(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners.
My mother learned about Dafa in 2001 from my uncle in Taiwan, and began cultivating soon after we immigrated to Canada. As an 8 year-old I accompanied my mother to group Fa study and did the exercises outdoors, but I didn’t take cultivation seriously. Most of the time, I played with the other children at group Fa study rather than read the teachings. I sometimes read with the adults.
The Fa is boundless, and although I did not cultivate diligently when I was young, the Fa’s principles took root in my heart, and benevolent Master watched over me. At home, I often listened to Master’s audio lectures in Chinese by myself, or read Master’s additional lectures. My mother also explained the Fa’s principles to me.Gradually, as I got busier with school and extracurricular activities, I grew lazy and stopped accompanying my mother to group Fa study. I wanted to stay home to play computer games or watch TV instead. Occasionally, when I was bored and had time, I studied the Fa on my own, but not systematically or regularly.
I stopped studying the Fa when I entered high school. I turned all my attention to achieving good grades. The high school environment is a very dirty and tempting place, especially in Western society. Many students are lured away by worldly attachments, such as lust, vanity, drinking alcohol, partying, violent video games, and drugs. I knew from the Fa that all those were bad things that created karma for human beings. Some of my friends began drinking, having boyfriends, and partying, but I focused on being a good student. I remained in honors courses throughout high school. By the time I was in Grade 11, I could start taking university level courses through the Advanced Placement program. By the time I graduated I had earned university credits for eight courses, and this allowed me to skip the first year of courses when I began attending the university.
Due to my academic success, I grew more attached to fame and showing off, and I drifted further and further away from the Fa. Without Fa study, my human attachments and notions grew, and I no longer thought about cultivation. Because my university studies went smoothly, I started thinking I was better than others—smarter, and more hard working. I had forgotten that Dafa gave me wisdom, and that Master was taking care of me. I wasted many years at the university and as a young adult, living the life of an everyday person, pursuing fun outdoor activities with friends, traveling, and making money. Although Dafa was always on my mind, I kept telling myself, “I will cultivate later, when I’ve had my share of fun.”
I didn’t realize how much Master was suffering to give more time to practitioners who had fallen behind.
Returning to Cultivation and Catching Up With the Progress Of Fa Rectification
With Master’s guidance and after a series of wake-up calls, I made the decision to return to cultivation in 2019, when I was 27 years old. I was deeply regretful for having wasted so much time. I felt ashamed that I had benefited from Dafa and Master’s grace, but did not fulfill my responsibilities as a Dafa disciple.
Through regularly reading Zhuan Falun and Master’s additional lectures, I realized the urgency of saving sentient beings, and told myself I needed to catch up with the progress of Fa rectification. I knew there were many predestined people at my job, so I began clarifying the truth at my workplace.
For six years I worked as a Youth Settlement Worker for a social service organization. My job was to help high school students who move to Canada as immigrants or refugees, to adapt to life here. I was responsible for leading activities to help them make social connections, gain volunteer experience, find jobs, and support them while they were dealing with difficulties at school, at home, or with their mental health.
At work, I had a good relationship with my co-workers. I was well-liked by my supervisor and other directors, as well as school teachers, parents, and the youth I worked with. Even when I was not cultivating, I remembered some Fa principles I learned as a child, and knew I had to be honest, tolerant, hardworking, and kind to others.
My supervisor was the first person to whom I clarified the truth. I knew she was interested in spirituality, so one day I shared with her that I practiced Falun Dafa. I explained about Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and gave her the book Falun Gong. She was very touched and said she had heard about Dafa before. She was very happy for me that I decided to take this path of spiritual practice. She shared with me afterwards that she read parts of Falun Gong.
When the CCP virus pandemic spread to Canada in 2020, our work meetings moved online. One day, we had a volunteer project manager join our online meeting to help us develop a new database. When I joined the meeting, my supervisor was already chatting with the project manager. They were talking about meditation. My supervisor told her about Falun Dafa, and explained that I practiced, and it made me very positive and calm. The project manager said, “It must be great, see how happy and relaxed she looks.” After the meeting, I emailed the project manager a link to the Falun Dafa webinars to learn the exercises. A few weeks later, the project manager shared in our team meeting that she had attended a webinar, and wanted to go back for more. I was very touched by how my supervisor helped spread Dafa to others.
In May 2019, three months after I returned to cultivation, I joined a committee at work to plan our annual Staff Fun Day, where staff members were invited to attend a day of fun activities during a regular work day. The planning committee consisted of a co-worker, my supervisor, another director, and the executive director at our organization. When the executive director said that she would like to introduce a wellness activity at Staff Fun Day to help the staff improve their mental and physical health, I proposed that we do an hour of Falun Dafa exercises. I explained the benefits of meditation, and offered to invite my friends as volunteers to come teach the exercises. The committee happily agreed.
Later that year, when I was telling my co-workers about Shen Yun, my executive director and the director at the Staff Fun Day committee told me that they had already seen the performance and knew a bit about Dafa. I suddenly realized that benevolent Master arranged for me to clarify the truth without many obstacles, to help build my confidence in helping save sentient beings.
Over 50 staff members who attended our Staff Fun Day in June 2019 learned the Falun Dafa exercises. In front of all the staff, the executive director said that she enjoyed the exercises very much. She asked if there were outdoor exercise sites, and said that she would like to bring her daughter there to learn.
The year the staff learned the Falun Dafa exercises was also the year our organization had to renew our contract with the Canadian Federal Government. It was a stressful time for the directors, because if they did not put together a good proposal, the government could cut our funding, and the organization would have to lay off staff. The government had already made many funding cuts to our budget in previous years, so everyone was worried. Amazingly, after evaluating the proposal, the government awarded my workplace with the most money it had ever received, even more than other organizations similar to ours. The contract was given to us for five years. We even had enough funding to hire more staff. The executive director was very pleased and relieved. In my heart, I knew it was because Dafa blessed my workplace. Because the upper management welcomed Dafa with open arms and supported Dafa to be introduced to their staff, they were blessed with a good future.
It’s just as Master said,
“When people show the appropriate respect and reverence toward Dafa as it manifests here in this world, they, their race, or their nation will enjoy blessings or honor.” – (“Lunyu,” Zhuan Falun)
Eliminating the Attachment to Fame, Gain, and Reputation
Although I clarified the truth and shared the beauty of Dafa with my supervisor and co-workers, I often felt fearful and nervous inside when I did. I was afraid that if they reacted negatively, they would think badly of me as an employee, and it would damage my reputation at work. Thought karma also interfered with me, repeatedly telling me that I could lose my job if people spoke badly of me—or people would think I was weird for talking about my spiritual practice.
This attachment was first exposed after our Staff Fun Day exercise teaching.
I received some negative responses the day after the event. A co-worker from another team said that after the event, they went to dinner with other people on their team. Some Chinese co-workers spoke negatively about learning the Falun Dafa exercises, and even said negative things about Shen Yun. My heart beat very fast and I felt shaky. I felt like my fears were coming true. But I knew it was not the correct state. I told myself that I must help save them, because they have been poisoned by the CCP’s lies. I tried my best to clarify the truth to that co-worker and clear the misunderstandings she heard. In the end, she thanked me for sharing the information with her.
A Chinese co-worker from Hong Kong, who worked closely with me, also reacted negatively. He said he was surprised and upset that I practiced Falun Dafa. He set a time to talk to me privately about it. He tried to convince me not to practice, because he believed that any spiritual belief was made up by governments to control people. He told me stories of friends who got involved in Buddhist activities, and lost a lot of money. He shared negative notions he had about The Epoch Times and Shen Yun. I realized that this co-worker did not understand the evil nature of the CCP, did not believe in the divine, and had a negative view of spirituality. During our talk, he became quite intense at times. I tried to stay calm and explain to him the value of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It took a long time, over an hour, before he calmed down. In the end, he said he believed that cultivating these principles was good.
Over the next few months, I gradually clarified the truth to this co-worker. We talked about the evil nature of the CCP, why The Epoch Times is important, traditional Chinese culture and the value of Shen Yun, morality, kindness, and more. Bit by bit, his attitude changed. He now sometimes mentions to me that he tried to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in his life and even shares with other coworkers about the importance of being compassionate and tolerant. He also comments about how terrible the CCP is for Chinese people and the world.
Looking back, I realized it was my lack of righteous thoughts and my attachments to fear and reputation that created a gap for the evil to exploit, inflating people’s misunderstandings and negative views about Dafa. I am thankful that Master helped these people understand the truth. Even though I clarified the truth while feeling nervous and fearful, the Fa gave me strength to keep trying.
I was even more fearful when it came to clarifying the truth to the youth I work with, as well as their parents. As I work with immigrants and refugees, I come into contact with families from all around the world, including China. I was afraid they were poisoned by the CCP and would stop coming to my programs because I clarified the truth to them. My heart was heavy and I was disappointed in myself that I could not pluck up the courage to share with everyone about the beauty of Dafa and the truth about the CCP. I knew it was a state I needed to rectify as soon as possible. My attachment to self was hindering sentient beings from being saved. I put my own gain in front of others. I knew I needed to improve.
I decided that the first step was to increase my Fa study. In addition to reading Zhuan Falun in English, I studied Master’s other lectures each night with a Chinese practitioner. I memorized Lunyu in both Chinese and English. I started copying Zhuan Falun in Chinese. I could gradually feel the Fa cleansing my attachments as my understanding deepened. As a new practitioner, I came to realize the power of Fa study, and how important it was for cultivators to study the Fa well. I joined both English and Chinese group Fa studies so I could share with other practitioners. I was touched by how some practitioners could memorize an entire lecture of Zhuan Falun, and knew I had a long way to go to catch up.
Master said,
“So now you know the two reasons why people might not get results with their practice: one is that they can’t make spiritual progress if they don’t have the higher guidance of the Way; and the other is that they won’t get higher energy if they don’t work on themselves or strive to perfect their character. These two reasons sum it up.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that I wouldn’t be able to clarify the truth well if I didn’t study the Fa well. And to clarify the truth well, I needed to improve my character. Through studying the Fa, I learned about the importance of sending righteous thoughts, cleansing my mind of thought karma, and doing the exercises. Fa study helped me clear away my human attachments and I became more diligent. The first few months I returned to cultivation, I was often moved to tears when studying the Fa. I could feel Master’s boundless benevolence through each word. I was so grateful to Master for not giving up on me.
As my Fa study improved, I started to let go of my fears and attachment to reputation and fame. Instead, I felt very worried for the sentient beings who did not know the truth, because I knew they were in danger. My compassion grew, and I began to clarify the truth to the youth I worked with.
I once shared about how the CCP harvests organs from illegally detained Falun Dafa practitioners to a girl while I was helping her fill out some forms. She was very sad to hear about the persecution and asked me for more flyers so she could also share the information with her classmates.
During the pandemic, I started a meditation club to teach youth the Falun Dafa exercises. Staff from another neighborhood house saw the photos and invited me to teach their youth the exercises. The young people from our meditation club volunteered to teach the exercises to the other youth with me. I was happy that they benefited from Dafa, and shared the exercises with others.
I was no longer afraid of letting young people know I was growing up in Dafa. I decorated my work station with a lotus flower and bookmarks as well as a sticker that says Falun Dafa is Good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good. Now the young people who come to speak with me at my office can see positive messages about Dafa.
I keep a stack of End-the-CCP and Dafa flyers in my work bag and hand them out when I have an opportunity to chat with a youth. When a new young person joins our program, I think, “He is here because he has a predestined relationship with a Dafa disciple. I must not miss my chance to clarify the truth.”
When I do not study the Fa well, my fears surface again, and I miss opportunities to clarify the truth and feel regretful afterward. For over a year, I also did not break through my fear of asking parents and youth to quit the CCP. I knew it was my attachment to self that was blocking me. I made excuses like, “I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how to ask, and what if they get angry?”
I knew that if these parents and youth do not quit the CCP, they will not be saved. I told myself, why can’t I put others first, a true cultivator strives towards selflessness.
I kept sending righteous thoughts, and in the last few months, I plucked up the courage and helped four people from four different families, including one child, two youth, and one parent, to quit the CCP’s affiliated organizations. Although it was not a lot, and there were many more youth and parents I needed to help quit the CCP, it was a big breakthrough for me to finally let go of some of my attachments.
Sometimes, when I want to clarify the truth, and fear resurfaces, I ask Master for help to strengthen me to overcome the interference, to negate those thoughts, as they are not my true self. Master’s care and encouragement has helped me to gradually overcome these attachments.
I still have not eliminated my attachments to self, fear, reputation, fame, and gain. I feel that I am merely peeling back layers of an onion, eliminating the attachments layer by layer, and not yet reaching the root. Writing this experience sharing article is also a reminder to myself to constantly strive toward the Fa principles, let go of my attachment to self, and continue clarifying the truth to more and more people.
I also hope that by sharing my experiences, other young practitioners will take every opportunity to clarify the truth to their classmates and coworkers, and cherish these pre-destined relationships.
The above are some of my shallow understandings. Please compassionately point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2021 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
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