Western Practitioner: Discovering Falun Gong in Sweden

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a practitioner from Sweden. I would like to tell how I obtained the Fa.

It was at the end of winter in the year 2000. I was looking for different methods so that I could obtain better health and books that could give me answers to life and the universe. My health was in a very bad condition and I was always tired, had constant headaches, trouble with insomnia, and I also had problems with my back. I tried yoga which helped me to some extent. But I felt I wanted to find something simple and something that didn't cost me anything. Then a friend of mine told me that he had met a guy he new earlier that had just started a Falun Gong group where he taught the exercises for free. I did not know anything about this practise at that time, but I was very curious to learn more.

I went there with my friend and I immediately felt a peaceful atmosphere at the practice site. I learned the exercises and I felt some powerful energy coming into my body. I was really shocked that this practice did not cost anything, so I went almost every week from then on. When the instructor told me that the books and other literature could be downloaded for free I became even more interested.

I downloaded the main book, Zhuan Falun, through the internet and started to read it. It was very profound and sometimes very hard for me to grasp. But I had read before many books about Buddhist and Daoist thinking, so I was able to grasp to some extent what the book was about, and I remember the things in the book when Master Li talked about the improvement of one's character (xinxing) and the assimilation to the principle of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance (Zhen, Shan, and Ren) - these principle really touched my heart.

I also remember very well when this instructor invited us to Master Li's Guangzhou nine-day video lecture at his home. I was more and more drawn to Falun Gong and its profound philosophy. I also had many questions which the local practitioners answered, and I was very glad for their help and support. They also told me that many answers could be found in Zhuan Falun and they told me that as a practitioner of this qigong practice, one should frequently study this book. So he invited me to group study at his home and I found it very valuable for me and I began to understand more profoundly its philosophy. I was also very glad and grateful when local practitioners loaned me Master Li's other books and lectures so that I could delve more deeply into its philosophy and have more understandings.

After two or three months of practice I had more energy and I felt more vital and serene, and my back did not hurt anymore. I could now sleep very well every night, and my headaches and other illnesses also disappeared. I began to think in another way after awhile, as if my consciousness had awakened to higher realms. And I remember that I wanted to be a good person, and the more I studied Zhuan Falun, I noticed many changes in me. I tried to think of others before myself and I stopped stealing and lying. I became more unselfish. I noticed that both my body and mind were purified more and more. And from then on I knew I had found the way I had been searching for so long.