[Minghui Net] I'm nearly 60 years old, and have been studying Buddhism all my life. It was Falun Dafa that showed me the right path, the real bright path for my life. I remember that when I was young, about four years old, I was ladling water from the water vat at home. I fell into the vat carelessly and saw fish swimming in the vat, very clearly (there were no fish in the vat, though.) I thought that everybody could see them, and didn't mention it to anyone. From then on, I could see many things and lives in other dimensions as well as scenes in other dimensions. Once as I climbed up a hill for wood, I encountered a big boa. I thought it was a tree stump. When I couldn't cut into it, I realized it was a boa. It wrapped itself around me, tightly, while I gripped its head. Neither of us could move. Being utterly helpless, I rolled down the hill, thinking I would still end up together with it. But when I reached the bottom of the hill, I found myself not hurt at all while the boa was cut into several sections. I thought that I killed a life again. I felt pretty remorseful and wanted to go to a temple. On the way, I met an old man, who led me to a temple. It was already midnight, however, it was very bright all around as if there were headlights illuminating the road. When I arrived at the temple, I didn't know that I should prostrate myself before the statues of Buddha, so I just watched them one by one. I could see the fashens (law body) of the Buddhas on the statues (later on, I learned they were not real Buddhas but the earthly Buddhas discussed in Zhuan Falun) coming down and asking me to take a seat. Since then, for years I would go to the temple, earnestly learning the teachings of Sakyamuni. But when I was 30 years old, I found that things began to deteriorate in the temple. Although I believed there were still real Buddhas in the temple, and it was still a place for cultivation, the so-called abbot and monks were not cultivating genuinely. I was surprised at this and decided to cultivate at home. Therefore, I invited all the Buddha statues, there, to my home. I cultivated like this for years. Beginning 10 years ago, I frequently heard and saw in my tianmu (Celestial Eye), the words "falun rotating continuously". I began to look for these words. Once taking the opportunity on a business trip, I found "falun rotating continuously" on a cloth bag of a monk on Mount Jiuhua. I thought I had found the words. However, these words kept appearing. I thought it meant I should "renounce family" and become a monk. Thus, I found several acquaintances at the Buddhism Association, to help me with the formalities of becoming a monk. After I spent a lot of money on the formalities and certificates and had the clothes of a monk, these words continued to appear. I thought in my heart, why are these words still manifesting this way, to me, after I have finished all the preparations to become a monk. I decided that since I was already in the human world, I would travel places and have a look around before I had my head shaved. One morning, I got up very early, around 4 or 5 o'clock. When I came to a riverbank, I saw a beautiful scene, occurring somewhere, between heaven and earth, with buildings and towers like the rostrum of Tiananmen, cranes etc. The scene then turned into a big ship. At the time I heard "falun rotating continuously," again. Then, I saw a shining word "Buddha" in the distance. I ran after the word "Buddha", which eventually led me to a practice site and merged into the word "Buddha" on the Falun Dafa introduction banner with the words "Falun Rotates Continuously, Buddha Fa is Boundless." They were all practicing exercises. I followed them and imitated the movements. I saw lots of scenes at the time. Especially when we were doing the 2nd set of exercises, I saw many fairies in white flying and dancing in the sky. It was so beautiful. I thought it must be the genuine exercise of the Buddha school, the one I had been searching for all these years. The next day, I went there, again, and followed their exercises. I had already decided to learn Dafa at that time. On the third day, since I had already decided to learn Dafa, I sent all the Buddha statues and scriptures back to the temple because I couldn't be of two minds. (At the time, I hadn't read nor did I know the book Zhuan Falun.) I then began my genuine cultivation of the Buddha Fa. The fourth day, after having sent back the Buddha statues, the demons came to fight with me, saying; "We've been at your home so many years and protected you so often. We have never done any harm to you or your family. Why did you send us away?" I had to fight with them. When I was going to be beaten, I suddenly thought of Teacher's name. I told them, "Do you know who I am? I am now a cultivator of Falun Gong." I began to call Teacher for help, and Teacher emerged behind me. The demons were scared and ran away. Thus, I started my cultivation practice. Around April 1999, I saw a scene: there was a storm and the water in the river was stirring violently, and I was asking others to run towards higher places because there was going to be a flood. Those who didn't get the chance to run away drowned. The 4.25 event occurred shortly afterwards. Another time, I saw myself drowning, but I had the ability to fly. So, I flew up and saved a child by my side, as well. I thought the evil people, who were searching for Dafa practitioners, would come to arrest me, so I left my home in advance. Those evil people searched for me everywhere, including all the temples (they knew that I was quite familiar with the temples nearby.) I saw all this in my Tianmu. But I thought in such a big storm, I should not have run away. There would be bigger tribulations for us to face. Why should I shift the trouble to others? Therefore, I came back. They tried to force me to tell them the names of the practitioners in our district. I refused, telling them that "I didn't do anything wrong. I don't care how you treat me. I want to be a good person and know nothing else. Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you." The practitioners in our district were not exposed to these type of evil people, and most of them are doing things to validate Dafa now. Later, I saw many things dropping down from the heaven. I thought in my heart that a test was coming, again. Just as I expected, there occurred a series of events including the self-immolation event. Teacher said, "During the past year, I was silent for various reasons. When I wasn't speaking to you, I saw that students were doing really well. This says that you can do well when I'm not around. It's remarkable! You've not only handled yourselves as cultivators, but have also firmly safeguarded Dafa---you are truly magnificent!" (Speech by Master Li Hongzhi at the Western US Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference of Falun Dafa) In the past, I didn't truly understand the meaning of what Teacher said; "truly magnificent," Later, I saw my fellow practitioners deal with the evil people, taking charge of the whole locality. I do admire them in my heart. I feel many practitioners have cultivated to pretty high levels. Especially in this particular time period, I saw many practitioners break through levels rapidly. Besides, we often see karma in other dimensions dropping down, and I know another test is coming. If the karma keeps dropping down and down, I know I have passed a test well. The situation is indeed like this. I also realized that the tribulation Dafa is enduring, and the suffering each disciple is enduring has much to do with us practitioners. In a detention period, I saw that in another dimension, a fellow practitioner in my cell had handed in Dafa books in canvas bags to a devil . Later she kneeled in front of Teacher, pleading for another chance. Teacher looked very sad and serious, without saying anything. One of her legs was hurt for that reason. I confirmed with her and she told me that she did hand in the books at the beginning of the tribulation out of fear. I said, "How could you do such a thing? We are the Gods in the human world that safeguard Dafa." She had already realized her fault and did pretty well later. I also saw a fellow practitioner who burned materials from Minghui Net, had one of their legs in hell. I saw some time ago, the Fa ship that offers salvation to us, moving slowly forward along the bank, waiting for practitioners on board. But with even a little bit of attachments, practitioners couldn't get on board. Even though they did get on, they would drop down again. It is just like what Teacher said, "Cultivating until no attachments are left" (Draft translation subjected to further improvement, Hong Yin, Chinese version). Recently, however, I saw in a vision that "the ship" was covered with a layer of something that looked like reeds. Also, the ship has sailed quite a certain distance offshore at a very fast speed. Disciples can get on board if they would like to, but if they do not want to, nothing could be done to get them on board. Nevertheless, many disciples have been on board. Recently, some practitioners have "enlightened" along a wrong path. In other dimensions, we saw those people and some messy stuff dropping down and reflected in this world. But until now, the true and the false coexist. So I can't speak about all that I have enlightened to. I have to cultivate my speech as well. If what you say does not conform to Dafa, you're accruing karma, or damaging Dafa. It's so simple. I also realized that Teacher is very strict with us, hoping we make the best of everything, follow the principles of Dafa 100 per cent, without any omission of fame, personal interest and emotion; no selfishness at all. With these in mind, we have to try our best at our own level. Always look within and cultivate ourselves bit by bit whenever there's anything wrong with us. If we look outward in conflicts, we can never upgrade. Of course, my experience and my feeling in my heart are far from these. I just want to say to those who are still hesitating but with predestined relationship, that, our Dafa is genuinely good, and our Teacher is genuinely benevolent. Don't eternally regret the lost opportunity because of your attachments at this time. Don't lose your eternal life because of your wrong thoughts at this time. Reorganized according to the verbal narration. April 25, 2001

Category: Beginning Cultivation