(Minghui.org) I am 22 years old. After I was born, my mother started practicing Falun Dafa. She and my grandmother studied the Fa while I was playing. I would listen to them, and memorized Hong Yin. I also went with my grandmother to distribute Falun Dafa truth clarification materials. I maintained the pure nature of a young Dafa practitioner until I finished my primary school education.
In junior high school, all sorts of unhealthy society influences affected me and I also got addicted to listening to pop songs and watching pop stars. When walking, I hummed songs that were meant for an older generation. Within time, I did not do well in school and was not diligent in my Fa study.
In the second half of my first year of junior high school, my grandmother experienced illness karma and passed away. This made a great impact on me and made me wake up – I realized that one cannot relax in one’s cultivation. I also started to send righteous thoughts when I took a walk or rode a bus.
Cultivating Diligently
Grandmother’s death affected our non-cultivating relatives and my father. My father threw his temper from time to time and stopped my mother and I from practicing Dafa. He even tore up Zhuan Falun and hit my mother. However, we remained firm in our Dafa cultivation.
Mother and I studied the Fa and practiced the exercises when father was not around. We also read cultivation articles published on the Minghui and Zhengjian [pureinsight.org] websites every weekend. We sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the bad substances and evil entities that were controlling my father. We also found opportunities to clarify the truth to Dad and had him read the Dongtai [Dyna Web—a proxy network launched by Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT) to serve Internet users in China] websites. This allowed him to find out what was happening abroad.
After I changed my cultivation state I improved in my school grades, which astonished my father. After graduating from junior high school, I was accepted by one of the high schools in our city. Thus, my father’s attitude gradually changed.
Discovering Attachments
However, after entering high school, studies became more intense, and I experienced three years of illness tribulation, where both of my eyelids would become very itchy and red, affecting my appearance. Therefore, I sent righteous thoughts for some time after I returned home from school in the afternoon. But there was no sign of improvement.
Then, I looked within and found some attachments, such as the attachment towards my appearance and the desire for the opposite gender. Even in junior high school, some guys were interested in me and one told me that my eyes were very beautiful.
Sometimes, I enjoyed being praised and pursued by boys. Now, I had problems with my eyes, and tried to stay away from people. When walking I kept looking down, so people would not see my puffy red eyes. After discovering all these attachments, I sent righteous thoughts, but felt disappointed for not getting better.
In high school, biology and mathematics became very difficult and I did not do well. These were tests towards improvement of my xinxing. Luckily, I continued to study the Fa with my mother every evening and during weekends.
During that dark period of learning and struggling during examinations, only Sundays were happy and comfortable days. Later, my high school test results improved and even my headmaster said that I did quite well. My wisdom had improved and I enrolled in one of the best schools in our province.
University Affects Cultivation
After being accepted into a university, I no longer had my mother to rely on for cultivation. Initially, I maintained my Fa-study and did the exercises before my roommate returned. However, I gradually lost my self-discipline and was no longer diligent in my Fa study. Only, when I went home for the holidays did I return to a consistent cultivation environment.
During the winter break of my second year at the university, my mother and I visited Taiwan. I thought of studying in Taiwan, but government policies did not allow me to enroll at a university in Taiwan.
I then discovered that I could apply for an exchange program and study in Taiwan. I applied for it. However, the process was not as smooth as I had expected it to be. Since the program was just set up, the teachers in my school were not familiar with the process. Only after I sent righteous thoughts before approaching the teachers did the process improve.
Finally, I contacted my mother after another girl dropped out of the program and I was not quite sure what to do. She said, “You must remember your initial reason why you applied for this program.” I thought that this chance is indeed rare so I should not give up. After seeking Master Li’s (the founder of Falun Dafa) help to strengthen my righteous thoughts, I finally succeeded in my application and was accepted into the program.
Returning to a Good Cultivation Environment
Before leaving for Taiwan, my mother said, “You can go and shop a bit after you reach Taiwan to familiarize yourself with the location of the tourist attractions. These are the places where you can find fellow practitioners. Then, also get involved in the truth-clarification efforts.”
Although I agreed, I was a bit worried in my heart. But I remembered that I did not go to Taiwan just for the exchange program. After arriving in Taiwan, I became engrossed in the new environment. When one of my roommates (all my roommates were students from China) posted a flyer to seek who would join their society did I get reminded why I was in Taiwan.
When looking closer at the flier, I realized that it was an introduction to Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance from the Falun Dafa Society! I was shaken and thanked our benevolent Master for sending me such a reminder. I was so touched and I kept the flier and recorded the time and venue.
Although I knew that I would be meeting practitioners soon, I was still feeling somewhat nervous, as I had heard about the tight surveillance that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) kept over Chinese exchange students. That night, I found an excuse to leave the room and went to the address I wrote down. Two practitioners were at the door welcoming the newcomers. As there were also other students in the room, I did not disclose my identity.
We did the third Falun Dafa exercise when one of the students asked if any of us had come across this exercise. I was still careful, but raised my hand after seeing the students around me raising their hand. Before I left for home I realized that all the students in that room were Dafa practitioners from different regions and countries.
When I listened to practitioners introducing themselves tears covered my face as it had been a long time since I could listen to and exchange cultivation experiences with fellow practitioners.
We arranged for a fixed time when we would meet, study the Fa, and exchange cultivation experiences every week.
Cultivating Among Young People
In Taiwan, we were called “youth practitioners.” In my heart, I also started calling myself a youth practitioner, and began to look at my attitude towards Dafa seriously. As I used to be always among adult practitioners in the past, I was more or less passive. However, here, I realized that almost every one of the youth practitioners had a deep understanding of the Fa and a personal view toward Dafa activities.
Therefore, I asked myself what position have I placed Dafa in my heart. Did I really treat myself as a Dafa practitioner? What does Dafa really mean to me?
Maybe because I grew up in a cultivating environment, I did not go through the process of suddenly obtaining Falun Dafa, therefore I did not have a clear understanding of it. I just found that it was good and that I have to practice the exercises and learn the Fa, but I did not understand deep down what is it all about. My mother used to remind me,
“...don’t let these slip away just because they came to you easily.”(The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
After giving it some more thought I realized that I’m so lucky for being born into a cultivation environment, and practicing Falun Dafa from birth. Therefore, my life must be here for the Fa! After clearing up these thoughts, I broke into tears and was touched too.
Every time after we finished studying the Fa, we had time for cultivation experience sharing exchanges. As I spent most of the time studying the Fa with just my mother, I did not take cultivation exchange seriously, thus when we first started, I did not know what to say. Sometimes, in order to share my cultivation experiences,” I found a section of the Fa beforehand, which I used for my cultivation exchange. However, I gradually realized that the exchange from the other practitioners was based on their personal experiences after looking within themselves.
Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Dafa Principles
Coincidentally, during my stay in Taiwan, when needed, sections of the Fa from Zhuan Falun flashed across my mind. For example, when I participated in an extra curriculum class to learn about knowledge that I am more adept at, which is also a career that I liked quite a lot, my classmates told me after class, “Wow, you are really great, this career is definitely suited for you!”
Then, I remembered Master mentioning in his Fa,
“There might be instances where something seems to be yours, and people might say so too, and you believe it is yours, when in fact it’s not and in the end it goes to someone else. From this it will be seen whether you can let it go.” (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I understood later that my entering a career is ultimately based on Master’s arrangement.
Time as an exchange student passed quickly. The night before I left, many thoughts flashed through my mind and I was thankful to Master. I actually had the chance to experience all those activities that I used to see and yearn to participate in on television or in photos in China. During the process, I also obtained a lot of things.
I did not hold much reluctance to leaving Taiwan as I knew it was what I should do and what was my responsibility. The only regret that I had was that one of the students that came with me for the exchange program also used to be a young Dafa practitioner. But, I did not realize this until the last day. If only she had also seen that flier that day, she might have gained a better understanding of the principles of Dafa.
