Shared by a Chinese Practitioner from Australia at the 2002 Melbourne Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference

Fellow practitioners and distinguished guests,

Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I obtained the Fa in October 1998, in China. Before long, the head of the Chinese regime and his followers began an evil persecution of Falun Dafa. While I once felt confused facing these vicious lies, my confusion collapsed at the first blow when I considered the physical and mental changes I had experienced after obtaining the Fa. Therefore, the only choice for me was to steadfastly cultivate Falun Dafa.

About twenty years ago, a friend of mine had copied down the words of an inscription found beside a sitting statue of Buddha Maitreya. It read, "Endure what the world can not endure and laugh at the laughable people of the world." I was envious of the spiritual realm that the inscription reflected. This drove me to extensively search the classics of philosophy for answers, but it took me nowhere. With the passing of time, I had not taken a step closer toward that realm but actually deviated from it further and further in the material world. Later on, I regarded that spiritual realm as a kind of mirage that was within sight, yet beyond reach. It was only one day after I finishing reading Zhuan Falun that I realized this was the only book that could take me to that higher realm. How lucky I was because my dream had finally come true!

At the beginning of my cultivation, I always stayed at home and studied alone, seldom going out to spread and validate the Fa. I thought that since I had been gifted with such an aptitude for comprehension, it would make no difference whether I chose to study alone. From reading some of the articles by fellow practitioners, published on the web site, and through sharing experiences with other practitioners, it often felt like they were talking at too high a level, some even beyond my understanding, so my attitude was a bit skeptical. Although I enjoyed reading the book, and had read it many times, each time I finished reading the book I felt as though I had gained very little. Though I had stepped forward to validate the Fa and had undergone grueling tests while in China, in reflecting on that time, I realized that I had been harboring too many human notions back then. With everyday people's "loyalty" and "Yi" (loyalty to friendship, devotion, sense of justice) I had always thought to speak fairly for our Master and Falun Dafa, but had not really understood the Fa from within the Fa, nor stepped forward to validate the Fa.

When I first came to Australia, I found the situation to be very different from that in China. Because I could not yet let go of my attachment to human sentimentality, in the beginning, I encountered one tribulation after another. I had always worried that if I took part in too many activities that it might bring trouble to my family in China. This mentality of fear prevented me from immersing myself into Fa-rectification, until one day when a practitioner said to me, "Let go of the attachment. Don't think about anything; just do whatever you should do." I knew that it had been Master, who had spoken through that person to give me this hint, so I decided to let go of my attachment. But then how was I to let go of it? Letting go of any attachment is not something one can simply force oneself to do. One must truly understand the Fa principles. Only when one is able to replace the human principles with the Fa principles can one really let go of the attachment. Falun Dafa can clear up confusion. Through Fa study and experience sharing, I gradually realized that because human beings are in a maze, they can only see the benefits that appear right under their noses. As Master put it [in "Dafa Clears Up Confusion," a poem from "Hong Yin" - provisional translation subject to further improvement],

"All things throughout ages, like fleeting smoke and passing clouds
Bewilder the ordinary human heart;
The reason for the genesis of the vast heaven and earth
Baffles all sentient beings' wisdom."

Everything in the universe is changing and unpredictable; only Falun Dafa will remain unchanged. Falun Dafa has harmonized all the most beautiful things in the universe. So only by letting oneself melt into Falun Dafa can one truly bring eternal happiness to oneself and one's family. I still remember letting go of this mentality of fear after becoming suddenly enlightened to the issue at work. In that twinkling of an eye, Master unfolded the inner meaning of "heaven" that he taught about in the "Lecture at the First Conference in North America," which I happened to have just read that very morning. Though it disappeared very quickly, the wonderful feeling I had experienced was beyond description, and tears were running down my face before I realized it. Since then, my heart has become very peaceful and the various forms of interference from my family could no longer move my heart. In addition, I began to show more concern for them, writing to them constantly and reversing my previous practice of not discussing sensitive issues with them. I resolved to use the Fa principles in trying to change their minds. Now, the situation has been fundamentally changed and the tribulations have disappeared. After I let go of the attachment of fear, I decided to step forward and do more for Falun Dafa. At that juncture, my boss suddenly informed me that I was to work on the afternoon shift. In this way, I could go out to spread the Fa every morning. I knew all this had been arranged by Master. As a result, I could go to Fitzroy Gardens [a garden park in Melbourne] at least three times a week. Usually, I would spend more than two hours on the train, and I used that time to read "Essentials for Further Advancement." I had never imagined that reading the book on the train would produce such great results, but it was as if every sentence in the book displayed a new meaning to me. The countless Buddhas, Taos and Gods in the book all gave me hints. I found that during that period of time I improved rapidly in the Fa. It made me realize why Master said, "You must be a Dafa disciple doing Dafa work, because your Consummation is of primary importance. Of course, your being responsible to Dafa and saving sentient beings is part of your Consummation." ["Lecture on the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Conference"]

Because we are in the Fa-rectification period and Master is rectifying the Fa in the universe with unprecedented speed, we need to plunge ourselves into the Fa-rectification in order to keep up with Master's Fa-rectification process and elevate our cultivation state with the utmost speed. From this I learned that the reason why I had taken such slow and leisurely steps in the past is because my attachments were too strong, which prevented me from really understanding the meaning of a Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period. I indulged myself in a circle of everyday people, would only require myself to be a good person among everyday people, and could not regard myself as a Dafa practitioner; so I often made mistakes. Since Dafa is supernormal, and not a theory of everyday people, how much one can gain from the Fa does not depend on one's comprehension ability or level of education. If one only reads the books, but does not act accordingly and does not upgrade one's xinxing [mind or heart nature; moral], it will remain impossible to gain anything. Only when one's xinxing has reached a certain level can the Buddhas, Taos and Gods reveal the Fa principles at that level. The Fa principles at higher levels cannot be expressed with human words, so they cannot be shown to one's human side. However, when we do Dafa work, as long as we do not do it with a strong attachment, and always maintain the mentality of benevolence, kindness and peacefulness, we can do things well. Actually, this is the power of Falun Dafa and it is the Master who has helped us in everything we do. Since then, I have cherished every opportunity for group activity of spreading and validating the Fa because Master has arranged each opportunity and not every opportunity will reoccur. Master has arranged the very best cultivation environment for us.

Master said in the very beginning of Zhuan Falun, [Lecture One, "Genuinely Guiding People Toward High Levels"] "...the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments." Since we have chosen the path of cultivation, we must cultivate along this great path. At the beginning of my cultivation, I did not know how to discover my attachments, or how to get rid of them, because I had so many of them. I began with being a good person and maintaining virtue. In the past, people all thought I was a good person, but I knew that I had often used very bad thoughts to judge others. That is to say, my actions on the surface did not match what was in my inner heart, so I had to first get rid of those bad thoughts and purify my inner heart. The most effective way to reach the goal is to study the Fa. When one knows what is good, then one will use it to replace those thoughts that are not so good and resolutely eliminate the bad thoughts whenever they reappear. After gaining such strong determination, I found that I could achieve this. Take for instance, in group Hongfa [spreading Falun Dafa] activities, whenever some strangers appeared among us, my "vigilance" would instantly become very high. Many bad thoughts, such as whether they might be secret agents, whether they came here with a special purpose or whether they would damage Falun Dafa, appeared in my mind. It seemed as if I was being responsible for the Fa with a high consciousness, but actually, these thoughts had already played a damaging role. Because whenever we fear, the evil forces will make use of the attachment and create trouble for us. Master says in his article "Durability" [from "Essentials for Further Advancement"], "In fact, most interference for Dafa comes internally, from practitioners themselves. External factors can only affect a few individuals and cannot alter the Fa." If we can always maintain a pure heart and a benevolent mentality, even if the evil people want to sabotage our efforts, they will find they cannot do it. On the contrary, this pure energy field might help those people to gain the Fa. Master has said in Zhuan Falun [Lecture Six, "Demonic Interference in Cultivation"], "You do not even have to use your mind to do this. This field is one of pure harmony, compassion, and right faith. Therefore, people are unlikely to think of bad things or commit bad deeds. It can have this effect." When your mind becomes active and complicated it means that the human concepts and attachments are still functioning. On the other hand, the Great Way makes things simpler rather than more complex. In saving us, whenever Master finds that we want to cultivate, he will begin to purify our bodies and bring us to a high level. The only thing we need to do is let go of our attachments and upgrade our xinxing. Master has said in the article "Dafa Is All-Encompassing" [from "Essentials for Further Advancement"], "Everything you, a cultivator, encounter is related to your cultivation and Consummation, or else those things absolutely would not exist." Therefore, when we encounter something we must try our best to enlighten to it, and look inside to determine the attachment and get rid of it. We should not miss such opportunities that are meant for our use in raising our levels. Actually, Master has already told us the status and the criteria of the high level. In several poems in "Hong Yin," Master has taught us about the levels and realms. Take, for example, what Master says in his poem, "Leaping out of the Three Realms" [provisional translation subject to further improvement]

"Not caring about human pains and joys
A cultivator
Not being attached to worldly gains and losses
An Arhat."

My understanding is that one thought can separate the human and the god: Put down the attachments to life and death, and you are already a god. If you fail to do so, then you can only be a human. Regarding cultivation, I always think of the "truly foolish person" that Master mentioned in Lecture 9 of Zhuan Falun. This "truly foolish person" doesn't have a complicated mind, so he will not protect his interest. Therefore, he will not create karma and not lose virtue, but will instead, accumulate virtue. Actually, these are the best references to use in our cultivation. If we can always measure ourselves with these references, we will not get lost in everyday people's material matters and will not go astray. Only when we walk out of the human shell can we find the correct path to cultivate toward higher levels.

Some miracles have occurred in my life since I first began my cultivation. Due to limited time, I will simply cite one example here. I live together with my brother's family. They needed to go back to China for three months at the end of last year. During the three months they were gone, I wanted to rent a smaller house to save myself some money. But if I did that, there would be the problem of having to rent a larger one again when they returned. That was very troublesome and I was a little bit worried. Later on, I realized that Master was taking care of the matter, so I did not worry about it at all and instead put all my efforts into Falun Dafa activities. In the end, everything was arranged exactly as I had hoped. I just "happened" to find a cheaper place to stay and "happened" to be able to rent the house I wanted for the six months prior to my brother's return. This whole arrangement involved more than a dozen people and the timeframes were changed several times in the process, but the final result was to everyone's satisfaction and the timing was simply perfect. Was there such a guiding force that caused all things to come together perfectly? No human power could have controlled it. As Master has said in the article "Dafa Is All-Encompassing," "But the Fa is all powerful, and with everything It is perfectly all-encompassing. And after all, cultivators have Master looking after them." And from the same article, "A stable job also prevents a cultivator from being held up, due to problems of food and shelter or survival, in his cultivation, in his spreading the Fa without worries, or in his clarifying the truth and saving the world's people." From this issue, I enlightened to the following. As long as we can devote all our energy to the Fa and to cultivation, let go of all human thoughts and attachments, walk the path arranged by Master and steadfastly believe in Falun Dafa and Master, then the miracles and wonders of Dafa will manifest; because Dafa is all-encompassing. Anything we are doing now is actually a process of repositioning ourselves. If we can replace our human principles with the Fa principles, then we can reposition ourselves in a very high realm, and the result will certainly be different. As Master has said [in Zhuan Falun, Lecture Four, "Upgrading Xinxing"], "...good or evil comes from a person's spontaneous thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences." To a cultivator, nothing is bad; everything is good. This instantaneous thought is very important. Take the group exercise, for example. When we practice the five sets of exercises outdoors we will often face sunny weather. It is well known that the sunlight in Australia affords a very high exposure to ultraviolet rays, which is harmful to human skin. When I went on an outing, shortly after arriving in Australia, I got a sunburn. However, at the practice site, should we practice the exercises in direct sunlight, or protect ourselves in the shade? If you stop to think for a moment about what might happen to you, then with regard to this specific issue, you would have already positioned yourself among the everyday people. If, at the time, you can remember that you are a practitioner who came to this world to spread and validate the Fa, then having some suffering will be a good thing because "Won't you have to suffer more to give up this attachment?" [From Zhuan Falun, Lecture Six, "Your Mind Must be Right".] Therefore, with this instantaneous thought, I had already positioned myself in a higher realm. As a result, my skin did not react or feel uncomfortable after practicing in the intense sunlight. Actually, the same principle applies to other things we do. My personal understanding is that righteous thoughts originate from the Fa principles and from the firm belief in Falun Dafa. If you want to replace the human principles with the Fa principles then you have to constantly study the Fa more.

Having gone through a period of cultivation during which I experienced real happiness, lightness and being at ease, I have found that what everyday people need is freedom and peace in their inner hearts. Therefore, to let go of all my attachments is the foremost wish of my cultivation, and returning to my original self and thereby assimilating to the characteristic of the universe, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," is the purpose of my life.