(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Dafa in June 2020. I am a salaried man and in order to provide a better and more comfortable life for my family, I would take on different jobs on Sundays and work the night shift. I got involved with direct marketing and as a result, I would often arrive home after 11 p.m. My wife and daughter would already be asleep when I get home. At times I thought: “Is this how I want to live my life? When can I have a normal life? Do people come to this world just to make money? Why do some get rich so easily while others don’t get anything even if they work hard for it?” These questions were troubling me and I was unable to find an answer.
The Process of Finding Falun Dafa
My wife always slept until she woke up naturally before she took up cultivation since she did not have to go to work. She rarely went out and only stayed home and took care of our daughter. After she started to cultivate, not only would she wake up at 4:50 a.m. and go out to join Falun Dafa group exercises, she also distributed The Epoch Times newspaper. Her changes led me to be curious about Falun Dafa.
My wife and daughter attended the weekly Fa-study group. I would usually go pick up my daughter if the Fa-study ended late since she had to go to school the next day. After picking up my daughter several times during the summer months, I began to suffer from gout. I was puzzled because the gout usually appeared during the winter.
I saw the book Zhuan Falun when I woke up the next morning and told my wife that I wanted to read it. I calmed my mind and started to read it. In the book, I was able to find the answers that I was searching for. Many principles in the book intrigued me and Dafa became embedded deep in my heart.
Since then, I’ve read up to three lectures of Zhuan Falun every day. I finished reading the book within a week. My wife was very surprised and asked: “Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, has other lectures written in 41 different books. Would you like to read them?” I replied: “Of course! I would very much like to read them!” My wife would borrow books of Master’s lectures from the group Fa-study every week.
I did not think it was convenient to borrow the books of Master’s lectures and wanted to buy the full set to have at home. I purchased them all when I could afford them and realized that this was a form of encouragement from Master.
Witnessing Dafa’s Miracles by Having Strong Righteous Thoughts
While walking to the post office one day with a huge package, I tripped and fell. My knees hit the edge of the steps and I was in a lot of pain. When a post office employee asked if I was OK, I took a deep breath and smiled: “I am fine, thank you. It is a good thing.” I was very excited and told myself: “This is great! Master is taking care of me now!” I used to be very pessimistic before I started to cultivate and if something like that occurred, I would get very upset. However, I knew that this was a test for me and I needed to look inward. I found attachments such as being impatient, the mentality of needing to accomplish something, and the attachment of zealotry. Perhaps I did the right thing by looking inward because my knees were completely fine after a couple of days.
Before cultivating Falun Dafa, I would get dizzy and suffered from gout. The symptoms of gout in my right foot came back again after my knees healed. I thought it was because my sickness karma was not completely eliminated and Master was giving me another chance to purify my body. So I thought to myself: “I will pass the test this time.” I woke up early and did the exercises the next day despite feeling a lot of pain in my right foot. However, the pain in my right foot was not as painful as before and I knew that Master had borne my karma. I am at a loss for words for Master’s compassion and am so grateful to Master.
I started to sweat a lot when I was practicing the second exercise and thought: “Should I continue practicing the exercises?” Master’s words immediately came to my mind.
Master said,
“When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I know that the gout pain that I was experiencing is a way for me to eliminate karma. I know Master eliminated part of my karma, so what reason do I have to not pass this tribulation? The rest of my karma is up to me to overcome. After realizing this, I managed to finish practicing the exercises.
I persisted in studying the Fa during those days and when it started to hurt, I would tell myself: “It is all an illusion. Everything that happens is a good thing.” By the third day, my right foot had almost recovered and within a week, I was able to walk normally. My wife thought that it was a miracle and if I didn’t cultivate Dafa, my gout would not have healed so quickly. Through studying the Fa with great focus and truly believing in Master and the Fa, I was able to overcome this tribulation.
Cultivating My Heart While Eliminating Attachments
I have been doing direct marketing for over ten years and during my leisure time, I would watch movies or play games on my cell phone. One day my wife told me: “As a Falun Dafa practitioner, you should not do direct sales anymore and if you’d like to save sentient beings, you cannot play games on your phone, either.” I was very shocked by what she said. I was able to understand why playing games on my phone was harmful, but with direct marketing, why couldn’t I continue it when it is completely legal? I gave myself a week to think it over and during those days, I kept having dreams about time. I enlightened that Master was trying to tell me that time is very tight.
Master said,
“You cannot always rely on me to bring you up to a higher level while you, yourself do not move. Only after the Fa is explicitly stated do you make a move. If it is not taught clearly, you do not move or move backward. I cannot recognize such behavior as cultivation practice. At the crucial moment when I ask you to break away from humanness, you do not follow me. Each opportunity will not occur again. Cultivation practice is a serious matter. The distance has become greater and greater. It is extremely dangerous to add anything human to cultivation practice. In fact, it is also fine to just be a good person. But you must be clear that you choose your own path.” (“Digging Out the Roots,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Master also addressed pyramid schemes:
“Dafa disciples cannot do bad things. Pyramid schemes are not used in Western society anymore. That's outright cheating people. It rips people off tier after tier, and the latecomers get exploited the most.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York)
Isn’t Master directing this at me? By just merely reading Dafa’s lectures, Master already knows what I am thinking. Master is truly magnificent.
However, it was truly hard for me to let go of direct marketing. I had mixed emotions while laying in bed that night. Though I was very happy to have obtained the Fa, I was unable to part with the business that I worked on for a dozen years because of my human attachments.
Master said,
“Indeed, cultivating mind is hardest” (“Tempering the Will,” Hong Yin, Translation Version A)
Though I understood the principles of the Fa, it was very hard for me deep down to let go. After debating with myself the whole night, I was still unable to make a decision.
Several days later I thought about Master’s questions and answers in Teachings at the Conference in Canada,
“Student: Where does the karma go after you remove it from us?
Master: I eliminate it for you. (Applause) It’s very hard to save human beings. I remember once telling you at a Fa conference that there was someone who was destined to have a stroke at some point in his life. It was retribution due to his karma, so he was bound to have it, yet after he studied Dafa (it’s not that you don’t have to pay for any karma after you have studied Dafa; it doesn’t work that way), I eliminated quite a lot of that stuff for him, so that he could easily endure it. But the condition would have to appear. One day he suddenly fell to the ground and appeared to have the symptoms of a stroke, but he didn’t regard himself as a practitioner. Despite that, his karma was eliminated, so it wasn’t that serious. If he had regarded himself as a practitioner and stood up despite everything, he would have been fine right away. That is how the test was, yet he didn’t pass it. Even though it was not as hard as it could have been, he didn’t pass it. Still, the test was in fact not as hard, so he was able to get out of bed three days later and was able to walk a week later. One month later, it was as if nothing had happened to him. Everyone knows that no one can recover from a stroke so quickly even if they receive treatment in a hospital. And yet, he asked, “Now that I’ve learned Falun Gong, why did I still have a stroke?” That was when I had just started teaching the Fa. I thought then that saving human beings was indeed very hard. He didn’t know that when I endured the tribulation for him I was made to drink a bowl of poison.” (Teachings at the Conference in Canada)
When I thought about this part of Master’s Fa I was very moved. To save me, just one person, Master displayed his greatness and compassion. My attachment seemed too minuscule at that point and I decided to let it go and follow Master in cultivation. My world lightened up and my heart felt alleviated.
Master said,
“But true improvements come from letting go, not from gaining.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. II)
Thinking back six months ago, I was still very indifferent to Dafa. If Master did not arrange an opportunity for me to obtain the Fa, I would have lost this precious chance to cultivate. In a series of tribulations, I’ve truly seen Dafa’s miracles, learned how to look inward, and to truly believe Master and Dafa with all my heart. Thank you, compassionate Master, for guiding me!
I am very fortunate to have obtained Falun Dafa and even more fortunate to be among Master’s disciples. I will treasure this once-in-a-millennia opportunity and also cherish Master’s hard efforts to extend time. During the Last Havoc, only by doing the three things well and reaching consummation will we be able to repay all that Master has done for us.
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