(Minghui.org) This year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of Falun Dafa’s main book, Zhuan Falun. This precious book has accompanied me on my 29-year-long cultivation journey, and guided me out of the communist maze and onto a bright path home. I’d like to tell you about my experiences and how I benefited from reading Zhuan Falun.
Searching for the True Meaning of Life
I was born in the 1960s. Influenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), my worldview, values, and outlook on life were confused and uncertain. My mother believed in the Dao. She told us stories about gods and immortals and shared her own experiences with us when I was a child. Thus, I wasn’t completely convinced by the atheism, theory of evolution, and the CCP’s materialism that I was taught in school. However, when the CCP labeled anything spiritual superstition and launched a major criticism, my belief in the unseen, gods and immortals faded, and I stopped believing in them. I was confused: I didn’t know why I was alive, or what the meaning of life was.
After I graduated from college and began working, the people in leadership positions were from the generation who lived through the Cultural Revolution. They schemed against each other—they fought openly and covertly. They formed cliques, attacked, and verbally abused each other in the office. I was very distressed by my work environment. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to be part of it. I was isolated because I didn’t join or form any cliques. I was passed over when awards were handed out—including being selected as an outstanding employee or getting a raise. I wondered what was the right thing to do.
In 1990, my workplace sent me to a summer training at a university in Sichuan Province. I visited the local tourist attractions, such as Mount Emei, Mount Qingcheng, and Le Mountain, and I bought some Buddhist and Taoist scriptures and storybooks. I agreed with their viewpoints and felt it was right to take a detached view of fame and fortune, and that it was not good to fight with others. I tried my best to follow these values. However, I did not know how to cultivate myself. I really wanted to find a master to guide my cultivation.
Waking from a Dream
A friend told me about Falun Dafa in 1996 and took me to a residential compound where a few dozen people were waiting to practice the exercises. Most of them were retired CCP members and their families. Because I was 36 years old, the elderly men and women were very happy to see me. I heard one say, “Finally, a young person came.”
The assistant was a lady in her 70s. After we did the exercises, I asked her, “When will you hold a class? I want to attend it.”
She replied, “We aren’t holding any classes right now. However, I do have a set of recorded videos of Master Li’s lectures in Guangzhou that you can borrow.”
I was caught off guard. I attended several qigong classes, all of which charged a fee. How can one get something for free? It seemed that this practice was different from others. It wasn’t about spreading the practice to make money, but to truly help people.
With immense excitement, I received the videotapes and took them home—I felt they were a sacred treasure. Following the assistant’s instructions, I watched one lecture a day. Each one touched my heart and answered my many questions. Master not only pointed out the erroneous thinking I had when I practiced other qigong, but also explained numerous principles at various levels. When I learned that the characteristics of this universe are Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, my heart instantly felt at peace. Although I lived in the maze, I had wanted to do things this way but wasn’t sure if it was right. Once I knew Falun Dafa’s principles were right, I began following them. Falun Dafa’s principles—Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are the sole standards for judging good and bad, and of course I wanted to be a good person.
When I listened to Lecture Six, my body began to change. My stomach rumbled, and the constipation I had for nearly 10 years after childbirth was gone. I no longer had to sit for half an hour or longer in the bathroom. I no longer bled when I had bowel movements, and my hemorrhoids disappeared.
I had severe uterine fibroids. Every year during my physical exams, I had to get an ultrasound, which showed they were growing. Not only were my periods irregular, but I also bled almost every day. The doctors always recommended surgery. After I started practicing Dafa, the bleeding quickly stopped, and my periods became regular. During my annual employee medical checkup, the doctors no longer ordered an ultrasound. I knew my uterine fibroids were gone. Fibroids that could only be treated with surgery disappeared in such a short time after I started practicing. Who wouldn’t think Falun Dafa was miraculous?
Dafa Is the Key to Dispelling Atheism
Soon after I began practicing, some practitioners brought copies of Zhuan Falun to the practice site. I also got a copy and I read it. This great Dafa appears to be expressed in simple language, but the things it explains are extremely profound and unparalleled. It answered many questions that I had been pondering for years, and addressed many inexplicable phenomena in life. I was convinced what Master taught was the high-level Buddha Fa that I had been searching for.
During my university years, I had doubts about Darwin’s theory of evolution, and even debated the theory with classmates and friends, saying it’s impossible that after a group of life forms evolved, that other life forms stopped evolving. I felt there was no basis for theory of evolution, but I didn’t have any scientific evidence to prove it. However, Zhuan Falun, explains it clearly. When Master talked about prehistoric cultures, he cited many examples of prehistoric civilizations discovered by archaeologists, which showed the ignorance and absurdity of Darwin’s theory of evolution. This made me realize more clearly that life comes from the Creator, it was created by God, as opposed to evolving from some ape-man.
Master also talked about the Tangshan Earthquake, that a newspaper conducted a social survey of those who were rescued. From this, I realized that life is not just about the physical body, but also about the soul, and that the soul is the foundation of life. The physical body is merely a vessel in this material space. When the physical body dies, the soul continues to exist in another dimension, and waits for the next incarnation. If a person cultivates himself well in this world and can transcend the Three Realms and escape reincarnation, then that life attains immortality.
The CCP’s materialism leads people to believe in the tangible, physical world. It teaches that the physical body is the entirety of life. It promotes instant gratification, the pursuit of fame, fortune, and passion, and tells us that death is the end of everything. It completely abandons the conscience and soul that connects humanity with the universe and the divine, and it even labels the pursuit of a spiritual realm as idealism and superstition, subjecting it to vehement criticism. Therefore, those who believe the CCP’s lies and consider themselves staunch atheists have truly stifled their own souls—they’ve bound their lives to their bodies. When the body dies, they truly find an end to everything—a terrifying form of human destruction.
The most basic quality a person can possess is integrity—keeping one’s word and not lying or deceiving others. The CCP destroys people by undermining their integrity. It teaches people to lie, forces them to lie, and punishes those who don’t. It also links lying to self-interest. Over time, people become so focused on gaining benefits that they disregard the truth—in doing so they are eroding their trustworthiness, losing their humanity, and developing a habit of lying. Because they have no integrity, they don’t trust anyone. Thus, even if the Creator came, they wouldn’t believe him—this is how the CCP achieves its goal of destroying people.
After reading Zhuan Falun, I realized that Dafa is the key to dispelling atheism.
Zhuan Falun is the main teaching of Falun Dafa. It contains many levels of the Fa, and is a microcosm of the universe. It contains countless levels of the universe as well as the layers upon layers of Buddha, Daos and gods within those levels. My understanding is that when a practitioner’s xinxing has met the requirements for a specific level, his or her body will undergo corresponding changes consistent with that level, and then Master’s Fashen will eliminate their karma and complete the transformation of gong. All these changes can be experienced by practitioners as they cultivate.
How can Falun Dafa practitioners maintain their unshakable belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance? It’s because they’ve genuinely experienced the extraordinary nature of Dafa.
Unwavering Faith in Dafa
After the CCP began to persecute Dafa, because I sought to safeguard and validate Dafa, I was harassed, detained and thrown into a forced labor camp. In the oppressive atmosphere of this Red Terror, I stumbled and took detours. But I didn’t back down due to doubts about Dafa. It was due to fear of the CCP’s cruelty and inhumane torture that I lost my righteous thoughts. I realized that “fear” became the greatest obstacle on my cultivation path, and became the greatest underlying risk in my upholding Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
After much painful reflection and a profound, heart-wrenching process of letting go of attachments, I realized that fear is a powerful force that distorts human thinking. Fear is a negative force that arises from not understanding the meaning of life—that we are here for the Fa and to return to our true self and true home. Master has explained this clearly. As I understood it: if a practitioner truly believes in Master and Dafa, why are they afraid to put it into practice? What is there to fear about death? Even if the CCP takes my life, can it take my faith? No. Prioritizing and adhering to one’s faith in Master and Dafa is the key. If a practitioner is not afraid of death, what more can you do to him? This is the fundamental reason why the CCP can’t defeat a practitioner’s belief in Dafa.
Why do CCP officials in various systems and at various levels follow the former CCP leader Jiang Zemin’s directive to persecute Dafa? Why do so many Chinese believe the CCP’s propaganda? It is because these people are terrified of the CCP, or have learned to fear it from the CCP’s past political movements. To protect themselves, they actively align themselves with the CCP. They do whatever the CCP tells them to do—they can no longer distinguish between right and wrong or good and evil for themselves; they blindly obey and endorse the CCP.
I was dismissed from my job and my pension was withheld. The CCP used threats such as barring my grandson from taking his exams for higher education, civil service positions, or joining the military. However, when I held myself to the standards of the Fa and eliminated my attachments to fame, self-interest, sentimentality, and fear of losing all self-interest, the outcome wasn’t what I feared, but rather it turned out that nothing bad happened. Of course, behind all this was Master protecting me as well as the protection of many righteous gods.
When I let go of my selfishness and only thought of others, I could face the police officers calmly and clarify the facts to them. Our conversation went well. When I went to the police station to deliver the letter with the sole intention of doing what was best for the police, they warmly welcomed me. Falun Dafa has such great power and can truly change one’s heart.
During the CCP’s 26 years of brutal persecution, practitioners used non-violent and peaceful means to expose the CCP’s evil goal to destroy humanity. In mainland China, which is controlled by the CCP, Dafa has raised an unyielding banner for humanity to return to its true nature and to God. This demonstrates that there’s nothing wrong with practicing faith—and that faith is invincible and eternal.
The CCP was simply put into place to play the clown. When practitioners become mature in their cultivation, the CCP will collapse. The people who continue to be deceived and confused by the CCP will go down with it if they don’t wake up to the truth. Sentient beings who have learned the truth will cast away the CCP, turn to the divine, and together welcome the wonderful moment when the world is harmonious and all beings will celebrate.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
