(Minghui.org) Greetings revered Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I am a 27-year-old practitioner from Mexico, and I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 9 years. I would like to share with you how I found this wonderful practice and how it changed my life. I’d like to tell you about my first cultivation experiences, which may be helpful for those who have just begun to practice.
Searching for the Truth
I was born into a family with good values. Since childhood, I was instilled with belief and respect for God. As I got older and became aware of the world around me, I realized how corrupt it was, and I was very disappointed. My relationship with God and the divine was greatly affected—I began to consider myself an atheist and even pro-communist. My mentality became one of fighting for fame and profit.
Then I realized that this mentality based on chasing material benefits and fighting for them did not make me happy. Besides being very tiring, I did not feel better. I was still the same person, but I felt a great emptiness inside. I had to change this.
Finally, one day I asked God for forgiveness and I sincerely asked him to help me find the truth. So along with the desire to be a good person and let go of the struggle for fame and profit, I set to work on improving myself. But in the midst of a corrupt world full of lies, where could I find an upright spiritual path? It seemed very difficult.
One day in June 2012, by “chance” I heard a little about Shakyamuni’s basic teachings, about the delusion that human beings live in and how futile it is to be attached to worldly things. I learned that the only way to stop the cycle of reincarnation was to find and get in touch with the true reality of the universe through meditation. I didn’t know why, but this resonated with me and made a deep impression on me. I began to take an interest in meditation.
Around that time I began to study music in a prestigious school of arts and music in my region. One day in September as I walked along the main hallway of my school I was shocked by what I saw in some paintings that were being exhibited on the walls of the school. The building was an art school, and it was normal to see different types of exhibitions, but that day I realized that this was not an ordinary exhibition.
In particular, I was struck by a picture that depicted a scene of forced organ removal from Falun Dafa practitioners. This shocked me so much that I approached one of the people who were explaining what the exhibition was about. This was how I first learned about Falun Dafa and the terrible persecution suffered by practitioners in China.
I was given a brochure with information about Falun Dafa. On the cover I noticed the words, “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance” and I thought: “Truthfulness,” this was what I was looking for!
I was still in high school and we were taking a class called research methodology. As a final assignment, I was asked to research and expose a current social problem. I decided to research the religious persecution of Falun Dafa as my topic.
I began to research what Falun Dafa was, who the Master was, and why they were being persecuted. I remember reading information published by the CCP and its supposed justification for persecuting Falun Dafa. What they said was just ridiculous.
As part of my research and also because I was curious, I went to the only practice site in my city to learn the exercises. I remember the assistant explained the movements very well to all of us. As soon as exercise one began, I felt peaceful energy and a deep tranquility flow throughout my body. Even though my eyes were closed, everything looked to be shining and yellowish-white. I enjoyed my first experience of doing the exercises very much.
I remember that when I left the practice site, I felt full of energy. I also felt clarity and peace of mind. From that week on I noticed a change in myself and an increase in positive energy.
I presented the results of my research to my entire class. The verdict was compelling: Falun Dafa is good and the persecution in China is totally perverse. We could help by signing the Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting - the DAFOH’s online petition.
My classmates and teacher were amazed by the information, and I even got one of the highest grades.
That was the first time I clarified the truth about Falun Dafa. I felt very happy. I felt it was the only and best thing I could do for this wonderful practice. Although at that time I had little knowledge of it, but I felt Dafa had given me so much.
Understanding Cultivation and Passing Tests
That weekend I told the assistant at the local practice site about my research and exposure of the persecution. She was very happy and gave me a Falun Dafa book to read. When she gave it to me, I had a feeling of joy and sincere gratitude.
When I read Lunyu, I was shocked and said to myself, “Yes, this is what I have been looking for.”
I began to read more of the book and understood the basics of what was involved in applying Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my life.
Although I tried, it was hard to contain myself when I felt I was not being treated fairly. Once, I was a few minutes late for a class and the teacher wouldn’t let me in, even though he had never said before that we would not be allowed in if we were a little late. I was annoyed, but I understood. The next day a classmate arrived much later than me and he was allowed in. This really bothered me. Sometimes he would make sarcastic jokes about my musical instrument. I realized that it really seemed like he didn’t like me.
I thought of Master’s teaching,
“A practitioner should not only exercise self-control when he is in a conflict and is insulted to his face, but should also have a generous attitude and even be grateful to the other party. How could you improve your character if you didn’t have that incident with the other person? How could the black matter be transformed into the white matter?” (Chapter III, Falun Gong)
I made it a point to never argue with the teacher and I tried to maintain a good, respectful attitude at all times. I spent 3 more years taking classes with him and in the end I learned a lot.
Of the 50 students who started musical studies in 2012, only 7 of us managed to finish them in 2015. Over time I discovered that his being strict with me helped me not to fall into complacency in my studies. Although in the end I was not one of his favorite students, his attitude towards me changed a lot. He even supported me in crucial moments when I went through difficulties that affected my studies. I remember him with much appreciation and respect.
If I had not cultivated tolerance, things might have been very different and gone badly.
Going back to 2012, I was not the only one who came to know Dafa more deeply. There was another young musician from my school who began practicing Falun Dafa at the time, who I will call “John.” We shared our understandings and became friends.
A few weeks passed since I began practicing the exercises, when one day I suddenly started to feel chills all over my body. It felt as if I had a fever but I had no temperature. Sometimes I would suddenly lose balance and control of my legs and my entire body felt very heavy.
I had already read in Falun Gong about the reactions that can appear when Master purifies our bodies, but I was still a little scared.
I saw John during our next class, and he told me that he also felt very bad, with almost the same symptoms. I understood that this was a purification.
But I still found it difficult to calm down. That weekend I went to the local practice site and discussed my situation. The other practitioners reassured me, but I still felt uncertain in my heart.
That night I read in Falun Gong:
“I have taught you Dafa and all five exercises. I have adjusted your bodies and placed Law Wheels and energy mechanisms in them. My Law Bodies will protect you. All of what should be given to you has been given. During the class it’s all up to me. From this point on, it’s all up to you. As the saying goes, “A master leads you through the door, but it’s up to you to cultivate.” As long as you learn Dafa thoroughly, be attentive to and learn from what you experience, mind your character at every moment, cultivate diligently, endure the toughest hardships of all, and tolerate the insufferable, I believe you will surely succeed at cultivation.
The mind is the path to cultivating gongHardship is the ferry across the boundless sea of Dafa”(Chapter III, Falun Gong)
Those words moved me to tears and I enlightened that this was a tribulation I had to go through.
The next time I felt physically uncomfortable was while I was walking to school one afternoon. I remember that I started to feel heavy and chilly all over my body. At that moment, I remembered the Fa and said, “You are nothing and you will not be able to move me.” That thought was very powerful. My faith was in Dafa and Master, and I was not afraid. I knew I passed the test and at that very moment, the tribulation ended.
That would only be the beginning of a path of cultivation filled with many challenges, ups and downs, and also many joys and blessings. Many things in my personal and family life were harmonized and rectified.
Looking back, I feel very grateful for the opportunity to cultivate myself. As I mentioned, it has not been easy. I have stumbled many times, but in the end, I can say that it has been worth it - every day, every moment, cultivating myself.Thank you, venerable Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2021 Online International Young Practitioners Experience Sharing Conference)
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