(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Dafa in 2006. During my cultivation, I experienced the bitterness of overcoming tests and the process of eliminating karma. Our compassionate master, Li Hongzhi, has dissolved all for me. I also have the happiness of elevating in cultivation.
Studying the Fa More and Cultivating Myself Well
After I started practicing Falun Dafa, I knew that I had to listen to Master. I had to study the Fa well first. When I first read the following, I was shocked and understood that this Fa is very great and Master is truly remarkable!
“If you are a true practitioner, our Falun will safeguard you. I am rooted in the universe. If anyone can harm you, he or she would be able to harm me. Put simply, that person would be able to harm this universe.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I made up my mind that I would become a qualified disciple and a genuine practitioner. This Fa motivated me to cultivate diligently on my future cultivation path.
During the early days of my cultivation, I still had a job and time was tight. I studied one lecture of Zhuan Falun, did the five exercises, and sent forth righteous thoughts every day. On the bus to work at 6 a.m. I sent forth righteous thoughts and listened to the Fa. On the bus home from work at 6 p.m. I continued sending righteous thoughts. I studied Zhuan Falun and Master’s lectures at night. I also read the Minghui Weekly.
I finished all of Master’s lectures in a year. They were so refreshing. My perspective on the world changed fundamentally. I could manage without eating but I couldn’t manage without studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and sending righteous thoughts. I strictly followed this routine. I broke through my sleepiness when studying the Fa and managed to sit in the lotus position for one hour.
After that I was able to study two lectures of Zhuan Falun daily. If I missed a day, I would make it up within three days. Sometimes I clarified the truth to people. I experienced a beautiful feeling when I studied the Fa well, did the exercises well, and sent righteous thoughts well. Everything went well for me. Thank you, Master, for strengthening me all the time. I experienced the profound happiness of a genuine cultivator.
Changing Notions and Improving Xinxing
Master said,
“If you do not want to change your human state and rationally rise to a true understanding of Dafa, you will miss the opportunity. If you do not change the human logic that you, as an ordinary human, have formed deep in your bones over thousands of years, you will be unable to break away from this superficial human shell and reach Consummation.” (“Cautionary Advice,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I learned from the teachings that, as a cultivator, I must improve my xinxing and become an extraordinary person. When I was an everyday person, I was very ambitious and won the “Excellent Employee” award at work every year. My department was recognized with the “Excellent Department” award every year as well. I didn’t get this award in 2008, although my department did. I heard a lot of comments from my colleagues. Some of them asked me to talk to the director. They thought it was unfair. I didn’t feel too good about it but I was aware that it didn’t happen by accident.
After I returned home, I studied the Fa and read:
“Why are there suddenly so many problems? Everything goes wrong. People mistreat him, and his boss also does not favor him. Even the situation at home becomes very tense.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I looked within and found many of my attachments, especially my attachment to fame. Superficially I’d let it go, but in my heart I felt somewhat uncomfortable. I told myself rationally that I must pass this test well. Still, I had trouble sleeping that night.
I had a day off the next day and shared with another practitioner. She said, “That is a good thing!” We studied the Fa together.
Master said,
“Cultivation practice itself is not difficult, and neither is upgrading one’s level itself difficult. It is because they cannot give up the human mind that they call it difficult.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I had to listen to Master and be a genuine practitioner.
When I truly let it go, my school principal called me and said, “This year the award was given to the teacher who is retiring next year. But actually it should be yours.” He acknowledged the work I had done. I felt happy and said, “I don’t disagree with your decision. Please be assured that I will continue to do my best as I always do.” It was indeed that things turned around when I let go of my attachment. Thank you, Master, for arranging this test for me so that I could improve.
After this test, I was able to pass family tests with ease and treated other people kindly. I was able to look at things from other people’s perspectives. My ego became weak. So I cultivated away my attachments one by one, though it was difficult and tiresome sometimes. One day when I was meditating, Master manifested a big Chinese character “transcend” for me. When I opened up my eyes, it disappeared.
When I studied the Fa that night, I came across the following:
“One should return to one’s original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human. Therefore, once a person wants to practice cultivation, his or her Buddha-nature is considered to have come forth. Such a thought is most precious, for this person wants to return to his or her original, true self and transcend the ordinary human level.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I was enlightened that I must transcend the ordinary human level.
At that moment I felt emptiness. My mind was empty. I realized that I had found my true self and felt light. The fame, self-interests, and emotions in this Three Realms didn’t belong to my true self. My true self was composed of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and came to the earth from the universe to assist Master in Fa-rectification. If I had human attachments, these were postnatal notions forced upon me by the old forces. I didn’t want them. I felt everything before me was an illusion. I would awaken the conscience of sentient beings.
Cultivating Myself in the Family Environment
Before I practiced Falun Dafa, I was in poor health but I still sought fame and self-interest and was attached to sentimentality. I often lost my temper with my husband and daughter. I was self-centered and wanted them to listen to me. They didn’t dare upset me. My husband was very lazy. We often quarreled bitterly because of my strong character and wanting to do better than others.
After I started practicing Falun Dafa, I always considered my husband and daughter first. I discussed everything with them. I did the household chores willingly and didn’t complain. My daughter said, “Mom, why are you so happy? How come you have so much strength to do the work?” I told her that Master asked me to.
Although they were still fearful, they started to read the truth-clarification materials after they saw how I’d changed. My daughter and her husband started to read Dafa books. Though they didn’t start to cultivation, they knew how to be good people. My husband started to practice Falun Dafa.
Fulfilling My Mission
Master said,
“ If you don't take action to save sentient beings, you will not have fulfilled your responsibility as a Dafa disciple and your cultivation will amount to nothing, for your becoming a Dafa disciple was not for the sake of your own Consummation. This means that you shoulder a monumental mission.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
Through Fa study I realized that practitioners had a big responsibility. Our department was responsible for training preschool educators for a district and supervising their work. We often went to the countryside. On the bus there, I sent righteous thoughts. I clarified the truth to people in my spare time when I wasn’t at work. Thanks to Master’s strengthening, everything went smoothly. Almost all of the kindergarten teachers I visited withdrew from the CCP and its youth organizations. I gave materials to some of them. I didn’t have negative thoughts.
One day the director of the Education Bureau called the director of my school and said that someone had reported me for asking people to withdraw from the CCP, so I should no longer go with the team to the countryside. My director told him that I’d benefited from practicing Falun Dafa and was a very conscientious employee. In fact, nobody could lead the team to do the training and supervising if I didn’t go. My director was later promoted.
I continued clarifying the truth to people and asking them to quit the CCP in my spare time at work. When I retired in 2015, most of the kindergarten teachers both in the private section and public sector had learned the truth about Dafa and withdrawn from the CCP. I know Master arranged this and I only seized the opportunities.
I’ve devoted all my time to cultivation since I retired in 2015. I do the exercises, study the Fa, and send righteous thoughts in the morning and go out to clarify the truth in the afternoon. That is my daily routine. I realized the importance of exposing the regime’s evil deeds. The four family members in my house lodged a complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former chairman of the CCP, for persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners.
Cultivating Myself While Helping Another Practitioner
I came across a practitioner of Korean Chinese descent when I clarified the truth to her. She was in her 70s. After I said just a few sentences to her, she hugged me and started to cry. She was a fellow practitioner! She’d cultivated by herself for many years. Because she was Korean, she didn’t know much Chinese and was worried. Master arranged for us to meet. I learned that she had been persecuted and once lived in Korea. She now lived with her daughter near my home. I told her to come study the Fa with me at my home the next day.
She hadn’t learned Chinese characters so she pronounced many of the characters in Zhuan Falun incorrectly. I corrected her pronunciation character by character. She wrote down the correct pronunciations in a notebook. Then we studied that page again. But it was very time-consuming, and I got impatient. We only studied 10 pages the whole morning.
She left after we sent righteous thoughts at noon. I looked within to find my attachments. I always did everything quickly. I spoke fast and read the Fa fast. Other practitioners had pointed it out to me and I still didn’t slow down when I read. So when this practitioner came to study the Fa with me, Master was telling me to slow down. When we do the exercises, we must do them slowly and fluidly. I had to be patient and teach her as I would a child when we studied the Fa together the next day.
I asked myself not to get impatient. My true self would not get impatient. Impatience was a notion I’d formed in the Three Realms and I didn’t want it. So I studied the Fa with her one lecture after another, day after day. When we got to Lecture Six, I suddenly felt a piece of something fall off my body. I felt light and assured. The substance of impatience disappeared. It was amazing! Master arranged this for me and for my cultivation. My gratitude to Master was beyond words.
That practitioner made rapid progress. Because she had the heart to read the Fa well, Master strengthened her. I bought her a dictionary and taught her how to look up characters. I read the Fa slowly with her and felt I was more peaceful.
One day she said that her daughter was going to move, so she would be leaving, too. By then she could read the Fa by herself. She bought Master’s other lectures she didn’t have. I read Hong Yin V in traditional characters. She followed along and made great progress. She came to see me again before she moved. She thanked me for patiently helping her over the past three months. I said, “Master arranged this opportunity for you to overcome obstacles when you study the Fa. Master arranged it for me to cultivate away my impatience. Let’s thank Master!”
After the lockdown due to the pandemic was lifted, this practitioner came to see me again. We studied the Fa together. She read everything correctly and was in a good cultivation state. I was at ease after I saw her.
Saving Sentient Beings During the Pandemic
There were few people on the streets during the lockdown. I decided to put up sticky notes to awaken people’s conscience. After I put up one at the bus stop, five people came and waited for the bus.
When one person went over to read it, I went with her and said, “This note was put in this clean place. It looks beautiful.” Two other people came over. I said, “Falun Dafa has been persecuted for 20 years. People still promote it. It’s remarkable.” One of them said, “They are involved in politics. They are against the Party.” I said, “I had the same opinion 15 years ago. But now I know Falun Dafa is awakening people’s conscience.”
The remaining two people came over. I continued, “Falun Dafa practitioners are saving people. They risk being persecuted to clarify the truth. Now the pandemic is here but they still think of others. The note tells us how to keep safe. These nine characters can save lives! Let’s believe it, as it cost us nothing.” I told them why people had to quit the CCP and its youth organizations and why saying, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” can save them. They understood.
Showing a Practitioner’s Demeanor
One day as I was talking to a professional, she looked at me and asked if I practiced Falun Dafa. When I said I did, she smiled and said, “My impression was that Falun Dafa practitioners were all elderly ladies in poor health, very vulnerable.” We chatted as we walked. I said, “No, that’s not the case. They are good people who think of others first. They are kind people who have been persecuted for over 20 years. They try to save people even though they are under pressure.” She winked and said in low voice, “I thought they were poor and asked people to quit the CCP.”
Then I clarified the truth to her. She listened to me attentively and understood. Finally she agreed to withdraw from the CCP with her real name. She said she was a retired CCP official. I gave her a brochure and said, “Tell your family members and relatives to recite ‘Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good’ and they will be blessed and stay safe.” She said that she was glad to have met me and that she’d learned a great deal. She thanked me.
Master said:
“Dafa disciples are no doubt working very hard. And that’s because the historic responsibility entrusted to you and that you shoulder is so great, and your historic mission dictates that you must, at this critical time, shoulder such a historic responsibility.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
I have enlightened from the Fa that as long as practitioners walk on the path Master has arranged for us, everything will be wonderful. As a true practitioner, nobody can harm us, not even the old forces. As long as we have righteous thoughts and righteous actions, Master will take care of us. What we need to do now is save sentient beings. As long as we are genuine cultivators, we will experience the beauty and happiness of cultivation.
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