(Minghui.org)
Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I have now been practicing Falun Dafa for two years. When I first started reading Zhuan Falun, I was filled with excitement. For 50 years, fragments of images had constantly appeared in my mind as if trying to convey specific information. Later, it all made sense. Zhuan Falun allowed me to understand the true meaning of life and the truth of the universe. It contains scientific knowledge, yet it is a heavenly book that teaches people to cultivate and return to their true nature.
I often asked myself: “What is the purpose of my existence on earth?” After thinking about it, I realized I had come here to cultivate. Cultivation purifies one’s mind and changes one’s body; another important mission is to save sentient beings.
But I couldn’t find a cultivation way that suited me, and I didn’t know how to save sentient beings. After reading Zhuan Falun, I finally found the answers to all my questions. I immediately told a group of Tai Chi students I had taught for more than ten years: “From today on, I will no longer teach or practice Tai Chi. I will start practicing Falun Dafa. I thank great and compassionate Master Li for allowing me to obtain the Fa!”
Because I felt I had obtained the Fa late, I wanted to catch up with my cultivation quickly, so I decided to endure as much hardship as possible and speed up my pace.
The first time time I did the meditation in the half-lotus position (one leg resting on the opposite thigh), I told Master in my heart that I would pass it in one go and would not put my legs down no matter how much it hurt. After enduring heart-wrenching pain, I made it.
I told Master again that if I began doing the full-lotus position (both legs resting on the thights), I would complete it for an hour on the first try. My fellow practitioners also encouraged me to do it.
To sit in the full lotus position, I had to tie my legs up. The pain was something I had never felt before. It was excruciating, and my whole body was shaking. I was perspiring profusely.
I began to recite Master’s poem:
“Great enlightened beings fear no hardshipTheir will is cast of diamondLife or death, they have no attachmentForthright and broad-minded on the road of Fa-rectification” (“Righteous Thought, Righteous Action,” Hong Yin II)
I thought to myself, “If I can let go of the attachment to life and the fear of death, what does this pain matter?”
When I first started cultivating, I often had ordinary human thoughts without knowing it. It was only when I studied the Fa and practiced the exercises that I discovered my attachments. In order to reach the state of a cultivator sooner, I also looked inward, in addition to studying the Fa.
Whenever I feel emotional, I always try to find the attachments, distance myself from them, and eliminate them to make my emotional fluctuations disappear. I am grateful for Master. Whenever I went through a tribulation, I had the Fa to guide me.
I had depression for eight long years before I obtained the Fa. I tried Western medicine, counseling, traditional Chinese medicine, and folk remedies. No matter what I tried, I only went from severe to moderate depression, and there was no way to improve further. I always felt like there was black matter in my chest, and whenever I was in a bad state, it would drag me into the abyss of extreme depression.
When I began practicing Dafa, I focused on cultivating and looking within. Three months later, I realized that the black matter in my chest was gone!
I used to have styes in my eyes once or twice a year. The doctors tried injections, medication, ointments, drops, and eye washes. In the end, they had to remove the styes sugically. This had been going on for more than a decade. Six months after I started to practice Dafa, a similar symptom resurfaced. I looked within but could not find my attachment.
One night, I dreamt that I was arguing with the co-founder of our business. I did not take it seriously after I woke up, thinking it was just a dream. The next night, I had the same dream, and I then realized that nothing happens to a cultivator by chance.
This time, I looked within carefully and realized that I couldn’t handle being criticized in public. In addition, I have had a deep emotional connection with my co-founder for more than ten years. This attachment ran very deep, and the normal human emotions of grievances and hatred were mixed in. When I eliminated those attachments, my symptoms quickly disappeared. I am grateful to compassionate Master for helping me eliminate karma and purifying my body.
One day at work, a colleague publicly berated me. Even though it was just a misunderstanding, I was calm. Each word that came out of her mouth was like an arrow, but I discovered that my heart was empty; they passed right through without causing any emotional reaction. I realized that truly letting go was amazing.
A friend was unemployed for a while and had a few setbacks looking for a job. I helped him negotiate with my boss to arrange a suitable job with our company and also assisted him in adapting to the new work environment as quickly as possible. A month later, after putting in so much effort to help him, my friend told me that his former company wanted him back, and, although he was sorry, he was going to go.
I had recommended him highly, but he was ready to leave after only a month. I didn’t know how to explain this to my boss. I studied the Fa more and looked within. I discovered that I cared a great deal about my boss’s opinion of me, and I was deeply attached to my friendship. After I eliminated my attachments, my heart returned to the state of a cultivator again.
The friend still felt bad about what he did, so I found a way to make him feel better: I had him give free seminars to my colleagues over the holidays. Everyone was happy—my boss, my colleagues, me, and my friend. Thank you, Master, for giving me wisdom.
On July 20 this year, my son was in a bad bicycle accident while training for a cycling competition. He collided with a truck, leaving him with severe liver damage and a collapsed lung. When I got the call, I thought I would face it as a cultivator no matter what the outcome.
I rushed to the emergency room and held his hand.
“Dad, I am sorry.”
“When you encounter something, face it bravely. There is no apology needed between us. This is a test for us both. Master Li will help you if you keep reciting, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’”
“Okay, Dad, I will definitely get through this.”
Due to the severity of my son’s injury, the doctor quickly transferred him to a major hospital, and my son was in surgery all day. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts and asked Master for help.
After the operation, the doctor told us that everything went well. My son’s liver was severely ruptured, but not many blood vessels were actually damaged.
Before the accident, he would recite “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” every morning and evening when he went out for practice and competed. In one competition, a bunch of riders in front of him crashed together, and a bicycle flew toward him, but he turned around just in time and only had a scratch on his little finger. When I went to the scene of his recent accident, I realized that he could have been much worse. I knew that Master was watching over him all the time.
In the ICU, I gave my son a copy of Zhuan Falun and told him to recite “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” frequently. When he was able to get out of bed, I didn’t urge him to do the Falun Dafa exercises because he was frail and had a chest tube, stitches on his hip, and many other injuries. But then I thought that, if it were me, I would definitely do them. So I put aside my feelings as a parent and told him that if he did Falun Dafa exercises, he would recover sooner. He endured the pain and started doing them.
After practicing the exercises, my son recovered quickly. The doctor removed the chest tube and his strength returned. The doctor said that recovery from liver damage would involve a steady fever. My son later told me, “Dad, if I studied the Fa and did the exercises, the fever would disappear.” He was discharged from the hospital in just two weeks. He studied the Fa and did the exercises, and in just two days, he was able to start cycling training again. When he returned for a follow-up visit, the doctor was incredulous at his progress.
The day before I made the settlement with the driver responsible for the accident, I watched the video taken by his dash-cam. I saw my son lying on the ground after he’d been knocked into the air and hit two railings. Then he was sitting up, blood running down his face and screaming. My love for my son was triggered, and I even developed hatred against that driver. This was not the state that a cultivator should be in. I realized that I had not completely let go, but it was also difficult to calm down.
So I picked up my headphones and listened to Master’s lectures. As I did, I further understood that there is a causal relationship in ordinary people’s affairs. Only then did I once again let go of my attachment to human notions, emotions, and sentimentality and continue to maintain a kind heart to face and handle the entire incident. My son also turned a disaster into a blessing and began to practice Falun Dafa.
I am on a mission to assist Master in rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings. I can only help sentient beings with predestined relationships obtain the Fa by cultivating myself well. If I do not cultivate well, I will only push them away from Dafa, especially my relatives.
They can see most clearly whether or not we are cultivating well. Therefore, I intensified my cultivation and shared my cultivation experiences and clarified the truth to my relatives, colleagues, and business partners. Over time they understood, and some of them also started to cultivate.
I will strive to do the three things well, be more courageous and diligent in cultivation, maintain a kind heart, and live up to Master’s compassionate salvation.
If there is anything I have said that is not in accordance with the Fa, please kindly point it out to me.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2024 Taiwan Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)