(Minghui.org) After my 37th birthday this year, it was my first anniversary of practicing Falun Dafa.
I had encountered Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, when I was 24 years old. I sat across from a stranger who was a Falun Dafa practitioner on a train. He told me the story of a stone in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, that had fallen from a mountain cliff and had broken apart. It revealed six Chinese characters: “The Communist Party of China Is Finished.” I felt that what he said was inconceivable because I was brainwashed by Communist Party culture at the time.
I visited the pureinsight.org and Falundafa.org websites when I was 30 years old, but I felt that their world had no intersection with the one I lived in. I was not ready, or my predestined time had not come.
In recent years, with the situation in Hong Kong deteriorating so fast, I felt like the end could come at any time, so I started to search for a way out. I visited a fortune teller and a Taoist, but didn’t find any answers. I read some of Shakyamuni’s Buddhism, and although I thought the teachings were good, I found them difficult to put into practice.
I then met a Falun Dafa practitioner who told me a story about a monk who had been genuinely cultivating and had discovered that the temples could no longer save people. This monk had traveled everywhere searching for a true Buddha at the Buddhist holy places. I liked the story very much and kept in touch with the practitioner, who eventually encouraged me to read Zhuan Falun.
Brainwashing and the propaganda defaming Falun Dafa had made me hesitant when I first opened the book and saw Master’s name, but I laid my doubts aside and read through the entire book quickly, following the practitioner’s instructions. Joy and satisfaction filled my heart: this is a book for true Buddhist cultivation!
I began to read the book regularly and repeatedly. The practitioner taught me the exercises and I also learned from the exercise instruction video. It was not difficult for me to cross both legs in meditation, but I found it difficult to endure when the clock ticked beyond 40 minutes. Sometimes I was in tears because of the pain. I repeated Master’s teaching in my mind:
“When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I also inspired by what I had read about a westerner practitioner who shared the importance of meditating for one hour every day. The practitioner who had encouraged me to read Zhuan Falun had also meditated with me for one hour through a video conference a few times. They helped me to overcome the difficulties I had when I was a beginner. I can now easily meditate for an hour.
I was afraid to join group practice in public at first because I thought the police might arrest us. It was a ridiculous idea because Master said,
“My fashen sit in a circle, and above the exercise site is a shield on which there is a big Falun. A large fashen guards the site above the shield. This site is not an ordinary site, and neither is it a site for an ordinary qigong practice: It is a site for cultivation practice.” (Lecture Three,Zhuan Falun)
I now always look forward to joining group practice.
I went to the Tianti Book Store to buy more books last February and met another practitioner who was humble, friendly, experienced, and knowledgeable. She helped correct my exercise positions and encouraged me to write about my experience of obtaining the Fa.
I didn’t understand why I should send righteous thoughts when the practitioner who introduced me to the practice sent me Master’s teachings about sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying truth to Chinese people. I thought it was laughable to tell strangers that I believed in Buddha. But I understood the importance after reading more of the Fa-teachings that Master had given at various Fa conferences around the world.
I began to understand the history of our Falun Dafa, and I learned about the involvement of the old forces at high levels and the reasons for the CCP’s actions in human society. Only then did I understand the importance of clarifying the truth: to save as many people as possible.
I also understand that believing in Falun Dafa is not just a personal matter, it is an honor and a mission. People who truly cultivate Dafa can’t just think about benefiting from Dafa. Dafa has been defamed by the CCP, can practitioners not seek justice for Dafa’s name? A genuine Falun Dafa practitioner can’t be indifferent. The world listened to the lies of the CCP, and foolishly became accomplices of the CCP, tying their own destiny to the evil CCP. How can they not be saved? After I understood the principles of the Fa, I began to clarify the truth. Practitioners’ experiences of clarifying the truth shared on the Minghui website have given me a lot of inspiration.
A Dafa practitioner should do well in three things: studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, and clarifying the truth. For the past two weeks, I have gotten up at 3:50 a.m. to do the exercises. I then rest for a few minutes before sending forth righteous thoughts at six o’clock. Clarifying the truth is interspersed throughout my day, and I copy Zhuan Falun in the afternoon for about two and a half hours. Under the guidance of the fellow practitioner, I have memorized Hong Yin. I have also memorized “On Dafa”, and recite “On Dafa” before going to sleep.
I need to improve my xinxing more. I was poisoned by the Party culture for so long that I couldn’t be criticized or taken advantage of. Now I am abandoning my previous notions and following the principles of Dafa.
I am impressed by what Master said about how compassion comes from cultivation. My understanding is that compassion is different from kindness. A person’s kindness can be exhausted, but the compassion composed of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance will never be exhausted, and it is indeed from cultivation, while kindness is human nature. Fellow practitioners’ sharing on the Minghui website has given me a lot of encouragement and inspiration.
I am healthier and more energetic after one year of cultivation practice. Falun Dafa gives me peace of mind and I am full of hope and expectations for the future.
Thank you Master!Thank you fellow practitioners!