(Minghui.org) Greetings to revered Master and fellow practitioners!
I’m a college sophomore who began studying the Fa and doing cultivation with my mom in my childhood. Though I knew the wonders of Dafa, I didn’t understand the meaning of cultivation in my youth. With prompting from my mom, I studied the Fa and did the exercises with her.
My mom made me memorize Hong Yin and On Dafa when I was four or five years old. When I was in primary school, she found that I read the Fa too fast because I did not take it seriously. To improve my situation, she made me memorize the Fa. At my mom’s request, I memorized Zhuan Falun once. Afterward, I read through the book time and time again. To prevent myself from spacing out, drifting off, or reading too fast, I decided to memorize the Fa again. I have now memorized the first six chapters of Zhuan Falun. Though it’s quite slow for me to memorize each paragraph, I still expect myself to memorize every word. Every time I feel sleepy when memorizing Fa, I will stand up to refresh myself.
When I was in junior high school, my mom would take me to an exercise site at a primary school in the morning. I would ride a bike to school after the exercises. After I went to senior high school, I did the exercises at home so I could catch the school bus. Because of my attachment to comfort, I would prefer to study Fa rather than do the exercises every now and then. If I really had no choice, I would prefer meditating to holding the wheel. Given my situation, my mom chose to do the exercises with me at home. We urged each other not to slack off in our night-time exercises.
I used to think all kinds of things when I did the second set and the fifth set of exercises. Though I knew I should not think of anything during the exercises, I couldn’t control myself. I knew that the reason my mind was not at peace was that I did not truly cultivate myself. Realizing what my problem was, I started focusing on my xinxing cultivation to eliminate attachments hidden in my every thought. With my efforts to purify myself, I could calm down to meditate. I also felt the time for the exercises went faster than before, as I did not feel pain while holding the wheel or doing the meditation anymore.
The computer in my house automatically plays the music for sending forth righteous thoughts every hour after six o'clock at night. If there are no other things we are busy with, I’ll sit up straight with mom to send forth righteous thoughts in the parlor. At first, I just recited the verses and performed the hand signs. Now, I can feel the energy in my palm.
When I was in sixth grade at primary school, my mom made me participate in online truth-clarification to persuade people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. Since the script and pictures had been prepared, it was not hard for me to do this project. I started clarifying the truth to Chinese netizens that summer. Because I was young and did not have complex thoughts at the time, clarifying the truth went smoothly with the script. To prevent me from being polluted by violent or pornographic web content, my mom stopped me from doing this project at the end of the summer vacation.
I started using a mobile app to clarify the truth after finishing my college entrance exams. Using a voice message, a script for quitting the CCP, and photos collected by my mom, I plucked up my courage to persuade netizens to quit the Party. During the process, I spoke to people who withdrew immediately. There were those who thanked me, ignored me, or cursed me after hearing the truth. I found, that as long as my cultivation status was good, it would be easier for me to do this; if it was not, people would ignore my messages. My account was later blocked after being reported several times and could no longer be used. My mom then made me help with the editing of web articles.
I’m now in an Internet group and working as an editor on a Dafa practitioners' website, Ming Jian. In the process of learning, my mom taught me how to collect articles and pictures as well as how to edit and use websites. When I edited an article, especially a truth-clarification article, I would evaluate how ordinary people would view it by putting myself in their shoes. I wished those netizens a bright future after seeing my truth-clarification articles, so I would also match my articles with images.
I had a strong attachment of jealousy in my childhood. Since I saw it as a part of my true self, I often felt uneasy when dealing with different things. When I wanted to truly cultivate my xinxing, the first challenge I met was jealousy.
I had a good friend in my senior year of high school. We were so close with each other that we almost did everything together. But one day, another girl started coming to my friend during every break. The way she interacted with my friend made me feel jealous. Though I did not express my feelings, I felt that she was stealing my friend.
I knew that the whole thing was to eliminate my attachment of jealousy, but I still felt very upset. The next day our teacher changed where we all sat, and my friend and that girl ended up sitting together. The moment I saw the seating chart, I realized that this was for me to eliminate my attachment of jealousy. Regardless, I still felt uneasy getting along with my friend and that girl. I didn’t want to get close to them even during breaks. At the time, I just kept my emotions bottled up inside myself.
One day during recess, I put my head down on the table. I knew I had to eliminate my jealousy. I’d been rejecting it by thinking “eliminate my jealousy” several times in my mind, but I still found it hard to eliminate this attachment. I knew that I must dispel such a substance, but I felt it churning like waves in my mind. I was constantly rejecting my jealousy when I suddenly found that there was nothing left in my mind, as my attachment of jealousy had gone. I was greatly shocked by the sharp contrast. Through studying Fa, I later realized that it was because I recognized my attachment and rejected it that Master helped me remove such a substance from my body.
I now have a better understanding of what Master said in Zhuan Falun, “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s Master.” (Zhuan Falun)
Afterward, I could get along well with that girl. Before graduating high school, I maintained a good relationship with my friend and that girl. Though I still have a little bit of jealousy, it has become too weak to control me. I can now firmly reject such a substance in my mind.
Getting along with my family can also cultivate my xinxing. Despite the fact that both my mom and I are Dafa cultivators, we still have quarrels with each other. My mom will nag me if I make a mistake or have a different opinion than her. Though I can immediately realize what she says, she will still nag me another four or five times, which makes me quite annoyed. Such phenomena made me realize that my ego was too big, and I couldn’t bear to be criticized by other people and only cared about myself most of the time. Upon realizing this, I started to tolerate and reject those negative emotions. Though I still feel uneasy every now and then, I know I’m a cultivator. Therefore, I should be tolerant of criticism and should think more about other people.
Social media are very attractive to modern people. I used to be influenced by this trend. At the time, I was obsessed with dating, reading novels and comics on the Internet. Every time I saw my classmates using their phones, I would join them. Though I studied the Fa, did the exercises, and sent forth righteous thought with my mom every day, I treated those things as part of my daily routine and did not have a strong will for cultivation. I gradually realized the importance of Dafa as I grew up. In my senior year of high school, I unfriended a lot of people that I met on the Internet and stopped reading online comics and novels. I could feel the improvement, as Master cleaned those negative things out of my thoughts and body.
After a period of time, I started reading online romantic novels again. Every so often, I would feel uncomfortable in a part of my body. At first, I didn’t realize it was caused by reading online novels. Though I wanted to quit this habit, it was easier said than done. I started to reject the thought of reading novels when the idea would appear in my mind. Master then purified my body. This made me feel guilty for not being diligent in my cultivation. At the same time, I also felt touched, for Master had never given up on me. I made up my mind to quit the Internet and diligently cultivate myself.
After quitting the novels, I started reading other web content every now and then. As a result, I was interfered with by those things in dreams. I was so shocked by my dreams that I started to sleep in my mom’s room. To stop the interference, I asked for Master’s help by saying that I would never read that type of web content again. Time and time again, I felt my attachment to the Internet become weaker and weaker as my thoughts and body were purified by Master. I can now reject the interference of pop music and social media.
I also found that after reading web content, it would be hard to stay calm when studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts. I hope every young cultivator can learn from my lesson. Let’s do the three things well by letting go of our attachments to cellphones, Internet and social media.
There are still many things that need to be done better in my cultivation. Fearing that I would leave Dafa, my mom led me to do the three things. Now that I’ve grown up and truly realized what Dafa is, as well as the meaning of cultivation, I will be more diligent in my cultivation along with my mom.
Thank you, Master!Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2018 Taiwan Experience Sharing Conference)