(Minghui.org) “No pain, no gain” is a saying that describes my cultivation path. I have gone through hardships and upgraded my level over the last decade of cultivation. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences.
A Dream to Cultivate
When I started to practice Falun Dafa in September 1997, I had whooping cough, chronic encephalitis, and rheumatic joint pain. I didn't start cultivating to cure my illnesses, but they disappeared not long after I started practicing.
My sister-in-law and I went to a fair at a temple in the spring of 1991. On our way home, as I was walking out of the main hall, I passed by a Buddha statue. All of a sudden, the back of my shirt got caught up on the statue and wouldn't come loose. To keep my shirt from ripping, I yelled at my sister-in-law to come and help. She was groping around the statue in front of a lot of bystanders, but she couldn't see that anything was wrong.
The people standing around began to tell me, “You and the Buddha are predestined. The Buddha did not want you to leave.” My sister-in-law quickly told me to pay homage to the Buddha with incense. I asked the Buddha to loosen my clothes if he wanted me to. My shirt came loose and I lit incense for the Buddha and rushed home.
I had a horrible headache when I got home. I skipped lunch and immediately decided to lay down. Within five minutes, I was dreaming. In the dream an abbot and some monks from a temple were chasing me. One person suddenly blocked the abbot to let me escape. I asked his name, but the person did not respond. I told him I would not leave without knowing who he was. Only after I knelt down and begged, did he tell me his last name was Li. I thought to myself, "A monk with the last name of Li just saved my life." When I told my husband about the dream, he advised me not to visit the temple anymore.
My husband became a practitioner in 1997. He encouraged me to practice, but I worshiped “spirits” at that time. One day after group Fa study, he suddenly remembered my dream and told the other practitioners. They said, “Monks do not use last names. The person with the last name of Li must be Master! Your wife was born with good inborn quality, and you should encourage her to practice Dafa.” My husband did not tell me about their discussion involving my dream.
My husband burned all the possessing spirits I worshiped one day when I wasn't at home. I was mad at him and worried that trouble would come our way because of what he did. He said, “Don't worry, nothing will happen. Didn't you say that a person with the last name of Li saved your life?”
He asked me to go to the group Fa study site with him if I wanted to see the person that was in my dream. There were a lot of people there, but I didn't know any of them. I didn't see a monk either and I didn't really want to be there despite the friendly greetings from the group.
A video began to play, and I was shocked when I saw the person on the screen. Of course it was Master Li, the person in my dream. I was so moved and cried so hard that I really couldn't listen to the video. I took a taxi home after it ended. My head was spinning and my legs were shaking when I got out of the taxi. I did not know how I was going to walk the 160 feet from the gate to the house. I could barely get into the house and shut the door, when I dropped to the floor and passed out.
My husband woke me two hours later when he came home. I did not understand that Master was purifying my body. I blamed my husband for what had happened to me. He laughed and said, “Weren't you complaining that there was something wrong with your head? Master was taking care of you. He must have put you in an unconscious state to work on your brain.”
Master completely eliminated my diseases overnight. I had diarrhea, vomiting, and my belches smelled like Chinese medicine. The next morning, my haggard face and brain were perfectly clear. I said excitedly, “Master is really powerful. He purified my body even before I started to practice cultivation. Thank you, Master.” That was how I became a Dafa practitioner.
Customers Helped Me to Upgrade Myself
I worked as a salesperson for a private company. I followed Master's requirements at all times to do things well. I would consider the needs of others first and did not fight for my own self interests. When something was not done well, I blamed myself and said, “This has nothing to do with Dafa. This happened because I did not cultivate myself well.” This made my coworkers laugh, but everyone at the store had a high regard for Falun Dafa.
When I was waiting on a customer one day, I saw him drop a 100 yuan bill on the floor under the cash register. When he was ready to leave, I stopped him, “Please wait, Sir.” I picked up the money and gave it to him. He was very surprised and said, “Thank you, there aren't that many honest people anymore.” I told him that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner and that our Master teaches us to be honest.
The customer asked who practiced Falun Dafa. To avoid being singled out, the owner's wife said that everyone in the store practiced Falun Dafa, and then everyone in the store said in unison, “We do.” The customer murmured on his way out, “This is very good. If everyone practiced Falun Dafa, there wouldn't be any bad people. Why does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prohibit it? What kind of world are we living in?”
On another occasion I was getting merchandise from the storage room for a customer. The customer kept asking me to hurry up. I said impatiently, “I can only go as fast as my feet will take me.” He had not treated me kindly, so I wanted to treat him unkindly, and I moved slowly on purpose.
The box I was carrying was not that big or heavy, yet I fell on the steps on the way back to the store. Immediately I understood this had happened because of my poor xinxing.
Master said:
“If the person did not create this situation for you, how could you upgrade your xinxing? If both you and I are nice to each other and sit there in harmony, how can it be possible to increase gong? It is precisely because that person has created this conflict for you that there is this opportunity to improve xinxing, and you can make use of it to upgrade your own xinxing. Isn’t your xinxing raised this way?” (Zhuan Falun)
I slowly got up and walked to the customer with his merchandise. I apologized for keeping him waiting. He replied with a smile, “Don't worry. Thank you!” Master had safeguarded me and helped me to look inwards for shortcomings and to remove attachments.
Breaking Through Life and Death Tribulations
My son and I went to distribute truth clarification flyers and post banners one evening in the fall of 2004. My husband wasn't home. When I was getting ready to go to bed that night, I suddenly passed out and fell down. My son was only 13 at the time, and he was really scared and kept calling out my name. I regained consciousness about an hour later and immediately shouted out, “Master, please help me!" I said the verse for sending forth righteous thoughts and sent forth righteous thoughts. Ten minutes later, my son helped me to sit up before I crawled to my room.
My head was groggy, so I asked my son to play the Dafa music of Pudu and Jishi. I held the thought that no evil was allowed to interfere with me or to persecute me. I knew I had attachments and only Master and Dafa could rectify me. I continuously sent forth righteous thoughts until I fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, everything was normal, as if nothing had happened. Master taught us in Zhuan Falun that “good or evil comes from that instant thought.” Indeed, my thoughts at that moment could have brought about a different outcome.
The Power of Righteous Thoughts
The CCP posted defamatory slogans about Falun Dafa on a wall at the intersection of a busy commercial district and a nearby police station one week before July 20, 2006. My boss's grandfather told me about them, and I decided I was going to paint over them. I sent forth righteous thoughts during the day to prevent people from seeing the slogans.
I told my husband what I was going to do, and he and other practitioners suggested that the practitioners who lived nearby could do it. I said, “Master has taught us to firmly defend Dafa. Since I heard about this, I need to paint over the slogans myself.” I asked them to send righteous thoughts for me.
I went to a fellow practitioner's home to pick up the paint. Her husband, who is not a practitioner, said, “The thick paint was used up. I do have liquid paint and a brush. Will that work?” I said, “Perfect.” He said, “It is almost July 20 and the wall is so close to the police station; this could be a set-up.” I said, “Don't worry, Master will protect us. We are doing the most sacred thing in the universe.”
The other practitioner and I sent forth righteous thoughts before we headed out. This was going to be difficult, because the wall was located at a busy intersection and there were a lot of pedestrians. When we arrived, the headlights of a parked cargo truck lit up the wall. My partner wondered if we would be able to still do it. I said, “We are here for a good reason, and it has to be done. Let's ask for Master's help to dim the headlights for five minutes.” The headlights went out momentarily and the pedestrians disappeared. The other practitioner said, “Wow, sending righteous thoughts is really powerful! Master is with us.”
The other practitioner held the paint can while I dipped the brush in the can and painted the wall. My hair, face, and clothes were splashed with paint. After we were done, the pedestrians showed up again and the truck headlights came back on. I learned from this experience what Master mentioned,
“The old forces don’t dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What’s key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things.” ( “Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston”)
My boss's grandfather stopped me the next day and sighed, “Falun Dafa is amazing. I saw two people writing slogans on the wall yesterday, but today they are gone. The spirit of practitioners is really great!” Of course, he did not know we were the ones who had covered up the slogans. I will do better on my cultivation path knowing that Master is by my side.
Precious Lives Saved
A young customer leaned over the counter in 2007 and kept saying “toothache.” I didn't think he wanted to buy anything and our store wasn't a clinic. I then realized he was waiting for salvation. I smiled at him and said, “Although a toothache is not a disease, it must really hurt. I used to have the same problem. You probably will not believe it if I tell you how I cured it.” He answered, “I will believe anything as long as it stops the pain.”
I told him, “My classmate's mother is a Falun Dafa practitioner. She told me to sincerely say, 'Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.' She also told me that Falun Dafa teaches people to be selfless and considerate. The CCP persecution is wrong and the Tiananmen Square self-immolation was staged. She told me that I must choose the right path for my own benefit.”
He did not understand what the right path was. I asked him if he had heard about withdrawing from the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. I told him, “The CCP members are corrupt and prone to accepting bribes, and they persecute good people. There is an old saying 'You must repay with your own life if you take another's life; you must repay with your own money if you borrow money from others.'
"When we joined these organizations, we unknowingly made an oath that said we would die for the regime. The CCP has done bad things. If society does not bring them to justice, heaven will. If you don't quit the CCP, you will become a victim of that regime.”
He said, “I wore a red scarf in school and I am applying to join the CCP. Luckily, I have not finished the application.” I said, “You were predestined to meet me today. You should quickly withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I can help you quit with an alias.” He agreed, and then lightly patted his cheeks to show that the toothache was gone. He repeatedly turned around to thank me as he walked out of the store. A precious life was saved.
My husband was illegally arrested at home and sentenced to nine years in prison during the Olympic Games in 2008. I have been safeguarded by Master in the Fa-rectification to carry out the mission of doing the three things well since my husband's arrest. On visiting day, I always spoke to predestined people about Falun Gong and the persecution and helped them to quit the CCP, as saving sentient beings is the responsibility of every Dafa disciple.
On the bus to visit my jailed husband in Jilin on March 27, 2012, we encountered an elderly man who got on the bus halfway to our destination. My son wanted to give him his seat. The man did not take it because he was getting off in two or three stops. I wasn't paying attention because I was sending righteous thoughts. When he got off the bus, I regretted that I did not tell him the facts about Dafa.
There were more visitors than usual and we waited a long time. I saw a practitioner that I knew while I was waiting. We shared our cultivation experiences, and we told each other to diligently study the Fa and send righteous thoughts. We discussed how to do the three things well and help those practitioners who have stepped away from cultivation.
When we saw my husband, we encouraged him to strengthen his righteous thoughts and have Master's teachings in mind at all times.
The taxi fare was twice as expensive that day for no apparent reason. My son and another practitioner and I decided to walk instead to the bus stop. The same elderly man got on the bus. My son gave him his seat again and I decided not to miss the opportunity to tell him the facts. When he asked where we went, I answered loudly so the other passengers could hear, “I went to visit my husband in jail. He was illegally detained for practicing Falun Dafa and for being a good person.”
He asked me if my husband was a leader. I told him, “Practitioners do not have titles. We follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to become good people. We do not strike back when we are beaten or sworn at. We always consider the wellbeing of others, and we practice Buddhist principles.” This elderly man looked puzzled and said, “Hasn't this society changed for the worse?” I responded, “Yes, because the Communist Party has convinced society-at-large not to care whether something is good or bad. It does not distinguish between good and evil.”
The passengers on the bus listened quietly. When I told him about my husband's jail term, he angrily said, “How could they sentenced a good person to nine years! There is no justice!”
When I told him about the carved stone in Guizhou Province that predicts the demise of the CCP, he said that it was God's will. After I learned that he was a CCP member, I helped him quit the organization with an alias. He kept waving to me as he got off the bus. Another precious life was saved.
We thanked Master for his impeccable arrangement that day. Two things caused us to meet again with the man on the bus. If we hadn't had to wait to see my husband, we would have taken an earlier bus. If the taxi fare wasn't so high, we would have arrived at the bus stop earlier. Leave no regrets and don't miss any opportunities to save predestined people.
I end this sharing with my profuse gratitude for Master's merciful salvation. If there is anything inappropriate, please kindly correct it.
