Words Can't Express Master's Grace

(Clearwisdom.net)

Obtaining the Fa

I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. At that time, my boyfriend (now my husband) and I were both studying overseas. We returned to China in the summer of 1998 to visit our parents and friends. One day we separately visited our college friends and then got together in the evening. As soon as we met, my boyfriend gave me a book, saying that he wanted to put the book in my bag temporarily because he didn't have a bag. He said that he would take it when we left. He didn't tell me what the book was. After I got home, I found that he had forgotten to take his book. It was already 10:00 p.m., and I felt a little tired, so I decided to read the book for a while and then go to bed. Unexpectedly, I kept reading the book until around 3:00 a.m., when I finished reading the whole book. While reading the book, I felt that it was so good, and I was eager to continue reading, looking forward to the next sections. I therefore read it very quickly, but I read it generally. I took a look at the cover after I finished reading the whole book and saw that it was entitled Zhuan Falun.

I couldn't remember the exact situation when I read the book for the first time; I only remember the sentence "When one's Buddha-nature emerges, it will shake 'the world of ten directions.'" ("Lecture One" from Zhuan Falun) I felt shocked when I read this. I raised my head and looked around. Although I couldn't see other worlds, I believed that my emerging Buddha-nature was shaking the world of ten directions. When I read "no second cultivation way," I thought that I should stop doing a Japanese exercise that I had practiced for a year and I should instead practice Falun Gong. When I read that the characteristic of the universe is Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) and found that Zhen-Shan-Ren is explained so well in the book, I thought that the author must be from out of this universe; otherwise, he couldn't explain the characteristic so clearly, because you can't see the forest for the trees.

The next day when I returned the book to my boyfriend, he told me that one of his college classmates who practiced Falun Gong gave this book to him. I then told him, "I already read the book and am going to practice Falun Gong." As soon as my boyfriend also read it he also decided to practice Falun Gong. We also bought a lot of copies of Zhuan Falun to present to relatives and friends.

Healing and Fitness

We later went to a practice site to learn the exercises. At the end of the summer holiday, we went back to school. We didn't at all think that people abroad also practiced Falun Gong. The semester after I obtained the Fa was quite easy. Although it seemed to be coincidental, I realized afterward that Master had arranged it to give me the opportunity to lay a solid cultivation foundation. I liked to do the exercises very much at that time. In the morning, I sat in meditation once I woke up, then practiced the first four sets of exercises. In the evening, I did them again. I often practiced for four hours during that period of time. Although I didn't have any serious illnesses, headaches had often troubled me since childhood, and I later had hypotension. It made me suffer headaches from the morning on, and I often had sleepless nights. Although I was only in my twenties, my memory had already started to decrease. In the two years before I practiced Falun Gong, I suffered foot aches, leg aches, and lumbago, and the doctors couldn't find any solutions.

When I first practiced the second exercise for ten minutes, I felt dizzy and couldn't breathe. I had to lie down to rest. After I practiced for one to two weeks, that symptom disappeared, and I could practice the second exercise for half an hour. My headaches became weaker and weaker, and two months later they totally disappeared. Regarding the foot aches and leg aches, they have never occurred again, since I first began doing the exercises.

In the first six months, I didn't understand the importance of studying the Fa because I didn't read Master's lectures on this topic. However, I often read Zhuan Falun. It was my only Dafa book at that time. I liked to read it often because I felt it was good. Each time I read it, I amazingly found new things.

Soon it came to be Easter Day in the following calendar year. We encountered some other practitioners in another city and then started to practice together. Most of them were Western practitioners.

Translating Dafa Books

Many things have happened during the past ten-plus years. Let me select a few to share. When we made contact with fellow practitioners, it was just at a time when practitioners were translating Zhuan Falun into other languages. My and my boyfriend's English was not good because we were abroad for only two years. In addition, we both studied science, not language. Moreover, many disciples had been living abroad for many years, and they had studied the language. However, we were asked to help with the translation work. We started doing so with a western practitioner. At the beginning, the progress was quite slow. The western practitioner asked us to explain the meaning of some difficult words and how to use them. In addition, we didn't have any translation experience. All the content in Zhuan Falun is about cultivation. We hadn't talked about cultivation with Westerners in our daily lives, and sometimes, regardless of how we translated, the Western practitioner didn't understand what we meant. He asked us to translate word by word and to keep the words in the same order. After he guessed at the meaning, we then got together to discuss it. During that process, he learned much about Chinese grammar. In the end, he became well known for his understanding of Chinese grammar, having previously been a Westerner who could at first only say "hello" in Chinese.

At the beginning we translated text very slowly, and one page took us about three hours. My boyfriend and I spent all our free time on the translation. More than a year later, we finished the translation. Afterwards, we also translated some other Dafa books. Our levels of foreign language were also upgraded.

I deeply appreciated Master's arrangement. The translation work at that time was also a very intense process of studying the Fa. We could easily pass through our xinxing tests with strong righteous thoughts. Our bodies also changed greatly. I remember that for quite a long time the skin on my face became rough every two weeks. Although it was hard to discern from my appearance, I could feel it by touching it. However, several days later, the skin became tender. This occurred again and again. In the end, my skin remained tender. I feel that it was the cultivation changes at different levels that occurred within my body.

Eliminating Jealousy and the Competitive Mentality

After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, my mother came to visit us for several months. She was deceived by the lies told by the Chinese Communist Party, and she told us via phone that she wanted to talk with us about our cultivation. After we finished the call, my head became warm, and I immediately realized that I needed to clarify the truth to her. I started thinking about how I could clarify the truth to her in different situations. That day, I couldn't calm down when I did the exercises. Different thoughts of how to clarify the truth to my mother ran through my brain. After finishing the exercises, I realized that it was my competitive mentality. However, I used it as an excuse later, thinking that it was good because I was thinking about how to clarify the truth to my mother.

Master said in Zhuan Falun, "Lecture Six," "This mentality of showing off can manifest in any situation; it can also surface when doing a good deed." Although my attachment here was not the mentality of showing off, I enlightened that regardless of whether we are doing a good deed, we still have to watch our attitudes while doing that thing. That is to say, even though clarifying the truth is a good deed, if I don't discipline myself as a cultivator during the process of clarifying the truth, then I won't have cultivated myself well. We can't measure our cultivation from the character of the deed; instead, we should measure it by our xinxing. Therefore, although I thought about how to clarify the truth to my mom, I did so with a strong competitive mentality, which was not correct. I still needed to clarify the truth, but I should eliminate the competitive mentality at the same time. When my mom came, I was always careful about my attachments and eliminated a lot of my competitive mentality, the dependent mentality, and the affection among family members. I also knew that I should consider my mother first. She learned the truth about Falun Gong, and she liked visiting us more and more. My mom subsequently started to practice Falun Gong and clarified the truth to her friends in China.

When I eliminated my attachments, especially the competitive mentality, I found that people around me treated me better, and I had more customers. Although some were not my customers before, they became my customers after they did business with me. In addition, they brought me more customers. Some of them told me that they worked with me just because they felt that I was a good person.

My heart has become more and more compassionate and kind. This also shows in my outward appearance. I am nearly 40 years old this year and have two children. But others think that I am only in my twenties from my appearance. They can't imagine that I am already a mother. My husband is often on business trips, and I take care of my children as I work. Therefore, I often need to stay up late. But even though I only sleep two hours at night, I am still full of energy the following day.