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Age Is Not an Issue in Doing the Three Things Well

Oct. 26, 2008 |   By a practitioner in Shandong Province

(Clearwisdom.net)

Today a fellow practitioner gave me a short article that was written on October 13. It said:

"I am a practitioner in Shandong Province, and I am 79 years old. Before I began practicing Falun Gong, I had emphysema, bronchitis, and hypertension. After I started practicing Falun Gong, they all went away. I thank Teacher and Dafa, and I want to let everyone know that Falun Gong is great.

"In order to let more people know that 'Falun Gong is good,' that 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,' and also that one needs to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to gain good fortune, I go out to tell people the facts about Falun Gong and urge them to quit the CCP and its associated organizations essentially every day, unless it rains.

"I find that using currency to disseminate information about Dafa is very convenient. My kids and I live together. Our monthly expenses are a little over 2,000 yuan. I like to convert the hundred-dollar bills into smaller denominations. I write short phrases about Dafa on every bill that I get, even those worth ten or twenty cents. It is very effective. Some people will read aloud 'Falun Dafa is good' as soon as they get the bill. Every time I go out, I say to Teacher: 'Please support me. Bless whoever gets a bill with writing on it. They will have a good future knowing the truth about Dafa.'

"What I want to say to other elderly practitioners is: Don't just spend your bills. You should write the truth about Dafa on them. It is very convenient, and you won't have to use other Dafa materials. Besides, the people that get them will not toss them away, either.

"Heshi."

After I finished reading the short article, the practitioner told me about an elderly practitioner that showed her righteous thoughts and behavior:

One time, she sprained her ankle as she was walking around telling people the facts about Falun Gong. She thought, "It is all right. No one can interfere with my saving sentient beings." She flexed her ankle and found that she could still walk, so she kept on. Fellow practitioners saw that her ankle was swollen and had turned purple, but it recovered completely in less than a week, and she never stopped telling people the facts during that time.

One day she went to get a pair of prescription glasses. The optician said, "No light is getting into your eyes. Can you still see?" She said, "Yes, I can." Later she enlightened that she should be blind since no light was getting into her eyes. "Well, my life has been extended for the purpose of cultivation." From then on she was even more demanding of herself. In the past, for their safety, elderly practitioners stayed home and did not go out to tell people the facts about Falun Dafa when it rained. Now she thought, "All I need is an umbrella. Isn't it a lack of diligence if I stay home when it rains?" She often reminded herself, "Cultivation is a serious matter. You will go backwards if you are not diligent." In the past, she cried and worried a lot due to her sentimentality towards her kids. She wished she could go into the mountains and cultivate by herself. Later she enlightened and said to herself, "This kind of thought is not worthy of the Fa that Teacher has taught us. Sentimentality that one cannot let go of is a mountain blocking one's path forward." Now not only has she let go of her sentimentality, she also helps other practitioners to do so.

Fellow practitioners said that she took studying the Fa very seriously. Indeed, this increased her faith in Teacher and Dafa and improved her ability to do the three things well with righteous thoughts and actions.

She said that she wanted to tell other elderly practitioners: "Age is not an issue in doing the three things well." She hopes that all elderly practitioners can keep firmly in mind the Fa that Teacher taught regarding elderly practitioners:

"Many of you have the heart to truly attain the Tao, which, of course, is the purpose of cultivation practice. The ultimate goal of cultivation practice is to attain the Tao and complete cultivation. Yet some people have limited time left in their lives. Their years for living are numbered and may not be enough for cultivation. Our Falun Dafa can solve this problem and shorten the course of practice. Meanwhile, it is also a cultivation practice of mind and body. When you continually practice cultivation, you will constantly prolong your life. With consistent practice, your life will be constantly prolonged. Those elderly people with good inborn quality will have sufficient time for practice. There is a criterion, however, that the life prolonged beyond your predestined time to live is completely reserved for your practice. If your mind goes wrong a little bit, your life will be in danger because your lifetime should have long been over." ("Characteristics of Falun Dafa," Lecture 1, Zhuan Falun)

The diligence of this elderly practitioner deeply moved and encouraged me.