(Minghui.org) My daughter's good friend and her husband visited us once, and the girlfriend asked me, “Auntie, how old are you?” I said, “Seventy-four.” She was quite surprised, “You don't look like someone over 70 at all! You look like someone in her fifties or sixties!” She turned and said to my daughter, “Don't be upset, but your mother looks like your elder sister!”
I started Falun Dafa cultivation practice in 1996, when I was 52 years old. Troubled by a variety of ailments, I didn't look young for my age. A friend told me about Falun Dafa, so I initially started practicing to seek a cure for my ailments. As I studied the Fa teachings more, I learned about many Fa principles and began to diligently follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. My body subsequently became healthier and my mind nature elevated.
I used to have many health problems, including bone spurs on the spinal disks in my neck, headaches, stomachaches, intestine inflammation, among other problems. These kinds of health conditions are quite common for Chinese of my generation. The hospital could only provide temporary relief from my ailments, so I barely had any days where my body felt comfortable.
A good friend of mine is an elementary teacher. She recommended Falun Dafa to me on January 9, 1996. I was intrigued by the reported healing effects and visited a practice site that same night. About 20 or 30 people were reading a book. Some offered me cushions to sit on, and some offered me a copy of the book. I felt welcomed and peaceful. A practitioner taught me how to do the fifth exercise, the meditation, after the Fa study. He invited me to join the group exercises at 5:30 a.m. the next morning, which I did. I have been cultivating Falun Dafa ever since.
I thought that Falun Dafa was great. People don't gossip about others at the practice site. All they talk about is how to raise xinxing and eliminate karma. People are in harmony with each other. In such an environment, I was also free of sadness and frustration. I have been joyful ever since and have not stopped cultivating.
I have also come to understand many Fa principles. For example, Master taught us in Chapter Four of Zhuan Falun,
“The community of cultivators believes that a Primordial Spirit does not become extinct. If a Primordial Spirit does not become extinct, one probably had social interactions before this life. So one might have owed something to someone, bullied someone, or done other bad things, such as killing, which would induce this karma.”
Master also said in the same chapter,
“Some people cannot bear the pain in sitting with the legs like that, and they want to give up by putting the legs down. Some people cannot bear it anymore after sitting a little longer. Once the legs are put down, one’s practice is in vain. Once the legs are in pain, one will do some warm-ups before resuming the sitting position. We find that this serves no use whatsoever. This is because we have seen that when the legs are painful, the black substance moves to the legs. The black substance is karma that can be eliminated through suffering; it can then be transformed into de. Once the pain is felt, karma begins to be eliminated. The more karma that comes, the more pain the legs feel. Therefore, the pain in the legs does not arise without reason.”
I followed Master's teachings, and I wasn't affected by the pain in my body. I knew it was karma being eliminated, which requires suffering. Especially during meditation, I persisted no matter how much pain I had. I clenched my teeth and endured two minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes... Despite my legs, which had been unable to even bend easily, I was soon able to complete the one-hour meditation in the double-lotus position. My health also improved day by day. All of my ailments disappeared.
I have not seen a doctor since, and have enjoyed good health for 22 years.
I used to be stubborn and had a quick temper. Then something happened shortly after I started cultivation.
My director went away on business and asked me to take phone calls and report anything important to him upon his return. I soon received a phone call asking the director to attend a meeting. I said, “The director is out. I will let him know when he returns to the office.”
The caller asked me, “Do you work in that office?” When I said I did, he started criticizing: “Your director doesn't do a good job. He hasn't attended the last few meetings. What do you guys do every day? Are you even working?”
I was angry and replied, “I am just an average staff member. My boss asked me to answer calls and tell him about them later. What's the use of your telling me this?” He hung up on me. We in the field offices had been complaining about headquarters, and this phone call triggered my negative thoughts and touched upon my attachments to not being able to take criticism. I said to myself, “I cannot take this lying down.”
I went to the headquarters and asked, “Which one of you called my office?” A colleague who knew me took me by the hand and said, “What's going on?” I said, “No big deal, but I would like to remind you about your communication style. The words were too harsh! No matter who it is, or whether it is relevant to the person, you guys simply scold us. No wonder people in the field offices say, 'We cannot enter headquarters, as business is hard to deal with. We usually get frowned at and scolded. I experienced this firsthand today.”
She invited me into her office and told me that her director had made the call. The meeting was being held on short notice and many subsidiaries didn't attend. The director was quite anxious. She asked me to understand his position.
On my way home, I thought, “I am a cultivator. How could I be so irrational?”
Master's Fa in Zhuan Falun came to my mind:
“If you compete and fight like an ordinary person, you are an ordinary person. If you outdo him, you are even worse than that ordinary person.”
I couldn't recall the entire sentence on my way home. After returning home, I opened the book and read the paragraph. I said to myself, “Wasn't I very bad? If the director hadn't taken me to her office, I would have continued arguing with them. Wasn't I being just like an ordinary person? Wasn't I even worse than an ordinary person? This was too sad. I have to get rid of my attachments to saving face and not being able to take criticism.”
Conflicts are not a coincidence. They are for our xinxing improvement. Oftentimes when conflicts occur, we forget about cultivating ourselves. We set out to find who's right and who's wrong on the surface. As a result, we miss good opportunities to search inward. The conflicts are arranged by Master for disciples' improvement. We should not miss opportunities so casually!
After this lesson, I paid attention to searching inward. My temperament improved. Family members and relatives later said to me, “You are like a whole new person.”
Prior to my cultivation, I had taken 3,000 yuan of the company's money into my own pocket. This is quite common in Chinese society. In fact, people who don't do such things are considered “fools.”
As I read Master's Fa in “Upgrading Xinxing” in Chapter Four of Zhuan Falun,
“One practitioner works in a textile factory in X city of Shandong Province. After studying Falun Dafa, he taught other coworkers to practice. As a result, the factory has taken on a new look. He used to take home pieces of towels from the textile factory, and so did the rest of the employees. After practicing Dafa, instead of taking things home he brought back to the factory what he took home before. When others saw his actions, nobody would take things home anymore. Some employees also returned to the factory what they previously took home. This situation occurred throughout the entire factory.”
I pondered this and thought to myself, “To be a genuine cultivator is not about just saying that I am one. I should put the principles into action. I need to eliminate all of my selfish thoughts!” I made up my mind to change my selfish notions and elevate my xinxing.
I returned the 3,000 yuan to my company. This was something I would not have been able to do had I not cultivated. Master pointed out in the Fa teachings the high standards for true cultivators. I realized that many of my own thoughts had deviated from the Fa. I needed to rectify them according to the Fa.
I said to myself, “I will clean myself up little by little. My body and mind will become purer and purer until they meet the requirements of the Fa. This process of genuine cultivation is going to be my journey.”
There was another episode that I remember well. My family is very close to another family in my hometown. I call the son of the other family my “younger brother.” He asked me to lend him some money for his son's wedding. I only had 10,000 yuan in cash at that moment, and said, “Is this too little?”
My younger brother said it would do. I gave the cash to him. He counted the money and put it in his pocket.
One evening about half a year later, he came to return the money to me. We chatted and they left afterward. I took the envelope in my hands, and it felt a bit light for 10,000. I took the bills out and realized that the amount they returned was only 5,000 yuan.
My older sister told me, “Call him! This is not just 300 or 500. The difference is 5,000!” I was also affected and thought, “What should I do?” As we were discussing this my daughter said, “How could you say such a thing over the phone? You had said before that even if they didn't return the money, it would be fine. Just think of it as charity.”
My daughter's words reminded me of Master's teaching saying that we need to pay off our karmic debts. I treated this 5,000 yuan as a karmic debt that I probably owed to my younger brother. Wasn't it a good thing if Master was helping me repay my debt?
I realized that ordinary people are all after money. Some even stop at no evil for money and personal gain. Higher-level principles are the opposite of ordinary reasoning. Even though I might have lost a bit of money, what I gained was something money can't buy!
Master's teachings have touched my heart deeply and have helped me drive a complete behavioral change. Dafa can rectify any bad demeanor and purify our minds and bodies. I just have one sentence to express my gratitude: “Falun Dafa is great!”