(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2013, and I'm now 24 years old. My parents are also practitioners, but they had to leave home in order to avoid being persecuted. When I was only 6 years old I was left with my 80 year-old great grandmother.
My childhood was filled with separations and farewells, and I was often emotional and filled with sorrow. I was too young to fully understand why my parents had to leave home, but when I heard the adults mentioning Falun Dafa I knew that believing in Master and Dafa was right.
My pillow was often damp from my tears, and my eyes were red and puffy. Although I missed my parents very much, I did not dare to say so, because I didn't want to upset my great grandmother. Instead, I always wore a care-free and happy face.
I was reunited with my parents when I was in the third grade. Perhaps because I was so used to their absence, I didn't feel much when they returned. Even though we were together, practitioners were still being persecuted and we had to move six times. Because our surroundings were always changing, I became even more closed and introverted, and seldom interacted with others.
Beginning to Practice
Time passed and we were together, but my feelings of estrangement from my parents were not resolved. I tried my best to be a good child so that they wouldn't worry, but I didn’t feel close to them. I even had feelings of hatred, which I vented on my younger brother. My father tried to introduce the Fa to me a few times, but our sour relationship made me unwilling to listen. I was often depressed during my high school years. I felt that I had seen enough of this secular world and I wanted to become a monk. I did not realize that I was only inches away from true cultivation.
I went off to boarding school when I was 12 years old. My high school was even further away from home. My parents couldn’t visit me every week, so in my third year they asked a local practitioner to look after me.
The moment I met her, I felt a sense of familiarity and closeness. She laughed and said, “How wonderful! You're a young practitioner!” She told me why people are drawn to Falun Dafa despite the severe persecution, and about Master’s compassion. She called me a “little practitioner.” I was very surprised—I was a practitioner? I had not studied the Fa, and I couldn’t even remember the movements for the exercises. But if she called me a “little practitioner,” then I should study the Fa!
She gave me a copy of the book Zhuan Falun. With Zhuan Falun in my bag, the sun felt extraordinarily radiant, and I felt a sense of ease and weightlessness.
Soon after I began studying the Fa, Master cleansed my body. My eyes became clearer and brighter, my skin became fair, and my hair had a healthy shine. I was filled with indescribable joy and calm. My non-practitioner friends even commented on the positive changes. I knew that Master must have pushed me to a very high realm.
Protecting Falun Dafa
After I graduated in the summer of 2018, I found a job and rented an apartment with two of my roommates. Our apartment was in the “central district” so security was tight.
One day, I noticed that a poster which slandered Falun Dafa had been placed in the display window of our apartment. I was very upset and recalled what Master said:
“You're actually all quite clear about this: when a person has benefited from Dafa, yet in order to protect himself, when Dafa is faced with adversity, he doesn't say anything about the true situation, does that person deserve salvation?” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. V)
As a practitioner, I should not stand aside when people defame Master and Dafa. I began thinking about tearing the poster down, but the more I thought about how to do it, the more fearful I became, as there were many surveillance cameras in that area.
Two days later as I passed by the display, I stared at the poster and silently recited Master’s Fa:
“When disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn back the tide”(“The Master-Disciple Bond,” Hong Yin Vol. II, Version A)
At that moment, my surroundings seemed to fade, and only a straight path to the display window remained. As I walked towards the window I saw a security guard. I asked Master for help, and a woman appeared out of nowhere and started chatting with him. With the guard distracted, I walked up to the window and tore the poster down. This was during the peak hour after work and there were a lot of people around. Some looked directly at me while I did it but I remained calm. I was very grateful for Master’s compassionate protection.
When I got home my roommate said, “I overheard a call made by the building security guard, saying that someone removed the posters in the display window. Was that you?” When I smiled he was furious, “Why did you do that? They will find out! There’s no use tearing them down, they will post them again!” I calmly said, “No they won’t. I took it down and they won't post it again.” My roommate was silent. The next day my roommate happily told me, “That's amazing! They really didn’t replace those posters! They now have something about beautiful homes.”
From this experience, I realized that Master has arranged everything, and he is only waiting for us to act.
Eliminating Years of Resentment
Because of my childhood, I resented my parents, especially my mother, for leaving me. After I began practicing I looked down on her, and felt that she didn’t seem to cultivate as well as the other practitioners. I also often quarreled with her. I was then filled with regret because practitioners should have a heart of forbearance. My deep seated feelings of hatred, sorrow, and injustice seemed to resurface every time we argued and I had a hard time eliminating them. I realized that I still had feelings of jealousy and hatred.
Master said:
“Yet as a practitioner you will find the things that people take seriously to be very, very trivial—even too trivial—because your goal is extremely long-term and far-reaching. You will live as long as this universe. Then think about those things again: It doesn’t matter if you have them or not. You can put them all aside when you think from a broader perspective.” (“Chapter III Cultivation of Character,” Falun Gong)
“I also want to tell you that 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)
I thought over Master’s Fa repeatedly and then wept. When I thought about everything my mom had endured I was finally able to put down my attachments. My feelings of hatred and jealousy shrunk and became smaller and smaller. I could feel the attachments being eliminated from my body by compassionate Master. When I saw my mother again, I suddenly noticed how kind she was, and I chatted with her calmly. I felt a sense of lightness and happiness that I had never felt before as we talked.
Looking back, if I had not begun practicing Falun Dafa, I might have become lost in this messed up world. I am very grateful to Master for his compassionate salvation, and for giving me a chance to cultivate.
Before I wrote this, I thought that only those who had exceptional writing skills could submit an article to the Minghui website. After I read an article written by a 70 year old practitioner I was motivated to write. I hope that we can all cultivate diligently and return with Master!
