(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Gong in July 2010. I would like to share my cultivation experiences with Master and my fellow practitioners.
1. Waking Up
Growing up, I had appendicitis, tuberculosis, and gynecological problems. In the spring of 2010, I had surgery to remove a thyroid carcinoid tumor, which had spread to my lymph nodes. After surgery, my throat was dry and sore and I was unable to speak. And I also had many symptoms of menopause, such as night sweats, insomnia, headaches, tinnitus, back pain, joint pain, and chronic irritability.
I tried everything, from traditional Chinese medicine to Western medicine to cancer-fighting drugs, but nothing seemed to work. I've always felt emotionally upset, afraid, and overwhelmed by the feeling of hopelessness. I often cried, wondering if I would ever know what it felt like to be healthy.
I lost my voice. I could not make phone calls and, as a doctor, it was very difficult for me to communicate with my patients. I eventually had to resort to using hand gestures.
At that time, a woman visited my office and shared her wonderful experience with Falun Dafa. She suggested that I take up the practice as soon as possible, leaving me with the words, “Only Dafa can save you!”
I understand now that it was compassionate Master who had sent her to me to wake me up, and that my predestined relationship with Dafa had finally arrived. From then on, I have never stopped studying the Fa or doing the exercises. I felt very fortunate that my life-threatening illnesses had led me to Dafa, thus a seemingly bad thing turned out to be something good. I also appreciated the fact that Master had provided me a path to follow, one that would lead me back home.
2. Feeling Healthy for the First Time in My Life
A short time after I began practicing Falun Gong, many of my health problems disappeared. I also regained my voice, which made me much more confident in my cultivation practice. Master continually purified my body and opened my Celestial Eye. I saw Falun rotating in front of my face and felt a warm current wash over me, making my cold limbs and stomach warm.
I finally felt healthy for the first time in my life. I was so happy! My face had a healthy glow to it and I felt full of energy and in good spirits. I also got rid of many bad habits that I had as an ordinary person. My family and friends told me that I had become a totally different person.
When I returned to work, I stopped complaining; I acted more responsibly, and I refrained from getting into conflicts. I treated others with compassion and became indifferent to fame and fortune. I finally understood the meaning of life and what true happiness is. I now conduct myself according to Master's different Fa teachings:
“He who acts for his name
a life of anger and hate is his
He who acts for profit
cold is he, knowing not his kin
He who acts for emotion
many are the troubles he brings himself
Bitter,
fighting away,
he makes karma all his life.
Not seeking a name
life is carefree and content
Not set on profit
one is known as humane and righteous
Not stirred by emotion
the mind is quiet, desires few
Kind,
cultivating himself,
he builds up virtue all his years.”
(“An Upright Person” from Hong Yin)
I now treat conflicts and injustice as tests, and recite Master's Fa:
“He who regards not
ordinary sorrows and joys
A cultivator is he
He who has not attachment
to worldly loss and gain
An Arhat is he”
(“Breaking Free of the Three Realms” from Hong Yin)
I also keep in mind that “Zhen-Shan-Ren is the Sole Criterion to Discern Good and Bad People” (Zhuan Falun)
“Let each and every thing
be measured against the Fa.
Only then, with that,
is it actually cultivation.”
(“Solid Cultivation” from Hong Yin)
I make a point of looking inwards and have thus eliminated a lot of human attachments, improving myself and becoming a better person.
3. Seizing the Time to Do the Three Things Well
“... when a wise man hears the Tao, he will follow it diligently.” (“Lecture in Sydney”)
Every day, I study the Fa, do the exercises, and send righteous thoughts. I make great efforts to stop thinking and behaving like an ordinary person. With the help of veteran practitioners, I now participate in distributing Dafa-related materials and Shen Yun DVDs. I also take every opportunity to tell people the truth about Dafa, and help them quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I also make truth-clarifying phone calls and installed a NTDTV dish at my home, providing others with news from outside of China. I write “Falun Dafa is good!” on yuan notes and have helped most of my family and friends quit the Chinese regime.
Although I started on the path of cultivation very late, and there's a big gap between myself and veteran practitioners, I still want to catch up to them. So, no matter how hot or cold it is, I still hand out Dafa materials every day and make time to do the three things well. I encourage myself with Master's words:
“Pause for a moment of self-reflection,
and increase your righteous thoughts
Thoroughly analyze your shortcomings,
and progress with renewed diligence.”
(“Rational and Awake” from Hong Yin Vol. II)
4. Eliminating Karma and Passing Tests
Since the day I started practicing Dafa, Master has been continuously purifying my body and eliminating my karma. I overcame many bouts of sickness karma without taking any medicine and passed many difficult xinxing tests, all while doing the three things well. I enlightened to the fact that, with Dafa in my life, all that I need to do is follow Master's teachings.
A few days ago, I experienced a severe bout of sickness karma, which really tested my faith in Dafa. One of my first thoughts was, “Could I have gotten cancer because I'm not cultivating myself well?” As soon as that thought arose, I realized that I was thinking like an ordinary person, not like a practitioner. I immediately corrected myself, saying, “I am a Dafa disciple, so I have no illnesses!” Master said:
“We have said that good or evil comes from a person’s spontaneous thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences." (Zhuan Falun)
“In the course of cultivation practice, one must practice cultivation this way to ascend to higher levels. Thus, once some of you feel physical discomfort somewhere, you will think that you are ill. You always fail to treat yourselves as practitioners, for if this happens to you, you will consider it an illness. Why are there so many troubles? Let me tell you that a lot of it has already been removed for you, and your tribulations are already quite trivial. If it were not removed for you, you might already have dropped dead had you encountered this trouble.” (Zhuan Falun)
I realized that everything that had happened to me had been good, and that it was Master who was eliminating my karma and purifying my body. I also realized that Master has suffered a great deal for me, much more than I have ever suffered myself! I gradually passed this sickness-karma test after letting go of many human notions.
Over the past ten years, I had felt a six-inch-wide band of hard tissue across my lower-left abdominal area. It had always felt very uncomfortable to the touch. I recently looked at it and discovered that it had completely disappeared! I shed tears of gratitude for Master's saving grace.
I will be more diligent in my practice, have unwavering faith in Dafa, walk well the rest of my cultivation path, and fulfill my historic mission. I will cultivate myself well, save more beings, and do what Master has asked us to do.
I also know that I am not living up to Master's requirements, thus making it difficult to assist Master in Fa Rectification. I still have many attachments, like fighting, showing off, envy, zealotry, saving face, and being unable to calm down while studying the Fa and sending righteous thoughts. By writing down my cultivation experiences, I can now see my attachments more clearly, making it easier to eliminate them!