(Minghui.org) The 2024 Australian Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference was held in Sydney on October 27, and more than a thousand Falun Dafa practitioners from throughout Australia attended. Participants said this year’s experience sharings were profound and resonated with them. Through comparing themselves in study and cultivation, they noted their own shortcomings and said they would focus on improving their cultivation.

The Experiences Resonate with Me

Jason

Jason started practicing Falun Dafa in 1999. “I’ve always been a very spiritual person. I’ve always been fit and healthy, so I haven’t had the experiences that a lot of practitioners had. But, I was lost in the world and I always knew there was more to life. I met a Chinese practitioner who introduced me to Falun Dafa. When I started reading Zhuan Falun I knew I had found my path home and that was for me, just finding that path home.”

Jason has participated in many experience sharing conferences. “It’s very sacred to get together with so many people—to spend time with people that we don’t always get to spend time with. I guess in my journey over the years, I’ve met a lot of people and it saddens me a little bit that we only get together once a year. But it’s such a precious opportunity to come together and share our experiences. I always gain a lot of insight into where I fall short, but this year I found the sharing exceptionally good.

“Many of the experiences resonated with me. This year people are really sharing about themselves, like looking more honestly and openly, and opening themselves up. I feel like we’re really making a step forward as a community of cultivators.
 This year has been very special.”

He said he would be more diligent in cultivation. “I certainly need to double down on my diligence. I have a son who’s recently joined the Fei Tian Academy, and it was interesting just sharing with some practitioners over the weekend 
how all of our cultivation is very linked.

“In the last year, I’ve been a little bit lazy with my exercises and a few other things. And I know how much of an effect we have on each other. So, for me, I need to double down and just do things more diligently.”

Be More Diligent

Emma

Emma is a Pilates teacher and a musician. She started practicing Falun Dafa 20 years ago, when she was 23 years old.

“I grew up in the town of Mackay, which is a bit more North Queensland,” she said. “I discovered Falun Dafa when I was driving around and I saw everyone practicing in a park and I said, oh my goodness, I have to get there. I actually could see a lot of energy in this park. I went the next week and then I began practicing.”

She said she did not have much cultural barrier in practicing Falun Dafa, “I felt very smooth getting into the practice. When I started studying, I experienced such big changes in my outlook, like the way that I saw life. My family was very supportive of Dafa because they could see the healthy changes in me.

“Falun Dafa has been obviously a very life changing experience for me. From my physical health, I find that I am always feeling really healthy but also, my mindset. I can always see where other people are coming from, instead of being judgmental. I’m a bit more curious about life, and a bit more accepting of other people. If someone gets angry, I know it’s not about me. It’s just given me more tolerance, so much more tolerance, which I think changes your whole life. And you’re not getting angry about things that you don’t really need to get angry about.

“The speech that stood out for me today was when someone shared in a very vulnerable way,” said Emma. “They were very honest. They didn’t hold back about the experience they’d had about anxiety and panic attacks. I too have experienced anxiety, so, I could really resonate with that sharing. But I think it was the way that the practitioner shared, so open from her heart and being so vulnerable. When I heard that, I just felt like, oh, this is wonderful. Straight to my heart. I had to wipe away my tears. But being vulnerable, I think, is really important.

“Probably as well the other sharing today that really did inspire me was when a practitioner was talking about bringing the young practitioners together. That’s actually very important in their cultivation. and I agree with him. I think it’s a cop out to say, ‘Oh, if they can’t get through that hardship, then they’re not meant to be cultivators.’ I think as one body, we need to be more encouraging and welcoming and create an environment that says, hey, we want you to be a part of this. I really appreciated that as well.

“I haven’t attended a Fa conference for a few years now, and I love coming to them because I love listening to everyone’s sharing. I always leave feeling very clear in my own practice. Sometimes if I’m not being as diligent as I want to be, when I come to the conference, I just leave with all this energy and I’m way more diligent after it.”

She said she would pay attention to speech, “Sometimes I find myself swearing a little bit since I became a mum. So I’m going to go home and I’m not going to swear. I’m going to be really mindful of that. Because being a mum can be really frustrating, so you sometimes just tend to use words that you shouldn’t. I want to try and just be a little bit more careful about this.”

Reminding Myself That I Am a Practitioner

Christian

Christian is an architect, and when he worked in Vietnam about five years ago, a colleague told him about Falun Dafa.

This was the first Falun Dafa conference he attended, and he said, “As a practitioner I feel it’s a sacred right to be part of this experience sharing. I’ve tried to attend previously but I always encountered interference. This was my first opportunity to come and I jumped on it.

“I definitely felt a sense of empathy, similar thoughts or similar scenarios of things that were relatable. I recalled things on my own journey or in my own experience sharing article that I struck a note with and other things which you hadn’t really considered, but as soon as they were said, you enlightened to it immediately.”

He said practicing Dafa helps him understand what’s most important. “As a Westerner, particularly trying to grow up seeking, striving for better, but better is not necessarily better—maybe it’s a better financial situation. But I think in practicing, it grounds you into what actually, truly matters.

“And when doing the things like simple or mundane or menial things like at your workplace or with your family they all give you those opportunities for betterment. Sometimes you slip up occasionally or in your day to day, you let it slip and you start to act like an everyday person. Whether it’s your workplace or looking after your family, I think it’s important to remind yourself, in every moment of every day is set up for you as a practitioner to improve yourself and seek betterment.”

Our Cultivation State Affects Our Children

Scott

Scott has practiced Falun Dafa for 25 years. Since coming to Australia, he has attended the Fa conference every year.

Scott said he was deeply touched by a sharing in the conference, in which a mother said she hoped her daughter would be admitted to Shen Yun after studying at Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, but her daughter did not succeed. One day, the daughter told her mother that she didn’t want to go home, but she had to leave Fei Tian because she didn’t meet the standards. Her parents very disappointed, and the mother said it was a period of tempering.

“I could really sympathize with that because my daughters, I’ve got two daughters. The older one is 24 and the younger daughter is 18,” said Scott. “One of them tried out at Shen Yun as a dancer and she didn’t make it. We had to push and do everything we had to do to get her over there. My second daughter is a Bell Canto Opera singer, and she has had her trials and tribulations trying to enter Fei Tian college as well. So, I can really sympathize with her situation.”

He said, “Your kids and your cultivation are highly connected. The trials and tribulations you’ve got to do to get there.”