(Minghui.org) Zhejiang University held interviews for students recommended to its postgraduate school in late September 2010, and I attended it.
Before the interview started, the teacher handed me a questionnaire and told me to answer it. There were questions about one's major, English language skills and whether one was interested in pursuing a doctoral degree. The last question was, “Are you a Falun Dafa practitioner?”
I didn't answer the last question. The teacher said, “You must answer that question: ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”
I felt stunned as though Master Li (the founder) was asking me, “Are you a genuine practitioner?” Without hesitation, I firmly wrote, “Yes”. I was not admitted to postgraduate school.
Following My Mother to Practice
I began practicing Falun Dafa with my mother in the fall of 1997. I didn't know what cultivation was, but I knew that Dafa was good. My mother and I went to the group practice almost every day and we read Master's poems, Hong Yin.
Even though I was a child, I experienced tribulations. When I developed a fever I dreamed that an older man fed me eight treasure porridge (a traditional porridge made of eight ingredients). When I woke up, my fever was gone. When I asked my mother for more porridge, she said, “We don’t have any.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Dafa when I was ten years old. I didn't understand what cultivation meant or the importance of reading the Fa. As the CCP's persecution intensified in China, I busied myself with my schoolwork.
However, compassionate Master did not give up on me. Although I only occasionally did the exercises with my mother, Master looked after me and protected me.
I Begin to Cultivate
I got copies of Master’s latest lectures from my mother at the end of 2004 and I started reading. As I read, it was as if my mind opened up; the more I read, the more I understood and the more I wanted to read.
I understood that the old forces imposed this persecution on practitioners. By reading Master's lectures I was inspired to cultivate. Since then, I always carried a copy of Zhuan Falun or Master's newest lectures in my bookbag. No matter how busy I became during my high school years I persistently read the Fa.
I also realized that before 2004 I did not truly cultivate myself; I took my mother and the other practitioners as my role models and I did whatever they did. Through reading the Fa, I came to understand Master’s teaching,
“Studying the Fa and doing cultivation are a person’s own affair. Yet often there are quite a number of students who consistently take other people as their role models—they look at how other people do things and then follow suit. This is a kind of poor behavior developed among everyday people. A cultivator has no role models.”(“Path,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I kept reminding myself, “I want to truly cultivate.”
Looking Inside for My Fundamental Attachment
When I started actively practicing, although I was able to persistently read the Fa and I helped local practitioners tell people about Falun Dafa and the persecution, I still felt that something was lacking in my cultivation.
Master said,
“After cultivating for a period of time, are your thoughts still the same? Are you continuing on the path because of those human attachments? If so, you cannot be counted as my disciple. It means that you haven’t gotten rid of your fundamental attachments and that you are unable to understand the Fa from the Fa.” (“Towards Consummation,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I examined myself but I couldn't identify my fundamental attachment.
My experience during the interview in 2010, and that the most sacred and serious question was: “Are you a Falun Dafa practitioner?” enlightened me. I came to understand the difference between a true practitioner and a person cultivating with strong attachments and to enjoying a comfortable and ordinary life.
Local practitioners often said, “As long as we cultivate following the natural course, Master will arrange the best for us.”
A true practitioner cultivates following Master’s arrangements and maintains righteous thoughts during tribulations. However, if one keeps thinking, “I cultivate and I do the three things well, Master will reward me with the best: I'll get into a good university, get a good job, and so on,” then he's not a genuine practitioner. He practices Falun Dafa in order to enjoy good health and a happy ordinary life. He may even complain if he doesn't get what he wants.
Master explicitly told us,
“It isn’t wrong for human beings in this world to yearn with these attachments for beautiful dreams and wishes. But a cultivator definitely shouldn’t be that way.” (“Towards Consummation”, Essentials for Further Advancement II)
To be a true Dafa practitioner, one must discard one's attachment to the gains and losses of ordinary people. “Are you a Falun Dafa practitioner?” It is a serious question that each of us should ask ourselves.
Master told us,
“Probably nothing is coincidental, because for you, a cultivator, in the process of your cultivation you have fundamental tests all the way to the very end.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference”, Guiding the Voyage)
Be a Genuine Practitioner
Master said,
“You are cultivators. I’m not talking about your past, what you once were, or what you display on the surface. I am talking about your core and the meaning of your life, the responsibility you shoulder, and your historic mission. Only thus are you truly a Dafa disciple.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple”)
After that interview, each time I encountered difficult situations, I always reminded myself, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner.” I was immediately filled with energy and my mind was filled with righteous thoughts. I knew that Master was strengthening me.
There are many tests and trials on our cultivation path. As long as we take our cultivation seriously, we will definitely make the wisest choice – one that we won't regret!
To be a Falun Dafa practitioner is most sacred and assisting Master in the Fa-rectification is our glory. Just like the lyrics in a Shen Yun song,
“I came to understand who I amAnd realized I should hasten my steps on the divine path.” (“Who Am I?”, Hong Yin (III))
I hope every practitioner can, “hasten my steps on the divine path”, reach consummation and follow Master to return to our true homes.
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2020/1/28/无悔的选择-400219.html
Category: Improving Oneself
