xinxing. We passed by Nengren Temple on our way out. The original temple doesn't exist anymore and at the original site there was only a donation box for collecting money. A student told Teacher that there was originally a Nengren Temple. Teacher smiled and said, “Look, it's asking you for money.” As he was speaking, Teacher cleaned up the evil spirits and chaotic things in that place. Teacher told us that Baiyun Mountain used to be a place for cultivation.
Everybody followed Teacher down the hill and went back home. During the ride, everybody was embraced in a harmonious atmosphere where no one wanted to talk and all felt really happy and comfortable. We went back to where Teacher was staying. Teacher watched everyone leave then turned around and went upstairs.
Dafa Can Only Be Taught to Humans
The location for the fourth seminar in Guangzhou was originally picked by the hosting establishment, Baolin Qigong School (an organ of the Guangdong Province Qigong Association that's responsible for organizing classes and seminars). It was to be held at the original location, the auditorium of the provincial Central Labor Union. As soon as Teacher got off the train, he went to take a look at the venue. This auditorium had just recently held another qigong class and the place was not clean. Teacher requested that we change the location. The first lecture was later held at the auditorium of Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and the rest of the seminar was held at the Military Region Logistics Department auditorium.
There was an incident during that seminar. In order to provide convenience for the students, the seminar staff sold Dafa books and materials before, after and during breaks between lectures. One day after lunch, a staff member was selling books by the entrance. Because it was hot that day and not very many people were buying the books, the staff member dozed off. While the staff member was half asleep, he saw two people in green who came toward him and wanted to buy Dafa books. Just as the staff member handed them the books, he realized that they were not people. They were the two banyan trees in front of the auditorium. He didn't give them the books and told them that Dafa could only be taught to humans, so they left.
An Episode During the Fifth Seminar in Guangzhou
The fifth seminar in Guangzhou was held at the Guangzhou City Stadium. The venue had a capacity of more than five thousand people. That was also the last series of Fa lectures in China. After the news came out, people from all regions of China, even from overseas came to attend. It was really hard to get tickets. After the seminar had started, some of the people who didn't have tickets didn't want to leave for a long time. At the end, the problem was solved by installing a television in the small hall nearby.
There are many articles about this seminar. I will only share one incident. Before the seminar had started, the Guangdong Province Qigong Association staff told us that there was a young man from Hebei province, about 16 or17 years of age, who brought a sack of steamed buns that his mom made for him, and took a train to Guangzhou for the seminar. Because this young boy didn't have much money, he couldn't afford a place to stay after paying for the ticket. The staff of the qigong association made arrangements so he could stay in an office at the association. The boy arrived early, a while before the seminar started. The steamed buns he had brought with him started to grow green mold, yet he was still eating them. Once they heard of this, the local Guangzhou practitioners right away made arrangements for this young boy, and took care of his living situation so he could focus on the Fa lectures. The staff later reported this to Teacher, and Teacher, with tears in his eyes, told the young boy to cultivate well. After the seminar, Guangzhou practitioners paid for a train ticket for the boy to get home safely.
During the seminars, Teacher's meals and living situation were all very simple. He often stayed at small motels and ate instant noodles. Yet Teacher always dressed appropriately and his clothes were always clean and neat. I remember one time, I dressed up in order to meet with Teacher. Teacher commented that I dressed appropriately and told others to pay attention to their appearance.
It is now the 20th year since the great compassionate Teacher introduced the Fa to the public. Teacher has his mind on the universe, painstakingly saving sentient beings, and endures unimaginable difficulties for all beings. As a beneficiary of being a Dafa practitioner, I often burst into tears as I think of the difficulties that Teacher has endured for us and for all beings. I also feel ashamed and guilty that I haven't been doing well and striving forward in cultivation, and I've taken detours in the past. I've written this article on the 20th anniversary of Teacher introducing the Fa to the public, to bear witness to history, and motivate myself to genuinely cultivate, strive forward, and keep up with the progress of the Fa-Rectification. I will not disappoint Teacher's effort to save us and will follow Teacher to return home.
*Quotes in this article are not Teacher's original words, but have been paraphrased.
From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa’s Introduction
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