(Minghui.org) I am an 8-year-old Dafa disciple in California, and I come from a family of Dafa practitioners. This means there is always someone who can help lead me in studying the Fa and doing the exercises each day.
After the CCP virus broke out, my school suspended all classes and I am at home every day. I will next discuss some of my cultivation experiences from this year. Please compassionately point out anything inappropriate.
Studying the Fa and Doing the Exercises
My practitioner family members have always told me that young disciples must also do the three things well, so ever since I was five, I would often study the Fa and do the exercises. Before, when I had school, I could only study the Fa with my family each night and do the exercises on the weekends. But since school is suspended and all the classes have moved online, I have more time to study the Fa and do the exercises. I am very happy to be able to study the Fa with other young disciples on the RTC platform. Every morning, we study an hour of the “Collected Fa Teachings” and in the afternoon, we study two hours of Zhuan Falun.
One time during Fa study, I encountered interference and felt very sleepy. So, I stood up and read the Fa while leaning against a wall for half an hour. I felt my drowsiness disappear.
I believe that the time I spend at home on break is very fulfilling because my schedule is packed. Through studying Master’s “Collected Fa Teachings”, I am able to understand a lot of Fa principles. I liked to study the Fa before but sometimes didn’t feel like doing the exercises due to an attachment of laziness. Later I studied Zhuan Falun Fajie – The Law of Zhuan Falun Explained, and in “Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Changchun,” there was a section:
“Question: After my child attended the class he couldn’t continue to do the exercises. Will the Falun protect him forever?Teacher: If a person can’t continue to do the exercises, then it won’t work, right? One has to keep doing the exercises. I came to save cultivators, not to specifically protect ordinary people.” (Zhuan Falun Fajie)
I realized that doing the exercises was very important, so I stopped slacking off and now try my best to do the exercises with my mom and aunt every day. Sometimes after Fa study, I talk with other young Dafa disciples and we discuss our thoughts and understandings about the Dafa truth-clarification videos we have watched. Through this, I have gained a better understanding of their study and living circumstances. I have been very happy during these special times, and I thank Master for the cultivation environment He has arranged for me.
Improving Xinxing
Last year, my family helped me memorize the teaching “What is Forbearance (Ren)?” in Master’s book, Essentials for Further Advancement:
“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 thought that since forbearance is so important, I must do my best to forbear. A few days ago, my aunt and I did an hour of the Holding the Wheel exercise. Because I rarely do the wheel-holding exercises for a whole hour, my aunty told me, “Persevere as much as you can, if you really can’t continue, then you can put your arms down.” When I reached the half-hour mark, my arms were in so much pain that I shed a few tears, but I thought to myself that I must keep going. In the end I endured and finished the whole hour of wheel-holding. I realized that persevering is a manifestation of forbearance.
Once in my classical Chinese dance class, we were practicing “the bridge” movement, and my head felt extremely painful. But then I thought to myself that the Dafa disciples in mainland China have been persecuted and tortured, and yet they are still persevering. I realized that this amount of pain was nothing in comparison, and so I endured. I was able to endure these physical pains, but sometimes I still met with xinxing tests.
Last summer, another young practitioner the same age as me came to attend the summer classical Chinese dance classes and stayed at my house. Our birthdays were only a day apart, and we immediately became close friends. But unexpectedly on the first day of the summer class, she became close friends with another classmate, and they would talk and laugh, and didn’t really pay much attention to me. This made me feel kind of sad, as I wondered what kind of attachment this was. I first tried to suppress this feeling and just focus on the dance class instead of letting it affect me. At the end of the day, I found that I was not as sad anymore. After class was over, we were still good friends, and the three of us played together. Later, my mom told me this was “jealousy,” and I was glad that I was able to control it.
Last year during Christmas, my mother’s co-worker gave me a cute carrot plush toy as a present. I liked it a lot and carried it wherever I went, but my older sister would always take it from me. I felt very sad and always chased my sister to get it back. One day my aunt asked me, “Your sister is older now and she shouldn’t like plush toys anymore, but why does she always take yours and intentionally make you sad? You are a Dafa disciple. If you cannot bear to let it go, this is an attachment to material things. These things happen to help eliminate your attachment. Do you want to give up this attachment?”
After I heard this, I thought to myself, “I don’t want this attachment.” Later when it was my sister’s birthday, I was thinking about what present I should give my sister. I thought, why not give her the plush toy? As I predicted, my sister was delighted, and I was able to let go of the attachment to material things. After seeing me give away my favorite toy to my sister, my family praised me for improving my xinxing.
My mom is hardworking and busy with her job. Once, she came home from work very late, and my grandma felt sorry for her. So my grandma said to me, “Your mom is very tired from a long day at work. Do what you are supposed to do and try not to disturb her rest.” Later, I went into the bedroom and said to my mom, “Mom, grandma thinks you’re very hardworking and feels bad for you. She doesn’t want me to disturb you, but I don’t feel bad for you.” My mom was surprised to hear me say that and asked me why. I replied, “I feel happy for you because you’re enduring hardship.” My mom smiled and said that I understood Master’s Fa principles and that enduring hardships is truly a blessing for cultivators.
Clarifying the Truth
At school, most of my classmates are Americans. Every year as we move up a grade, I change classes and have the chance to get to know new classmates. During 2nd grade and 3rd grade, I would give everyone in my class a Shen Yun brochure and introduce Shen Yun to my teacher. I would also tell them about Falun Gong. Last year I told a classmate about Falun Gong and organ harvesting. This year, when I was talking with my best friend, she said she didn’t one hundred percent believe that Gods exist. So, I told her, “You must believe in Gods. Not everyone can see Gods, but Gods are safeguarding humanity from the heavens.”
Our neighbors to the left and right of our house are both Americans. On the first day we moved in, I introduced Shen Yun to the neighbor to our left, and every year we remind him to watch Shen Yun. He is always very happy to see me and always smiles and waves to me. The neighbor to our right is an uncle who always comes home very late. Every time I see him, he doesn’t really smile at me. When Shen Yun came to town this year, I suddenly felt motivated to introduce Shen Yun to him. My aunt also said that she had just been thinking about that neighbor as well.
The next day, this uncle happened to come home very early, so I immediately went to give him a Shen Yun brochure. I told him that he had to see this show and it was the best show ever. I also apologized to him for the way we parked our car, because sometimes we might have blocked his driveway. He told me not to worry about it and accepted the Shen Yun materials I gave him. From then on, whenever he saw us, he always smiled. I then knew that all sentient beings are waiting for us to save them.
My New Year’s Resolution
At the start of this year, our teacher had everyone in the class write a New Year’s resolution. I said that I wished I could be a smarter person so that when I grow up, I can help people solve their problems. I hope to change the world by making the world have more and more good people so that they can be more responsible and help each other out more.
My New Year’s resolution has been posted on the classroom wall, where teachers, classmates, and parents can all see it. After my mom saw it, she was very happy. She said that my wish is to help people and to make the world a more beautiful place is the mindset of a cultivator.
All of my wishes are actually fulfilled through Master’s help, and Master has arranged many miraculous things to happen to me. I hope my family and I can cultivate well and return home with Master. I hope that all of our family members who don’t cultivate can be saved as well.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2020 International Falun Dafa Young Practitioners’ Online Fa Conference)
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