(Minghui.org)
1. Break Through Laziness, Complete the Five Sets of Exercises Every Day
I am a Taiwanese practitioner who lives in Japan. After returning to Japan from Taiwan last November, I stayed at home except for going out to clarify the truth, purchasing groceries, joining group Fa-study or doing the exercises on the weekends. As a result, I developed many bad habits such as going to bed late and getting up late, eating fast food, drinking unhealthy beverages, etc. My bad habits, such as surfing the Internet, which I previously stopped, came back.
Consequently, I practiced on and off. Some old health issues, such as sneezing, runny nose, constipation, etc., all reappeared. Every day, after my husband, who is also a practitioner, went to work, I got up and sent forth righteous thoughts, then went back to sleep. One day, my husband, who is Japanese, told me that Japanese housewives typically wake up earlier than their husbands and children to help them make breakfast and lunch. I felt that I was not as good as an ordinary person.
In early May, just after the Japanese Golden Week festival, I made up my mind to wake up with my husband at 4:30 a.m. to do the exercises. At the beginning, I couldn’t get up at 4:30 a.m., so I told my husband that I’d get up at 5:30 a.m. instead and do the standing exercises with him. I would do the meditation later. However, I found that after my husband went to work, I could hardly find any time to do the meditation, so I decided to get up with him at 4:30 a.m. We did all five exercises together. Not only did the energy field get stronger, but also we could help each other improve. I really appreciated my husband who encouraged me to be diligent.
I believe that most practitoners have all have felt the benefits of doing the exercises in the morning. In addition to the time arrangement, there are more things I could accomplish, whether it is saving people or normal work. Now I felt exactly like what Master said,
“Before, maybe you’d get tired after just a short stroll, but now it’s a breeze no matter how far you go. When you’re riding your bike it feels like somebody is giving you a push, and you don’t get tired no matter how many stairs you climb. I’ll guarantee it.” (The Eighth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
2. “Cultivate with the heart you once had, and consummation is certain.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference”)
Our local practitioners lived far away from each other and there were not many of us. We normally gather to do the exercises as a group at a park on Sunday mornings.
At the end of May, a new practitioner arrived in our area. When she first came to do the exercises with us, the coordinator asked me to teach her how to do the fifth exercise – the sitting meditation.
The hand movements at the beginning of the fifth exercise was difficult for her to learn. Although she had watched Master Li’s demonstration videos before, she hadn’t practiced the fifth exercise yet, so I taught her how to perform the Mudras and how to cross the legs. As she could not do the full lotus position, I taught her how to sit in half lotus. After the music started playing, she ended up sitting in the half lotus position for half an hour. After we formed Jieyin with the hands conjoined and entered into tranquil meditation, I told her that she could continue if she could and it would be alright to put down her legs if she could not. Then she put down her legs and she told me that her legs had felt numb for a long time. However, she kept sitting with her hands conjoined with us all way to the end. I was very surprised that a new practitioner could sit this long on her first try.
She asked me how long it took to sit in the full lotus position like me. I told her that it varied individually. I encouraged her, saying that I was sure that one day she would be able to sit like us.
I asked her how she got to know Falun Dafa. She said she found it on The Epoch Times’ website. It all started with the U.S. presidential election. Then she watched the interviews of Western Falun Dafa practitioners, who talked about how they experienced a transformation of body and soul through the practice. She was very touched and eager to learn Falun Dafa. Before she found us, she already quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations with her husband. Even though her husband didn’t start to practice, he supported her to learn Falun Dafa and encouraged her to practice with us in the park.
At the Fa-study site, she studied one lecture of Zhuan Falun with us. When I handed her a version that was printed in simplified Chinese, she asked me whether she could get a copy in traditional Chinese. She thought that the CCP’s changing Chinese characters from traditional to simplified was very bad as it lost the beauty and meaning of China’s traditional culture.
After studying the Fa, she listened to our experience sharing, and she was anxious to join us to talk to people about the practice. We told her not to worry and to focus on studying Zhuan Falun and other Fa teachings. I saw her full of joy for having obtained the Fa.
Master said,
“Cultivate with the heart you once had, and consummation is certain.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference”)
She reminded me to rediscover the joy and excitement of practicing that I had at the beginning, to be more diligent, cultivate myself better and save more people.
3. Cultivate Righteous Thoughts, Save More People
As I was married to a Japanese and moved to Japan, I have a predestined relationship with this country and am tasked with saving the people here. Since last February, when mainland Chinese tourists stopped coming due to the pandemic, we began to spread truth-clarification information in Japanese. Due to the pandemic, we did not give out brochures face-to-face, but rather put them in mailboxes door-by-door.
It wasn’t easy to put the flyers in mailboxes. We must keep eliminating attachments during the process. First, we must get rid of fear. The building staff tend to think the truth-clarification materials were just advertisements. So we had to first clarify the truth to them. However, some staff members were very firm and did not allow us to leave the materials. Therefore, at the beginning, I would team up with my husband and let him deal with the staff while I sent righteous thoughts outside. In fact, I was afraid of being rejected. My husband had very strong righteous thoughts, and every time he met the staff, they allowed him to leave our brochures.
Master said,
“When you visit nicer communities, you’re too scared to say anything, hesitantly holding out that pamphlet with great trepidation. Do you think that could save people? Immediately that person is going to think you’re not trustworthy, right? You really don’t need to think too much about it— rather, go about it with confidence and dignity. You’re a Dafa disciple. Don’t you realize that you are saving people?” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
I feel that I was the one who Master said was, “... hesitantly holding out that pamphlet with great trepidation.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI) Later, I changed my perspective. What was I afraid of? I was saving people.
Master said,
“Dafa disciples, you are golden light in the mortal world, the hope of the world’s people, Fa-disciples who help Master, and future Fa-Kings. Keep diligent, Awakened Ones that walk the earth: everything of today will be the glory of the future.” (“Congratulatory Message,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)
Ever since I realized Master’s Fa principles, I’ve become bolder and able to spread truth-clarification materials myself. When entering a building, I first clarify the truth to the staff. The Japanese island of Kyushu is about the same size as Taiwan. Although the main body of Dafa disciples is in mainland China, while we clarify the truth and persuade Chinese to quit Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, we are in Japan, so we have the mission to save Japanese people.
In addition, I made phone calls to persuade Chinese people to quit the CCP. I used to make phone calls with my mom during the day. In the evening, my husband made phone calls and I helped by sending righteous thoughts. But for a long time, whoever answered the phone would hang up quickly. If we called back, they would no longer pick up. The call lasted less than a minute. I started looking inside. Is my compassion lacking? Did I take the call as merely completing a task? Did I believe that I was fulfilling my mission by virtue of making the phone call?
One day, another practitioner who made phone calls to China contacted me. She mentioned that she could talk for more than 30 minutes on the phone now. Some did not quit the CCP at the beginning, but would decide to quit after further discussion. I felt that was incredible.
How could we have such different results making phone calls? What did we do differently? She shared her phone recording with me. I listened and felt ashamed. From the phone call, I truly felt that she sincerely regarded all beings as her own relatives and was trying to save them. In addition to clarifying the truth, she also integrated news of current international affairs, Taiwan issues, comparing Taiwan to mainland China, etc. When she talked about CCP’s state-sanctioned removal of organs from illegally detained Falun Dafa practitioners when they were still alive, I closed my eyes and listened. Tears came to my eyes. Her tone, kindness and rationality made it hard to hang up. How could people refuse to quit the CCP?!
I adjusted my mentality when making phone calls, and put my mind on saving people. I treated all living beings as my relatives and friends. I persuaded them to quit the CCP to save their lives. I was no longer attached to them quitting the CCP, but clarified the truth and told them that sincerly reciting the two phrases, “Falun Dafa is good,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” will bring them blessings. As a result, something unexpected happened: On the day I changed my mentality, I persuaded two people to quit; one from the CCP and another from the Youth League. My mother, who makes the calls with me, felt I changed for the better.
At the same time, I also made rescue and key project calls with my mother.
Master said,
“The Fa is merciful to all beings, but at the same time it’s solemn and dignified.” (“Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003”)
We need to treat all living beings with kindness. However, when dealing with those agencies that persecute Falun Dafa, we have to be merciful and dignified. We should not lower ourselves to curse or argue with them, but tell them about the law, clarify the truth, and ask them to release and be kind to practitioners in mainland China.
Concluding Remarks
I am a practitioner who has obtained the Fa for ten years. Thank you, Master, for not giving up on me as a lazy and stubborn practitioner. Before in Taiwan, I always followed my mother. It was the recent three years after I got married and moved to Japan that I felt that I had been slowly getting into cultivation, understanding how to look inward when something happens.
Knowing that I am still far from the Fa’s standard, I am now determined that I will cultivate myself diligently and study the Fa, practice the exercises and clarify the truth well to live up to Master’s painstaking efforts.
This is my personal cultivation experience. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
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Category: Improving Oneself
