(Minghui.org) My mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-grandfather all began to practice Falun Dafa in the 1990s. After doing the exercises and reading the teachings, my grandmother's congenital cerebral vascular stenosis was cured, as was my great-grandfather's skin disease and my great-grandmother's blood pressure, which returned to normal.
It was just as Teacher said,
“Dafa is being spread far and wide. Those who hear about it are looking for it. Those who have obtained it are delighted with it. The number of cultivators is increasing daily and becoming countless.” (“Seeking Discipleship with Teacher,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Mother became a cultivator when she was pregnant with me, so it could be said that I began learning Dafa while still in my mother's womb.
When my mother was four months pregnant, an ultrasound revealed a cyst in my brain. The doctor asked my mother to consider whether she wanted to keep the fetus, because they could not guarantee the baby's health. Mother's relatives and friends suggested that she have an abortion in case I was indeed born disabled. After discussing it with my grandmother, my mother decided to keep me. They chose to adhere to the teaching that cultivators should not kill.
Regardless of its condition, a fetus is a life. If a child is born with a disability, it is caused by karma and the karmic relationship between the child and his of her family.
My mother and grandmother decided to put down all human thoughts and spend more time reading the teachings and practicing the exercises. Two months later, another ultrasound showed that the cyst had shrunk, and it miraculously disappeared a month later. The doctors said that it was “absorbed,” but my mother and grandmother knew that Teacher Li [Hongzhi] had resolved it for me.
After I was born, I often watched Teacher's lecture videos and listened to the recordings with other practitioners . My mother told me a story about something that happened when I was one year old. I was holding my bottle in my hands and getting ready to go to sleep one night while the lecture video was still playing. I leaned on the pillow to watch, but it was an uncomfortable position, so I lay down, and stared at the ceiling. Mother was surprised, but my grandmother noticed that the image was somehow being projected to the ceiling, so she asked me, “Where's Teacher Li?” I pointed at the ceiling.
My celestial eye was opened before the age of six, and I saw many things that everyday people cannot see. I saw that a Falun emblem turns clockwise and counter clockwise. When I meditated, I sometimes saw Teacher Li sitting next to me with a smile on his face. I also saw black substances moving from the tops to the bottoms of my legs while I meditated. Those substances then exited from my feet and disappeared. When I sent forth righteous thoughts, I saw black and white substances, like cartoon monsters, fighting, and the white ones pushed away the black ones.
I had a talent for painting and could paint whatever I wanted. I once told my mother that I had seen a painting in my mind, and asked if she wanted me to draw it for her. So I drew a chicken eating a bug and said, “There was a building next to it, but I don't remember how many floors it had. Let me take another look!” I squinted for a while, “Oh, nine floors!” I then drew a nine-story building next to the chicken.
At that time, I was popular in the community – I was polite, smart, and cute. What impressed everyone even more was that I was very kind. Adults in the community praised me as a child of “righteousness.” I never argued with other children; if someone wanted to play with my toys, I let them, and also shared other toys with them. I did not get upset when my favorite toys were not returned to me. No one wanted to play soccer with a certain younger child, but I said, “Let him play. He needs friends!”
Teacher Li gave me wisdom. I learned everything quickly and had a very good memory. When other children my age were still learning how to read, I was already able to read fluently any books and newspapers I obtained. I also read the Dafa teachings with adults at a very young age.
In fourth grade, I was already reading the original version of one of the four Chinese classic novels, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and told the stories to good friends.
As I grew older, I became overwhelmed with schoolwork and gradually slacked off in cultivation. My grades fell even though I tried very hard and spent hours on homework each day.
I realized that I was lagging behind in cultivation and had gotten into a vicious cycle—the less diligent I was in cultivation, the poorer my grades. For example, it appeared that I was not good at science or math, and it always took me a very long time to finish my homework, so I had little time left to read the Dafa teachings and practice the exercises.
Fortunately, I always regarded myself as a Dafa disciple and followed the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my daily life. By the time middle-school entrance exams rolled around, I was no longer an honor roll student. I didn’t dare to think about getting into a good middle school, so I decided to let everything “happen naturally” and eliminate all of my pursuits. I trusted that Teacher Li had his own arrangements for me.
I did poorly in both of the simulated exams, which meant I had no chance of getting into any of the top-ranked middle schools in our area. Two weeks before the actual entrance exams, the teachers stopped giving us homework. My approach was to go to school as usual, then come home to do the exercises, study the Fa, and send forth righteous thoughts. I did not think about the exams at all.
My classroom teacher told my mother that based on my simulated exams, there was very little chance I would be admitted to a good middle school. To everyone's surprise however, I made a perfect score in Physical Education, the highest I had ever made. The perfect score boosted my confidence in the other exams, and I exceeded my expectations in all the other subjects as well.
The workload in high school was even greater, and I struggled even harder to balance my schoolwork and other routines. This left me with hardly any time to cultivate. I sometimes had to take nine required courses in one semester!
It seemed that I had no choice but to apply myself to the academics and future pursuits. But I always reminded myself that as a Dafa cultivator I should take worldly pursuits lightly. Although I only did the exercises and read the teachings on rare occasions, magic happened again when I took the college entrance exams—I outperformed myself once again and was admitted to a top-ranking liberal arts program at an ideal university.
My experience demonstrated that no matter how busy we are, as long as we firmly believe in Dafa, treat ourselves as Dafa disciples, pay attention to keeping our thoughts and deeds in line with the teachings, and try to squeeze in more time to do the three things, Teacher will not give up on us.
The Fa-rectification has reached its final stage, but each of us has a role in ordinary society. If we do not eliminate our attachments, we will be preoccupied by worldly matters, leaving us no time to do the three things well and thereby negatively impacting our cultivation.
University life is about to begin. I have grown from a child into a young Dafa disciple. I should not always rely on Teacher, as cultivation is my own matter. I have been thinking about how to handle things well at the university. I will need to keep from being polluted by the degenerate culture on a modern university campus, to do the three things well, and to keep up with the Fa-rectification process.
Thank you, benevolent Teacher!Heshi!