(Minghui.org) My practice site is in a beautiful park in Manhattan, New York City. Running from east to west and sitting in the middle of the financial district, the park is a quiet haven in a noisy neighborhood.
Many office workers come here to rest after work, and several famous tourist spots nearby attract a constant stream of tourists from all over the world. Since obtaining the Fa, I have participated in the outdoor practice all year round, rain or shine.
Besides doing the exercises together and spreading the practice, we also clarify the truth to people, which plays a huge role in deterring the evil elements that are persecuting Dafa.
I often take the opportunity before and after going to do the exercises to tell people about Dafa. They are of different ages and backgrounds and include businessmen, bankers, politicians, actors, artists, priests, writers, housewives, engineers, and those who are following unorthodox paths. I will never forget the joy and gratitude they express after learning the truth and being saved by Dafa.
One day, I clarified the truth to a mother and her daughter. The mother said, “Wonderful! You know what? Today is my 50th birthday. Yesterday was a full moon, and I said to the moon, ‘Something good is going to happen to me tomorrow.’ Sure enough, tonight you brought us the blessing of Falun Dafa.”
The daughter, who was in her 20s, said, “I am a singer, and I was born with mysterious energy—everyone who hears me sing is affected by my voice and develops positive thoughts.
“The entertainment industry is very chaotic, and most of the people who control the industry are possessed by animals and even aliens. I can see it very clearly and don’t want to work with them, so my career has been affected. My spirit can leave my body, and I can see many great enlightened beings have descended to this troubled earth to help people.”
I told her the truth about Dafa, and she took it well. She said she would read Zhuan Falun.
The practice site is crucial to my cultivation. While my body was being transformed, there were many opportunities to improve my xinxing. For example, when the weather was good, a man with a large French horn would play across from us. As soon as we finished the sitting meditation, he would stop playing and leave. This repeated day after day.
Some practitioners were indifferent to it, and some frowned. I was among the unhappy ones, because as soon I heard the horn, I would automatically try to discern if a beat was slow or fast or if he was out of tune—I could not empty my mind. Instead of looking inward, I took it out on the man, thinking it was interference.
Finally, one day, I walked over to him. After clarifying the truth about Dafa to him, I said, “We’ve had this spot for ten years, and you’re affecting us by playing your horn here. Would you please consider moving somewhere else while we are meditating?”
He simply refused and said, “No, I am taking this spot. This spot has good Fengshui, and I make more money here.” He took my flier but did not read it. The next day, he didn’t show up, nor did he the third day. I was relieved and wondered, “Maybe he has understood what we are doing now.”
But my heart did not feel lighter. I started to worry that he might be sick, or perhaps he had moved to a new spot and could not make any money. I began to examine myself: Was my tone unkind? Did I sound pushy? Did I clarify the truth clearly?
When I looked inside, I was shocked to see my attachments to competition, showing off, and deeply hidden selfishness. So that my practice would not be disturbed, I drove him off, claiming I was “clarifying the truth.” I lacked a cultivator’s tolerance and compassion. I suddenly understood that tall things happen for a reason and that Master Li, the founder of Dafa, was using this incident to improve my xinxing.
Master said,
“Dafa’s dignity can’t be safeguarded with the means of everyday people. It’s brought about by each of our Dafa disciples exhibiting true compassion and kindness. It’s not created, it’s not created by human conduct or human means. It’s born out of compassion and it’s manifest in saving sentient beings and in your cultivation. When you cultivate well as a whole, the world’s people will say that Dafa is good and will all respect Dafa.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)
Four days later, the man came back and blew his horn louder than ever before, but I was not moved. I experienced the realm of “Just by staying unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.” (“Teachings at the Midwestern U.S. Conference”) Later, when the weather turned cold, he disappeared.
On March 26, 2020, I went to the practice site as usual. Only the coordinator was there, and he looked grave. He said the governor and the mayor had just issued a curfew and that everyone had to stay home after 9:00 p.m. starting that night, and all gatherings were restricted to five people or fewer.
I asked, “Do we continue with our practice site?” He smiled, “Yes, we do. Even if there is only one of us, we must continue so that we can save more people!” That was how our practice site continued without missing a single day.
In the days that followed, the usually lively park was suddenly desolate and silent, and even the streetlights went out. One night, the fellow practitioner did not show up and I was by myself. When I finished the first four exercises, it was already dark and no one was around.
I was a little worried, thinking, “Should I meditate at home instead?” My righteous thoughts were debating with my fear. My fear said it was dangerous to be alone at night and I should hurry up and go home since it made no difference where I meditated. My righteous thoughts said I had to stay because Master would bring predestined people and how could they find the Fa if I was not there?
Master said,
“We’re only saying that we don’t want to leave out people who have a predestined relationship. When I talk about spreading the Fa, I’m not asking the entire humankind to come obtain the Fa—that’s not the idea at all. I’m talking about getting people with a predestined relationship to come obtain the Fa. Today I might as well tell everyone clearly: The Fa-spreading method we’ve adopted all along is that you do the exercises outdoors. Another one is to have our Dafa books for sale in public bookstores. My Law Bodies will direct people with a predestined relationship to buy the book, and as soon as they read it they will come and learn. Also, we’re doing the exercises outdoors, so the Law Bodies will arrange for them to find the practice sites and obtain the Fa. Through a strange combination of circumstances they will be led over here to do the exercises, or they will find our students. That’s how we’ve arranged it.” (Teachings at the Conference in Switzerland)
I gritted my teeth and stayed. There was a small light on the truth-clarification poster board. It glowed in the dark, like a lighthouse in a vast ocean. The exercise music and Master’s commands felt extra warm in the silence of the night.
I gradually entered tranquility and saw with my celestial eye that many lotus lamps were lit and the exercise site was like a lotus pond in the heavens. How extraordinary!
I came out of tranquility, opened my eyes, and saw a woman squatting down in front of the lamp, reading the poster board very carefully. I quickly handed her a lotus flower and some materials. When I said the words “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” her eyes suddenly widened and tears fell as if she had been struck by lightning. She muttered, “This is so wonderful.”
As I watched her leave, I knew this was the person Master had wanted me to wait for in the dark. What has she been through? Was she having a tough time? I don’t think it mattered. What mattered was that that night she learned about the Fa and heard the Nine True Words.
Before long, different rights movements began filling the streets of Manhattan. There was frequent vandalism and looting, and everyone was so frightened that even fewer people went out.
One day, we heard clanging noises while three of us were meditating, and before we knew it, we saw hundreds of people pouring into the park, a menacing crowd heading towards us. My heart missed a beat, worrying that our truth-clarification poster board would be vandalized and our materials robbed. But, suddenly, I realized that Master’s Fashen was next to us.
As the crowd approached our site, the restless group suddenly quieted down, and the crowd split into three groups, each following a different path in the park. Those who passed in front of us did not even look at us, as if they were sleepwalking. It was magical!
At this time, Master’s Fa struck me,
“Our exercise sites are better than any other qigong exercise sites. As long as you go to our exercise sites for practice, it is much better than your treating your own illness. My fashen sit in a circle, and above the exercise site is a shield on which there is a big Falun. A large fashen guards the site above the shield. This site is not an ordinary site, and neither is it a site for an ordinary qigong practice: It is a site for cultivation practice. Many of our practitioners with supernormal abilities have seen that this Falun Dafa site is shielded with red light, and it is red all over.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
During the year of the pandemic, various people joined our practice site. Some learned the exercises and left. Some stayed for a week, and some stayed for a month.
I remember an older woman from Maine who always wore such heavy makeup it was hard to tell her age. She came to our practice site every day for an entire week, but she couldn’t remember the movements. I taught her repeatedly, but she forgot them all. Each time we had to start all over again.
She did not make any progress that week. Before she left, she told me she felt someone was aiming a gun at her while she was learning the exercises but she said she was not afraid because she knew Falun Dafa was good.
I found it very odd because I hadn’t heard of such interference before. She told me she had been following a different spiritual practice while searching for an advanced practice all her life. This time, she learned Falun Gong by chance and felt really good, but she felt a lot of resistance, and she couldn’t let go of her old stuff.
I said, “If you are determined to practice Falun Dafa, Master Li will definitely take care of you, but you have to be dedicated to this practice. If not, it will be in vain.” She asked for a copy of Zhuan Falun and set out on her journey.
I thought of her from time to time and understood once again the importance of Practicing Only One Cultivation Way, which makes me cherish the preciousness of the righteous Dafa even more.
Master said,
“Today we have made public to you this great practice. I have already delivered it to your doorstep. It is up to you whether you can practice cultivation and make it.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
A neat-looking African-American lady passed by our site, and after I clarified the facts to her, she immediately wanted to learn. She learned the first four exercises very quickly and I was amazed at how adept she was. But she always looked sullen.
One day, during a conversation, she pulled down her collar to show me her neck. I saw purple finger marks on the front and back of her neck. She told me her husband had been beating her, that she was a victim of domestic violence, and that she had wanted to die. She said, “You know, if I hadn’t come to learn Dafa and understood Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I would have jumped into the Hudson River a few days ago.”
I gave her a copy of Zhuan Falun and encouraged her to practice and not be afraid of the violence. She didn’t show up after that. I was sorry for her but at the same time I thought, “She has experienced the energy of Dafa. After all, she has obtained the Fa and come to know the preciousness of life and the relationship between cause and effect.” I wish her a good life.
Around the time of the 2020 General Elections, the world was in turmoil, and everyone, non-practitioners and practitioners alike, was making a choice and positioning themselves. I was deeply aware that Master has been watching over us and strengthening our practice site.
During the past year, we have saved over a thousand people at this practice site. Dafa has brought hope and blessings to people who were frustrated and confused, and our persistence was greatly rewarded as people continued to stop by every day to learn the exercises and take the truth-clarification materials.
A year ago, a homeless man, Imano, joined our group. His clothes were old but very tidy. When he was fighting the pain and exhaustion by clenching his teeth and sweating all over his head during the practice, we all wondered if he could hold on. But he did, which pleasantly surprised us all.
From sitting on the ground and crossing his legs with difficulty a year ago to being able to meditate for an hour in the single lotus position, he can now complete all five exercises in two hours. I can’t help but feel convinced that the world’s people are here for the Fa.
Master said,
“When one person gains salvation, that represents all of the beings behind him gaining salvation in the future. [I say this] because the vast majority of the people on this earth, of today’s people, are heavenly kings who descended to earth, who incarnated here as human beings.”(“What is a Dafa Disciple,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
It is also worth mentioning that a fellow Western practitioner who joined our practice site two years ago was cured of cancer he’d had for nine years. Dafa has given him a second life. He is practicing diligently and has joined the effort to clarify the truth and save people.
There are too many touching stories like these from our practice site to list them all. Looking back at my three years of cultivation, I am grateful to the boundless Dafa and Master’s merciful salvation. I changed from being a selfish and narrow-minded person full of karma to a Dafa disciple who cultivates openly and honestly and continues to advance diligently on the path of cultivation and saving others.
I have personally witnessed and lived Dafa’s magic and wonder. This has strengthened my faith in Dafa and spared me from fear in the darkest days, because I have the Fa leading the way and Master protecting me.
Master said,
“I know all of the suffering of my disciples. The truth is, I treasure you more than you treasure yourselves!” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s),” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Master also said,
“Dafa disciples, you are golden light in the mortal world, the hope of the world’s people, Fa-disciples who help Master, and future Fa-Kings.” (“Congratulatory Message,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)
The title of Dafa Disciple is extraordinary and supreme. Let us cherish this opportunity that doesn’t come by in eons and cherish the path of Fa-rectification that countless Dafa disciples have paved with their lives.
Finally, once again, I kowtow to Master for His saving grace. You have worked hard, Master!
All articles, graphics, and content published on Minghui.org are copyrighted. Non-commercial reproduction is allowed but requires attribution with the article title and a link to the original article.
