(Minghui.org)
Greetings compassionate and revered Master! Dear fellow practitioners:
I didn’t have the courage to write experience sharing articles before, as I thought I didn’t have anything significant to say or any moving stories to share with others. I was afraid that my sharing articles might be laughed at by others. In fact, saving face is precisely the attachment that I needed to get rid of.
I obtained the Fa many years ago, but for the first two-thirds of my practice, I was at the stage of personal cultivation. Only in more recent years did I start to step forward to validate the Fa.
Master said, “The path a Dafa disciple takes is a glorious history.” (“Path,” Essentials for Further Advancement II) Master also said, “Every one of you could write a book about his cultivation process,...” (“Teaching the Fa at the Conference in the Midwest-U.S.,” 1999) So, I let go of my attachment to fear, as I believe that I should put together my cultivation experiences to serve as a report to Master about my cultivation.
My Workplace Environment Changed after I Obtained the Fa
I am a government employee. In 2001, after seeing my colleague sitting behind me reading a golden book every day, I was very curious. I thought, “What book would make him study it every day and at every available moment? I should borrow that book and check it out.” After reading the book, Zhuan Falun, through, I then started practicing Falun Dafa.
I had once fallen down from the top of the stairs. Long-term medical treatment didn’t cure my injuries. I also suffered from severe rheumatism in my right leg. After sitting for hours in an air-conditioned office, my right leg was often sore and numb. Whenever I got up from a chair, I needed to wait a while before I could start to walk. Two or three days after I finished reading Zhuan Falun , I decided to practice the Falun Gong exercises. I suddenly found that my previously injured right leg had become very light, and I no longer limped. I was overjoyed, and could hardly believe it.
I enlightened that it was Master who helped me. That moment, my excitement turned into heartfelt gratitude. Since I'd just started practicing, I hadn’t yet realized that Master was always with us. I looked up to the sky, and I felt that Master was in heaven. On the busy street, I really felt like kneeling down on the spot to express my sincere gratitude to Master for His great mercy.
I’ve been transferred to various departments at work. Whenever I transferred to a new office, colleagues would tell me that they found that the atmosphere in their office became more harmonious. They told me that in the past people often fought with each other in that office. Co-workers in one office had been in a long-term and very tense situation and they were not friendly towards each other. After I was transferred to a new department and worked there for a while, not only did they not argue with each other, but they also began to help each other.
The atmosphere in the office changed dramatically within a short period. It was transformed from an atmosphere of hostility into one of harmony and cooperation. Because of this, my manager asked me how I reconciled the disputes. I replied, “I did nothing deliberate. You know I'm a Dafa practitioner, and I just deal with people according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. As long as a person practices Falun Gong, his or her entire family can benefit from it, and the same is true with one's coworkers. I think this is what was mentioned in Zhuan Falun , ‘The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities.’” Because of this, the manager and his wife attended a Shen Yun Performing Arts show.
With Steadfast Belief in Master and Dafa, I Made it through My Family Conflicts
I have a happy family, and my husband loves me dearly. Over the years, we’ve always been together and maintained a great relationship. In terms of my cultivation, my husband also supported Dafa and read Zhuan Falun . But he could not understand my stepping forward to validate the Fa. For a period of time, he even strongly opposed what I did.
My husband didn’t smoke in the past, but he started to smoke when I went out to validate the Fa. The situation became worse and worse, and we quarreled time and again. He even requested a divorce, and asked me to make a choice between Dafa and him. During the process, I was often tearful and felt helpless, as if I had come to a dead end. Master said, “Cultivation is serious. Not one test or hardship will seem like a joke.” He also said, “Then it is also testing whether or not you are steadfast towards this Law.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Houston”) Thinking of Master and the principles in the book, I was sure that it was right to cultivate Dafa. In particular, as I lived with my parents-in-law, divorce would have too much of a negative impact on them. I told myself, “I cannot tarnish Dafa, and I cannot give up on anyone. Because I have the cake, I have to eat it too.”
I talked with my husband numerous times, but we usually failed to reach any consensus because we always insisted on our own views. Sometimes, my husband even said negative things about Dafa. I always remembered what Master said , “As long as you upgrade your xinxing, you can overcome them.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun) In Essentials for Further Advancement II , Master also said, “Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy.”
To keep my husband from committing wrongdoings against Dafa, I started to write letters to him. That way he would be calm and peaceful and think about what I wrote in the letters. When we talked about ordinary day-to-day things, I also added something about my own or other practitioners’ experiences in looking inward and upgrading xinxing when running into conflicts. I also asked him to read the articles about cultivation on the Minghui website to help him understand the magnificence of upgrading one's character as a result of cultivating in Dafa. I was convinced that interference from the conventional concepts of today's society was huge, and was preventing my husband from knowing the truth. I was able to break through gradually, and eventually help him recognize and understand Dafa.
Some time ago, my husband suddenly said to me, “Thank you for teaching our children so well.” I solemnly told him that if it had not been for Dafa, I wouldn’t have taught our children so well. It is because of Dafa’s universal principles that our children have had a high standard in their hearts. That’s why they didn't lose their direction in school, which is like a mini society. I told my husband that we should thank Dafa.
A while back, my husband asked me if I could buy some Dafa books for him, as one of his colleagues was about to leave the job, and he wanted to give him a copy of Zhuan Falun and The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa . I immediately told him that I'd be happy to. Seeing my husband’s big change in his attitude towards Dafa, I was truly moved by the magnificence of Dafa and my heart is full of appreciation for Master.
My Life Is Upgraded During the Process of Cultivation and Validation of the Fa
During the six to seven-year period of personal cultivation, I thought that because the main target of clarifying the truth was China, it had nothing to do with overseas practitioners. In fact, this understanding only showed that I hadn't studied the Fa well. Master said “If a Dafa disciple cannot validate the Fa, then he is not a Dafa disciple.” (“On 'The Dignity of Dafa',” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Thanks to Master’s arrangements, through other practitioners’ invitation, I was able to attend this Fa-validation activity, without missing the wonderful opportunity to help Master validate the Fa. I’d like to share with you some major things I experienced during the process of validating the Fa, as well as helping to promote Shen Yun Performing Arts and upgrading my xinxing.
About two years ago, I participated in the first training session on public relations and giving presentations to promote Shen Yun in Kaohsiung. The day before I was going to give my first public promotional speech, I was suddenly informed that my mom was hospitalized and waiting for an operation. I reminded myself to regard the matter with righteous thoughts.
The doctor said that my mother only needed to undergo a minor operation, and she might have to stay in the hospital three days. But my mom’s situation was actually very serious. She was suffering general weakness, and was unable to take care of herself. In the hospital, I could not leave my mom for a moment, let alone go off to give the presentation the following day. I immediately sensed that it was interference.
Therefore, I sent forth righteous thoughts. I told my mother in my mind that she was only undergoing minor surgery and she would get over it soon, that all the illness symptoms were simply an illusion, and any demonic interference would never interfere with my Shen Yun promotion.
I maintained righteous thoughts and rid myself of falling into the demonic trap of the attachment to sentimentality. I left the hospital at noon the next day as originally planned. After I finished giving the presentation that evening, my family told me that my mother was able to eat, and her condition was quite good. Her situation was completely different from the previous night. Three days later, she was discharged from the hospital on schedule.
I knew that I had passed the test. On my way home, I felt that I was like a giant standing solemnly between heaven and the earth, just as Master said in “Taiji,” Hong Yin, “Traveling all domains, his Great Dao was unmatched”
As I cultivate, I find that I am gradually no longer interested in many things that ordinary people find interesting, especially frivolous everyday functions. However, now that we need to promote Shen Yun to save people, we should be involved in social functions. Yet sometimes I find that I feel overwhelmed in certain situations and don't do well. Still, I am clear about my position, and deeply feel that saving people is not an easy job.
In “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa - Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference,” Master said, “It should be the righteous thoughts of a cultivator that guide you.” Master also said, “Selling a ticket equates to saving a person.” I keep reminding myself with Master’s Fa that I should let go of all the attachments I encounter at Shen Yun promotional events. But when I shared my experiences with fellow practitioners, I found that I still had some attachments to mundane affairs in my heart.
Once when I was in meditation, I suddenly realized that Master would even save Chinese Communist Party special agents, regardless of their occupation. I, however, was still attached to my own feelings when it came to saving people. I seemed to hesitate to fully let go of my selfishness and attachments.
Master said, “Your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous enlightenment of selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you say, you must consider others—or even future generations—along with Dafa’s eternal stability.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Thinking over some of the situations in Shen Yun promotional events where I didn't do well, I realized that I was still attached to my own feelings. I felt very bad about not being able to live up to Master’s expectations. In comparison with Master’s great compassion, I felt ashamed of myself, and I was in tears in the sitting mediation. At that moment, I felt the energy of Master’s great compassion envelop my entire body and soul, and the negative substances were dispersed from my body gradually, layer by layer. After finishing the meditation, I knew that I had let go of the attachment to selfishness and personal feelings.
On my path of cultivation, unlike other practitioners who have outstanding achievements, I have nothing special and have a lot of shortcomings as well. But Master hasn't given up on me. At each stage, Master made the best arrangement for me, so that I could meet different practitioners who helped me get rid of my attachments. In the process of participating in activities to validate the Fa and save sentient beings, I have been cleansed and upgraded, from immaturity to maturity, from counting on others, to being independent.
Over the years, I have found many beautiful and sacred udambara flowers on the rear-view mirrors of my motorcycle, in the flower bed, and on the steel bars of the windows in my home, as well as on the glass of the French windows in my living room. My parents-in-law and other family members also saw these holy flowers that blossom only once in 3,000 years. My father-in-law used to oppose my practicing Falun Dafa, but I once overheard him saying to himself, “Falun Dafa is good.” I was pleasantly surprised, and felt so happy for him. Indeed, I cannot express my gratitude enough to Master for His magnificent teachings.
During 5,000 year of reincarnations, Master has borne so much for us. On the last leg of the path of Fa-validation, I would just like to share with fellow practitioners the following verses imparted by Master in Hong Yin II , to encourage us to be more diligent on the path of Fa-validation and repay the great magnificence Master has given to us!
“With righteous thoughts and righteous actions, He is diligent without letting up; Eliminating demons that damage the Fa, He is good to all beings.” (“A Righteous God,” Hong Yin II)
As my level is limited and I still have a lot of shortcomings, your kind corrections are highly appreciated.
Thank you Master, and thank you fellow practitioners.
Presented at the 2013 Taiwan Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference
