(Minghui.org) I came across Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) in the spring of 2015, when I was 48 years old. I was visiting a relative’s house when I saw images of Master on television. The images caught my eye, and after watching intently for a few seconds, I pointed at the television screen and started shouting in excitement, “This person is a Buddha, moreover one with a high level of attainment! What practice is it?” My relative replied, “This is called Faun Gong.” “Ah? Falun Gong? Can I practice it?” My relative smiled and told me, “Of course.”
Back then, my health was rather poor. Any symptom would leave me in a state worse than death! Although I took many Chinese and Western medicines, my health problems remained unresolved.
Because my priority was to earn more money, so at the beginning I only studied the Fa and practiced the exercises intermittently. Yet one day, I suddenly realized that I had recovered from my illnesses. For a person who had been suffering from diseases year-round, the comfort of a completely healthy body felt unreal, something I had never dared to hope for.
When I realized that I had stumbled onto the most amazing cultivation practice, my tears of gratitude and happiness were mixed with a trace of regret. Dafa restored my health, taught me the principles of how to become a good person, purified my body and mind, gave me the answers to life’s questions, and gave me the chance to live a normal life. Yet, I had been practicing half-heartedly. From then on, I decided to cultivate sincerely out of respect and gratitude for all that Master has done for me.
I put aside my desire to make money, and besides doing the household chores and caring for my family, I spent the rest of my time studying the Fa and doing the five sets of exercises. I made a conscious effort to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance in my daily life, and correct my human notions and behavior. I stumbled many times, and some tests were truly difficult. But, with Master’s guidance, I managed to continue walking forward on my cultivation path.
Resuming Routine Cultivation After Released from Prison
I was arrested by the police, and unjustly sentenced to four years of imprisonment in the fall of 2017. Throughout the years, Master stayed at my side, making sure that I was safe, and bearing the physical pain from torture. To this day, I feel ashamed. As a practitioner, I failed to cultivate well and let Master bear the suffering that should rightfully have been mine. Without Master’s care, I would not have survived those four years.
After being released from prison at the end of 2021, I returned to my home. Despite my situation, I felt no sadness. Master had made the best arrangement and given me this new cultivation environment! I was determined to follow this path.
Like rain after a long drought, I immersed myself in cultivating Falun Dafa just as soon as I returned home. I got up at 3 a,m. to do the exercises, studied three lectures from Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa every morning, copy and recite the Fa teachings every afternoon, and study other Fa conference lectures every evening. I spent half an hour sending forth righteous thoughts at the four designated times. I also extended the duration of the second set of exercises for up to two hours instead of the standard half hour. Despite sleeping only three hours each day, my stamina remained good. After maintaining this schedule for about half a year, my body, mind, and overall state underwent significant improvement.
Suffering in cultivation originates from two aspects: 1) Physical pain, which results from doing the exercises, and 2) mental stress when trying to overcome character tests. While physical pain can be overcome through endurance, mental hardship is not always easy to overcome.
After some time, Master began to arrange some character tests for me. Yet my initial reactions were to follow my human thoughts, despite my immediate realization that this was a test, and I should look at the problem from the angle of the Fa and improve myself. My human attachments were too strong and hard to let go of. According to Master, “Therefore, in cultivation you should follow a higher and higher standard for yourself.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I would feel guilty whenever I read this sentence. Finally, I told Master, “Master, I feel very ashamed. Why can’t I improve? Each time, I consider the situation using my human notions first, then remember that I am a cultivator later. I want to meet the requirements of a cultivator. It would be great if my first thoughts when encountering a problem are righteous thoughts!”
Master must have heard my wish and arranged many tests for me to pass. Gradually, I shed my old habits and started examining myself first instead of others when faced with problems. “This must be a test for me to remove an attachment. Yet which attachment is it? I must search for it!” After finding it, I would then ask myself, “Where did this attachment come from? Why did it surface at this time? What benefits was I hoping to gain?” After answering these questions, I would dig deeper. “Does it comply with the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance? Does it contain elements of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) indoctrination, or indicate a lack of faith in Master and the Fa?” Examining a problem down to its roots has helped me completely deny my human notions and eliminate it with righteous thoughts. Later, even when I observed problems in other practitioners, I would still look within first.
After cultivating for a while in this way, I found that I had made a great leap in my understanding on how to cultivate. My external appearance also became younger. I am extremely grateful to Master and Dafa and will do better, so I can put Master’s worries to rest.
Efforts in Clarifying the Truth
The 2021 pandemic lockdown made me realize the limited time we had left in this Fa-rectification period, and I should start venturing outdoors to clarify the truth and save sentient beings. Although I had been clarifying the truth online for a while, this longstanding desire to clarify the truth face to face remained.
Given Master’s arrangement, I found a fellow practitioner who agreed to let me accompany her when she went out to clarify the truth. As it was my first encounter in clarifying the truth face to face, I kept quiet and sent forth righteous thoughts, while paying close attention to this fellow practitioner as she clarified the facts to people. With her strong righteous thoughts, everyone whom this fellow practitioner approached accepted what she said. Besides agreeing to quit the CCP, these sentient beings also agreed to remember that “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Within two to three hours, I had gathered a list of 18 people who were willing to withdraw from the CCP.
After I walked this fellow practitioner home, I started walking back to my house. Along the way I thought, “We successfully clarified the truth to 18 people today. What if we rounded up this number to 20? Even one more person would be good!” Just as this thought passed my mind, something magical happened. An elegant looking old woman walking in the opposite direction looked at me, smiled and murmured something. A thought instantly flashed through my mind, “Did Master arranged for her to come and hear the truth?”
I immediately turned around, caught up with her and asked, “Auntie, was there something you wanted to ask me?” The old woman smiled brightly and replied, “Aren’t you my neighbor? You live on the fourth floor upstairs from me.” This common link allowed me to continue the conversation. When I learned she was the main caregiver for her paralyzed husband, and took care of him at home every day, I praised her from the bottom of my heart. “There are not many good people like you nowadays. You are really kind.”
Taking advantage of the warm atmosphere I clarified the truth to her. The old woman quietly listened, then told me, “We ordinary people don’t want to engage in politics, we just want to live a peaceful life.” An abnormal surge of courage seized me in that instant, and I immediately replied, “Auntie, you are so right. We ordinary people don’t want to get involved in politics. Officials at every level are corrupt, and because of that we live in fear and suffering every day. All we desire is to spend our lives in health and safety. Don’t you think that is the greatest form of happiness? Our compassionate Master saw many innocent people in danger of paying for the sins caused by the CCP, so Master revealed the secret to salvation from this final catastrophe is to withdraw from the CCP. Remove yourself from this political whirlpool and annul the oath you took to fight and dedicate your life to the Communist Party’s cause when you joined the Party. Our lives are our own, how can we leave our fate in the hands of others, right?”
When she nodded, I continued, “Our five thousand years of Chinese culture is a culture passed down by the divine. Respecting heaven and having faith in divine beings has been part of our tradition for thousands of years, and we are under their care. Sincerely reciting the two phrases “Falun Dafa is Good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” will grant us blessing from the divine. You must remember to recite them.” The old woman silently thought over my words for a few seconds before nodding solemnly. “I am a Party member. Please help me submit my withdrawal. Thank you!” I quickly replied, “Congratulations! Don’t thank me, thank Falun Dafa’s Master. Our Master is the one who is saving people!” The old woman nodded and waved good-bye.
After parting with the old woman, I decided to find a snack shop so I could buy some snacks to take home. The main road was desolate with only one sanitation worker in the distance, sitting in his vehicle and looking at his cell phone. While thinking, “Isn’t he waiting for me?” I quickly walked over and started a conversation by asking him if he could recommend any snack shops nearby. While his unfamiliarity with the area meant he could not answer my question, we still managed to strike up a conversation. His illiteracy did not prevent me from conveying the words, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” to him, and in this way another life was saved.
Afterwards, I continued my way home, but failed to encounter another suitable opportunity to clarify the truth. I finally realized what fellow practitioners had meant when they said in their experience sharing articles, “We just move our legs and mouths. Master is the one doing everything.” Master saw my desire to save sentient beings, and he helped me realize my wish! In fact, everything is being done by compassionate Master!
In the process of clarifying the truth face to face, I also make constant breakthroughs in improving my character. Sometimes I do not feel like going out. At other times, I lack the courage to chat up random strangers on the streets. Sometimes, even after approaching and striking up a conversation, I fail to summon enough courage to clarify the truth, causing regret for each missed opportunity. Sometimes after succeeding to start a conversation with someone, I rush in and ask them to withdraw from the CCP or ask them to memorize the two phrases mentioned above without clearly explaining the facts. When the first attempt fails, it becomes harder for people to accept the truth on the second attempt. Sometimes the other party’s response would show their obvious belief in the CCP’s ideals, triggering my argumentative or unkind side. I would even look down on them for having such thoughts. Sometimes on encountering those who look stern, I would give my fellow practitioner a look, hoping they would step up and approach these people instead. If I succeeded in convincing many people to quit that day, I would feel happy. If I only managed to convince a few to quit, I would feel down.
The human notions which surfaced while I worked to clarify the truth left me in shock. The desire for an easy life, fear, impatience, a calculative mentality, competitiveness, resentment, looking down on others, dependence on fellow practitioners, joy, showing off, lust, not cultivating one’s speech, a lack of faith in Master and the Fa, all these attachments were gradually exposed. But the compassion that should drive a cultivator’s thoughts and actions remained absent. How could I be considered a true cultivator if I continued to do things with a human heart? Moreover, these attachments are only the tip of the iceberg. There are others, which Master reminds me of whenever I hand-copy the Fa.
Cultivating Through Hand-Copying the Fa
One afternoon while hand-copying the Fa, my newly refilled pen suddenly stopped releasing ink. I could not fix the problem, no matter how much I fiddled with the pen, so I stopped and started thinking carefully about what I had failed to do well. A close examination allowed me to discover many human attachments, leaving me in shock. I immediately knelt before Master’s portrait and confessed my mistake. Some of those unrighteous thoughts were not mine, but something the old forces wanted to impose on me. After rejecting their arrangement, I picked up my pen and found the ink flowing smoothly again. I had done the right thing by looking within! Later, whenever my pen failed, I would put down my pen and look inward. After finding the problem and confessing to Master, I improved my xinxing and made rapid progress.
Master has endured and sacrificed much for us. It is my stroke of good fortune to encounter Master and practice Dafa in this life. How can I continue to make Master worry and spend so much effort on me?! I cannot keep relying on Master to push me forwards. I am determined to take the initiative on my cultivation path, so I have developed the habit of actively looking inward every day. I cultivate my thoughts each time I fail to pass a test, and use the Fa to correct myself, whether in daily life, clarifying the truth, or while interacting with fellow practitioners. No matter what, our lives have been arranged in the best possible manner by Master, and I will bravely move forward on this path!
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