(Minghui.org) This is how a person began cultivating Falun Gong despite pressure not to. There was pain and happiness, there were tribulations and gain. After all the trials and hardships, I still walk steadily on this path of cultivation. Everything recorded here is true.
This has been my greatest good fortune. If ever a miracle happened, I can assure you that this was one. I thank all the people who helped me, especially Master. No words can ever express my gratitude to Master.
In the fall 2003, I was sitting in front of the computer at home, waiting for a long distance friend to come online. Someone in the chatroom asked me to join as a friend. I am usually cautious about strangers and always turn them away. But this message caught my attention – “Let us wish each other blessings.”
Numerous strangers have wanted to add me as a friend, using flattery, rude interruption, or sarcasm. This message was so easygoing; not overbearing or servile. I could hardly refuse.
The person was a Falun Gong practitioner living outside China who was clarifying the truth over the Internet. He was randomly talking to people online, and I was one of his very few listeners. He said Falun Gong had spread to over 100 countries, that it was practiced everywhere except in China. Because of its popularity, the ex-CCP dictator started the persecution out of jealousy, and many practitioners had been arrested, assaulted, and sentenced to jail because they refused to give up their belief.
I do not like politics, and I hate what the CCP does to persecute the innocent. Although I knew nothing about Falun Gong, I told him, “I am sympathetic--I don’t agree with this persecution.”
He talked about the Tiananmen Square "self-immolation." He said, “There is evidence that the whole incident was staged by the CCP just to defame Falun Gong and justify the persecution. Those who burned themselves are not Falun Gong practitioners. The video on TV was full of loopholes.”
He typed slowly, and it took him a long time to type out every paragraph. I could feel his anxiety and pain. I told him to take care of himself when I said goodbye: “If you cannot overcome them, just run away from them. Where there is life, there is hope.”
For several months, we had no contact. Like thousands of strangers that meet over the Internet, I did not even have the chance to find out whether he was male or female.
In the spring, among the many greeting cards I received for the New Year, I found his. Simple words and warm greetings made him seem like he was an old friend that I hadn’t seen for many years. We quickly got to know each other, and we talked about work, life, almost everything. He was modest, polite, and friendly--the same as my impression when I first met him. He always talked about Falun Gong. Although I was not very interested, I could tell that it was a very important part of his life.
I asked him why he didn’t choose to practice secretly at home. He said it was a basic human right to keep physically fit and healthy. “So long as it does not harm others, why should I practice secretly?” I asked him why he went against the CCP. He said they even want to control your thoughts: “Why should you subject yourself to that control?” I asked him if he was a preacher. He said he had benefited from practicing Falun Gong and clarified the facts because he felt it was the right thing to do.
He was an engineer and a successful entrepreneur. He was healthy and had a happy family life. He did not practice Falun Gong to obtain something or to see through the vanity of the world. He said, “It is a practice that purifies your soul. When I had all the material things I wanted in life, I did not feel happy at all--sometimes I was even in anguish.
“I didn’t know where this pain came from, and I could not get rid of it. I became hot-tempered, and my family and friends all trembled with fear. I then understood that, in this world, there are many things that we cannot buy with money. After practicing Falun Gong, I feel physically light and everything turns out to be so beautiful. I feel optimistic and get well along with people. I feel my future is bright.”
I sensed his intentions were good. I could understand the meaning behind his words, though I might not believe them. I was an atheist and believed that human beings dictate the universe. I thought that science and technology had the answers to everything. I did not believe in the existence of gods and thought that all the awe and veneration for heaven and earth came from ignorance. Besides, I was carefree about life and there was no reason for me to cut myself off from society. I was strong and healthy and felt that I did not need to learn any "practice." My career was going well, and I did not wish to run the risk of being jailed.
We chatted like this for half a year. Once he talked about his mom, who also practiced Falun Gong. After practicing, she not only became illness-free, but also appeared to be getting younger and had no wrinkles on her face. What he said touched me.
I was no longer young--how was I going to stay healthy forever? Time really flies, and for all our plans and dreams, which ones ever come true? Looking at those old men limping around in the setting sun, I knew that that was my future, too--getting nothing and having nothing to leave behind. We come and go, with empty hands. I thought: “If Falun Gong is so magical and can help me hold onto my youth and bring me good health, why don’t I give it a try? What else am I going to pursue?”
A copy of Zhuan Falun was emailed to me, and also a copy of Essentials for Further Advancement. I printed it out one Friday night. I was a little excited as I started to read with a firm belief in the miracle of Falun Gong.
Things did not go as I'd expected. After only a few dozen pages, I could not continue reading. I thought it was at too high a level and too mystical for me. I wanted youth and beauty forever, but the book did not mention this. I decided to give up.
I had a dream that night. In a classroom, Master Li wore a white shirt and was giving lectures about Zhuan Falun. I had the same dream the next night. Master came to the middle of the class after giving the lecture, and I asked, “Master, I cultivate to stay young forever. I don’t want to reach consummation.” “Ah?” Master was a bit surprised. I continued, “Is it all right if I don’t want to reach consummation?” Master was very serious and said, “Start cultivation first, before you say anything like that.” On the third night, I dreamed I saw that Internet friend. He had glasses on, and he stood behind a fishbowl with many fish swimming in it.
I told him about the dream. He said that I had a predestined relationship, and I should not let Dafa go so easily. He also told me he did wear glasses, and he had fishbowl at home and bred over a dozen goldfish.
I thought it must be a coincidence. The most unreliable thing in this world is a dream. However, I still wanted to give it a try, since there was no other way in this world to stay young forever.
I went on to the Minghui website, downloading all of Master’s lectures given around the world, printing them out and binding them chronologically. I started to read them, beginning with the most recent.
When I read Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference, I could not understand what Master said at all, but I still managed with difficulty to finish it. I understood a little of Touring North America to Teach the Fa. Upon finishing Guiding the Voyage, I had some basic ideas. By the time I read Lectures in the United States, Lecture in Sydney, Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe, and Teaching the Fa at the Assistants’ Fa Conference in Changchun, I was able to understand them pretty well, and I found it more and more interesting.
"So," I thought, "Falun Gong is merely a cultivation school. They believe in the existence of gods and they believe that, whatever they do, gods in heaven are watch over them. They believe that Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the truth of the universe. They believe that, through cultivation, they can get rid of their illnesses and get a healthy body on the pre-condition that they have to elevate themselves. They have their own understanding of the concepts of pain, joy, happiness, and tribulations. They treat pain as happiness, and they take loss as gain.
"They do not accept that Falun Gong is defamed and labeled a cult. They do not accept the persecution of Falun Gong, since they are a group of good, kindhearted people. They do not accept the attacks on and defamation of their Master, since Master teaches them to walk a righteous path and everyone benefits from it. They believe that they have the responsibility to step forward to clarify the truth so as to give people an opportunity to distinguish and decide what is right and what is wrong."
I decided to join the practice and become a Dafa disciple. The first time I watched the video to learn the exercises, I suddenly I felt searing heat when I moved my hands down and passed behind my heels during the “Falun Heavenly Circuit.” At the beginning I thought it was an illusion, but every time my hands passed over that place, I felt scorching heat. Eventually I realized it was not an illusion. Several days later, the vaginitis that had bothered me for many years disappeared and never recurred.
When I was doing the 5th exercise, the sitting meditation, I could not sit in the full-lotus position. Sometimes I just crossed my legs at sixty or seventy degrees. If I tried to put them down flat on the floor, the pain was intolerable. When I saw other practitioners on the Internet who easily sat in the full lotus, I thought I would have to practice for several years before I could catch up to them.
One day I was sitting on the floor reading, “Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia.” One paragraph stood out:
“If you learned other practices in the past or used to do dance, sports, or other things and it wasn’t painful to cross your legs before, and crossing your legs now feels the same as how you felt when you crossed your legs in the past and it hasn’t changed, then this is no small matter! You can’t let Dafa simply brush against you and pass you by.”
I lowered my knees that were in pulled up front of my chest until they nearly touched the floor without any pain. I tried to move my right leg on top of my left leg. After I was in that position, I moved up my left leg on top of my right leg. I sat there for half an hour without any pain. Since then, I have been able to do all five exercises properly.
(To be continued)