(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings Master, hello fellow practitioners!
My husband and I became practitioners a year and a half ago. In our city, Saint-Malo, we are the only practitioners.
Obtaining the Fa
In July 2006, we got married in China and moved to Saint-Malo, France. After that, I often read the Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television websites. From there I learned a great deal about Falun Gong. Often times, I was moved to tears by the reports. I also forwarded the articles to my family members in China. My husband was concerned and asked me about the reports. I told him, "Look at what happened in China. I had no idea about these things!" I also told him that I had always wanted to become a cultivator, but when I lived in China, I did not know that Falun Gong was a cultivation practice.
Motivated by my new findings, my husband and I went to Falundafa.org and downloaded the exercise instruction video and Dafa books. We both felt that Falun Dafa was what we had been waiting for all our lives. Right after I began to practice and read the books, Master's law body made adjustments to my health. At first I felt sleepy, but could still hear Master speaking to me. In a dream, I saw my husband and I as two young kids. We came to earth from a giant planet via a "heavenly ladder." We saw the ladder and thought it would be fun to climb down, but after we did so, the ladder was taken up and we were left here. Later, we asked many people for the ladder. My heavenly parents sent some seagulls to look for me on earth. I then told my husband, "Last time, we both came down through a 'heavenly ladder' and could not find our way home. Now, we have finally found the ladder again. We better abandon our attachments and climb back up. I know now that curiosity and playing for fun are also attachments."
Finding our Home at a Practice Site
After we became practitioners, we began to study the Fa and do the exercises at home. Gradually, we learned to improve our xinxing and relinquish attachments such as the pursuit for fame and material benefit, and attachments to friends and family, selfishness, thought karma, etc. We learned to live our lives according to the principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. In our spare time, we often told our friends and family about the goodness of Falun Gong through the Internet. But our effort was far from good enough. At the end of last year, my husband found a practice site at Parc des Buttes Chaumont in Paris, and without delay, we went there. During our visit, my eyes were filled with tears. I felt at home. Fellow practitioners corrected our exercise movements and gave me a copy of Essentials for Further Advancement. They also gave me Master's portrait, which includes the verses for sending forth righteous thoughts. After our visit, we began to send forth righteous thoughts and read articles on Clearwisdom.net on a regular basis.
We Became Dafa Disciples of the Fa-rectification Period
When Divine Performing Arts came to Paris, I was originally reluctant to attend the show due to my attachment to saving money and other wrong thoughts. But after we attended the show, I was so moved that I could not help sobbing during the show. After we got home, we printed out all of Master's lectures and began to read with great vigor. For one month, we devoted all our time to the practice, reading Dafa books and the lectures. I completed reading the lectures, and came to realize the historical mission for Dafa disciples of the Fa-rectification Era.
With Master's compassionate care, we soon got to meet with some very diligent practitioners in Paris. We also got involved in more group activities and projects. In order to validate Dafa, we sent forth righteous thoughts at the Chinese Embassy in Paris and in front of the Eutelesat Headquarters. We also participated in different activities promoting Falun Gong. We distributed newspapers to Chinese visitors at Chinese restaurants, shopping centers, Chinese shops and tourist attractions. We also talked to people and encouraged them to sever their affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We went to high-end French shops to distribute French language Epoch Times newspapers. We even participated in some performances and exercise demonstrations.
Cultivate the Heart; Relinquish Attachments; Hurry Up and Save People
During these activities, I discovered many hidden attachments such as showing off, selfishness, zealotry, competitiveness, love of food, pride, lack of righteous thoughts, enjoying comfort, fear, reliance on others, being attached to my husband, jealousy, lust and many old notions. These bad thoughts just kept rushing out. When I was cultivating myself and getting rid of attachments, I knew I was making progress.
Now every day when I get home, I spend some time making phone calls or going on the Internet to clarify the truth to people in China, and encouraging them to cut their associations with the CCP. In the past, I was a quiet person. But now I realize the urgency of saving people, so I have to talk to all kinds of friends or strangers, regardless of whether they are open-minded or stubborn. I have to tell people how precious Falun Gong is. I can feel Dafa's mighty power and Master's compassion. I also discovered my own laziness. Before, I could not even get up on time in the morning to do the exercises. Now I can get up early and read Master's books. As I read, I don't feel sleepy any more.
In the past, I had dreams in which I saw that our city, Saint-Malo, was flooded by the sea, or buried under falling rocks. I realized that Master was telling me to save people and advance on my own path. I began to feel strongly about promoting Falun Gong in Saint-Malo and the nearby city of Rennes. But I did not know how to go about it. Soon afterwards, Master provided me with an opportunity to attend Dafa activities in Paris. With the help of other practitioners, we made some progress in our preparation. After we sent forth righteous thoughts, the Saint-Malo city administration approved our application to distribute literature. During our Paris activities, I saw a vision of the sea water rising to the roofs in Saint-Malo. I realized that I had to return and save the people there quickly.
Originally, our first Dafa promotional event was scheduled for a Sunday afternoon at the ocean bank next to the beach in Saint-Malo. This place is always crowded in the afternoon when the weather is nice. But the weather forecast indicated strong winds, gusting up to 80 kilometers per hour on Sunday afternoon. We then decided to change our event to the morning. Although there would be fewer people in the morning, we would try to save as many people as we could. Fearing the wind might blow away our posters, my husband suggested that we not bring any. But I insisted that we have posters and began sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate any evil interference. When we arrived at the beach with posters, a French man was there waiting for us. We knew he was arranged by Master to learn about Dafa. As we displayed our posters, he helped out as if he were one of us. My husband and I told him about Dafa and the facts of the persecution. He showed a strong interest in Dafa and looked at Master's exercise photos for a long time. He learned all five sets of exercises. Before he left, we gave him a copy of Zhuan Falun in French and Master's exercise demonstration DVD. We also read together Lunyu (Preface to Zhuan Falun). We invited him to practice and read Dafa books with us any time.
We also distributed French language Epoch Times newspapers and Falun Gong literature. Many people were shocked after they read about the persecution. People asked, "What can we do for you?" We told them, "Now you know that Falun Dafa is great and what Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is about. You should tell other people the same."
After we got home, I almost lost my balance when moving the posters inside. I realized that I had developed an attachment to zealotry. I told myself, I must relinquish this attachment and do better next time.
In the future, we will become more diligent and righteous. We will live our lives according to Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and we will take the Fa as teacher, always focus on our own shortcomings, and relinquish attachments. We will devote more time to studying the Fa and put forth our best effort in doing the Three Things. We have to do our share in order to deserve Master's compassion, and fulfill our own commitment as Dafa disciples of the Fa-rectification period. We will improve our effort to validate the Fa and save more sentient beings.
Due to my limited level, I sincerely hope practitioners can offer help to correct me.