(Clearwisdom.net)
A Dafa practitioner
I started practicing Falun Dafa in August 1999, when Jiang's regime started to slander and persecute Falun Gong. One of my colleagues was a practitioner. Since I was very much interested in qigong, I had many discussions with him. One day, he lent me a copy of Zhuan Falun, which I finished at one sitting. The information contained in the book surprised me greatly. Since that time, I started the practice.
Like many others, I had been asking myself what was the purpose of life. In early 90s when qigong was at its peak, I spent days in the library reading books about various qigong practices. My health at that time was not good due to my pursuits of different qigong practices. I found the answers to my questions in Zhuan Falun. The following are some of the realizations I came to understand about my deepest questions at that time.
Regarding why gong does not increase with practice
When I read the chapter of "Why doesn't your gong increase with your practice?" I realized why my gong did not increase after a long period of time of practice. "While competing for personal gain, you want to improve your gong -- how can that be possible?" (Zhuan Falun, P.23). When I practiced other qigong, indeed I didn't know about the importance of cultivating my heart/mind nature [xinxing]. I spent a lot of time looking for short cuts, having read all of the books on qigong in the library. What happened was, as Teacher Li says, I messed up my body.
Regarding Treating Illnesses
One of my uncles who practices Tantrism gave me "Guanding" [a qigong practice where the teacher pours energy down into the student through the head] and demonstrated a supernormal capability to me, having heard that I was interested in qigong. After that, I had developed a bit of energy. Driven by my attachments, I started to treat patients. When people felt better after they received my energy and were thankful, my attachment to fame was encouraged. Later, exactly as Teacher Li says, "In order to save one's reputation, what is on one's mind while treating illness? 'Please let me have this illness so that the patient can be healed.' He will go home with the illness while the patient is healed. After seeing the patient, he will suffer at home." (Zhuan Falun). Then, since my attachment to treating illness was very strong, whenever I sat beside someone with illness and I had the intent of treating illness, I could see the illness transferred to my own body. In those days, I was never spared during a flu season. When I read Zhuan Falun, the questions that had been troubling me for years were answered
Regarding Futi [Spirit or Animal Possession]
Before I practiced Falun Dafa, my pursuit of supernormal capabilities and my reading all kinds of qigong books led to my possession by Futi. However, I didn't feel bad about it and in fact was quite proud of it. Dozens of pages into Zhuan Falun, I saw in my third eye a strong beam of light come down and destroy the Futi. I was very shocked at that time and realized that the book I was reading was extraordinary. What was said in the book was all true.
Regarding Attachments.
When I was practicing other kinds of qigong, driven by my attachments, I wanted to write about my experiences, which were a compilation of my experiences from various practices. As soon as I started to write, I could feel that my Qi was leaking and a few days later, the Qi was all gone. Perhaps it was because if I did write it, it would do harm to people. It was a kind of punishment for me.
Similarly, if I told someone about what I saw with my third eye, I found that my third eye became blurry or the ability was lost altogether. I found it unbelievable. Gradually I learned my lessons and did not talk to others about what I saw with my third eye. Having read Zhuan Falun, I came to the understanding that there were two reasons for that: 1) when I was telling people about scenery in other dimensions, I had an intent to show off and this attachment had to go. 2) This is a supernormal capability that cannot be demonstrated to everyday people because that would be revealing a heavenly secret.
Regarding The Purpose of Life and Cultivation
Teacher Li says in Zhuan Falun, "One should return to one's original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human." "Though this portion we teach among everyday people is not religion, its goal in cultivation practice is the same." When I read that, I felt that it was what I had been seeking for many years. All the materials in the world are transient; elevating to a higher realm and back to where your life was created are the most beautiful and everlasting.
These are some of my experiences from when I first practiced Falun Dafa. Kindly point out anything that may be incorrect.
