(Minghui.org) In December 2008, I started practicing Falun Dafa. Before I began cultivating, I suffered from many diseases like severe anemia, hypertension, chronic gastritis, migraine headache, neurasthenia, dysmenorrhea, Globus disease, etc. Now I am totally recovered. Every practitioner has experienced remarkable, positive changes and can say from their own, personal experience: Falun Dafa is good!
1. Practitioner’s Songs Inspired Me to Cultivate
In July 2008, my elder sister who practices Falun Dafa stayed at my house. One day, she gave me her MP4 and suggested I listen to Dafa practitioners’ music, but after a while I returned it to her and told her it wasn't the kind of music I liked. My sister was persistent, and before she went to work, she gave me the MP4 again and said, "You should listen to the music, the more your listen, the more you will like it." Later that afternoon when I was bored, I turned it on and heard music composed by Dafa practitioners. While I listened to the songs something touched my heart. After listening a few times, I started to cry and couldn't stop. I called my sister and asked her, “Why do I want to cry? Is this normal?” She said nothing was wrong; my reaction was very normal.
The next night I dreamed I had surgery, and the doctor was very tall. He cut my stomach open with a knife, and removed a potful of sticky stuff. He seriously said: "How will it work if this stuff hasn't been cleaned out?” When I got up that morning, I suddenly floated up. I was very shocked. When I got home, I told my sister about the dream. She said, "That wasn't a dream, Master was cleansing your body."
In September 2008, I moved to a new house, and often listened to Dafa practitioners’ songs, which frequently brought me to tears. One afternoon, I listened to the song, "Heaven's Door Is Opening Since the Eternal Time!" and began to cry. I was very touched when I heard, "Gods and Buddhas Step by Step Descended to the Earth." I knelt on the bed with heshi, crying out, "Master, I will cultivate!”
In December 2008, my sister brought me the main book of Falun Dafa, Zhuan Falun and I began to study the Fa and do the exercises. Two months later, I saw the swirling Falun with my celestial eye. I also heard the sound of Falun rotating a few times, and felt the Falun rotating on my stomach.
One day at midnight, I remembered my sister said that one should send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate evil, so I thought that I would send forth righteous thoughts too. I erected my right hand, and recited the righteous thoughts formulas over and over, but fell asleep after a few minutes. Between sleeping and waking up, I heard a man's voice exclaiming: "You want to kill me!" After I opened my eyes, I saw a mass of dirt colored substance one meter away from my pillow. I was very scared, and continually recited the righteous thoughts formulas: “Fa rectifies heaven and earth; all evil will be completely eliminated!” I became less scared after I kept reciting it. Soon after, I fell asleep.
One night I had a dream: A female demon wearing a red dress was floating in front of me and laughing at me. I immediately began to send forth righteous thoughts at it and said, “Eliminate you!” but I could not destroy it. I was anxious, and begged Master to strengthen me. Then I said “Eliminate you!” again. The female demon immediately turned into smoke and disappeared. I realized that Master was with us, protecting and watching over us. Master knows our every thought.
Not long after I obtained the Fa, I started to clarify the truth. I had a strong desire to save people, and have quite a few stories. Here are a few examples:
Once when I was on my way home, I saw a woman doing farm work. I went over to tell her about the persecution of Falun Dafa, and she was very receptive. She also told me that her daughter and son-in-law's lives weren't very smooth. I told her to tell them to recite “Falun Dafa is Good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is Good!” and her daughter and son-in-law’s lives would be better. The woman withdrew from the Young Pioneers and I gave her a Falun Dafa symbol as a keepsake. She then asked for two more, for her daughter and son-in-law. As I left the fields, I heard her murmur: “I'm so lucky, I'm very fortunate that I came outside today.”
Once when I was walking down the street, an elderly man almost tripped over a brick. Initially, I just walked past him. But then I remembered I have to save sentient beings, so I quickly turned back towards him. The elderly man said he wanted to go up to the top of the stairs, so I said, “I can help you!” By the time we made it to the top of the stairs, I had finished clarifying the truth to him, and he quit the Chinese Communist Party. I gave him a Falun Dafa symbol and told him to recite “Falun Dafa is good!” He grabbed my hands and said, “Thank you so much, today I have met a very compassionate person.” I smiled and said, “We have a predestined relationship!” He was very excited, and kept thanking me.
Once at a supermarket, I helped an elderly man while clarifying the truth to him, and he renounced his membership to the Youth League and Young Pioneers. Then he seriously said, “Be careful when you talk to people about this on the streets.” I said, “Thank you.”
Last year, two female practitioners and I went to the mountain areas to clarify the truth. While we were walking we sent forth righteous thoughts to clear all evil factors from blocking these sentient beings from being saved. Then we recited poems from Hong Yin and loudly sang Dafa practitioners’ songs. We hoped that all the plants and trees in the mountains could hear the goodness of Dafa and be saved! We passed out pamphlets and clarified the truth. A young woman in her twenties asked, "Why don't you pass out more materials to the people here? The people who live in the mountains can't find this kind of information." At that moment I realized that we could have done more.
While we were in the mountains, we put our heart into saving sentient beings. When we needed to go to the next village which was far away, we hitch-hiked. A truck driver gave us a ride and on the way to the village we explained how innocent Falun Dafa practitioners are being wrongfully persecuted. The driver quit the Youth League. In this way, we clarified the truth along the way. Time passed by very fast, and the day quickly became dark.
By the time we got to the bus station, all the buses were gone. We asked Master to help us. After a while, we found a taxi. We clarified the truth to the driver on the way, however, at first he didn't want to listen to us. I then told him that recently many sinkholes have begun appearing in China. I talked about the carved words which were revealed on a stone in Guizhou Province that say “The Communist Party Dies,” and how Falun Dafa has spread all over the world. Before we got out of the taxi, I leaned on the car door and said: "I sincerely hope you will have good fortune. Please remember 'Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good'!" The driver smiled and nodded. It was 8 p.m. when we got to the practitioner's house. It was just in time for our local weekly group study.
One afternoon, when a fellow practitioner and I were were distributing Shen Yun DVDs we were illegally arrested and taken to a police station. At first, we were coaxed and tricked by the officers who recorded our “confessions.” Later, I realized that we were falling into their trap and going along with them. The next day, my family came to ask the police to release me, and I sent forth righteous thoughts. But then I lost my righteous thoughts, and felt terrible when I heard the police would send me away. Once again, I went along with the delusion and my unrighteous thought was latched onto by the old forces. I was locked up in a detention center.
In the detention center, a prisoner asked me: "Will you be released?" I said, "Yes. I will be." She asked me again: "Are you sure you'll be released?" I firmly replied: "Yes. I am sure!" The head of the prisoners of the cell said: "No one in this cell can be released, everyone here will be sentenced." I thought: I am a Dafa disciple. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts, thinking: this is all an illusion, I will definitely be released. The next morning, a prisoner said: "Look at her eyes, she is so firm in her belief."
Sometimes, I missed my child and husband. My tears would come when my human attachment became strong. And then I recalled Master’s teaching:
"Dafa disciples, away with your tears The devil, Satan, has utterly collapsed" (“Be Clearheaded” in Hong Yin II)
A young female prisoner came to me and said: "I can recite the Fa too." She recited "What Is Forbearance (Ren)” from Essentials for Further Advancement :
"Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing . To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator."
I was ashamed that I could not recite it. That young woman helped me write it down.
The first time I sent forth righteous thoughts, the head of the prisoner cell shouted at me: "No doing the exercises!" I said loudly: "I am sending forth righteous thoughts; Dafa disciples must send forth righteous thoughts every day." She asked me how long it took. I told her it would take over ten minutes. Then every afternoon, I sent forth righteous thoughts for a few hours and she never disrupted me again. Later, I clarified the truth to her, and she renounced her membership to the Youth League and Young Pioneers. She told me: "All of the Falun Gong practitioners I've met have been very kind."
During the last few days, I felt that my righteous thoughts became stronger. At every moment I sent forth righteous thoughts: “I am a disciple of Master Li Hongzhi; I have come to help Master save sentient beings, no evil old forces are qualified to persecute me. Dafa will correct all of my attachments and weaknesses; no evil is allowed to persecute me.”
During the lunch break, I sat on the bed and sent forth righteous thoughts. I talked to Master in my mind: "Master, your disciple has saved as many people as I can here; I need to go out, please strengthen me, Master." After ten minutes, a guard came to call my name and said, "Bailed!" I returned home with my husband at half past noon.
I enlightened from this experience: A cultivator is indeed an extraordinary person. Just as Master said:
"Being a practitioner is supernormal, so as a supernormal person, you must conduct yourself with supernormal principles instead of measuring yourself with those of everyday people." (Lecture Nine in Zhuan Falun)
There are a variety of tribulations in cultivation. The key is, when you come across tribulations, whether you admitted it or denied it by recognizing it as a false impression. It seemed that you were in severe sickness, or you had a bone fracture and could not move; or you suddenly vomited blood; or were arrested and sentenced…. Even if all of this already happened, but, as a Dafa practitioner, you had to break out of this human manifestation, and then all of the "serious" matters will become illusion in the view of a true cultivator. Master said:
"This table is also squirming, yet your eyes cannot see the truth. This pair of eyes can give one a false impression like that." (Lecture Two in Zhuan Falun)
As long as we can clearly see through the illusion, do not acknowledge it, the old forces cannot do anything to you.
4. Cultivate Xinxing while Bringing up a Young Practitioner
I had been irritable and quick-tempered since I was young. As I grew older, I developed a self-righteous character, and a sense of entitlement. I never considered others when I spoke or did things. Both my husband and my son were afraid of my scolding, but my daughter was an exception, she did not listen to me at all.
When I first obtained the Fa, my daughter wasn't yet four years old. She learned the exercises by watching my sister teaching me. Once, when I read Zhuan Falun aloud while my daughter played in the living room. She quickly ran in to listen when I read: "One practitioner in Beijing took his child to Qianmen for a walk after dinner and saw a commercial vehicle promoting lottery tickets." (Lecture Four in Zhuan Falun)
She said: "That's so great, mom, I want to hear more." Then I taught her to read sentence by sentence. Soon, she could read the Fa by herself. In the following few years, She read through Zhuan Falun eight times and recited over twenty poems from Hong Yin .
Nowadays, school is a big dye vat, my daughter learned a lot of bad habits there: lying, stealing, rebelliousness. Basically she was even worse than an ordinary kid. I was called to the school by her teacher again and again, and I was both sad and angry. I often expressed my anger by spanking and scolding her, and I forgot that I was a cultivator. Just as Master said:
"Some people will lose their temper in disciplining children and yell at them, making quite a scene. You should not be that way in disciplining children, and neither should you, yourselves get really upset. You should educate children with reason so that you can really teach them well." (Lecture Nine in Zhuan Falun)
Whenever we read this sentence, we would laugh. She pointed at me and said, "That is you Mom!"
When I returned home from the detention center, I was exhausted. My husband told me that my daughter came home right after school every day. But after I came back, she did not return home on time, and did not turn in her homework on time. I was so angry that I became enraged, but I also cried a lot. My sister saw that I had no righteous thoughts, so she told me: "Please beg for Master’s help, only the power of Dafa can help you, using an ordinary person’s approach will not work."
Master’s picture was on the table, my daughter and I knelt in front of Master's picture with tears but could not say a single word. I begged Master for help to discipline his young disciple. After a while, I told my daughter: Let's look inward to find our attachments. I spoke first and admitted that my righteous thoughts were not strong. I did not cultivate speech, I still had a strong attachment to fighting with others, vanity, showing off, validating myself, seeking comfort, not being patient with my daughter, and I was irritable. I begged Master to help me. My daughter also began to look inward and found her attachments to competitiveness, greediness of eating, playing, sleeping, laziness, and so on.
The next day, my daughter came home right after school, and she told me that she was the first student in class to turn in her homework. I then praised her. Since then, she returned home on time every day, and told me that her teacher praised her.
My child is my mirror, when she didn't want to turn in her homework and didn't want to come home, wasn’t it a reflection of my cultivation status? I was unable to let go of human attachments and was obsessed with my human life. I'm writing this down here to expose and remove my attachments, otherwise, how can we deserve Master's compassionate salvation? Master said:
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." (“Drive Out Interference” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I need to carefully study the Fa to rise above my current level, and truly cultivate, as well as bringing up a good little Dafa disciple and return home with Master.
I am so thankful for Master’s hints throughout my cultivation path and His constant, compassionate care! I would also like to thank fellow practitioners for their selfless help. Heshi!