(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2010. I've had many cultivation experiences throughout the past five years, some happy, and some sad. I would like to share them with you.
Encountering Falun Dafa
Since I was a small child, I always had a strong feeling that I was waiting for something important. I was sent to a detention center in 2008, for something I hadn't done. There I met a Falun Dafa practitioner. I was deeply touched when she introduced me to the practice. I realized that Dafa was what I had been waiting for, and Master Li was the teacher I had been looking for!
Despite the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) nationwide propaganda campaign, I hadn't heard anything negative about Falun Dafa before I was detained. I believed everything that the practitioner told me. I often repeated, “Falun Dafa is great! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is great!” I was determined to practice Falun Dafa.
Suddenly, the people around me started talking negatively about Dafa. According to them, Dafa caused practitioners to be imprisoned. Despite whatever they said, I never wavered. I thought I would defend Dafa if I was ever imprisoned for practicing.
After being released, I didn't know where to find the book Zhuan Falun, or where I could meet other Falun Dafa practitioners.
One day, I met an artist at an art exhibition. The practitioner I met in the detention center had mentioned this artist, and praised her noble character and graceful personality. I was happy that my predestined relationship with Dafa was through her!
The artist gave me a DVD of the 2008 New Year Gala. I had a beautiful dream the night I watched the DVD. I dreamed I was flying in heaven, and saw a golden magnificent palace, heavenly fairies, and huge golden Udumbara flowers! The dream was so real that I still remember it clearly.
I begged the artist for a copy of Zhuan Falun. She agreed. I excitedly took the book home. It was late at night on December 31, 2009. The moment I opened the book, I heard the New Year bell ring and cheers for the arrival of the New Year. I felt the cheers were to celebrate a new chapter in my life.
I was so fascinated by the book that I kept reading it the next day. I fell asleep when I was about to finish reading the whole book. My mind was awake even though my body was asleep. I saw three rotating wheels above my abdomen. Their background was white. They rotated as fast as fans.
No words could describe my excitement. I knew the importance of the book. It was the reason why I came into this world. I seemed to have been looking for it lifetime after lifetime, and finally found it! In my dream, I saw thousands and thousands of Buddhas solemnly descending to this world, with strong determination. No human language could describe this magnificent scene!
My Father Slapped My Face
A couple of months after I started cultivating, my family attempted to force me to stop. It was a big test for me!
My father had always been the pillar of my family. Because of my mother's poor health, my brothers and I grew up under our father's care. I was very close to him, and we always talked. I was also my father's favorite child. He had always given me whatever I wanted, and never scolded me for anything.
For the first time in my life, my father scolded me, and even slapped my face, for practicing Falun Dafa. Mother was on his side too! No one in the family could understand why I chose this practice, which was being persecuted by the CCP.
I was deeply saddened and angered by the way they treated me. I remembered Master's words,
“I said that just by remaining unmoved you could handle all situations.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference”)
I did my best to suppress my resentment and force any negative thoughts out of my mind. One side of me knew clearly that if I gave up, my family would lose their chance of salvation. The only way for me to save all of them was to bravely walk my path of cultivation.
During the hardest time my family gave me, they almost sent me to a brainwashing session. They also restricted my freedom, thinking that I must be deluded, since I was so firm in my cultivation. The way they acted reminded me of the Great Cultural Revolution, when husband and wife, mother and daughter, and family members struggled against each other, and reported on each other. I personally witnessed how the people who had been brainwashed by the Communist Party's culture had refused to see the truth, and could not tell right from wrong. I felt very hurt. After so many years of love and my sacrifice for my family, I wasn't even allowed my freedom of belief!
I deeply thought it over, and decided to never give up cultivation in Dafa. I planned on moving out, no matter what hardships I had to face.
Shouldering My Responsibility
A few days after I left home, I heard that my mother had a stroke. One of the CCP's lies about Falun Gong was that practitioners ignored their families. As a matter of fact, Master taught us,
“Under all circumstances, we must be good and kind to others, not to mention to our family members.” (Zhuan Falun)
I moved back home to take care of my mother. I decided to tell my parents that in doing so, I was following Master's teachings. After I began practicing, I became a better person. Practitioners' families should be proud of them.
I used to argue a lot. Now I let my upright behavior speak for me, and put others' needs ahead of mine. As time passed by, my relationship with my family improved. I also did my best to help our neighbors. I greeted and chatted with the elderly, and encouraged the young to be respectful of their parents. I had a great reputation in our community. People admired my parents for having trained their daughter so well. Father was pleased, but he was still against me practicing Falun Dafa.
One year passed, and mother's health improved a lot. Father witnessed how I became less argumentative, but more and more steadfast in my cultivation.
One day, father came to talk to me. It had been a long time since we chatted with each other. When he brought up the topic of my cultivation, I didn't reply right away. I thought, “You will find out more about how cultivation has made me a better person.” After pondering for a while, father said, “Do you know that we have been thinking every day about how to deal with you? I have given up. You can move out, but you have to promise to be careful...” I nodded happily.
Brother Begins Practicing
After I started cultivating openly, my younger brother and his family walked into my life. The beauty of Falun Dafa blessed them, and warmed their hearts that had been poisoned by the Communist Party culture.
My younger brother benefited from Dafa the most. He met fellow practitioners and heard their stories of cultivation practice. After gaining a deeper understanding of Dafa, he decided to begin practicing.
Because of his great inborn quality, he progressed faster than many new practitioners. He used to be stubborn and ill-tempered, and was also addicted to alcohol. He became a good son and took good care of his family. My parents were very happy to see his positive changes. They even told their friends how great their children were, and how happy they were. My mother would smile from the bottom of her heart as soon as she saw us. Even though we weren't rich, we enjoyed a very happy family life. Chinese say, a harmonious family life is the basis of prosperity.
Changes for My Older Brother and His Family
My older brother had been the worry of the family. When he was young, he didn't get as much parental care as my younger brother and I. By the time he grew up, he was addicted to gambling, and often quarreled with our father if he felt slighted. He had poor relationships with our father, as well as with his wife. His son and daughter lived depressed lives in a dysfunctional family. His daughter developed psychological problems, and refused to communicate with people. Even though she was 16, we still worried that she might get lost when taking buses by herself.
I invited my niece to stay with me. My younger brother and I gave her a lot of encouragement, and tried to unlock her heart with the principals of Falun Dafa. She finally was free of her psychological issues six months later, and became a happy and outgoing teenager. One time, she hugged me tightly and said, “Auntie, other people think I don't have a happy life, but they simply don't know how happy I am!”
My niece is very independent now. She even makes money to pay for her college education. We no longer have to worry about her.
My nephew came to stay with us during a summer break. Influenced by society and poor family values, he thought that money was the only way to solve one's problems. He was heavily attached to video games. Even though he was a smart kid, he was very selfish and hostile.
My younger brother and I used examples to talk to him, and taught him that the right way to deal with people was to be sincere, kind, and tolerant. We often told him about the benefits of Falun Dafa using ourselves as examples. We cared for him, and he gradually changed his attitude. He was very reluctant to leave when summer was over. He said, “I know what I'm doing when living here.” He was so busy learning art throughout the summer that he didn't play any video games. Sometimes my younger brother and I were both busy. My nephew patiently waited because he really felt at ease with us. It reminded me of what Master said,
“Haven’t I said that with one person practicing, the whole family benefits? At a minimum, the energy field that you carry is beneficial to all of your family members since you are cultivating the righteous Fa, and the benevolent and tranquil power that you carry can rectify all incorrect states.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia”)
My older brother witnessed the positive changes in his son when he returned home. He had a long and nice conversation with my younger brother on the phone. He admitted what he had done wrong, and expressed a strong wish to change in the future. He wanted to be a good son, and a good husband and father. My younger brother said in agreement, “Yes, thanks for Master's great work!”
Master Protects My Entire Family
Many incidents have showed how my entire family benefits from Dafa. Master has not only taken care of me, but also protected my family members from disasters.
A big hurricane last year destroyed almost all the unfinished buildings in Hainan. My older brother's house was in the storm's path, but a fully-loaded five-wheeler was parked in front of his house, which blocked the wind. His house was the only one there that survived the hurricane.
My father accidentally started a fire in the woods when he was burning some grass. While trying to put out the fire, he inhaled smoke and got a lung infection. The owner of the woods requested only 1,500 yuan for the damage, seeing how hard father had worked to minimize his loss. Everyone knew that the result could have been much worse, given the dangerous fire situation. We were grateful that father's lung infection was minor. I was thankful for Master's protection!
Mother believed in Dafa and Master's care after father's accident. She started repeating in her heart every day, “Falun Dafa is great! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is great!”
When my younger brother told my parents that he had started practicing Falun Dafa, father couldn't accept it at first. Brother asked, “Which do you prefer, the old me or the way I am now? If you like the old me, I will change back now.” Father was speechless. Mother said without hesitation, “I want my current son!” Mother, brother, and I started laughing. Father silently agreed.
There is so much to share with fellow practitioners, and so much to report to our compassionate Master. Thank you, Master, for your care! Thank you, fellow practitioners, for your help! I wouldn't have been able to catch up with the process of Fa-rectification without you! It's a great honor to be a Falun Dafa practitioner!
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