(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa since August 1998. I’d like to share my experience of how I’ve applied the Fa principles during my 20-year cultivation journey. Please excuse any misunderstandings of the Fa that I may have.
Letting Go of My Attachment to Personal Gain
Master said:
“I do not talk about healing illnesses here, and neither will we heal illnesses. As a genuine cultivator, however, you cannot cultivate with an ill body. I will purify your body. The body purification will be done only for those who come to truly learn the practice and the Fa. We emphasize one point: If you cannot relinquish the attachment or concern for illness, we cannot do anything and will be unable to help you.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I understand that it’s not just the attachment to illness that we need to abandon, but all other attachments as well. I have so many human attachments to let go of, such as my desire for personal gain and my strong inclinations towards combativeness and jealousy.
I work in a hospital, a place where taking bribes is quite common and almost a daily occurrence. After I became a Dafa practitioner, I stopped accepting bribes from my patients. My refusing to take the money baffled one of my colleagues, so I told her, “I am now cultivating in Falun Dafa and I have to conduct myself according to the Fa. I have to let go of any pursuit for personal gain. So I will not accept money from my patients or take any money that doesn't belong to me.”
I was later transferred to the health administration department. All the departments have their own performance targets, and department employees who reach their targets at the end of the year are rewarded a $100 bonus. There were three of us in our department, but our supervisor didn't really do much, and my colleague and I did most of the work. But when the bonus was awarded, our supervisor just kept the money for herself without telling us.
My colleague asked me, “The bonus has been paid, and all the other departments received theirs. Did you know that?”
“No, I am not aware of that,” I replied. “It’s only $100. I am not too worried about it.”
My colleague complained about the supervisor taking all the rewards, when we did all the work.
As we were speaking, some staff members from other departments came into the room. They all said they received their bonuses. I thought to myself, “I'm a cultivator, I can't behave the same as they do. I must let go of the desire for personal gain.”
As if on cue, my old school friend came to me and said, “She [the supervisor] is bullying you. How can you put up with that?”
By this time, I was all worked up and ready to confront my supervisor. But she was nowhere to be found.
I was still bothered by the matter after I got home, and studied the Fa that evening. I happened to open my book where it says:
“...as a practitioner, you are in principle protected by Teacher’s fashen. Others cannot take away what is yours, even if they want to. We therefore believe in following the course of nature. Sometimes, you think that something should be yours, and others also tell you that it is yours. Actually, it is not. You may believe that it is yours, but in the end it is not yours. Through this process, it can be seen whether you can give it up or not. If you cannot let it go, it is an attachment.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I must behave according to the Fa and let go of my attachment to personal gain, as well as my combative and jealous mentalities. These are all human attachments that I want to eliminate.
However, I had still had not completely put the matter to rest in my mind. So I studied the Fa more, and gradually felt my strong human emotions dissipating, putting an end to the intense emotions I had before.
Master said,
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gongis done by one’s master.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
Master removed all these negative emotions for me. I felt great!
The next day at work, my supervisor told me about the bonus she received. I said nonchalantly, “I know. You can do what you like with it. I have no problem with it.”
She was so touched that she cried. “You have changed,” she sobbed. “In the past, you would have given me a hard time and made me feel humiliated.” I told her that it was Falun Dafa that had changed me.
Calm When Facing Unfounded Accusations
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, I was chosen to work at the provincial border where we were to take the temperature of people entering our province in trucks and by other means.
At the time, I merely asked a few questions to get an understanding of the situation. But I ended up getting a lecture from our director during the staff meeting. I was accused of not following orders, saying things that were detrimental to staff morale, as well as other things. Right then, I thought of what Master said about “gaining in four ways” and realized it was an opportunity to improve my character.
I managed to stay calm, but it didn't end there. After the meeting, many of my colleagues took pity on me. One of them said, “You didn't say much or say anything inappropriate. Why did the director pick on you like that? Isn’t that bullying? We will lose our job if we're not careful.” They all believed that what the director did was terrible.
I soon lost my calm, and was getting riled up. However, I held firm to my one thought: I am a cultivator. Master has provided this opportunity for me to improve my character, so I should see this as a good thing.
Again, I put more emphasis on studying the Fa and came across this passage:
“...in your future cultivation you will run into all kinds of tribulations. How could you cultivate without these hardships? If everyone is good to one another without conflicts of interest or interference from the human mind, and if all you do is just sit there, how can your xinxing improve? That wouldn’t do. One must truly temper and improve oneself through actual practice.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I quietly overcame the tribulation.
The positive changes in me were there for all my colleagues to see, which had a huge impact when I spoke to them about Dafa. They all quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations, and helped me to spread the word about Falun Dafa.
One of my colleagues said, “We've seen with our own eyes what Falun Dafa practitioners are like. They're not at all like what’s said on TV. I believe what she says.” One colleague even told her old schoolmate about how much I had changed since I started practicing Falun Dafa.
I'm a Dafa Disciple—I Have Master
In November 2016, the police told my husband that they wanted to see me. My husband’s voice was shaking with fear when he called me. I told him not to be scared, “What happens to me is not up to them. I am coming home now.”
I was not scared at all because I knew Master was rectifying the cosmos, and that Master alone was in control of my destiny. No one else had that right.
Master said:
“Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos’s Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples’ rock solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings’ thoughts disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that’s how great the power is.” (“Also in a Few Words,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I was reciting the Fa on my way home. When I passed the police station, my left knee suddenly buckled and I fell by the curb. At that instant, I thought of Master's words:
“‘I'm Li Hongzhi's disciple, I don't want other arrangements or acknowledge them’--then they won't dare to do that. So it can all be resolved. When you can really do that, not just saying it but putting it into action, Master will definitely stand up for you.” (Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
I pulled myself up believing that no one has the right to interfere with me, to persecute me, or to test me, because I was determined to only walk the path arranged by Master.
When I got home, my husband was still fearful and wanted to hide everything.
After sending forth righteous thoughts for one-and-a-half hours, I felt that my field in many dimensions was cleaned up, and a calmness settled over me.
I wasn’t sure what was lacking in my cultivation that brought about this situation, so I went straight to studying the Fa. While studying the Fa, my mind was surprisingly clear, which helped me gain many new insights into the Fa.
Whenever I come across a problem, the first thing I think of is the Fa. That way I will be strengthened by the power of Dafa as I overcome the tribulation.
I still have many hidden attachments to remove, but I will always look to the Fa and cultivate solidly in the time to come.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
Category: Improving Oneself
