(Minghui.org) I am a Dafa practitioner who is just seven years old. I was born into a family where many members cultivate, therefore I know that Falun Dafa is good. However, I only really started cultivating when I was five years old. That year, we decided to move to America. My family has often told me that young Dafa practitioners must also fulfill their promise to do the three things. My Mom would frequently ask me, “Master asks us to do the three things. What are they?” I will reply, “Study the Fa and do the exercises, send forth righteous thoughts and save people by clarifying the truth to them.”
I would like to tell everyone how I go about fulfilling the three things in my cultivation practice.
Study the Fa and Do the Exercises
I was only five years old when I came to America and my Chinese was not very good. Initially, my English was also not very good, but I managed to catch up on my English after some time. However, I still do not know how to read and write Chinese words. Both of my sisters are young Dafa practitioners and they will often laugh at me. One of them said, “When I was your age, I already knew how to read Zhuan Falun although I had not yet even entered primary school.” The other sister said, “I could recite the 72 verses of Hong Yin when I was three years old and reciteHong Yin Vol. II before I entered primary school.” Hearing what they said made me really want to master the Chinese language quickly. Before long, I was able to recite “On Dafa” in Zhuan Falun, Hong Yin and some parts of Hong Yin Vol. II. Last summer, Mom found a very good teacher to help me learn Chinese; and the teacher also taught us many traditional stories and how to read Zhuan Falun.
Currently, I am able to write many Chinese characters and can keep up with everyone in the group Fa study at home. However, as my reading speed is very slow, I can only point at the words with my finger and voice out the words in my heart instead of reading the words aloud.
When I was younger, I always needed the adults to accompany me when I did the exercises. Now that I am seven years old, I can do the exercises by myself. Mom will turn on the music and I can practice the exercises by myself. As I need to do my homework and practice the piano on weekdays, I am yet to be able to do the exercises every single day. However, during the weekends, doing the exercises is a must. Sometimes, I will go with grandma to do the exercises in Chinatown. Many people will take photos of me when I practice the exercises there. One time there was a western boy who followed my movements while I was doing the exercises. When I do the meditation, I can maintain the full-lotus position and quiet myself down for the whole hour. As I feel like I am sitting inside a lotus flower, I like to do the meditations very much.
Maintain my Xinxing
I am currently in the second grade and all my classmates are westerners. When I was in first grade, there was a girl who was one year older than me in my class and she often followed me around. She sometimes bullied me by stepping on my homework. She even stepped on my feet once. If I take a toy from my bag, she will snatch it from me and claim ownership of it. She will think of different ways to bully me every day and often make me cry. My teacher realized that I was crying frequently and told Mom that I was not very happy in school. In fact, I was very scared of that girl.
I know that I am a young Dafa practitioner and Master said, “And what does that look like, in practice? For starters, a practitioner should be able to hold back from retaliating, and patiently endure.” (The Ninth Talk, The Spiritually Adept, Zhuan Falun)
Therefore, I always cry secretly without telling my teacher or Mom. However, my sister found out about it later and went to look for my teacher in school to help me change to another class. Mom told me, “Everything that a cultivator meets is a good thing. Master is testing you.” My aunt let me read Master’s teaching,
“Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing. To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator.” (“What is Forbearance (Ren)?” Essentials For Further Advancement).
I think I did not fulfill the requirement of tolerance when I cried secretly, so I hope that I will not cry next time but learn to be tolerant instead.
This year, on the first day of school, that girl took my cup to the cafeteria during lunch, opened the cover and played with the straw within my cup with her hands and it became very dirty. I told her, “Your hands are very dirty and you have made the straw so dirty.” She laughed and returned the cup to me. While I was taking my lunch, I thought, “I am not afraid of the dirt and I am a young Dafa practitioner. Even if I drink that, I will not die.” Thus, I used that dirty straw to drink water. This time, I did not cry, nor did I tell the teacher or Mom.
The weird thing is, that since the start of second grade, that girl no longer bullies me. She will follow me with a smile every day and became my best friend. She even introduced me to her two brothers and her grandma. I introduced her to Shen Yun and asked her to go watch the show with her family.
Clarifying the Truth
Last Christmas, I gave every one of my classmates a gift comprised of a small eraser, a toy and a Shen Yun brochure. Mom gave my teacher a Shen Yun calendar and the teacher hung it in the classroom. Sometimes, the teacher lets us watch videos in class and the Shen Yun advertisement will often be seen. When the advertisement appears, the teacher will say, “See! The clothes are so beautiful!” At this time, the whole class will imitate the phrase that was mentioned in the advertisement and say “SHEN YUN!” together. This happened frequently in our class.
After the start of school, I clarified the truth about the persecution of Falun Dafa with a classmate who was sitting behind me and gave him a brochure. After reading it, he understood the truth and said to me, “I am sad that such things happened. I am so lucky. Luckily, I did not go to China.”
For the spring holiday last year, my whole family drove to San Diego. We stayed in a hotel with a hot springs swimming pool. Since I like to swim, I went there every day. As Shen Yun was performing in southern California during that time, we saw Shen Yun advertisements everywhere. At the swimming pool, I had the chance to meet some adult and young westerners. Whenever I saw them, a voice in my mind told me, “Tell them about Shen Yun. They drove so far to come here, do not miss the chance.” Therefore, I reminded Mom to tell them about Shen Yun. However, Mom said that her English was not very good and she did not know how to tell them. Thus, I spoke to them in English by myself. For three consecutive days, whenever I saw someone in the pool, I talked to them. I spoke with five or six families in total and they all said that they wanted to go and watch Shen Yun.
Last Summer, we moved to a new house. On the first day after we moved in, I brought a Shen Yun brochure to our neighbor’s house and introduced Shen Yun to the grandpa. I know that Mom and Auntie’s English is not as good as mine, so I take the initiative to talk to the western neighbors when I see them.Whenever we get visits from Chinese guests, I always remind Mom to tell them about quitting the Chinese Communist Party.
New Year Wish
My wish for this year is to learn my Chinese well, learn more Chinese characters and be able to read Zhuan Falun with my family. I started learning Chinese classical dance when I was five years old. I hope that I can grow taller quickly and can follow in my sister’s footsteps to save people through dancing on the Shen Yun stage. Sometimes, I can see Master in my dreams. So I must cultivate diligently and follow Master home.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
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