(Clearwisdom.net) On the second day of the lunar new year, a special experience sharing conference was held in a city in northern China. The attendees of the conference were children (with their parents) who practice cultivation.
The beginning portion of "Touring North America to Teach the Fa," "Buddha Nature" and "Humanity During the Final Kalpa" in Zhuan Falun (Volume II) were studied at the conference.
The 17 children were quite young when they first followed their parents to practice cultivation and they have now all grown up. Some are in high school and college and others have started to work. They have left their previous cultivation environments and many are in a state of partially cultivating, thus are not diligent. However, some are diligent and have been doing their best to do the three things. This conference has provided them a special opportunity to learn from each other and to upgrade their xinxing.
An eight-year old child who started the practice with his mom has continued to do the exercises and study the Fa every day. He has been able to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in school. Several times when classmates hit him, he did not fight back nor talk back. He has been able to endure without any complaints.
He shared his story, "When I was in middle school, my mom was sent to a forced labor camp because she was clarifying the truth to people. To a fourteen or fifteen year-old teenager, this was a huge challenge. In addition, my dad did not want me to practice cultivation. Facing the challenge, my heart was not moved and I persisted in studying the Fa. When I went to high school, I kept studying "Zhuan Falun." I recited one paragraph each day and spent three years finishing reciting Zhuan Falun for the first time. In recent years, no matter how busy I am, I always study the Fa. When I was at school in other cities, I always saved 50 yuan every month from the money that dad gave me and I gave it to fellow practitioners to make truth-clarifying materials."
Another young practitioner who just went to college shared his story, "I started college this year. Since childhood, I often listened to the Fa with my mom. The principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance have been deeply rooted in my heart. When my mom was facing the most brutal persecution, I never questioned if she had done anything wrong. She is the best mom in the world. Dafa has shown me many miracles. When I had my middle school exam, I was not good at math and each time my score was always between 40 to 50 percent on simulation tests. With such low scores, I would have to pay for school. I could never remember the math formulas. My mom advised, 'You just remember a few that you think you can remember, those will be the ones on the test.' I remembered four formulas and those indeed were all used. During the test, I also recited "Falun Dafa is good" in my heart. I asked for Master's help with the questions that I did not know how to answer. I was afraid that if I could not get a good score on my test, I would have to pay a few thousand yuan to go to school. Mom said we did not belong to the group who pays the tuition. The money has to be used for making truth-clarifying materials to save sentient beings. During the test, a miracle happened. My score was 20 percent higher than it was previously, thus I was enrolled in the credited middle school. During the college entrance test, I had no idea how to answer some questions. I said in my heart to Master, "Master, I really don't know how to complete this test, please let me know what I should fill in." As soon as I finished that thought, the answers came to my mind. After the test, I asked a classmate who was really good at math what her answers were. She answered with all the same choices I made. I was very excited, Dafa is a miracle! When I received my score for the college entrance exam, it was again 20 percent higher than usual.
"After the college entrance tests, a teacher told me, 'I know a person from a college. I can talk to that person so you can be guaranteed enrollment.' I called my mom to let her know and she said, "We are Falun Gong practitioners and we will not use the back door. We believe in Dafa and in Master. Everything will be arranged by Master." Only a few minutes after I hung up the phone with mom, a person from a college called me and said, "We have decided to enroll you in our college, would you like to come?" Thus, I was enrolled by my preferred college. Dafa had again shown me a miracle.
"I also use the environment I have to clarify the truth and save sentient beings. My friends from elementary, middle, high school and college have all learned about the truth and withdrawn from the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]. In high school, my classmates wanted to elect me to be the head of the Communist youth organization. I went to the stage and told everyone, "I have withdrawn from the youth organizations, you have to vote for another person." In college, the teacher asked everyone to complete an application to enroll in the CCP. I was very worried and my righteous thoughts were not strong enough and I still had the attachment of fear. I did not dare to prevent everyone from applying with the CCP; I only talked to my roommates and advised them why they should not enroll in the CCP. As a result, my roommates all learned the truth and they did not complete any application."
A child who has continued to follow his parents in practicing said, "I started learning Falun Dafa shortly after my parents started their cultivation. I was in elementary school at the time. I practiced the exercises every day with my parents. When I went to middle school, the homework increased and the time for studying the Fa decreased, thus I was not very diligent. When I went to high school, it got even worse. I always put the college entrance tests as priority. Even like this, Master has always been watching and protecting me.
"When I was staying in the college dormitory, there is a night stand in front of my bed and it blocks the view of my bed. I brought a piece of cloth to block the outside of my bed so I can sit on my bed to study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. I started working this year and I moved into an apartment that belongs to our work unit. Upon seeing my room, I surprisingly found that the bed assigned to me was exactly like the one that I had in college. I knew that it was Master's arrangement. I thanked Master for his compassionate help in my heart. When I was living away from home, I had lost the cultivation environment for group study and group exercise that I had at home. Everything was dependent on my faith in Dafa and Master. Whenever I wasn't diligent with my cultivation, Master would have mom call and ask me, "Do you still remember the thing that I told you before?" It was a hidden message for reminding me to be diligent. During the New Year's celebration last year, I copied Zhuan Falun and brought it to work."
One young practitioner became a teacher. She shared her experience of clarifying the truth to students and people. From her environment, she felt Dafa's greatness and miracle, Master's compassion and the joyfulness that ordinary people obtain after learning the truth and being rewarded with good fortune. Since she works in a big city, she often uses a third-party perspective to clarify the truth and share the greatness of Dafa, asking them to withdraw from the CCP and its organizations, to be protected.
Another young person who has been practicing Falun Gong with her parents since childhood shared the importance of studying the Fa. She said, "Sometimes it is very easy for young practitioners to overlook the importance of studying the Fa when they start middle school or start to work. In fact, studying the Fa is very important. If we can study the Fa well, we can cultivate ourselves well. In addition, studying the Fa cannot just be a formality or a routine task, we really have to look within and cultivate our thoughts."
After the young practitioners shared their experiences, some parents also shared theirs. One parent said, "After the persecution started, some parents were detained, sent to forced labor camps or sent to jail and their children have suffered a great deal of pain, pressure and shock. But they are young Dafa practitioners, and they should be able to see these things from Dafa's standpoint. They should not have any feeling of underestimating themselves. Their parents are the greatest and they are doing the worlds most righteous things. They should be proud and be upright people persevering with their cultivation."
During the sharing, many parents said they didn't fulfill their responsibility to their children and that they did not take care of their young practitioners. Their children are all beings that came for Dafa and they came to assimilate to Dafa. They come to our families so that we can take care of them, help them obtain the Fa, assimilate to the Fa and return to their true selves. We just see them as our children and only fulfill our responsibility to raise them, but we need to treat them with divine thoughts.
The sharing lasted about three hours and everyone felt that they had learned a lot.
A parent happily said, "My daughter has changed a lot. In previous years when she came back, she often went out to play with her friends. Since the sharing, she has been staying at home to study the Fa. Before she left for work, she downloaded new articles to her cell phone and brought them with her so she can study the Fa during break."
I think that many young practitioners in mainland China are very similar in their cultivation states. I hope that parent practitioners can do more to create group study and group sharing opportunities for young practitioners, to help them be more diligent and to keep up with the progress of Fa rectification. As parent practitioners, taking care of young practitioners is our responsibility.
