(Clearwisdom.net) I am a new practitioner and I began practicing Falun Dafa at the end of November, 2004. My job of laying tiles was quite exhausting. However, whenever there was a break in my work, even if it was just for five or ten minutes, I would take out my electronic book to study the Fa. I did this to keep myself from slacking off in cultivation. I have also been attending group Fa study and group exercises. Over the past three years, there has not been a single day that I have skipped Fa study or doing the Falun Gong exercises. Every morning I finish all five sets of exercises without any interruption.
After watching the DVD of Master's "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners", I felt that time has become more pressing. Despite feeling fatigued after a day of hard labor, I would go to rural areas and distribute truth-clarifying materials. Many times I would not get back home before 2:00 a.m. Sometimes I would not return until daybreak. Through studying the Fa, talking to people about Falun Gong, and persuading people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, I have realized that I must rid myself of the following attachments: validating myself or doing anything for myself, and the attachment of fear. I need to treat each life compassionately, always with righteous thoughts and righteous deeds.
I obtained the Fa at the end of November 2004. Being a new practitioner, I was simply feeling the magnificence of Falun Dafa. As I read Zhuan Falun over and over, I regretted that I had obtained the Fa so late and that I knew so little. Seeing that other practitioners had reached a high realm by diligently studying the Fa, and by clarifying the truth, sending forth righteous thoughts and helping save sentient beings, I became even more anxious. I often cried when I looked at Master's portrait. After crying like this many times, I calmed down and became determined that I would follow the process of Fa-rectification and catch up with veteran practitioners.
After studying the Fa, I realized that the Fa-rectification was drawing closer to the end. I found that I could create many opportunities to help save sentient beings. There is not a single moment to waste and I strive to reach the standard of self-cultivation, to follow the process of Fa-rectification, and to help save more sentient beings.
Through Fa study, I realized that this is the prehistoric vow that I must fulfill, as well as an important historic mission that I have to shoulder. As a result, I have to grasp the principles and content of the Fa in the shortest time possible. I do this in order to fulfill the vow of helping Master rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. Whenever there is a minute, I study the Fa, which helps me to quench my thirst of assimilating to the principles of the Fa.
If our wisdom is not opened up by the Fa, what can we do? I realized the importance of studying the Fa. After discussing this issue with veteran practitioners, I have become more confident thanks to their encouragement. I made up my mind to live my life as Master explains to us in "Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions" from Hong Yin Volume II:
A Great Enlightened One fears no hardship
Having forged an adamantine will
Free of attachment to living or dying
He walks the path of Fa-rectification confident and poised
At the same time, I also realized that if all practitioners can carry out righteous deeds with righteous thoughts, truly let go of the attachment to life and death, and rid themselves of selfishness, ego and all attachments, the evil will immediately disintegrate. Despite my fearlessness, when it came to hardship and difficulties, I did not always know how to pass some of the tests I faced, as I had just started cultivating. Sometimes I would lean back in bed while reading the Fa. I feel ashamed when I think of it now. Fellow practitioners told me to study the Fa as much as I could. Master brings up the importance of Fa study each time He lectures on the Fa. So I started to take every opportunity to study the Fa.
Over the past three years, there has not been a single day that I have skipped Fa study or doing the exercises.
Because my personal cultivation is intertwined with Fa-rectification cultivation, tests and trials came rapidly and violently. The old forces tried vehemently to block my way. In human society, this manifested as negative comments, scolding, complaints, being sworn at and being humiliated by relatives and friends. My daughter-in-law often beat and swore at me. I wasn't affected and was determined to cultivate all the way through these trials. On one occasion, not too long after I started practicing, I had just learned the exercises and kept doing the movements over and over. My daughter-in-law was angry as she watched me practice the movements over and over. She tried to stop me. If I didn't listen to her, she hit me. She kept asking me while she was beating me, "Are you going to practice?" I answered "Yes." She became so angry that she hit me over the head with a flashlight. The flashlight was dented. I had only one thought in my mind, "I simply believe in Master and the Fa, and this is a trial to pass." I can let go of all the fame, fortune and sentiment in the human world. The only thing I cannot let go is the Fa. With this firm belief in the Fa, I passed the test.
At first when I practiced the exercises, my legs were very stiff. My knees protruded upward even in the single lotus position. It was even harder to sit in double lotus position. Sweat would pour out of me and my legs ached, but I persevered. I understood from reading fellow practitioners' articles on Clearwisdom.net that sentient beings are eliminated in great quantities in one's world if a practitioner fails to practice the exercises. When a practitioner diligently does the exercises, energy is restored to his world and there is abundant life. The living beings eliminated before are then saved by Master only when we exercise diligently. I suddenly realized that we came here to assist Master to rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. How could we end up destroying sentient beings? If many sentient beings are eliminated because of my laziness and lack of doing the exercises, how could I face Master and other sentient beings in my world? How many sentient beings will be lost because of my laziness or fear of feeling pain? Isn't this selfishness? As Dafa disciples, we should reach the realm where we have no selfishness and no self!
Master says in Zhuan Falun, "I would say that it is simply too easy if one can succeed in cultivation by just holding the arms up like that." So it occurred to me that if I could not withstand this little bit of pain, how could I have anything to do with cultivation practice? As a result, regardless of the pain and discomfort, I just sat there with my legs crossed. Gradually I could sit for 30 minutes instead of 10. Now I can sit in lotus position for 60 minutes, and sometimes over 80 minutes without sweating. I am able to constantly study the Fa, do the exercises, send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth to people. I have vowed to assist Master in rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings, to carry out righteous thoughts and righteous deeds, to study the Fa and practice the exercises, and to do the Three Things well, until the last moment, without hesitation.
I still remember a magnificent scene I saw about two weeks after I obtained the Fa. While I was doing the exercises, I watched the tape recorder light up, and a deep red spinning Falun came through the window from outside and went into my stomach. Later when I told fellow practitioners about this, they explained that Master was encouraging me to strive forward. They suggested that upon seeing my diligence, Master planted a Falun inside of me. I also saw Master's Fashen sitting next to me while I was sitting in the lotus position. The scene was so vivid. I became even more determined in cultivation practice.
The above statements are some of my initial understandings regarding my personal cultivation. I'd like to share some understandings during the course of Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings. I was late in obtaining the Fa, and was not clear on the distinction between personal cultivation and disciples cultivating during the Fa-rectification period. I did not have a deep understanding on how to enlighten to Fa principles, what righteous thoughts were, how to send forth righteous thoughts, or the importance of saving sentient beings. I was simply doing the Three Things every day rather mechanically.
One day in 2005, I was studying Master's article "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts Are Powerful," When I read the Chinese character for "thoughts" in the phrase "righteous thoughts," the structure of the character suddenly revealed itself to me right in front of my eyes. The top half is "jin" or "today" and the bottom half, "xin" or "heart." I immediately realized that Master was giving me a hint! What helps Master in Fa-rectification is a heart that is compassionate and filled with goodwill, a heart that strives forward diligently in the Fa, and a heart that assists Master in saving sentient beings during the Fa-rectification. With such a heart, we can accrue mighty virtue and return to our original true selves. As a Dafa disciple, what I receive in return for what Master has mercifully done, is a pure heart. I realized that as long as we keep a righteous heart, our thoughts will be righteous, and the things we do will be righteous as well. A pure and compassionate heart does not come from merely thinking or speaking. The attachments to fear and laziness are not easily overcome even after we become aware of them. They must be whittled away in the process of solid cultivation practice. Master says in Zhuan Falun, "As to how high your cultivation level can reach, it all depends on your endurance and your ability to bear hardships." It is my understanding that only by being solid in cultivation can one do well and go through cultivation practice earning the title of Master's disciple. Solid cultivation has made my heart solid as diamond. There is only one Fa-rectification. Time is limited for solid cultivation. We dare not miss this rare opportunity. Master has warned us that we will one day realize what has been lost, when the things we are so attached to have dissipated. When I understood this, I used the standard of Dafa to gauge my every word and action. I have put forth a pure heart when telling others the truth and saving people, and I have had no fear whatsoever. I cannot miss a single person with a predestined relationship and will do my best to save people, one at a time and the more the better.
I used to work with a construction team, which paid better but the working hours were long. That affected my ability to do the Three Things. I quit that job and started to look for another job. Now, while I am waiting to be hired in the public square, which is at the center of the county, a lot of people and cars pass by. A lot of people wait there for odd jobs. When there are not many jobs to give out, people tend to rush to the hirer. If you're slow, you won't get hired. In the past I also rushed along with everyone else. Although fellow practitioners told me during our discussions that, "If it is your job, you can't lose it; if it is not yours, it won't come your way no matter how hard you compete for it." I could not let go of my attachment to competition. After continuous Fa study and discussion with fellow practitioners, I finally realized this was the same as simply not believing in Master and not believing in the Fa. Despite my claiming to have faith, and expressing this to everyone, I was not trusting in the Fa on this issue. After digging deeper inside myself, I realized this was the attachment to fortune. Once I realized the attachment, I made up my mind to get rid of it. From that point on, I focused on Fa study while waiting to be hired. I read the Chinese edition of Clearwisdom Weekly and brochures with Falun Gong contents even if others are watching me. I read with dignity and honor and I study with dignity and honor.
Because I have enlightened to this Fa principle and have carried out solid cultivation by letting go of my attachment, Master has arranged predestined people to come to my side one by one. Good jobs have also started coming my way. I have ended up with more revenue than the previous year. I came to a better understanding of the Fa principle that you cannot lose something if it is yours. I have experienced the joy of solid cultivation. The glory of being Master's genuinely cultivating disciple is immense. I have also realized that all the misery people suffer during solid cultivation is because of human attachments. There is no misery if one does not have any attachments. I carry a lot of materials with me every day when working odd jobs. I give out materials and tell people about Falun Dafa face to face. On one occasion, I was hired to work at someone's home. I knew during our conversation that he was a police officer. I thought that even policemen need to be saved. So I told him the facts and gave him a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. He smiled at me, as I had no attachment to fear.
On another occasion, someone asked me for directions. I forgot to tell him about Falun Dafa. After he walked away 50 feet, I suddenly realized he could be someone with a predestined relationship who might have missed the opportunity of being saved. How much damage could occur?! So I ran to him, and told him the facts, and finally persuaded him to withdraw from the CCP. Another day, a vehicle with a Jilin Province license plate stopped at the crossroads. The driver came and asked me for directions. I knew he was predestined and Master had brought him to me so that he could learn the truth. After telling him the route, I immediately told him the truth about Falun Dafa and persuaded him to quit the CCP. After listening to me, he gladly withdrew from the CCP and gave me his true name.
One day I went to Shenyang City to look for odd jobs. On my way back, I told the driver the facts by introducing myself as a Dafa practitioner. The driver accepted the truth right away as I had no fear in my heart. I knew this was Master's arrangement. Besides telling others about Falun Dafa at work, I also tell people about Dafa at wedding parties, gatherings, grocery stores or department stores. I spread the truth to whomever I run into and give them brochures and copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Some people have realized the facts and have been very grateful. Some have made negative comments; however, I am not perturbed. So far, I have helped over 600 people quit the CCP. I know this is all done by Master. I wouldn't have accomplished such a thing without Master's help.
November 3, 2008
