(Minghui.org) At age 68 I can look back on my 18 years of cultivation. Falun Dafa has healed me from a serious illness, my mind and nature have become calmer and more balanced, and my whole environment has harmonized, thanks to Falun Dafa.
I visited a Falun Dafa practice site in Bern, the Swiss capital, in April 2000, along with a colleague. Neither of us knew much about this method of self-cultivation, and we started practicing without any thoughts or ideas. Within two weeks I was cured of my 7-year chronic bowel disease. The doctors and the recurring hospital stays and rehabilitations had not helped. Thanks to Falun Dafa, I was symptom-free within two weeks.
I was sure that I had finally found the right way.
Master said:
“The most obvious thing is that your body will be purified very quickly. Many people in Mainland China know that cultivation in Falun Dafa is simply too miraculous! Upon starting the practice, the illnesses will be gone. Why is that? Many people did not seek after healing illnesses. They think that the Dafa is good, so they practice it! Their illnesses were healed as a result.” (Lecture in Sydney)
At this time, I got divorced from my husband. I was alone with two children and many problems. It was hardly possible to practice my learned profession as a housing economy business manager since I did not possess any computer knowledge at that time.
I let go of all my opinions and applied for a job in gastronomy. As a service employee, I had a good connection to the guests. Here, until my early retirement in 2013, I found a good environment for clarifying the facts.
I told my ex-husband after a short time that he no longer had to pay alimony for me. He did not believe me and asked me to confirm this to him immediately in writing, which I did gladly. Without Falun Dafa, I wouldn't have been able to do this.
Even though I am now involved in various projects and often do Dafa-validation work on the computer, I always feel the need to go out to distribute brochures. This also gives me the opportunity to talk to many people I meet about Falun Dafa.
When people all over the world demanded that ex-head of state Jiang Zemin be held responsible for his crimes against humanity, this seemed to us another way of reminding local people about the brutal persecution in China.
How could we get people around us to support this worldwide campaign?
I arranged to meet with a fellow practitioner on a Saturday morning in January 2016. Although it was raining hard, we did not let it stop our plan to visit the neighbors. With a full basket of informational materials about Falun Dafa and signature lists, we went from house to house, door to door.
Since we visited people at their homes, they often invited us in. We used the opportunity to explain the facts to the people again in detail, along with how Jiang Zemin had started the cruel persecution. We also informed people that the signatures would be sent directly to the highest body of China's Public Prosecutor's Office and the Chinese Supreme Court. We were often asked, “Do you think these signatures will help?”
We assured them, “Every signature is a step towards justice! Filing a complaint also means supporting the Chinese, who filed a complaint in China.”
Master said:
“While you're clarifying here, layers upon layers of your bodies that have completed cultivation are also clarifying at cosmic bodies of different levels.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference” from Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)
At the beginning of my cultivation, I memorized Zhuan Falun and copied it by hand, but then I stopped for a while.
When the Shen Yun Promotion for 2017 in Winterthur and Bregenz ended, I felt tired and exhausted. I was in a bad cultivation state.
Since we often had to travel long distances during our promotion, there was not much time left in the evening to learn the Fa. I was often tired and could no longer concentrate on reading.
When I returned home after many months, I needed to catch up and cultivate well again. At that time, many Chinese practitioners shared their positive experiences about memorizing Zhuan Falun. So I decided to start with the book again, as well as memorize the poems in Hong Yin.
Master said:
“Why do you memorize the book? Isn’t it for reaching Consummation? Memorizing Zhuan Falun helps you improve, since both the microscopic part of your body and the human part at the outermost surface are memorizing it together.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland)
In the beginning, I had strong reactions, such as discomfort, pressure in my head, and tiredness. But I knew that everything I encountered in cultivation was good. For the first time since I started cultivating, I understood the Fa principles, and I learned to read the Fa in a more concentrated way. I even remembered some conflicts and disease karma of the past where I had not recognized the cause. I now clearly recognized my shortcomings, including arrogance, making high demands on others, and complaining about others.
Shen Yun returned to German-speaking Switzerland in 2017, after many years. It was just one performance this time, but it was still a great challenge for us. Many practitioners had never helped with the promotion. By cooperating well amongst ourselves and even without advertising, the theatre seats sold out quickly!
The shows took place in two different cities in 2018—three in Winterthur and two performances in Basel.
We first had to find accommodations in various cities. Since I was responsible for distribution in Winterthur, I searched various online portals for weeks. Things finally seemed to work out. An Italian woman had wanted to visit her family for a long time and gave us her apartment for a limited period. My fellow practitioners helped me with the communication in English, and I then deposited 1,200 Euros into the account as desired. But after a few days, I received another request for payment instead of the key. My bad feeling proved accurate, as it turned out that the woman belonged to a fraud ring. I had been cheated out of a lot of money.
I was clear about the Fa principles, that I should be happy and thank her - because I had four advantages in one fell swoop. I had gotten virtue through which I could practice gong, my karma was eliminated, and my xinxing (heart quality) had increased.
Unfortunately, however, I could not pass this test. I suffered for a few days from strong illness karma. That's how I realized my strong attachment of holding on to gain and loss. I realized that my faith and trust in Master and the Fa were not strong enough.
Master said:
“In most cases, it is because one cannot give up one or another attachment. His failure is all due to his inability to give up the attachments. Because he cannot go that one step further, and break from humanness, he cannot overcome those ordeals.” (Lecture in Sydney)
In order to meet Master's requirements, with the help of a fellow practitioner, a few months before the distribution of the Shen Yun brochures, I chose 30 different routes in the villages and streets, which had affluent neighborhoods. Our distribution team was small. Sometimes there were two, three, or four of us, but often I was on my own. Some practitioners who lived far from Winterthur distributed in their residential areas. We were out and about in good weather, cold, rain, snow, and even in storms. Our strong sincere faith in Master and the Fa helped us never doubt that we would find all the people with predestined connections, for whom Master had reserved a seat in the theater. These were touching moments for me when I saw that even the newer practitioners were wholeheartedly committed to Shen Yun.
A Chinese couple wanted to help with the distribution last year. Due to various difficulties and conflicts with them, we finally asked them to support us by sending righteous thoughts from home.
I was determined to get through this pass this time because our Master wanted all practitioners to support Shen Yun.
The situation did not change. One morning I asked a Chinese practitioner to teach a man how we usually use routes and online road maps when we go out to distribute the materials. I took his wife with me in my car.
When we met in the evening, the Chinese practitioner shouted loudly at me in the street in front of our house. I stayed calm. I knew that I needed to do better next time.
Master said:
“Here's my take on Shen Yun ticket sales. You're all talking about what to do when you still have tickets left over prior to opening night. Let me first address this in cultivation terms. How sales go in a given locale is, in reality, a true, tangible sign of how well practitioners have cultivated and cooperated there.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference” from Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
They came back to help us after a few days. It was pouring rain, but none of them complained.
I took the couple with me in my car and we left. I took the time to talk to the man and showed him the plan on the maps on the iPads - where we were, how we could find our roads, how long the roads were, where we would meet, and what the neighborhood looked like. He learned very quickly and was pleased with his new ability.
In the evening he said to me, “Now I understand that you wanted me to learn from this Chinese practitioner. From now on I can go out with my wife myself.” From that moment on, they were a great help in distributing the brochures. I thanked Master in my heart.
A big challenge for me was the behavior of some of my fellow practitioners when distributing brochures. Since we focused mostly on affluent residential areas, we needed to behave in a respectful manner, and consider the stratum of these people. It hurt my heart when I saw some practitioners of our distribution team in the morning, especially in bad weather, wearing thick jackets, boots, and plastic covering their trousers. We represented the best show in the world - shouldn't we represent it accordingly? Everywhere and in all kinds of weather we met people with whom we could talk about the grandeur of the Shen Yun performance, or even show the demo-trailer. Our conduct and appearance needed to always be orderly and correct.
We often parked the car near when we reached “private streets,” and visit these living quarters on foot. At first, some practitioners paid more attention to quantity than quality. For example, they crossed the lawns between expensive condominiums or quickly took shortcuts between paths of adjacent houses. Through learning the Fa and sharing knowledge about the social system of Western, upper class society, we finally managed to eliminate these problems and gave these practitioners a better understanding of Shen Yun and our contribution to the success of the performances.
I was deeply moved by the help of several new practitioners. Although they had never seen the Shen Yun performances before and had never helped with the Shen Yun promotion, they got involved in a great way. When the entire security team sent out righteous thoughts together in Basel once, I felt and saw their sincere hearts. Without complaints and expectations, they fully committed themselves to the safety of the artists. At that moment I appreciated my fellow practitioners immensely. Tears ran down my face.
The hub of our Shen Yun promotion was certainly our Sunday Fa-study. Through Fa-study and sharing, all practitioners involved gained a better understanding of the importance of Shen Yun performances.
Thanks to the cooperation of all German-speaking Swiss practitioners, all three performances in Winterthur, including the additional afternoon performance and the two shows in Basel, were completely sold out and all Shen Yun brochures and special editions distributed.
Some of my neighbors and family members have seen Shen Yun, some even several times. A few years ago, one of my neighbors surprised me by sending a photo from the Lincoln Center in New York. She wrote, “We saw Shen Yun in New York. We really liked it.”
I am infinitely grateful to Master for the great cultivation way he has arranged for me. I will try to do the three things well and hope that I can recognize and discard my human notions, misconceptions, and attachments.
Thank you, Master. Thank you, practitioners.