(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I’m happy to talk about my cultivation experiences for the 21st China Fahui, and I’m very thankful for Master’s great compassion. Although there’s a large gap between me and diligent practitioners, I feel Master helped me greatly. Here I would like to how, when I let go of myself, I witnessed the power of Falun Dafa.
Identifying the Root of Selfishness
I’m 62 and I’ve been a teacher for many years. Influenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture, I tended to look externally and “help” other practitioners remove their bad habits. By doing so, I was in fact forcing my opinions on others, harming them and missing opportunities to improve myself.
Master said, “Our practice has a focus and truly points out those attachments. By abandoning them, one will make very rapid progress in cultivation.” (Lecture Five, Zhuan Falun)
When I read these words, I suddenly enlightened to many Dafa principles and I felt I understood what it meant to cultivate. The next time I encountered tribulations, as long as I looked inward to improve myself, the tribulation was easier. Dafa is really amazing.
This was my understandings at that level. But I tried to force this on other practitioners – especially those in tribulations – like applying a math formula. For example, Yang and her mother had illness karma symptoms. I thought I knew where their problems were, so I shared the above principles of improving oneself. I helped them to look inward and read Master’s lectures to them, hoping they would improve. But they were against it and we even became distant. I didn’t understand that what they needed most was understanding and encouragement. By forcing my ideas on them, I was actually bringing them pressure and harm.
When Hong had illness tribulations I did the same thing. Another practitioner told me, “What you said is true. But there is something behind what you said.” When I asked what it was, he asked me to look within. After a while, this practitioner told me, “Hong understands this and he can see things through his celestial eye, but you are still talking about it. Aren’t you like a clown?” Upon hearing these words, I didn’t wake up—instead I thought what he said was amusing.
Quoting Master, I said:
“Nobody from other schools of cultivation is allowed to see it, either. Even fellow disciples from the same school of cultivation are not allowed to see it. No one will be able to tell it correctly, because a life like that has been changed and is one for cultivation.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)
I thought I was helping Hong look inward and follow Dafa’s teachings. There was nothing wrong with it, I explained. So, I didn’t think what I did was inappropriate.
With Master’s arrangement, I later joined a small study group, where every one studied the Fa (teachings) and improved themselves. We focused on studying and encouraged each other to memorize the teachings. We improved quickly and coordinated with each other to go out and tell people about Dafa. We especially felt the urgency of time slipping away after the COVID pandemic started, and focused our efforts doing the three things because this is what Master wants.
Memorizing the teachings helped me understand many things and I saw my own omissions. Master also occasionally gave me hints. Then I remembered that practitioner’s words of “there is something behind what you said.” I thought about it, wondering what it was. I also recalled talking with Hong and realized I had an “attachment to my own thoughts.” No wonder that practitioner said, “Aren’t you like a clown?” I had an attachment to my own ideas.
I felt very bad and guilty. How could I be controlled by that? Cultivation means improving myself, but I used it as a tool to fix others. Doing that caused conflicts but I did not reflect on it. How could I improve with such strong human notions?
Besides seeing that I was attached to my own ideas and forced my opinions on others, looking inward also helped me identify other attachments such as a struggle mentality, showing off, zealotry, and others. For example, I tended to talk about others behind their back and I often made excuses when others pointed out that I had problems. Digging deeper, I found all these attachments and bad habits were related to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) culture. That is, I tended to validate myself and show others that I was always righteous. Like many other Chinese, I grew up in an environment in which the Party was always correct. With such distorted ideology through brainwashing, I had many erroneous thoughts that made me act like a clown without realizing it.
I continued eliminating these bad substances. By reading the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and The Ultimate Mission of Communism, I tried to eliminate these elements fundamentally. I decided to truly cultivate myself and assimilate myself to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Witnessing the Power of Falun Dafa
As I continued letting go of selfishness and various human notions, I learned how to understand and respect others. By being considerate of them, I could feel the manifestation of compassion at my level. I also witnessed the power of Dafa.
I came to understand that many of our tribulations are difficult because we are blocked by human notions and can’t see Dafa’s principles at higher levels. That is, we examine the issue using our own thoughts instead of Dafa’s teachings. Only by regarding Dafa as teacher can we identify our human notions and eliminate them, and the tribulations will naturally vanish. The key is whether we have full trust in Master and Dafa, and whether we can let go of our human notions.
I met Chen in late 2023. She was in her 70s and had illness tribulations for three years. As we talked, I saw she had very good inborn quality and she was also very diligent in the past. But when she had illness karma symptoms three years before, her thoughts were not righteous and she went to a hospital. This caused a three-year long tribulation.
I said everything would be fine if we studied Dafa’s teachings. “No I can’t,” she replied. “My neck is too weak to support my head and my arms are too weak to hold the book. Over the past three years, I could only listen to Dafa and I haven’t been able to do the exercises.” She said she was “very sick” and had been taking medicines.
I replied, “To me, you are totally fine.” She smiled.
Using a computer tablet I brought, I played the movie Once We Were Divine. I also showed Chen how to use it so she could watch it herself. The next time I visited her, she said she did many things before she “got sick.” “I want to be like that again,” she said. I encouraged her and said things could change.
We then studied Hong Yin VI. Chen bought two very nice notebooks and hand copied the book twice, one for herself and one for her sister, also a practitioner. She surprisingly had no difficulty reading Dafa books or hand copying them, and her writing was neat. I visited her from time to time and we read Zhuan Falun. I also brought Master’s articles published in 2023 and we read them.
“How come I don’t have these?” Chen said, “Nobody gave me these. I did not say stopping practicing.”
After we read these new articles, she said she complained about other practitioners in the past, but now her resentment was gone since Master explained everything clearly. She then hand copied them twice.
Master said, “… because any desire you have can become an attachment and can be used by the evil. As soon as that kind of thought emerges, the evil might conjure a false image for you, and this will then cause interference.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference,” Guiding the Voyage)
I read these sentences to Chen and and helped her reflect and see if there were any attachments she was holding on to.
“Yes, I have resentment,” she said. “My husband interfered with my cultivation practice. I was resentful.”
“The resentment is not you. Let’s negate it and eliminate it,” I suggested. We then did the first, fourth, and fifth sets of exercises together. She was tired and sweating, but she made it.
“You are great,” I encouraged her.
“You have come here to do the exercises with me. How can I let you down?” she said.
Two weeks later, Chen stopped taking medicine. She recovered a few days later. With hints from Master Li, she also went out and helped others. The three-year-long tribulation disappeared within one month.
My understanding of this experience is that, I had been “helping” other practitioners in the past, so that they could end the tribulations by adopting experiences from others. This won’t work because a practitioner needs to walk on his or her own cultivation path, and identify their attachments. When they’re able to let go of attachments and walk on the path arranged by Master, they’ll be able to improve themselves and walk through the tribulation. Other practitioners can only play supporting roles.
Resuming Cultivation
After Yan’s mother passed away, her father was strongly against her practicing. He forced her to give away all her Dafa book and forbade other practitioners from visiting. Without a cultivation environment, her righteous thoughts became weaker. Several times, I told her to continue practicing, but she didn’t do anything. I put Dafa materials in a SD card and gave it to her, but she didn’t look at it.
After Master published “The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces” and “A Wake-Up Call” in June, Yan visited me. After I showed her the articles, she read them and was excited. When I suggested we read Hong Yin VI, she said she didn’t have time. I said maybe we could read one poem and she agreed. After I read the last poem, “The Way Is Here,” she was moved. When I read “Thousands of Years Led to This Day” and “Thoughts Block the Way”, she was in tears.
I then offered her a tablet with all the Dafa books, exercise music, and audio/video recordings of Master’s lectures. That way, she could study the teachings and also watch the movie Once We Were Divine. She was happy and asked, “But won't you need it?”
“I am fine since I have another one,” I assured her.
She did begin to study the teachings. I did not say, “You should do this” or “You should not do that.” Master arranges everything and I just need to treat other practitioners well.
Introducing Dafa to Others
My father is 84 and has read many Falun Dafa books. He also recited “Falun Dafa is good” as well as “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” hundreds of times a day and witnessed miracles. After NTD Television broadcast Master’s new article “How Humankind Came To Be,” he was impressed and said, “Master Li is the Creator; otherwise, how could he know all these things?”
Father did have a predestined relationship with Dafa. But he couldn’t understand some parts of the teachings such as,
“Therefore, Shakyamuni said that at the microscopic level, a grain of sand contains three thousand worlds. ... One qigong master has said, “In a sweat pore there is a city with moving trains and cars.”” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
Because of this, he did not practice Falun Dafa. I tried to talk with him a few times, but it did not work.
After reading Master’s new articles, “The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces” and “A Wake-Up Call” in June, I felt the power of compassion. So I had a conversation with father. “Imagine you are an elementary school student. If there are problems that you do not know to solve, you would drop out of school. Are you able to graduate from high school in the end? Another way is just putting those problems aside. We might be able to solve them later.”
I said, “Falun Dafa is the law of the universe. It’s unlikely that one can understand everything just reading the teachings a few times. If we continue reading, we may understand something at a later time. Plus, there are dozens of other Dafa books and all of them can help us understand Zhuan Falun.”
My father thought about it and agreed. After learning the five sets of exercises, he could meditate for an hour. He did not put down his legs even if they were painful. Since then my father has practiced all five exercises every da,y including the one-hour sitting meditation.
It is hard to know things on the surface. It could be that the opportunities to save people are ripe, as they are beings Master wants to save. As a Dafa disciple, I just need to do what I should without human notions. Master will help us and we will see the power of Dafa.
Summary
After studying Master’s new articles, “The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces” and “A Wake-Up Call” in June, I could feel the field of compassion when I told people about Dafa. I know this is Master’s blessing. One day, things went smoothly as if people were waiting for me wherever I went. I helped 23 people quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I was very happy and I knew Master was helping me.
In the past, I was attached to my own thoughts. That is, I judged others with Falun Dafa principles and even my human notions. This is far away from Dafa’s requirements. Only by letting go of human notions can we be truly immersed in Dafa. Only then can we fulfill our mission and truly display the power of Dafa. I will continue cultivating solidly, remain diligent, and return with Master.
Above are my understandings. Please point out anything inconsistent with Dafa's teachings.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
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