(Minghui.org) I am a university professor. I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. When the persecution started, the university officials and students did not report me to the authorities, so my identity as a practitioner was never widely known and I have not been persecuted directly over the past 16 years.
Prolonged Tribulation
My work of the past few decades has been teaching and researching traditional Chinese culture. And I love what I do. I wrote books and academic papers on the subject; I taught it at the university; I wrote columns about it in school newspapers. I did the work of several people, and often traveled and gave lectures.
In 2007, I suffered a stroke while lecturing in Beijing. My first thought was: “Master, help me! I am not sick.” I was taken to a hospital. Despite the doctor's objection, I left the hospital three days later and took a 12-hour train ride home. Throughout the journey, I kept reciting ,“Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”
In two weeks, I was able to walk with help. Soon I was able to care for myself. Many fellow practitioners were happy for me, but that was not the end of my tribulation.
Just as I got a little better, I fell and regressed. When I got better, I fell again. This kept happening, and I must have fallen 20 or 30 times. Sometimes I recovered in a month or two, other times it took 3 to 5 months to recover. I have yet to recover completely.
Finding the Root Cause
Since my ability to move was restricted, I spent a lot of time at home studying the Fa and looking within, but I still couldn't find what was holding me back.
Then I read an article on the Minghui website, in which the author said that Dafa practitioners in China should not be involved in setting up schools and camps to teach traditional culture, because this often leads to undermining Dafa and uses up resources for saving people.
I thought about it over and over. After reflecting on what I did and my motivation behind what I had done over the years, I finally found the root cause of my tribulation.
From studying the Fa, I learned that traditional culture was bestowed upon humankind by Master. I mistakenly thought that traditional Chinese culture was consistent with Dafa, and believed that promoting traditional culture was promoting Dafa. I also believed that I could guide my students to accept Dafa through traditional culture.
But I was wrong.
Traditional culture sets the foundation for the spread of Dafa. It helps people to understand and accept Dafa more easily. But traditional culture is not Dafa. I mistakenly thought promoting traditional culture was part of my cultivation.
As a result, not only did I suffer from illness karma for a long time, some of my family members and friends stopped practicing Dafa, some are afraid of practicing it, and some don't even believe Dafa is good.
The truth is that I had received numerous awards and much praise from my students and audience members. They praised me for giving good lectures, but none praised Dafa. Many students were eager to attend my lectures, but none of them became practitioners.
I had used the wisdom I obtained from Dafa in my work, but I did not tell people that was the case. I was using Dafa to validate myself. Without understanding the Fa, I actually believed that I was saving people. I had strayed dangerously from the cultivation path.
I am very grateful for being able to read the sharing articles on Minghui. I have been studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts intensively after recognizing my mistakes. With the improvement of xinxing, my physical condition has also improved greatly.
Thank you, Master!
Category: Improving Oneself
