(Minghui.org) I’m a young Falun Dafa practitioner and I began practicing in March, 2020.
Master Has Always Looked after Me
I was diagnosed with a rare cancer soon after I was born. However, after it spread and developed to the most serious stage, it suddenly disappeared. This was so rare that I became the object of a national medical study. I occasionally had to be hospitalized and undergo detailed examinations.
After I began practicing and recalled my childhood experiences, I realized that Master has been protecting me and purifying my body. I also had many other amazing experiences as a child, but I didn’t realize they were unique.
One day when I was 14, I suddenly entered a different dimension. I had a similar experience years ago, but this experience reminded me of the feeling I had before, which couldn’t be described in any language.
I thought cultivators in religions must have control over such lofty feelings. The seed of pursuing the great Way was planted in my mind.
As a student I was concerned that I would lose this lofty feeling if I continued to stuff my mind with adult knowledge and values. The only thing I could do was to resist being carried along, stop relying on others, and start looking for my own path in life. As I went through high school and college, I read a wide selection of books, traveled to many places, and kept looking for the meaning of life.
Finding Falun Dafa
I saw information about Falun Dafa for the first time while I was searching online in March, 2020. After reading a few pages from a Falun Dafa book online, I was happily surprised to find that this was exactly what I had been looking for! I immediately phoned the number for the group exercise site and I learned the exercises that weekend.
While doing the third exercise, I felt the rotation of Falun in my abdominal area. My eyesight became clear and my body felt so light after I did all five exercises. I was filled with gratitude.
The first wave of the COVID pandemic hit Japan at that time. The Japanese government announced a public health emergency. We had to stay home, so the group exercise stopped. I had time to read the Fa at home. I started advancing diligently in my cultivation.
When our group exercise resumed in June, another practitioner and I talked about Dafa-related media projects. I had heard about the Epoch Times before. My professor of International Politics quoted an Epoch Times report about the Confucius Institute when he talked about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infiltration. I didn’t know about Falun Dafa at that time, but I thought the Epoch Times was a courageous independent media.
Cultivation Opportunities
I wished to help the Epoch Times clarify the truth, so I helped create videos during the following 18 months. I formally joined the media last December.
My first job was to create a fifteen-minute news program which was published on social media every day. I selected the news every evening, and proofread and edited the script drafts the next morning. In the afternoon I finished the script with the newscaster, and recorded and edited the videos. I shouldered every step of the all-day work. One week flew by. I felt the challenge of working at such a fast pace, especially when breaking news happened.
My job comes with a lot of pressure. The Epoch Times has the most subscribers on one particular social media platform. The program I’m in charge of is a feature program. Some in our team work full time, but some can only work in their spare time. Making news programs requires high efficiency and quality. Those working remotely don’t usually have the sense of a highly intensive atmosphere. Some asked their families to help. Some missed deadlines. It’s not easy to make assignments based on each individual’s special situation. I’m thankful for their contribution out of their busy lives, but coordinating with them has been challenging.
I personally thought that working on projects is not cultivation, and we shouldn’t mix in our wish for our family members to cultivate themselves. They have to want to practice cultivation. I thought my understanding was right, but I didn’t feel good about my cultivation state. Looking within, I found it was an excuse for my resentment after I was interfered with by my various attachments.
I had an attachment to comfort. I viewed it as a burden to handle everyone’s special situation while trying to complete the job. I had a discussion with a practitioner who works on our project full time.
I asked her, “Our project requires meeting deadlines. Isn’t it better to ask so-and-so to work on other projects?” She replied, “You have to apply compassion.” Her words seemed to be pointing to my attachment to comfort. She is about my age, but began practicing as a child with her parents. She has a better understanding of practitioners’ family relationships.
I didn’t disagree, but I didn’t buy it either. I said, “Giving priority to media work which saves people is being compassionate. Aren’t family relationships sentimentality?”
It was hard for me to see through my dilemma. However, studying the Fa every day helped me find the root of my problem. Ever since I was teenager I resisted being carried along with what was popular. I stopped relying on others and searched for my own path. My self-righteous notions blocked me from collaborating well with other practitioners.
Master told us,
“The most difficult things for people to abandon are their notions. Some people cannot change, even if they have to give up their lives for fake principles. Yet notions are themselves acquired postnatally. People always believe that these unshakable ideas—ideas that can make them pay any price without a second thought—are their own thoughts. Even when they see the truth they reject it. In fact, other than a person’s innate purity and innocence, all notions are acquired postnatally and are not a person’s actual self.” (“For Whom do You Exist?,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
The notion which I formed as a teenager had become habitual. There were no other Falun Dafa practitioners in my family or circle of friends. I always thought it was correct to not rely on others’ thoughts, because this way I avoided being influenced by everyday people in today’s society. When I worked on my cultivation with the intention to change this notion, I was enlightened.
First of all, the process of obtaining the Fa and everything that happens afterward has been arranged. It’s not due to our own arrangement. As a Dafa disciple, I can only work on how to understand the Fa and make good choices. Dafa disciples must have faith in Master’s arrangement. Whether we stick to our own understanding of the Fa or truly trust Master’s arrangement is a fundamental question and measures whether we have let go of our own notions.
Things turned in the right direction after I saw the gap in my cultivation.
I had a brief discussion with another practitioner who works full time on our project. He played the key role in our team and worked harder than everyone else. He also grew up in a practitioner family and has a good understanding about family relationships. Despite being so busy, he managed to keep the practitioners that I felt should be let go.
Seeing how exhausted he was, I asked him, “Shall we ask so-and-so to work on other projects? It brings a lot of stress if we continue like this.” He said he understood but explained, “You are correct from the perspective of work, but I can understand others’ situations. That’s why I can’t give up on them.”
He shared with me his understanding of cultivation, especially the difference between cultivating as a minor and as an adult, and the pain of not being able to accomplish as much as he wished. His experience was completely different from mine. I was deeply touched and completely understood his feeling. I was speechless when I saw how narrow minded I was and that I lacked compassion.
He left after our discussion. I left a few minutes later. By that time, the feeling of intensive pressure, which I carried all this time, started to dissolve. Tears came to my eyes.
Master told us,
“I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears.” (“Clearheadedness,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I held back my tears and enjoyed the beauty of letting go my attachments. My mind became amazingly calm, without any ripple of thoughts. Ever since then, I no longer feel frustrated when tough situations arise. Problems are solved easily as long as I handle them calmly.
Thank you, Master, for your compassionate salvation! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2022 Japan Fa Conference)
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