(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in August 1995 and am now 79. I have felt extremely honored to be a Dafa practitioner because Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, has given us a ladder to reach Heaven.
Master Li said,
“The ultimate goal of cultivation is to attain the Tao and complete cultivation.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun).
I experienced the arduous cultivation process of going from not knowing anything, to wanting to cultivate, to improving, and gradually maturing. Under Master’s compassionate salvation and guidance from the Fa, I was able to stay on my cultivation path. I firmly believe in Master and Dafa, and I always try to cultivate myself diligently, do the three things well, and help save sentient beings.
My sharing is based on my personal cultivation experience. If anything is not in accordance with the Fa, please kindly point it out.
Beginning My Path of Cultivation
In August 1995, I was passing by a Falun Dafa exercise site, and I stopped to watch the practitioners doing the exercises. They were doing the third set of exercise at the time, and I felt something inside my body moving up and down following their movements. I thought to myself, “Why not try it?” So I joined in. In fact, it was Master’s Fashen (law body) that brought me there.
When local practitioners held a nine-day session to play Master’s Fa-lecture video series, my neighbor Xiu took me and I watched all nine lectures. The night after the ninth day of the session, I felt something moving inside my stomach; it was also making a sound. I slowly opened my eyes and found that my entire bed was covered by blue light. When I mentioned this to Xiu, she said that Master had given me a Falun (law wheel).
I felt that I must do well, so I studied the Fa, did the exercises with fellow practitioners, and attended experience sharing conferences.
Initially, it was very painful for me to sit in the full lotus position for the fifth exercise. But I stuck with it and, eventually, I was able to sit for an hour. I then aimed for two hours. I remember the first time I reached two hours, it was so painful that I had to shake my body back and forth, but I did not give up.
Master helped me because he saw I had the heart to endure. I was once meditating and felt something spinning clockwise around my body. It was spinning faster and faster, which made me a little scared. I asked a veteran practitioner about this, and she told me it was the external Qi (energy) mechanism circulating around my body. That was the first time I experienced the Fa principle of “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun).
It took me nine months to memorize Zhuan Falun (the main text of Falun Dafa) for the first time. It was quite difficult, and I would not move on until I got every single character in each paragraph right. Memorizing the Fa made me realize that Falun Dafa is a high level practice meant for saving people; practicing Dafa cultivation is a grand opportunity. From then on, my will to practice became stronger, and I was determined to firmly believe in Master and the Fa. This laid a solid foundation for my cultivation in the coming years.
Continuing My Path Despite the Persecution
On July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin’s group launched the persecution against Falun Dafa. Like many other practitioners, I went to Beijing to appeal. I was arrested, and I was going to be sent back to my hometown and put into a detention center. But I was able to get away from the police station and went to the countryside to tell people about Dafa. From then on, I moved many times. I finally understand that this was Master’s arrangement to protect me. Master cherishes every disciple more than we cherish ourselves, and we are always under His boundless compassion.
Every time I moved to a new place, I cooperated with local practitioners to do the three things. Whenever Master published a new lecture, we would study it 10 times as soon as we could; sometimes in groups, and sometimes individually. When we studied the Fa well, our righteous thoughts were stronger, and we were be able to the three things more smoothly. After the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, we studied it repeatedly to gain a clearer understanding of the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This has played a huge role in my clarifying the truth to people more effectively.
For many years, in addition to sending forth righteous thoughts at the four fixed times each day, I also do it for half an hour at 8 p.m. I have also formed a habit of always sending forth righteous thoughts and reciting poems from Hong Yin whenever I leave home.
Talking to people face to face and helping them withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated youth organizations have become a part of my life, as indispensable as eating, drinking, and sleeping. To me, this is not only a project, but our historical mission. Only when we take on our responsibilities and fulfill our missions can we truly reach consummation (enlightenment).
The first stranger I ever clarified the truth to was a girl with last name of Li. That day, she was in the hospital waiting for test results. I sat down next to her and started chatting about everyday things, starting with the importance of good health as people age. I then gradually talked about my practicing a form of qigong called Falun Dafa, the CCP’s persecution of practitioners, the staged Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation incident, the origin and evil nature of the CCP, and how one must withdraw from the CCP to stay safe. We talked for over an hour.
The girl said, “Ma’am, I understand it now. I’m a CCP member, and I have also been in the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers. Please help me withdraw from all of them. I really appreciate your help.” I gave her a pseudonym, Li Yuanyuan, to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and we said goodbye to each other.
The second person was an elderly man at a bus stop. I said to him, “I can tell that you’re someone with stature. You must have been a high level leader, and a good person.” He smiled and nodded. I explained, “Good people are rewarded [for their deeds]. Have you heard that one should withdraw from the CCP to stay safe?” He said he’d heard of it, but he had not withdrawn.
I told him, “When you took the poisonous oath to join the CCP and be loyal to the Party, it put the devil’s imprint on your forehead in another dimension. If you withdraw from the CCP in your heart, Heaven will erase this imprint and will bless you when catastrophe strikes.” He understood and said, “I’ll withdraw!” I gave him a pseudonym, Wan Ping, meaning everything will be safe and smooth. He smiled and said, “I’m Wan Ping!” and repeatedly thanked me. These two successful cases really increased my confidence.
I have also encountered people who would not listen. I met a tall, young man and, as soon as I mentioned withdrawing from the CCP to stay safe, he yelled, “I would have sworn at you if you were not a senior! Stay away from me!” I smiled and walked away. When I shared this with fellow practitioners, I thought that his reaction was probably due to my righteous thoughts not being strong enough, and that he may also have been too deeply poisoned by the CCP.
In 2019, members of my Fa study group proposed that we memorize Zhuan Falun as a group, and I actively participated. I have, once again, experienced many benefits of memorizing the Fa. This has strengthened my faith and helped me understand the Fa principles on deeper levels. I now feel that I must continue to memorize the Fa and strive forward.
As I study and memorize the Fa more, I’m able to reach many states that I was not able to. For example, I struggled with achieving a tranquil mind during the meditation. But now, I can achieve tranquility and it feels so great! During one meditation session, I truly experienced the state Master talked about in Lecture Eight of Zhuan Falun,
“There is another state in which after sitting for a while the legs disappear, and one cannot recall where the legs went. The body disappears, the arms disappear, the hands also disappear—only the head is left. As one keeps practicing, one finds that the head disappears as well, leaving only one’s own mind, a little thought that one is practicing here.”
I always remind myself, “No matter how long my cultivation path is and what difficulties I encounter, I will not be lazy or slack off; I will endure the hardships, work harder, be more diligent, keep climbing to higher levels, and return home with Master.
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