(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa in 1995. Prior to that, since I was lost among ordinary people, immersed in the big dye vat of fame, self-interest, sentimentality, lust and desire, I created karma unknowingly.
When I was still young, I developed all kinds of illnesses, including palpitations, atrial fibrillation, and severe insomnia. I had to rely on sleeping pills, as otherwise I couldn’t sleep. When I felt discomfort in my liver, I took a leave of absence from work for more than a year. I was puzzled, and didn’t know the purpose of life.
Fortunate to Obtain Dafa
One time, when I went to the hospital to get my medication, a friend told me about an upcoming seminar to introduce Falun Dafa. Over the course of nine evenings, the recorded lectures of Master Li Hongzhi, Dafa’s founder, were to be played. My friend thought it might help me with my health problems. At that time, I had no idea what Falun Dafa was about. But since I was in a hurry to get my illnesses cured, I didn’t hesitate to go. After the first evening of listening to the lectures, I was riding my bike home. Along the route there is a steep hill that is close to a mile long, and I usually would get off my bicycle and push it along to walk up the hill. But that night when I got home, I realized that I rode my bike up the entire hill. When I told my family about it, they thought it was truly amazing.
I realized that this practice must be very good. In fact, I felt as if I had found a life-saver. After I finished listening to the nine lectures, I felt light and illness-free. Every uncomfortable feeling I’d had before had disappeared. For the first time, I felt relaxed and pleasant. The long-awaited joy filled my heart. Like seeing the dawn of life, I felt hope for the future. I truly understood the meaning of life, and why one had to suffer in life. From then on, I embarked on the journey of Dafa cultivation. From deep down, I wanted to be a good person by following Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and never give up on cultivation.
Telling People About the Preciousness and Beauty of Dafa
As people noticed the great transformations in me after I started practicing, they developed a truly good impression of Falun Dafa. For example, my temper changed. Dafa also resolved my grievances with others; I stopped complaining, and let go of hatred; I was considerate of others no matter what I was doing. My son also began to practice Falun Dafa. He recovered from a difficult interstitial pneumonia, crossed eyes, and other physical problems. My brother believed that Dafa was good, and he also read Dafa books and watched Master Li's recorded lectures. One time, while riding his three-wheeled motorcycle, he lost control and ran into a tree. Only his glasses were broken, but there were no problems with his eyes. Later, when he encountered danger a few times at work, he once again remained safe and sound. He truly appreciated Master’s compassion.
I’m a teacher. After I began cultivation practice in Falun Dafa, I treated my students just like my own children. I worked diligently, took my reputation and self-interest lightly, and didn’t compete with others when it came to vying for a senior title. Neither did I behave like a regular person, who expects to be praised. My supervisors and my students' parents thought highly of me.
I also began to introduce the Fa to my supervisors, and encouraged my colleagues to watch Master’s lecture videos. They all knew that Dafa was good. Some of them also started reading Dafa books. Meanwhile, they set up a student Fa-study group for the students to study the Fa and do the exercises. Students live on campus at my school, so it’s very common for them to have conflicts. Since they began cultivating, they could look inward and follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and rarely ran into conflicts.
Not only at work, but also in society and among family members, I used my experience to tell people about the preciousness of Dafa. Before that, I wasn’t good at talking to people. Since I began to cultivate, I wanted to talk to whomever I ran into, telling them about the power of Dafa cultivation. Before that, I tried to stay away from everyone, but now I was always upbeat and open. Dafa cultivation started a new chapter in my life. I wanted to shout it out loud and tell people: Please begin to cultivate! This is the most valuable thing you could ever do. This is the path you want to take—returning to your original and true self—the place that you came from.
Maintaining Righteous Thoughts and Actions – Clarifying the Facts to Help Save People
Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) dictatorship, people are afraid. Even though they know that Dafa is good, they don’t dare to make their stance known openly. Especially when the CCP’s staged Self-immolation Hoax on Tiananmen Square was repeatedly shown on TV. This triggered hatred against Falun Dafa. People who didn’t know the truth about Falun Dafa were poisoned by the CCP’s propaganda. As a result, they attacked and swore at Dafa. This was the evil specter of communism trying to destroy people.
As a Dafa practitioner, one must step forward to clarify the facts to people, restoring the reputation of Dafa and Master. In the beginning, I didn’t know how to browse the Minghui website, nor did I have a computer. All I could do was make copies of Falun Dafa informational materials. I either handed them out one by one, or posted Dafa information in public places.
When I worked during the day, I handed out informational materials on my way home. I wasn’t afraid of climbing the stairs no matter how high the building was, nor was I afraid of darkness on the road at night. If I didn’t have time after work, I went out late at night or early in the morning to distribute informational materials, hang banners, and talk to my colleagues, classmates, friends, and relatives about Dafa. Before that, I never attended any parties, now I attended them for the sake of finding the opportunity to tell people that Dafa is good and that the self-immolation incident at Tiananmen Square was a setup by the CCP. During the time when my mother was hospitalized, no matter how busy I was, I always went to visit her at the hospital when I finished handing out Dafa materials after work. My mother knew that I was doing a righteous thing and was always supportive of me.
I remember one time when working with fellow practitioners, we had to hang a large banner, with each word as big as three feet. I didn’t know much about calligraphy, nor had I ever written such large characters, yet I picked up a big brush and wrote it down. My fellow practitioners all said that I did it well. It was as Master said,
“One only needs to worry about putting in the effort of practice, and the rest is in the hands of one’s teacher.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
It was Master who saw my wish to validate the Fa, so He empowered me. I truly hope that people can all understand the truth and remember that Dafa is wonderful.
After the CCP’s crime of harvesting organs from living practitioners was exposed, since I didn’t have access to a large number of informational materials, I took several markers and wrote about it on the walls of apartment buildings. This was a way to let people see the brutality of the CCP. Before I went out, I always sent forth righteous thoughts to ask for Master’s empowerment. I always came home safe and sound. Twice I ran into people who wanted to have me arrested, but I escaped because I maintained righteous thoughts.
I remember one time that I was taken to a detention center, when I was first admitted, I was a bit scared. Then I heard a police officer talking about how someone from the city protected me. I was caught a bit off guard, as I had no network from the city. Later I came to enlighten that it was Master using regular people to hint to me what was happening. I had Master to protect me, so I shouldn’t be afraid of anything. In my following five-day hunger strike, I remained calm and eventually walked out of the detention center by maintaining righteous thoughts.
Thank you, Master for your benevolence, thank you, Master, for your compassion. During those dark days, I never let anything interfere with my faith in Dafa. It was Master who saw my faith, and helped me resolve many tribulations. He has endured tremendously for me, which I cannot pay back, other than to do better and better, and walk more steadfastly on the final leg of my journey.
Having Faith in Master and Dafa at the Critical Moment
Later I moved to a large city to work. With my financial situation getting better, my attachment to leisure arose. Even though I still studied the Fa and did the exercises, I slacked off in solid cultivation. Therefore, I was taken advantage of by the old forces. A few times I was subjected to illness karma illusion, but I made a breakthrough with the help of Master.
One time, I went to the library to study the Fa. Although I went there to study the Fa, I also went to check out other books related to travel. I felt that the environment there was rather good. When the old forces saw that, they challenged me about my attitude to studying the Fa by creating an illusion of illness karma for me. I suddenly had an accelerated heartbeat, I felt dizzy and was short of breath. I became clear immediately: This is the old forces’ persecution, I should not acknowledge it!
While sending forth righteous thoughts, I begged Master to save me. I tried not to close my eyes. I sat in a chair and kept sending forth righteous thoughts. I thought: don’t panic, Master is here. Empowered by Master, my symptoms disappeared in about an hour. I knew it was Master who had endured for me. Besides appreciating Master’s saving grace, I looked inward. I knew I had omissions, because I didn’t cultivate diligently. I seized the time to study the Fa and do the exercises. My cultivation state was good for a while.
However, after I finished doing my home renovation, my attachment to leisure flared up again. Thus, I was persecuted by the old forces for the second time. In the morning, when I was cooking at home, suddenly I felt severe chest pain. Every breath was really painful. It was also coupled with a strong fear of death. I quickly sat down. Right then, I had difficulty breathing and couldn’t erect my palm to send righteous thoughts. But I was firm in my mind: I would never recognize the old forces’ arrangement; I believe in Master Li, I belong to Dafa. I kept repeating these words. Meanwhile, I firmly believed that a practitioner’s righteous thoughts are powerful. After about an hour, I felt an object leaving from my left ribs. My heart was fine immediately. Instantly, I knew it was Master who saw my firm thought and removed that bad element. I immediately knelt down in front of Master’s portrait and with tears in my eyes, I thanked Master for his compassion one more time. At the same time, I came to truly understand that cultivation is very serious. I had to make up my mind to cultivate diligently and cultivate myself solidly. I had to seize the time to do the three things well, so as to pay back Master’s compassion.
Breaking Through Fear, Clarifying the Facts Face-to-Face
The publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party triggered the great tide of people quitting the CCP. I talked to my relatives, friends, colleagues and students to help them quit the CCP and its affiliated youth organizations. Most of them decided to quit.
Later I went out of town to work. At that time, there were no practitioners to get in touch with, nor could I access Minghui materials. I was so worried. So I bought a computer. Probably because Master saw my desire to browse the Minghui website, by chance, I obtained the Freegate software for breaking through the Internet blockade. I was so happy that I could use it to browse the Minghui website. Then I got to read Master’s new articles, and I also came across articles on practitioners going out to clarify the facts to people face-to-face, so as to help people quit the evil Party.
I made up my mind to also talk to people face-to-face about quitting the Party. But when I came to a busy area, seeing people walking by, I didn’t know whom I should talk to, nor what I should say. It took me a while to be courageous enough to talk to a young man. But he ran away from me shortly after I started talking. I was so frustrated. After returning home, I felt so sad that I wept. I couldn’t understand where my righteous thoughts went.
I knew that I must break through the selfish notions formed in me postnatally and step forward to try to save sentient beings. Thus, I recited the Fa every day, asking for Master’s empowerment. When I felt fear and didn’t dare to talk to people on the road, Master encouraged me, to give me confidence. I started with college students or young working people. I talked about traditional Chinese culture and how the CCP destroyed our Chinese civilization, with all kinds of political movements to persecute its own people. They all were happy to listen to me, as they had never heard anything from this perspective before. Then they gladly agreed to quit the CCP organizations. I truly appreciated Master’s empowerment. During that period of time, I felt so happy for those young people having been saved after learning the truth.
I remember one time, I was on a square where there were almost no people. I saw a young man talking to someone on the phone. He seemed to be agitated. I stood nearby for a little while and waited until he hung up, then asked him to help me take a picture. He then earnestly took a few pictures for me. After that, I sat beside him on a bench to chat with him. I learned that he had been unjustly fired. I expressed my concern for him and gently guided him, using the wisdom cultivated from Dafa to enlighten him. He gradually calmed down. Then we chatted for a while like friends.
I spoke to him about the totalitarian rule of the CCP, the truth about Dafa and the evil CCP’s persecution. He acknowledged everything I said. But when I asked him to quit the CCP, he became hesitant. I wasn’t worried. While sending forth righteous thoughts, I approached the topic from a different angle. In the end, while taking the subway home together, at the time when we were about to enter into the subway, I said, “We are so predestined that we have chatted for quite a while. Even though you don’t treasure the opportunity, you have to treasure your life, and not be buried with the CCP!” Unexpectedly, he happily said, “Then I’ll agree to quit.”
Instantly, I was moved. It was Master who saved him. This life was so honored. We also exchanged phone numbers. Soon after, I received a text message from him, saying that he’d found a new job with better pay. He received good fortune for his wise choice to quit the CCP.
It’s never smooth sailing on one’s cultivation path. My fear got peeled off layer by layer. For a period of time, I helped quite some people quit the Party, but during another period of time, I only helped a few people quit the Party. In that situation, I became worried and felt down. Sometimes, when I was out for a couple of hours but couldn’t help anyone quit the Party, I thought about going home, and let go of the attachment to the number of people I helped quit. Strangely enough, on my way home, I suddenly helped several people quit the Party quite easily. After this kind of thing happened a few times, I came to enlighten that it was Master removing the attachment. After I sat down, I began to carefully examine myself: Why would I be worried? Why would I so care about how many people I’ve helped? When I dug further, I realized that I was attached to reaching consummation, which was selfish, and a strong attachment to my own ego. After I realized that, I sent forth righteous thoughts in an intensive way to clean up this attachment,
Now when I help people quit the CCP, I send forth righteous thoughts at home beforehand, for as long as an hour. On my way, I also recite Master’s Fa. Then I stopped being attached to how many people I helped. Every time I helped a person, I appreciated Master’s help. I don’t know how much Master has endured for his disciples and sentient beings. I felt extremely honored to be able to be saved by such a wonderful and compassionate Master! I should treasure my cultivation opportunity even more so, seize the time to cultivate myself well and save more sentient beings.
Thinking back on my cultivation path over the past 28 years, I have a lot of stories to tell. When I saw Master’s new article “Wake Up,” I felt all the more the urgency to not waste time. I will cultivate more diligently going forward, do the three things that a practitioner is supposed to do, and keep my vow!
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