(Minghui.org) I am 21 years old and have practiced Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) for three years. About two years ago, I went to a Falun Dafa experience-sharing conference in New York for the first time.
Nearing the second day of my arrival, I felt a strong, powerful energy engulfing the whole city, and it had a considerable impact on me. I felt as if I were floating in a wonderful substance. I felt a strong restraining sensation that made me feel peaceful and still in a way that I had never known before. It also replaced my thoughts with tranquility and silence.
I had some interesting and wonderful experiences during my time in New York, one of which I would like to share.
Almost every evening, I went to the plaza in front of the Chinese Embassy in Manhattan to join fellow practitioners at the silent vigil to stop the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. Practitioners from many countries were practicing the exercises there and sending forth righteous thoughts. The area is close to the water, which I supposed was the superficial reason why the weather was frigid there.
On one of the days, I did not plan to go there and did not dress warmly enough. Yet, a chain of events led me there anyway. I did not really think much and joined the other practitioners.
About halfway through the scheduled vigil, it became very cold for me, but I continued to practice and send forth righteous thoughts with the others. Soon, the cold began to disturb my tranquility in doing the exercises and my concentration on sending forth righteous thoughts.
At some point, I felt so cold that I could not wait another second to flee as fast as I could to a warmer place. Before doing so, I opened my eyes and saw fellow practitioners around me sitting still and sending forth righteous thoughts with great intensity. They looked like diamonds!
I had the impression that they were made of a material that was not affected by matter or the cold in this dimension. It was a very intense feeling.
I remember that my sense of time was vague, and I was not sure when the vigil would end. Due to the bitter cold and the thought that the vigil might go on for a long time, I got up and moved to a warmer place. A few minutes later, the vigil ended.
I remember feeling disappointed that I got up early, partly because I really did not want to get up and partly because the vigil ended only a few minutes later.
Naturally, this experience left me with a precious gift.
I realized that what I saw around me was a manifestation of strong willpower, determination, and sacrifice. They all stemmed from faith so powerful that it pushes and pushes practitioners to higher levels and makes them more firm.
Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa) says:
"Modern science holds that time has a field. If something is not within the scope of a time-field, it is not restricted by that time. In other dimensions, the concepts of time-space are different from ours here. How can the time here regulate matter from other dimensions? It does not whatsoever. Think about it, everyone: Won’t you have transcended the Five Elements by then? Will your body still be that of an everyday person? It will not be so at all…" (Zhuan Falun)
I enlightened at that moment to certain meanings (or certain levels) of what I saw, and I have since enlightened to many more throughout my improvement in cultivation.
For example, sometimes when I sit down to read Master Li's articles with great concentration, I would suddenly start to feel an inexplicable tiredness that makes me want to stop reading. I would then recall the image of fellow practitioners at the vigil, and it would help me regain my composure and read on without any fatigue. It also helps me in the cold and other environmental conditions.
Master Li says:
"The reason for your discomfort is principally that you always fear catching some illness." (Zhuan Falun)
In fact, fellow practitioners around me demonstrated exactly the above quote. Their strong faith helped them not to be affected by the cold or fear of the cold.
This gift, this image imprinted in my memory, has since accompanied me and provided me with limitless inspiration. It has helped increase my willpower and strengthened my faith in Master and Dafa. I hope what inspired me will inspire others as well.
