(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, I was amazed and shocked by the amount of progress a new practitioner made in a short period of time, especially in her understanding of the Fa. She had only attained the Fa two months ago. I am sharing this experience in the hopes that it will help other practitioners, as well.
We were friends in our childhood. However, we hadn't seen each other for many years after we got busy with our lives and work. Once I ran into her by chance and saw that she was feeling lost and empty. She was talking about her illness and how she had retired. She complained and worried about her income and other aspects of her life. Before we parted, she said, "I really don't know what to believe in!"
As soon as she said that, I realized it was probably time for her to attain the Fa. I simply explained to her how Falun Gong was framed and persecuted and gave her a CD about Falun Gong. "Nothing is accidental", a strong thought emerged in my mind, "It's time for her to attain the Fa and Teacher is telling me that."
Two days later, I brought the book Zhuan Falun and the exercise music CD to her home. Surprisingly, she brought up the issue of the persecution and said, "It was all faked, lies, and deception. How can the government do something so vicious and shameless? It's horrible." She mentioned that she wanted to do the exercises. I immediately gave her the book and the music CD. She gladly took them. I reminded her before I left, "As long as you sincerely and diligently study the Fa and do the exercises, everything will change, including your problems."
A few days later, she called me and said he had a lot of questions for me. We met on the weekend and her changes surprised me. In just one week, her energy and appearance had greatly improved. She was also a lot more calm and peaceful. She said, "I constantly studied the Fa and did the exercises everyday, and I felt great, like I was changing every day." She then took out a sheet of paper with many questions on it. She said, "These questions were meant for you to answer. But you came late. I couldn't wait and I was studying the Fa. Now all the questions have been answered in this book. This book is magical. It's no ordinary book!"
I was amazed every time I saw her. Her heart was so steadfast and her improvement was so fast. She said, "When I walked into the Fa and really tried to study it, I found that everything had changed. Teacher's Dafa resolved the doubts I had for many years. I have found the purpose of life. The Fa of the universe, Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, is my ultimate purpose in life. I know I have attained the Fa late and have not had many tribulations like the other veteran practitioners. All I can do is practice diligently and not think about anything else. I will practice steadfastly until the end and let this firm heart of mine repay Teacher's grace. I will study and do the exercises everyday. I do the five exercises four times a day and use the rest of my time to study the Fa. I am starting to feel that I am so lucky to attain this treasure. Words can't express my excitement and happiness. Later on as I studied and exercised more, I gradually enlightened to the fact that this book is so much more than a treasure. It's like what Teacher said, it is a stairway to heaven."
Among my several friends who have attained the Fa recently, she is the most diligent. I went to her house every week. I brought her Teacher's other lectures on separate occasions to help her improve and understand the Fa rectification progress. Every time we met, I saw a brand new person. It really shocked how quickly she improved. The changes in her body and mind were so dramatic that it was almost like she was reborn.
One time she told me with excitement, "It's unbelievable. My chronic diseases (abnormal bone growth, dysfunctional nerves, and migraines) have all disappeared. I always thought it was unreal when my friends used to talk about how magical Dafa was. Now it's happened to me and it's real. It is even more unbelievable how my mind and views have changed. Bad habits, bad thoughts, greed, and selfishness are gradually going away. The changes in my mind made me wonder if that was really me. I remember when I had just started the practice, one day a very bad thought occupied my head and I couldn't stop crying. Grievance, pain, hatred, and complaints got to me and I couldn't stop having bad ideas and thoughts. A lazy thought emerged, "Wouldn't I lose too much if I practice?" I can't express how painful it was; it was like a stab in my heart that almost made me collapse. For that whole day, I couldn't study and exercise. I remember I was thinking about how come I never thought like this before I attained the Fa. Is this the real practice? By midnight, there was a voice telling me, "Advance to pass the test of life and death." I seemed to realize something and told myself, "I want to study the Fa and I want to do the exercises." I got up and started the sitting meditation. Twenty minutes later, I felt all the grievance, pain, hatred, and complaints weaken and disappear. Tears streamed down my face and I could tell that it was tears of gratitude coming out of my heart for our great Teacher. A strong, unbreakable thought coming from my heart wanted to change myself to become a good person and be a genuine practitioner. I cried twice, the first one was bad in nature and the other was good, which I knew was very precious and sacred, even though I had only practiced for a very short time. When I came across the tribulation and interference, and started to slow down and did not study the Fa and exercise, I felt empty and helpless. When I realized that and started to read the Fa and play the exercise music, the empty and helpless feelings disappeared. Put it simply, I went back to where I belonged.
Like Teacher said in Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York,
"Although the old forces have been controlling certain things, they haven't been able to block it, and a lot of people have still come to learn it. Why is that? Because this Fa can truly guide people's cultivation, it can truly help people improve, and can truly change the state of a being."
"And as time went by, when you couldn't take it anymore after Master had said a lot of those things, you would become resentful and think, "Why should I do that?" But when you've realized things from the Fa's principles and have understood the effect that doing that might have on your existence, only then have you truly improved, and only then are you truly able to do it. No external restriction comes out of your own will or out of true improvement on your part."
When I saw the dramatic change in the new practitioner who had just attained the Fa for only two months, I couldn't stop crying. I didn't know what to say to express how grateful I was to our great Teacher that another life was being saved.
Seeing the changes in a new, diligent practitioner made me see my own shortcomings, as well as how fast Teacher is pushing the Fa-rectification forward. We should all improve diligently and complete the great historic mission that Teacher has given us, as well as our grand prehistoric pledges. We practitioners should truly be responsible for the Fa, the sentient beings, ourselves, and all sentient beings in the cosmos.
