(Minghui.org)
When I was born in 1996, Falun Dafa was popular in China, and I was only three years old when the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners began in 1999. During my elementary school years, I lived with my grandmother, a Dafa practitioner who had attended Master's early public seminars. My grandmother would often read Dafa books to me and play Dafa lecture recordings. She also taught me the exercises. I was too young to understand Dafa, but I followed her nevertheless. I would sometimes fall asleep while listening to the recordings. My grandmother did not force me. I naturally tried to be a good person and think of others first, in accordance with Dafa's teachings.
After moving to another city with my parents, I did not have much chance to see my grandmother. I gradually became attracted to the temptations of the ordinary world and became selfish.
I became addicted to video games, Internet novels, and anime. I would sometimes spend entire days on these things. All that was in my mind were scenes of killing and fighting from these sources. I often pretended in my mind that I was one of the various characters from the stories.
In the meantime, I began developing some health problems. I frequently had colds, and I also had rhinitis and digestion problems. My eyesight went bad, and worst of all, my face became covered by severe acne. I was afraid to look at myself in the mirror. I thought that life was unfair to me and I cried a lot. I felt hopeless and lost.
Thanks to Master's arrangements, my grandmother moved in to live with us. Although my parents urged me not to listen to my grandmother out of fear for the persecution, I found myself truly enjoying listening to what she told me. Grandma told me to remember “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” She told me repeatedly, “If you don’t feel well, recite ‘Falun Dafa is good’ and Master will help you.” She also reminded me of things like, “If someone slanders Dafa, recite that Dafa is good in your heart, and keep this thought toward the person: Do not say bad things about Dafa, do not commit crimes!” and “When your school raises the communist flag, send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evils. Do the same if any teacher slanders Dafa in class,” “Ask Master for help and don't let your classmates be poisoned, and don't allow your teacher to commit crimes,” etc...
My grandmother’s advice was invaluable to me in this environment. It aided me in maintaining positive thoughts towards Dafa and laid the foundation for me to eventually become a true Dafa practitioner myself.
My grandmother often showed me the latest editions of Minghui Weekly, which I read occasionally. I did not feel connected to what was in the magazine as I was more into playing the video games, although I always believed in my heart that Dafa is good.
In early 2018, on the last night of my college winter break, I was unable to sleep. I lay in bed thinking about a college life. Suddenly, a thought appeared in my head: “Oh dear, am I going to miss it like this?!” I was stunned by the thought… Miss what? What am I missing? Then, all the memories about Dafa were displayed in front of my eyes like a movie. The miracles of Dafa my grandmother had told me about years prior, the happy feeling I experienced when following Dafa, the descriptions about Dafa in Minghui Weekly... That's it! Falun Dafa is so wonderful, and I must learn it!
The next morning, when my grandmother handed me the next edition of Minghui Weekly, I shook my head and said to her, “Grandma, I want to read the book Zhuan Falun.”
I was so excited to hold Zhuan Falun in my hands. I rushed to my bedroom and opened the book. As soon as I read the opening text Lunyu, I felt a strong energy surrounding my body. My mind opened up instantly. Universe, cosmic bodies, time, space…images from all around the immense universe flashed in front of my eyes, solemn and extraordinarily wonderful. Reading through the book, I found answers to all of the questions I had been wondering about for years. In front of Dafa, all the knowledge I had learned in the past, from physics to chemistry to geography to astronomy to the humanities, was like a drop of water in the midst of the ocean. I read more and more. Time and space no longer existed. In that moment, there was only Dafa and me.
I needed to return to school the next day. I did not finish reading the entire book in time, so I prepared a digital copy of the book as well as recordings of the lectures. I listened to the lectures on the train all the way to the school. I felt sacred and blessed. Upon returning to school, I used almost all the time I had to read Dafa books.
I learned the exercises by following the description of each exercise movement from The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection, combined with some of my memories from childhood. At that time I did not know what “sending righteous thoughts” and “clarifying the truth” meant. I discovered that I had a hard time understanding a lot of the material in Master's newer lectures. To remedy this, I repeatedly read Zhuan Falun and did the exercises regularly. It was very painful at first for me to do even the half lotus sitting, but I gradually became able to do the full lotus position. Meanwhile, my health improved dramatically. The backache which had been bothering me for a semester went away, my knees were no longer sore even after long walks, I did not have a constantly running nose, and the acne on my face vanished.
I wanted to catch up on the road of cultivation. Just like the lyrics Master wrote:
“Until the moment I saw the TruthUntil I sought and obtained the DafaWhich pierced the ears like thunderI came to understand who I amAnd realized I should hasten my steps on the divine path”(“Who Am I?” Hong Yin III)
Master had arranged an opportunity for me to become a Dafa disciple during the Fa rectification period. I was sent to a student exchange program and went to Australia for six months. With no Internet blockade, I visited the websites Minghui, The Epoch Times, and New Tang Dynasty TV for the first time in my life. I was able to read many of Master's new lectures that I had not seen before!
I read Master's new lectures every day, whenever I had time, went through practitioners' sharing articles on the Minghui website, and watched the truth clarification videos made by practitioners. I learned that many events had happened during the period when I was lost in the human world. Dafa practitioners faced extremely evil persecution, yet the practitioners persevered. The events happening on earth were also reflected as battles between righteousness and evil in various dimensions of the universe. Master's sacrifice extended time, gave hope to sentient beings, and gave opportunities for Dafa practitioners to save more people. With the CCP's brainwashing programs, many people committed such terrible crimes toward Dafa!
I cried. I was sad for the suffering that many practitioners had endured. I was worried for those people who still believed the CCP's lies, who faced destruction. Even more so, I was ashamed of myself for the time I had wasted. “Master, I came late, but I will catch up! I want to be true Dafa disciple and I will try my best to save more people!”
I thought, there are still so many people who have not been saved. What will happen to them? How can we save more people?
Master saw my thought and arranged opportunities for me to aid in this mission. Two Chinese students also in the same exchange program arrived in Australia after I did. I showed them where to get the IDs and where to go shopping. I had the opportunity to talk to them about some truths of Falun Dafa and the persecution, and also introduced them to some digital truth clarifying books. They showed understanding and wanted to know more about what Dafa really is. I soon found opportunities to talk about related topics to all seven Chinese students in the program.
I did not know about the importance of withdrawing from the CCP at the time. I thought it was good enough to let people know that Dafa is good. Master began to give me more hints. Once, while doing meditation, I saw the final judgement of Jiang Zemin. Jiang was tied to a gallows on a high stage on Tiananmen Square. Countless people were watching. With a judge's hammer down, Jiang's body dissolved. His skin broke and fell onto the ground. Inside the skin was black smoke. The smoke was floating toward the crowd and people screamed. Several chains fell from the sky, tied around the smoke and took it away. People went quiet, waiting. Suddenly a horrible shriek came among the crowd. A person was burning from inside to outside and soon became ashes, with a few burned bones scattered around. The crowd was stunned. Soon afterward, shrieks and black smoke appeared here and there in the crowd... I came out of the trance. I found myself covered in sweat. For the first time, I knew how important it was for people to withdraw from all CCP organizations. If they don’t, what awaits them is truly horrifying.
After Master's hint, I was determined to help more people to pass the calamity.
I took every opportunity -- be it on the bus, in a restaurant, in Chinese grocery stores, on the beach, or in classrooms – to clarify the truth to any Chinese person I came across. It was not easy at beginning, since I was not generally a person who liked to chat. I nevertheless forced myself to open my mouth and talk to people. This itself was also a process of eliminating human attachments. I had met all kinds of people. Some accepted the truth right away. Others already knew that the Communist Party was evil and were eager to withdraw from its associated organizations. There were still others who would not believe me no matter how much I said.
The more people I clarified the truth to, the more I found that I myself had improved too. I could start conversations with strangers more easily. My speaking became calmer and more rational. Sometimes it did not go well, especially when I was trying to prove myself. Step by step, I walked the path of validating the Fa. I became a true practitioner in the Fa rectification period.
Like many people my age, I used to be lost in the human world. With Master's care and protection, and with the help of fellow practitioners, my connection to Dafa was never cut. I am so lucky to be able to enter Dafa cultivation at the final moment. Thinking of what Master has done for us and thinking of those people who are waiting for us to save them, how can I not cultivate diligently? How irresponsible it would be for me to waste more time!
Thank you Master for saving me! Thank you fellow practitioners for your selfless help! I will remember Master's words:
“Cultivate with the heart you once had, and spiritual perfection is certain! May you grow ever more diligent as you approach the end!” (“To the Experience-Sharing Conference in Taiwan”)