Hello, everyone! My name is Mei, Li. I'm from San Francisco. Right now I am working on DNA modification in a molecular biology company.

On April 6, 1997, I was very lucky to attend Master Li's San Francisco Lecture. I was attracted by his profound theory and had no doubt of what he had said. That night my head felt very light and comfortable. At that time I knew very little about Falun Dafa, and didn't realize that Master Li had cleaned up my body. But I had a subtle feeling that this comfort must come from the Falun Gong. Because of this great feeling, I could finally choose the right way in my life, that is, the cultivation practice.

In the first two years of cultivation, I moved to Los Angeles and attended college there. Nowadays, the universities have become very competitive. Especially in my department, which was biochemistry, many are pre-medical students. They all want to get straight A's in order to get into medical school. I got a lot of stress from my school. For these two years, I have been trying very hard to balance myself between going to school and practicing cultivation. Because I always wanted to have an easy life, I didn't like to work hard in my class. The worst thing was that I even used Dafa as an excuse for my laziness. This false thought made me suffer a lot. In the last quarter, I thought that I almost finished my major courses, and I should have an easy life. Just two days before I took my classes, however, I found out by accident that my department waived the units of one of my classes. I was not allowed to file a petition. I was shocked. I should graduate after that quarter, and I didn't want to stay another quarter just for one missing class. But I had to take five classes in order to squeeze in those extra units. Five classes were a lot. In most cases students taking three courses would be considered full-time. At that moment I felt hopeless in passing all five classes, and there was no way I could graduate as I expected. All the common people thoughts had come into my mind and made me feel very bad. But suddenly a new thought came up, " why can others relax in this last quarter while I cannot? Isn't this a test?" I realized that the cause of this tribulation was my attachment of fear. The fear of bearing hardship in my study! I made up my mind that I should do well in my subject as well as in my cultivation practice. To be a genuine practitioner, I had to pass this test! As I thought of these, my heart was suddenly released, and my tears came down.

In that quarter, my first class started at 8am, and the last ended at 5pm or 6pm. Sometimes I didn't even have time to take a lunch break, so I had to grab some snacks when I was running from one classroom to another. After school, I also had to do cooking for my roommate and some housekeeping work, as well as myself. It was already 9pm by the time I could sit down and start on my homework. I was very tired by then, and sometimes I felt very upset and couldn't hold my tears. It was not because of the pressure from my homework, but the feeling of not being able to read the book. I realized that this was the bitterest thing in this world. I could also feel the karma that was preventing me from obtaining Dafa. This experience, however, also reminds me how precious Dafa is! I didn't want to give up reading the book, so after finishing my homework I tried to read one chapter. It was already midnight by the time I slept, but while I was reading Zhuan Falun, my mind was very clear. It was unlike reading a textbook. I got up at a quarter to five every morning in order to do my exercises. I had to almost always struggle with myself to try to get up. But when I was doing the meditation, I was energetic. This feeling became stronger towards the end of that quarter.

After the "Zhong Nanhai Petition" in Beijing, we had a lot of local group practices and activities. I was out all the time during weekends. And also many things happened during that period, I just barely had time to finish my homework. On one hand, I was sorry about not being able to handle my studies very well and not reaching the standard of a practitioner; on the other hand, my heart was not stressful as I had been. In the final exams, many students had to stay up very late to review the lecture materials. I was quite relaxed, and I didn't think of whether I could pass or not. I had a feeling that this matter was brought to the end. The final grades turned out to be quite good. I was surprised to see that they were the best scores I had ever had in these two years. I was delighted, but not because of the grades. I could truly understand what the teacher says in the book that "Cultivation depends on oneself while the transformation of Gong is up to the master. It will be sufficient if you have such a wish. It is the master who actually does such a thing as you cannot do it at all". (Zhuan Falun, p33) I know all of these were given to me for the purpose of cultivation. If I would have been a common person, I could not have such intelligence.

After graduation, I went back to San Francisco. The situation in China has changed dramatically since then. Although we are thousands of miles away from each other, out hearts are closely related. Seeing the change of my heart, I believe that Dafa is whole, and practitioners won't miss the chance of raising their levels no matter where they are.

I used to not pay much attention to promoting the Dafa. Although I participated in many local activities to promote Dafa, my heart was passive. It often bothered me that I didn't have the intention of promoting Dafa. These days, the experiences from the Chinese practitioners have deeply touched my heart. Comparing to their pure and fearless hearts, I saw the great gaps between them and myself. The wish to promote Dafa has grown stronger and stronger. One day a thought had come to my mind: "More than one billion people in China have known Dafa pretty well because our 100-million practitioners are giving up their properties, even lives to protect and promote Dafa; but the whole population in this world is 7 billion. In other words, more than 5 billion people all over the world are waiting for the Dafa. To allow them to know about Dafa positively, we overseas practitioners should undertake this responsibility. Since the number of practitioners overseas is not as great as in China, we also need to give up a lot in order to let such a big population know about Dafa.

The human society is created solely for mankind to react, and no other creatures should participate. Our teacher says that: "Without the human activities under the great cosmic changes, such conditions will not have been brought to the ordinary human society, nor will they be called the cosmic changes". (Zhuan Falun, p 264 ). When Dafa is coming to this world, there will be evil-spirited people trying to stop this from happening; yet there will also be good people helping to pave the way for the manifestation of Dafa. I realized that as a Dafa disciple, I should follow what the Fashen has arranged in other dimensions and contribute my effort in this world. I should not just sit at home and wait for a ready-made result. After I thought about this, my heart was released quite a lot. I wanted to stay here and do something to promote Dafa. Before that, my wish of going back to China had been very strong. I thought that China had a very good environment for cultivation and my Xinxing level could be raised quickly. The experiences shared by the practitioners in China had attracted me a lot.

A month ago, I happened to know one of our local practitioners would go back to China, so I gave her a drive to the airport. On the way, she shared her thoughts of going back to China with me. When we finally got to the airport and were about to say goodbye, she said: "I don't know when I will be back." A thought suddenly arose and was almost blurted out: you should be back soon! But I tried hard to keep silent and said nothing because I felt something wrong with my intention. I could tell I still had some attachment and selfish thinking. After all every practitioner should have different path in his/her cultivation practice, and I should not impose my view on others. I also felt that if I could not be fully responsible for what I have told others, I would commit wrongdoing. When I got back from the airport, I kept thinking about this. I knew that I still had some attachment in terms of going back to China, which I hadn't realized before. I've always wanted to have some "great" experience in my cultivation practice, yet I didn't want to raise my Xinxing in those little things. Wasn't that an attachment of fame? From then on my thought of going back to China has never come back. I know that at least in the present time I should participate in the local activities more to promote Dafa. I should do well in every single thing so that I can fulfill the requirement of Fa at my level.

My heart now is truly on promoting the Dafa. I tried my best in everything that I could possibly think of. Even the things that I have never thought about, like writing this article, I will start to give a thought and then participate. I've been truly engaged in many activities. Although what I have done is just a very tiny little bit compared to other practitioners, it's still not an easy task for me. I realize how much time and effort our assistants and many other practitioners have made. As I started to participate, I was surprised to see the change of my heart being great just within a short period of time.

An old Chinese saying says that: it is easy to change the river and mountain, but it is hard to change one's nature. I am a very shy and introverted person. When I meet with strangers I always keep silent and want to turn away. My mother often criticizes me for not being able to succeed in the society due to my nature. But through cultivation practice, my personality has changed for the better.

One Saturday at noon, one practitioner and I went to a farmers' market to collect signatures. As we got there, I saw all those strangers. Thinking I was going to talk to them, my legs felt like jelly and my heartbeat started to accelerate. Since we were already there, there was no excuse that I should turn back. We walked to the crowds. We also brought a sign, which stated why we were there. I felt embarrassed by holding the sign, so I didn't hold it high. The other practitioner said: "Let me hold it"! She took the sign and held it high. I was ashamed of myself for not daring to hold the sign. I felt that I wasn't like a genuine practitioner at all. So I plucked up my courage to stop people in the market and told them what I wanted. Because I was nervous at the beginning, I couldn't speak English very well. The first few people were very nice and they all signed the appeal. But then several people refused me. My heart beat fast again. I stood still and tried to calm myself down. I asked myself: there is nothing to be ashamed of, why can't I do it in a righteous and dignified manner? I calmed down. So I went back to the crowd and asked them to sign the appeal. My words were more organized than when I first started, and they just came out naturally. My heart felt in harmony. Later while I was waiting for the other practitioner, I didn't miss the chance to talk to one more person and got his signature.

One hour passed by very quickly. Because our parking was limited to one hour, we had to leave. We counted the signatures and found out that we collected some seventy or eighty persons' signatures. But at that time we were busy sharing our experience and didn't pay much attention to how much we had collected. Later when we had a chance to think back, it was actually not bad for one-hour of work. Through collecting the signatures, I found many kind-hearted people in this world. It seemed to me that they are ready to help us, but they just didn't have a way of showing their kindness and support. I think if we practitioners can somehow offer them some chances, we will be able to manifest justice and kindness of human nature in the world. This is also a way of perfecting the Dafa. When I was collecting the signatures, the people I met also inspired me. For example, a man agreed to sign the appeal when I told him the true situation in China. While he was writing, he said: "I am from Sunnyvale. I drove all the way down here to sign your appeal!" Although it was just a joke, it really made me think. Many people have come to the earth from far far away for this Dafa. If they lose this chance, it will be a great regret in their lives. So later I was more active in promoting Dafa. I wanted to share this great chance with more people so that they could at least have the opportunity to make their own decisions. I wish more people in this world could have joyful lives, or even follow the path of cultivation and achieve a higher level in their lives.

Just a few weeks ago, my grandma called me and asked me not to practice. I just couldn't hold my temper and argued with her at the end. But some of her words did inspire me a lot. She told me that science is boundless, that I should keep researching it. I realized that master was giving me some hints. For a practitioner, the Buddha's Law is the most advanced science. Isn't that telling me to make further advances? That day when I hung up, I took out Zhuan Falun and started to read Lunyu (A Statement of Comment). The first sentence is: "The Buddha's Fa is most profound, and it is the most mystic and supernormal science of all." As I read it, I had a dignified feeling about the Buddha's Law. I felt it is so magnificent and splendid. I know I am just an elementary school pupil in terms of cultivation practice. In order to return to my original true self, I have to keep reading the book to make further advances.

Finally I just wanted to share with you my experience of writing this article. As I look back to what I have gone through in my cultivation practice, I have had some new understanding of those experiences. I really appreciate the chance given by this conference.

Thanks to all!