(Minghui.org) I was a child when I began practicing Falun Dafa before 1999. I am now a mother, and my child is two years old. It has been over 20 years since I began practicing and I only recently made a breakthrough by practicing the exercises for two and a half hours. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences.
My Child and I Attend a Parade
I planned to participate in a parade in Yokohama a couple of days ago that was set to start at 12 p.m. My husband asked, “Will our child be okay in the hot weather?” Without thinking too much, I replied, “Yes!” I knew it was possible because I was quite diligent in practicing the exercises recently.
After I finished practicing the exercises I was ready to attend the parade. Even though the hot midday sun shone relentlessly on us, participating in the parade with my young child went quite smoothly.
Just as the parade was about to begin, my child was asleep in the stroller. During the parade, I constantly moistened the scarf that shielded him to keep him cool. He slept very comfortably. He woke up when the parade ended. Some others told me that he was well-behaved. Deep down, I knew that this was the power of Dafa.
Master said,
“But among those who cultivate Dafa, often there are many families who have children, and it’s very likely that they are no ordinary children. Before reincarnating, the child knows—“This family will study Dafa in the future. I want to reincarnate into this family”—in which case it’s very likely that he might have an extraordinary background. With this type of child, before the child is of the age that he can do the exercises himself, performance of the exercises by you, the adult, will serve as doing the exercises for the child.” (Teachings at the Conference in Australia)
Because I had no thoughts that I was hot, I did not feel hot. Looking back on that day, I feel the experience was quite extraordinary. I am very grateful to Master.
Stray Thoughts Appear to Interfere if No Morning Exercises
One morning I read what Master said below.
Master said,
“If you cannot even get over a trifle and lose your temper easily, how can you expect to increase your gong?” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
After reading this section, problems continuously occurred throughout the day. I was still thinking about something until bedtime. I wasn’t able to hold my xinxing, and lost my temper.
I overslept and skipped the first four exercise sets the next morning. I did the sitting meditation but was unable to focus while meditating. I still felt unfairly treated and complained about the trivial matter that occurred the night before. Even though I tried hard to eliminate this thought, I was not able to completely abolish it. I did not want to stay home, but headed out to study the Fa.
My mind was still full of stray thoughts while reading the Fa and I felt like I was in a battlefield, with my righteous thoughts and my anger taking turns. I managed to finish one lecture of Master’s Fa with much difficulty.
I was still at odds with my family members and struggled with angry thoughts. I realized that I needed to practice the exercises. My thoughts were not pure while practicing the exercises. However, I knew that Master could help me as long as I tried to eliminate this negativity. By the time I began doing the fourth exercise, my mind calmed down and all that was left was the melody from the exercise music.
I thought about it again after finishing the four exercise sets, but I realized that all of the negative thoughts had disappeared. Strong thought karma engulfed me over the past couple of days when I practiced the exercises. I continuously tried to eliminate them but it always took at least two and a half hours before my mind could calm down.
Master said,
“Question: A number of students have devoted themselves entirely in the Fa-rectification. They neglect eating and sleeping, and rarely do the exercises. As a result, some students who aren’t very busy don’t do the exercises either. Doing the exercises doesn’t appear to be very important to them.
Teacher: All of you sitting here, listen up. Did you all hear that? You must do well the three things that Dafa disciples should do well. You need to do the exercises. As long as the day of Consummation hasn’t arrived you need to do the exercises, you need to study the Fa, and you need to do the Dafa disciples’ three things. Definitely.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)
The thought karma I experienced these couple of days when I practiced the exercises made me think of my past cultivation experiences. If I had properly practiced the exercises 20 years ago, I would have been in a better cultivation state. It was truly hard for me to overcome many difficulties in the past.
My attachment to desire and lust made me very depressed during my teenage years. Even though I kept telling myself to conquer this attachment, I still watched romance television dramas and thought about how to confess my feelings to someone I liked. It was hard for me to make a breakthrough.
Sometimes, I did better with Master’s protection but it seemed like other interference would occur almost immediately. My cultivation state improved dramatically when I strengthened my exercise practice. The thought karma that Master eliminated for me during morning practice was something very hard to me to endure and overcome in the past.
Looking inward was a formality for me in the past. I always felt upset at how I could not overcome my attachments.
Recently, influenced by another practitioner, whenever I looked inward, I began to ask myself if I practiced the exercises, studied the Fa, or sent righteous thoughts well enough.
Master said,
“Accomplishing is cultivating.”(Solid Cultivation, Hong Yin,Translation Version B)
Only when I set my mind to upgrade my cultivation will I not regard cultivation as something difficult.
Making a Breakthrough
I was still very young back in 1999, and I always slept when the adults were studying the Fa. I did not have a solid foundation in cultivation and never took practicing the exercises seriously.
I felt tired when I did the second exercise, and the adults told me that it was okay for me to not practice since I was still young. When I got older, I used the excuse of being afraid of getting mosquito bites, so I postponed and finally skipped practicing the exercises.
I secretly practiced the exercises in college back in China. When my roommates told me that being secretive looked weird, I stopped practicing then. After coming overseas, I told myself that I could finally practice the exercises. However, when I practiced the exercises in the mornings, my roommate (also a practitioner) told me that she wanted to study the Fa. I thought about going out to the park to practice the exercises, but was reluctant to go since it was dark outside. So I slept in.
While pregnant, I got dizzy whenever I raised my arms, so I did not practice the exercises. I did not realize that these were all tribulations that I needed to overcome. I did not take this issue seriously, and this problem has been dragging me down for over 20 years.
There was an episode when I burned incense in front of Master's portrait one day without doing morning exercises. In my mind I heard Master say, “I have suffered for you today.” When I shared this experience with another practitioner, she reminded me that there were over 100 million practitioners! Both of us decided to practice the exercises well every day.
Thank you Master for your compassionate salvation!
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Improving Oneself
