(Minghui.org) I began to recite the Fa about six months ago. In the beginning I read each paragraph a few times and tried to remember it. I thought that amounted to reciting the Fa. For the first couple of days I had to glance at the paragraph a few times when I couldn’t recall everything.
I had a dream the night I started to recite the Fa. In my dream my copy of Zhuan Falun was closed and taken away. Everyone was required to recite one paragraph of Zhuan Falun. I was so nervous that when I woke up, I understood that I needed to treat reciting the Fa seriously. So I started to recite word by word, sentence by sentence, not missing any words.
When I recited the paragraph about prehistoric culture, Master Li Hongzhi said,
“Another enigma surrounds the discovery by archaeologists of a certain trilobite fossil. This is a creature that dates back some 260 to 600 million years, and has long been extinct.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
While I recited this passage, I saw myself traveling through a tunnel. I felt like I was flying through time and space at high speed. I enlightened that Master was enlarging my capacity to experience microscopic levels and unblocking my sealed memories. Master said,
“The point is to allow you to understand and enlighten to its boundless and endless inner meanings. So make sure you don’t read it selectively.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland)
When I only read the section about prehistoric culture, I didn’t feel anything. I only experienced this when I recited the Fa.
Reciting the Fa really tests my willpower and my ability to endure hardship, which is a process of cultivating my xinxing. Sometimes I was too busy to recite the Fa in the morning, so I recited at night before going to bed. I would not sleep until I finished reciting, so I spent the entire night reciting the Fa.
Master already told us in Teaching the Fa at the Assistants’ Fa Conference in Changchun about improvement as a whole,
“For example, when we do the meditation, if other people are enduring the unbearable pain yet no one takes down his legs, you’ll feel embarrassed to take yours down. This compels you to increase your exercise time. That is, an environment like that pushes you forward in many respects. Without that environment, if you don’t handle yourself well, you won’t be spurred on by that external factor, you might slack off, and you won’t manage to be diligent.”
Thus, I broke through my attachment to comfort through reciting the Fa.
I found it very difficult to memorize this part: “But if you were to enter into the space between cells and molecules, or one molecule and another, you would experience what it’s like to enter another dimension.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun) I then enlightened to the fact that what Master teaches is Fa and our levels are determined by how much we have enlightened to its principles.
Whenever we improve our xinxing and assimilate to that level, the power and wonder of Fa at that level will be shown to us. I realized the process of reciting the Fa is the process of elevating my xinxing.
Master told us,
“If you can always be compassionate and calm, you will handle the issues that arise in your life well since you will have a buffer, in a sense. Things will work out well if you are always compassionate and good to others, thoughtful towards people, and handle whatever situations you get into with people by first pausing to consider how well your actions will go over with the other party and whether anyone will be hurt by them.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Tears ran down my face when reciting this paragraph. I asked myself, “Am I truly cultivating? Have I always thought about other people first? Have I considered others' feelings?” The answer was, “No!”
I don’t consider others much and I don’t think from other people’s perspectives. I understood many Fa principles through reciting the Fa. After I finished reciting Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun, something amazing happened. All the paragraphs looked familiar to me, I felt like I was only reviewing the Fa that I had already recited many times.
My speed of reciting the Fa increased a lot and I enjoyed reciting the Fa even more. The feeling of difficulty, which I had at the beginning, disappeared. Reciting the Fa became part of my daily life. It was much easier for me to find my attachments and pass xinxing tests.
One day I was collecting signatures. It was cloudy that day, so we decided to move our table to a brighter spot. A street musician came soon after we set up our table. He asked that we move our display forward. Though I agreed immediately, I was in fact a bit upset. But I rectified this thought very quickly. I understood that I shouldn’t have any negative thoughts, as he was an everyday person while I'm a practitioner. There must be a reason that he came to me - maybe he was waiting to be saved.
I had one thought, “Please let his music carry good energy and attract people to our table. When he started to play, many people came to listen and they even thought that we practitioners that had organized some activities with the music. Several people signed the petition - giving us a thumbs up and smiling at us.
I enlightened to the fact that the environment will change if we stay compassionate and kind, and we will be able to save more people.
Master said,
“Dafa disciples, if you cultivate to a very high level and will be governing a high-level cosmic body, a single thought of yours will indeed be all-powerful within your own cosmic body. That's for sure. That's why Dafa disciples must cultivate themselves well and become upright by cultivating.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference, Collected Fa Teachings,Vol. V)
When the street artist took his break, I handed our flyer and petition to him and he signed it. I was really happy for him.
I have a storage locker next to my parking spot. One day it was broken into. Some of my things were taken but something that didn’t belong to me had been placed inside. I asked my daughter to buy a new lock. A few days later I found another lock was installed and I couldn’t open the locker. Someone left me a note claiming that this storage locker belonged to him and accused me for using his space. It seemed ridiculous, but I understood that I needed to look inward.
I knew there must be something that I needed to improve on and I identified my attachment. I should have enlightened to it when the lock was first broken, but I didn’t. I actually asked the administrative staff to check security footage. They told me that it would be hard to check as we didn’t know exactly which day the locker was broken into. I was upset and said that I would call the police to complain about the staff. That was my attachment to combativeness and the attachment of complaint, which were both caused by my fundamental attachment to self-interest.
I didn’t look within when the locker was first broken into. I didn’t pass the test, and I didn’t let go of my attachment. Thus, the test continued. After I found my fundamental attachment to self-interest, I realized that I might owe that person something or perhaps I treated him unfairly in the past. Master already made my repayment of karma so small. As long as I could find my attachment and improve my xinxing, this could be resolved compassionately. I felt calm afterwards, and I completely let go of my attachment to self-interest.
I felt joy in my heart. That night the person who broke into my locker phoned me and apologized. I enlightened to the fact that we'll be able to pass any test if we can remember Master’s Fa and look within.
Master said,
“You should all be thinking this way, with your first thought being to scrutinize yourself to try to find the problem. Whoever is not like this is not in fact a true cultivator of Dafa. It is a magical tool in our cultivation. This is a distinguishing feature of our Dafa disciples’ cultivation. Whatever it is that you encounter, the first thought should be to scrutinize yourself, and it’s called “looking within.”” (“What is a Dafa Disciple,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
I hardly cried in the past. I was born in China and brought up in the Party culture. A culture of deceit, evil, and strife still sometimes affects me. I changed a lot after I began reciting the Fa. Now, I can quickly identify my unrighteous thoughts. Now I can easily burst into tears.
One day after I finished reciting the Fa, I wondered, “What kind of mindset do Buddhas and Gods have?” One sentence came to my mind, “Compassion is the Divine’s eternal state” (“Why Do You Reject It?,” Hong Yin III). I would like to be in a god-like level - full of compassion and kindness. I would like to be selfless and in whatever I do, I would put others first. Isn't this the standard that Master requires?
I had this thought which seemed very pure, but I didn’t think too much about it. Afterwards, I went to the park to clarify the truth. A family came to listen to what I had to say. They decided to learn the exercises, so I taught them the five exercises. They also promised me that they would continue to practice after they returned home.
Once as a man read the display board, I talked to him. He didn’t look at me but quietly listened. Finally he asked, “Do you know what I do?” I said, “I don’t care what you do, I only care about you. I want you to be safe and happy.”
He looked at me and said, “You are absolutely right. Please help me quit the CCP.” I was so happy for him. At that moment, I really experienced the power of compassion, which I cannot describe in words but can only feel with my heart. That is the state of assimilating into the Fa so that my voice can deeply touch people.
Master said,
“If man wants to become divine and transcend the human state, then he must forsake that frame of mind and use compassion to resolve things.”
“Compassion is an enormous energy, the energy of righteous gods. The more compassion that is present, the greater this energy becomes, and it can disintegrate anything that is bad.”
“The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it is an expression of tremendous energy. It can disintegrate all that is not right.”(Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
The wonders of Dafa will manifest when we get rid of our human notions. All the negative things will disintegrate and be resolved. I enlightened to the fact that our mindset is critical when saving people. Whether or not our thoughts are pure will lead to completely different results.
I gained a lot through studying and reciting the Fa every day. I know that I still haven't yet reached the Fa’s requirements, but I also know that I am improving.
These are some of the things that I have experienced after reciting the Fa. It helps me to improve my xinxing and enlighten to many Fa principles.
If I didn’t recite the Fa with other practitioners, I would not have had those cultivation experiences. I would not have been able to enlighten to the Fa that I didn’t understand, nor would I be able to find my attachments and get rid of them. Now I recite the Fa whenever I can.
While I recite, I can feel that my body and soul are being cleansed, and I feel that I'm elevating every day. No matter how tired or sleepy I am, I feel energetic and righteous when I start reciting the Fa. It helps me to rectify my actions and speech at all times, and I feel very light. Reciting the Fa elevates my mind and body. I burst into tears whenever I enlighten to Fa principles. Master has enlightened me many times, and I firmly believe in how important it is to recite the Fa.
No words can express my gratitude to Master. Please correct me if there's anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2019 Australia Fa Conference)