(Clearwisdom.net) Not long ago, I read an article on the Minghui website (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom) that a practitioner had given up cultivation because for a long time he could not see any supernatural things and thus he lost righteous faith in Dafa. After reading this article, I felt it was such a pity that this practitioner gave up the predestined cultivation opportunity that happens only once in a thousand years, particularly when the Fa-rectification is near its end. With the many practitioners who cannot see things in other dimensions in mind, I would like to share my cultivation experiences.
I started cultivation in October 1998. When I understood the significance of Falun Dafa I felt elated. The happy and excited feeling I had was indescribable. It was exactly what Master had illustrated in Zhuan Falun about the "Attachment to Zealotry." I was delighted that the predestined relationship that happens only once in thousands of years was finally fulfilled!
I am a young male practitioner. Before cultivation I had many attachments, one of them a strong attachment to showing off. After I started cultivation, I read the section, "Demonic Interference from One's Own Mind" in Zhuan Falun. I was afraid that I could not keep a grip on myself once I saw things in other dimensions, so I specially burned incense in front of Master's picture and said, "Master, I don't want my Celestial Eye to be opened. I want to cultivate in a closed state." After expressing this wish, I have not seen any supernatural things, with one exception. That was when, under difficult conditions, I persisted in reading Zhuan Falun. In order to encourage me, Master let me see that behind each word in Zhuan Falun were many small, golden, and magnificent Buddhas.
When I first started cultivation, I felt the spinning of the Falun and the rapid expansion of my body. Otherwise, I have so far not sensed anything else. But I know that Master is really like what he had said in his opening speech in "Teaching the Fa in New York City" (March 23, 1997):
"as long as you practice cultivation, I'm actually right by your side. And as long as you practice cultivation, I can be responsible for you all the way to the end; what's more, I'm looking after you every single moment."
I will describe a few incidents in my cultivation.
One night I kept studying the Fa until 11:00 p.m. I was quite sleepy and my eyelids felt as though they were glued shut. I wanted to take a nap and promised that I would definitely wake up at 12 a.m. to send forth righteous thoughts. I fell asleep. When I was sound asleep, it suddenly felt as though someone had hit a gong and I woke up to the sound. I took a look at the clock. It was 11:50 p.m. Oh! I realized it was Master who had awakened me to send forth righteous thoughts. I hurriedly got up and sent forth righteous thoughts.
Once during a business trip to Beijing, I went to the home of a fellow practitioner to exchange experiences. I met a practitioner there who had given up cultivation for a long time. Before the persecution she had been practicing right along. After the persecution started, although she was not diligent and for a few years did not read Falun Gong books, she knew that Falun Gong is great. But Master did not give up on her. She left her hometown and came to Beijing to look for a job. By coincidence she rented a room from this practitioner whom I was visiting. By living there, Master made her realize that she needed to be diligent in studying the Fa. On the first day, the three of us sent forth righteous thoughts at 12:00 midnight. The next day at 6:00 a.m., two of us sent forth righteous thoughts without her. She was lazy and went back to sleep; she did not want to get up. Master had the scene of the two of us sending forth righteous thoughts appear in her mind and urged her to send forth righteous thoughts. But she was really too sleepy and still did not want to get up. Then Master had this scene appear in her mind: another practitioner led her up very high and steep stairs, step by step. While climbing the steps, the practitioner was cleaning and sweeping the dust and rubbish off the steps. When she woke up, we had finished sending forth righteous thoughts. She asked us, "Have you finished sending forth righteous thoughts?" We asked her how she knew and she told us the scenes she saw.
Another time, my mother came to my house for a short stay. Although previously when I was suffering persecution from Jiang Zemin's regime for practicing Falun Gong, my mother had been worried and scared for my safety, all along she believed that her son was a good man and that Falun Gong teaches people to do good deeds and is great. I told her that whenever she has time she should recite, "Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." My mother recited this before bedtime that very night. The next morning she told me that when she woke up she saw someone in Taoist garments beside her bed. The man had a long, white beard and looked very kind and compassionate. He was also carrying a horsetail whisk that Taoists used to carry in the temples. Although she had never met him before she did not feel any fear. Instead, she felt good. After a while the old man disappeared. She asked me who I thought this person was. I told her that it was most probably the Master of Falun Dafa - Mr. Li Hongzhi.
Recently an interesting thing happened. I had previously made use of different opportunities to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to others. One day at work, I received a phone call from Canada. It was from an old friend whom I had not seen for seven or eight years. She told me that, out of the blue, she had had a dream about me. In the dream I had suddenly become a university lecturer and was part of the legal faculty, specializing in teaching law to students. Actually, I knew that Master was encouraging me through her words. This dream also helped to fulfill our predestined relationship so that she could know the truth about Falun Gong!
When I heard about the practitioner who had given up cultivation because he could not see any supernatural things, I was heartbroken. Whether or not one's Celestial Eye is open is Master's systematic arrangement. Does it matter whether or not one can see things in the other dimensions? Cultivation is precisely to cultivate away all these attachments; why do you want to pursue these things? Once you finish cultivation and reach Consummation, won't you see all that you are supposed to see? Shouldn't this practitioner look inward and find out his fundamental attachments? What is one's actual cultivation goal? Are we cultivating so that we can see things in other dimensions? Actually, whether or not we can see, Master is really beside each and every one of us practitioners, watching after us and protecting us!
October 25, 2005