(Minghui.org) Four years ago, my mother was abducted by the police for her faith in Falun Dafa, and she has finally returned home. She was surprised at how much I have grown and was even more surprised that I am still practicing. Despite the countless challenges, my mother remained steadfast in her faith in Falun Dafa. I am so grateful to finally have another practitioner to share experiences with!
My mother began practicing in 1998. I was born in 2000. She always brought me with her when she went to hand out truth-clarification materials. On the way back, she recited Master’s Hong Yin, and I learned the verses by listening to her.
When I started primary school, I was addicted to the computer and was often reluctant to study the Fa or do the exercises despite my mother’s reminders.
Though I don't remember much of my childhood, I knew that Master was always watching over me and protecting me. Two experiences are still fresh in my memory.
When I was about 7 or 8, my older brother took me outside to play. He gave me a piece of gum about the size of a fingernail. I put it in my mouth, and before I could chew it, the gum slid down my throat and got stuck. I could not breathe or dislodge it.
I suddenly recalled my mother’s words: “When in danger, say ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” and Master will protect you.” So I did just that. When I was about to pass out from suffocation, the piece of gum slid down my throat. This was my first life-and-death test.
Another test happened two years ago. There's a road beside my school, and since there's little traffic, it's not very dangerous. That day, I walked briskly across the road toward the school bus with my head down. Suddenly, I felt a pat on my shoulders, and just as I looked up, a gigantic truck whizzed past me. I looked around, but I was alone. I realized that Master had saved me by warning me. I was immensely grateful.
When I was in 6th grade, police officers barged into our home and ransacked the place as though they were thieves. It was the scariest day of my life. They took my mother and me to the police station. My father is not a practitioner. He divorced my mother and started a new family. The police phoned him to come get me. I thus lost my cultivation environment.
With my mom gone, no one reminded me to practice. I bobbed around like a stringless kite, and I succumbed to the corrupting influences of today's society. My classmates swore and smoked, fought and plotted against each other, played video games, and skipped classes. When I went to middle school, it got worse.
Yet I never thought about giving up Dafa. Although I gamed and read web fictions, I still tried to keep up my routine of studying the Fa. A practitioner gave me Master’s recent writings and software to break through the Internet censorship. I was able to access Minghui.org, read Master's recent lectures, and get in touch with practitioners worldwide! At that moment, I knew that Master was still taking care of me. I became more determined to cultivate, and from then on, I did not skip a day of Fa-study.
With Master’s help, I managed to stay grounded despite my environment, and I cultivated diligently for four years without being able to talk to other practitioners.
My high school years were packed with lessons, and free time was rare. I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. every day to study before class, and I only finished studying at around 9:30 p.m. At first, I only studied part of one lecture in Zhuan Falun before declaring that I was done for the day.
During those days, I often thought about reducing my Fa-study time. I realized that these thoughts were trying to prevent me from improving, so I increased my Fa-study time from one partial lecture to two or three lectures each day.
I studied the Fa during lunchtime and at bedtime. Soon, the need to eat and sleep interfered with my need to study the Fa, and I started to prioritize them above Fa study.
Fortunately, I noticed my problem: as a Dafa practitioner, the most important task is to study the Fa. How can I place other things first? Isn’t that a human mindset? If there was no time to eat at lunch, I could eat bread before class. After adjusting my mindset, I noticed an immediate improvement in my cultivation state. I used to be lethargic during classes, even when I took a nap in the afternoon naps. Yet when I kept up with my Fa-study, although I spent less time sleeping, I felt more awake during class.
Master said:
“That's because you are a cultivator: someone who is on a divine path and who is not controlled by the factors of ordinary people or low-level principles....”(Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles)
From Master's teaching, I understood that the human need to sleep does not affect cultivators.
I overcame this obstacle by changing my mindset. Now during lunchtime, I can study one lecture of Zhuan Falun, a few articles from Essentials for Further Advancement, and a section from Collected Fa Teachings or recent writings. At night, I listen to Master’s Fa lecture recordings or recorded experience-sharing articles on the Minghui Radio podcasts until 10:30 p.m., when I go to bed. I study two lectures of Zhuan Falun each day on weekends. This way, I can study all of Zhuan Falun in a week.
In middle school, my grades suffered and I ranked around 600th in my school because I did not study the Fa regularly and was addicted to gaming. The more I studied the Fa diligently, the more clearly I saw the harm of electronic gaming, so I quit gaming in high school. My grades improved gradually, and I ranked around the top 5 each year. However, whenever I became attached to my ranking, my grades fell. Whenever I let go of the attachment, my grades improved. I know that Master is using this to remind me that I'm a cultivator.
Master said:
“A person is like a container, and he is whatever he contains.” (“Melt into the Fa”, Essentials for Further Advancement)
Gaming caused me great harm. Most of my current attachments and inappropriate behavior came from Internet games and fictions. The images interfered with my righteous thoughts and prevented me from becoming one with Dafa. There are a lot of negative things in Internet games and fictions–they let gamers and readers indulge in their demon-nature, and this destroys their Buddha-nature. While gaming, one can kill people without consequences. The more realistic the game, the more demonic it gets. Gamers bask in the glory of their achievements. What they don't realize is that they have given up their Main Consciousness to demons. This is very similar to the mindless state of a drug addict.
One day, the police came to our house to illegally raid it. Spurred on by evil thoughts, I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a meat cleaver. If it were not for my mother, I might have killed someone. These negative thoughts of harming people are completely in opposition to the principles of Dafa. If I had harmed someone, I would have harmed the image of Dafa.
Master said:
“Killing does not only bring about a lot of karma, it also involves the issue of compassion. Shouldn’t we have compassion as cultivators?” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun, 2014 translation)
With no compassion whatsoever, I killed so many people in the games I played. How could a cultivator do that? Master has purified my body and mind, yet I kept refilling them with dirty things. I can’t play games anymore. The addiction is alive–it knew that I was trying to get rid of it, and it tried everything to lure me. After I realized how harmful gaming was, I soon disintegrated the addiction.
When Dafa became the center of my life, I felt like I had a purpose each day. I know the reason for my existence and the future of the world's people.
Many young cultivators might have had similar experiences–they strayed from the path of Dafa and became enmeshed in society's temptations. Dafa is so precious: it took countless lifetimes, endless waiting, and Master’s meticulous arrangements for us to obtain the Fa. Do not miss this precious opportunity! I hope to use my experiences to encourage former practitioners to return to Dafa and cultivate diligently.