My Journey to the Fa

(Minghui.org) I am in my 60s, and I first learned of Falun Dafa in 2002 from browsing the Internet. 

In 2001 I finished five years of Gung Fu training in Tiger Crane Shaolin as an assistant to my Shifu. I was not really interested in continuing any further training and was looking on the Internet for something else to learn. That’s when I found Falun Dafa. I bought the book China Falun Gong from Tianti bookstore and read it all the way through. Liking what I read, I taught myself the exercises. They were easy to learn and I did them at home. Back then, my daughter was still young, and being a single parent, I was always looking for different activities to do, so my interest in Falun Dafa quickly faded and I went on to something else. My daughter and I did many things together.

After my daughter graduated from high school and had her own place, there was not much for me to do but go to work and come back home. It was not much of a life living alone. 

Time flies. In March 2019, remembering reading China Falun Gong many years prior, I went online to search again and found the book Zhuan Falun. I read it and realized that I should have kept up practicing Falun Gong for the past 18 years. 

So, for the next three months, I read the book over and over. It became clear that this was the way to live correctly. I grew up in a devoted Christian family and I used to go to church a lot with my parents in my youth. But I did not fully understand a lot of things and had many questions. Zhuan Falun answered all my questions. This time, I told myself, I am going to stay with this. 

After three months of intensive reading of Zhuan Falun, in June 2019, like starting where I’d left off, I began doing the five exercises and reading all of Master Li’s (Falun Dafa's founder) other lectures every day, not missing a day up to the present. That is 19 months to date.

After a while, I felt that something was lacking. I went on the Internet and searched for a group nearby. I found a small group of practitioners in a city only an hour from my home, and joined their group Fa-study and group exercises. My understanding of the Fa has since improved and I have developed a better understanding of the practice. 

In June 2019, after reading more of the Fa, I began looking inside and tried to see what attachments I have. In Zhuan Falun, Master Li writes:

“To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.” (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 1 “Genuinely Guiding People Toward High Levels”)

Well, I found my big attachment to cigarettes. 

I had smoked cigarettes all my life, starting at age 13. I liked to smoke a lot. But I also liked to be healthy. I had quit in the past, but then started right back up again. In Zhuan Falun, Master writes: 

“I advise everyone that if you truly want to cultivate you should quit smoking from now on, and it is guaranteed that you can quit. In the field of this class, no one thinks of smoking a cigarette. If you want to quit, it is guaranteed that you can do it. When you smoke a cigarette again, it will not taste right.” (Zhuan Falun Lecture 7 “The Issue of Eating Meat”)

That really struck me, so, with that in mind, when I smoked again, it didn’t taste as good as it used to. I basically quit smoking in one day, and I’ve never smoked or craved cigarettes again. No ill effects and no help from aids. It was a miracle. 

As I continue on my journey of cultivation, I give my sincere gratitude to Master Li for saving my life. 

During this pandemic, I was invited to join a nearby state’s online Fa-study and it has been going well. We share a lot after reading each lecture, and I benefit a lot. I am still making mistakes but I am still improving thanks to the Fa.