(Minghui.org)
1. Growing Up in a Dafa Environment
I was born in 2000 to a father who is a Dafa disciple. When I was just a year and a half, my father was persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and sent to a detention center for a month. At that time, my mother had some misunderstandings and often spoke poorly about Dafa. My mother influenced me, and taught me to say bad things about Dafa as well. Then my father clarified the facts to me and told me many cultivation stories. My father also practiced the exercises every day. He didn't have time to play with me, but encouraged me to practice the exercises with him. So I would imitate him doing the exercises, and grew to know that Dafa is good, and that through cultivation one can return to heaven and become a divine being. Ever since then, I felt deeply rooted in Dafa.
As I was growing up, my father taught me to conduct myself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He told me that “doing good deeds will accumulate Virtue, and bad deeds accumulate Karma. Virtue is a white substance and Karma is a black substance. Don't fight with others, even when they bully you.”
2. Studying the Fa
Before the age of eight, I didn't study Zhuan Falun regularly. After my eighth birthday my father urged me to study the book. In the beginning, I didn't understand the importance of it and was not interested. I would read one or two paragraphs a day, so it took me nearly a year to finish reading Zhuan Falun once . My father always encouraged and praised me, “You are so lucky. The sentient beings in your paradise are now saved.”
When I entered junior high, I went to a boarding school and was home only on weekends. I took a small copy of Zhuan Falun with me and stored it in my locker. I tried to read a little bit of Zhuan Falun every day in school. A short time later the head of my dorm wanted to do an inspection of the students' lockers. I took my Zhuan Falun home, so it would not be found. Later, my father downloaded Master's audio lectures to my cell phone. Once lights were out, I climbed into bed and listened to Master's lectures. Every Friday evening, my parents came to pick me up from school, and I stayed home until Sunday morning. My father took me to a group Fa study while I was home. We sometimes studied Zhuan Falun , or recited Hong Yin I .
3. Truth-clarification
When I was still young, my father told me that clarifying the truth can save people. Thus, I was very happy to join him to save people.
When I was four, my parents bought a computer. My father used it to make disks. I was curious, and asked him, “What are these? What are they used for?” My father patiently told me that “These are disks. They contain Dafa truth-clarification materials. When people watch them, they won't have any misunderstanding toward Dafa, and thus, they will be saved.” When I heard that these disks can save people, I said, “I want to help you.” I helped him package the disks, then I saw my father go out on the street at night to distribute them. I told him I wanted to go with him.
At first he refused, because he was concerned about my safety. I persisted, and he finally agreed. I rode with him on his motorcycle. We parked the motorcycle when we reached our destination, and carried our bag of truth-clarification materials on the street. I helped place the disks on windowsills, door handles, and windshields. Sometimes we went into apartment buildings. We separated, and split the tasks. When we finished, we met up again downstairs. Although I got weary, I also felt happy and fulfilled.
When I was young, the children in the neighborhood loved to come play at my house. My father often clarified the truth to them and told them to remember that “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” I also helped my father clarify the truth to them. My father convinced them to quit the Youth Pioneer League of the CCP. I said to them, “I quit the League a long time ago. You should quit too.” The children all agreed to quit. My friends also brought their family members to my home. We helped them all quit the CCP, too.
Because I was young, I was sometimes selfish and would ask my father to buy things for me, or just take me out to play. When we went out, we often encountered predestined people. My father would seize the opportunity and clarify the truth to them and help them quit the CCP. My father would thank me for giving him such an opportunity to save people. Under Master's accurate arrangement, my “indulgence” created opportunities for my father to save sentient beings. How wonderful! When I was a child, I primarily facilitated my father in clarifying the truth to save people. As I grew older, I had the ability to do truth-clarification myself.
When I was in the sixth grade, I had two classmates who were my friends. After clarifying the truth to them, they quit the CCP. When I got home, I told my father what I did. He was very happy and praised me. Another time, my classmates were talking about Falun Gong in class. I clarified the truth to them and said, “My father practices Falun Gong, and so do I. Falun Gong is very good.” My classmates listened to me intently. One of the classmates said, “My grandmother also practices Falun Gong. There is a Falun rotating in the area of her abdomen.” After I clarified the truth to them, I felt that compassion had filled my heart, “Sentient beings are awaiting salvation.”
4. Eliminating Attachments
When I was little, like other children, I loved to watch cartoons. In order to prevent me from being polluted by unhealthy content, my father forbade me to watch cartoons that are violent and unhealthy. He found cartoons with good and beautiful messages for me to watch. He even downloaded cartoons made by Dafa practitioners off the Internet. As I grew older, my classmates introduced me to bad cartoons. My parents were always very strict in screening them before I could watch them. But I couldn't resist the temptation, and would sneak in some bad cartoons. As I watched, over time, my vision gradually declined. By the time I graduated from the sixth grade, I had to wear a pair of 300-degree glasses. I was very upset. I did not want to wear glasses, and I wanted my perfect vision back.
My father offered his view on why my vision declined. He said, “One's eye is like a god. It is a form of life in another dimension. If one always uses their eyes to see bad things, then black substances will accumulate. Over time, the eye in another dimension becomes listless. Reflected in this dimension, however, it appears that your vision declines. As a Dafa disciple, you should get rid of your attachment to indecent cartoons and magazines if you want to heal your vision problems.”
I agreed with him, but still couldn't get rid of the attachment immediately. Right at this time, Master gave me a hint.
I dreamed about being stuck in a swamp. I really wanted to get out of it, so I struggled. Suddenly, I woke up. I enlightened that “being in the swamp” was the state of my cultivation, and that I had to get out. But I still wasn't determined enough to get rid of the attachment. So I begged Master, “Master, please allow me to watch some TV, otherwise life is meaningless to me.” The next two weekends, my home computer worked abnormally. When I used it to research something relating to my school, or when my father used it to find some info, it worked properly. Only when I used it to watch cartoons did it stop working and shut off.
My father told me, “Lanlan, Master is giving you a hint and urging you to upgrade your xinxing. Get rid of this addiction!” It seemed that I had to make a determined effort to eliminate the attachment of watching bad cartoons. Meanwhile, my parents also spent more time with me, so this attachment to cartoons faded.
5. Miracles
For a while now, I have been very sensitive to the weather and can predict the forecast. One morning, I told my classmates, “It's going to be comfortable in the morning and very hot in the afternoon today. I suggest that everyone take off one layer of clothing and leave it in the dorm.” They did not believe me. After gym class in the afternoon, one of my classmates told me, “Lanlan, I regret now that I did not believe you. It is so hot!"
One night, my father and I went out to remove billboards that slandered Dafa. After we were done, it started to rain. My father was driving home fast. There was lightning and thunder, and the rain came down fast and hard. Once we got to the parking lot at home, the rain was like a waterfall. If we were to run in, we would get soaked. So we decided to wait in the car for a while. The rain continued and so I spoke to Master, asking for a break in the weather. We sent forth righteous thoughts.
Moments later, the rainfall got lighter. Finally, it became sporadic. My father and I knew that it was Master who helped us. We smiled at each other and ran in happily, and dry.
Compared with Master's requirements, I know I still have big deficiencies. I will do better in the following areas:
1. I will be more persistent in reciting Hong Yin : Because it's not practical to read Zhuan Falun at school, I will memorize Hong Yin so that I can always immerse myself in the Fa no matter where I am.
2. Sending forth righteous thoughts: I plan to send forth righteous thoughts four times a day (like other practitioners do globally). I know that I don't need to use hand gestures when sending forth righteous thoughts.
3. Clarifying the truth: I will be more proactive in cooperating with my father on the weekend to clarify the truth to people. Meanwhile, I will collect my classmates', their parents', and teachers' phone numbers and ask my father to pass these numbers onto practitioners who use cell phone techniques to clarify the truth to them.
Dear Master, I really want to go home with you. I will do my best to do the “Three Things” well.
