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By a practitioner in Italy
I am a Falun Dafa practitioner from Italy. I'm 52 years old.
About two years ago I had the good fortune to become familiar with Falun Dafa, and since then the quality of my life has changed tremendously. Back then, I was having a hard time. I was fifty, and I had just lost my job and was searching for a new one. At home, my wife and I didn't understand each other. She is my partner and a good mother to our daughter. However, we quarreled every day and I was very upset.
One day, a friend of mine came to visit me because she needed to send an email from my computer. She is a Tai Chi and Yoga teacher and she asked me if I had heard about Falun Gong. I answered that I had read about it in the newspapers (it was September 1999) but I did not exactly know what it was. So I searched on the Internet for related information and found many links. Being curious, I downloaded the book Falun Gong.
After reading it, I was really anxious to read other practitioners' experiences. I was really shocked because everything was for free: the teachings, the books, the videos, and the music. I honestly could not believe it and thought that it was a trick to make money. However, reading hundreds of practitioners' experiences, little by little, I became convinced that Falun Dafa must be something really worthwhile. What I was interested in was not the fact that as a practitioner, I could have some particular powers, but the fact of putting the three principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" to work in my daily life. From this I believed I would become a better person and improve the quality of life for both myself and the people around me.
From then on I started putting into practice the first principle, Truthfulness, in the sense that I did not want to lie anymore. I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't at all. I used to tell lies to myself and to others; now I gradually became aware of them. I am learning to tell the truth. I noticed that by just applying these principles in my life, I have more energy. I think that all the energy I previously used to construct the castles of my lies can be saved, and I feel the joy of liberating this energy.
I understand the second principle, Compassion, as being kind to the people I see every day in my family, at work, on the bus, etc. I think I was always a kind person, but now it is
different: I think that we are, as human beings, one entity！ kind to ourselves when we are kind to others. I hope that this thought is not too
selfish.
I notice that behaving in this way！not lying, being kind, being tolerant and having patience, trying to behave in a noble way, my life has become more beautiful and full of joy. Many people around me regard Falun Gong as a very good thing. I never tried to convince them of how good our cultivation practice is; all I did was prove it by my actions. Of course it is very, very difficult. Many times, in the family and at work, I am still not able to behave exactly as a true practitioner, but I am learning and improving.
My job appears now to be a very fertile environment for upgrading my character. It is at work that I learned to be a good cultivator and do a good job simultaneously. My work and my family changed, and I think that they all prefer me as a cultivator to the person I was in the past. When I
first started practicing, my wife was very unhappy with my practice. However, she changed her mind when she saw my transformation.
As a practitioner, I treat all my problems as tests to improve myself and become a better person. I have started a journey and have found that at the beginning of my journey my biggest obstacle is myself. I will make it though, through persistent practice and special attention to upgrading my character.
I am very grateful for what I have received from Falun Dafa. If this is the highest level that I reach in my cultivation (I am sure it is not), I would still
find it the most worthwhile endeavor of my life. It has made me a better person, given me a righteous path to follow and a way to make sense of the circumstances that surround me. It has provided me with a more civilized way to react！more civilized than in the past, when I would usually, with my ordinary mentality, react with hurt or frustration, or more likely, anger.
Up to now, all the problems and questions that I have come across through my cultivation were answered through reading the book Zhuan Falun and Master Li's articles. I also believe that the problems I will meet later on can also be answered in this way.
I want to add one last thing. I think that as practitioners, we must use our wisdom to clarify the truth to the people and spread Dafa. I am a writer and I think that if I can touch the hearts of the people in my work, it is because the readers can find "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" between the lines.
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