(Minghui.org) I am a 23-year-old practitioner. I started to practice Falun Dafa when I was a child and have been cultivating for 20 years. On this path of cultivation, Master has always protected me, and I have been immersed in his boundless benevolence. Yet, I’ve been ensnared by all that is tempting in ordinary society and at times was addicted to cellphones and not diligent in my cultivation. But I know deep down in my heart that Master has never given up on me. Master has always enlightened and encouraged me.
I was born in 1997, two years after my mother obtained the Fa. Naturally, I followed in her footsteps. When I was young, I recited the poems in Hong Yin with my mother and still remember many of them. My mother said that when she went to validate Falun Dafa in Beijing, she was very worried because I was only three or four years old. However, I encouraged her to go and even said, “Dafa has protected us, and now we need to protect Dafa.” I think Master was enlightening my mother through me.
Back then, I distributed Dafa truth clarification materials in my neighborhood and hung up truth clarifying banners. I felt nervous but never scared. I was too young to know what “being scared” meant.
Our great and benevolent Master not only gave us the Fa but also helped us eliminate karma and guides us to move forward. In addition, Master is also constantly protecting and watching over us.
Master said:
“Our Falun Dafa will protect practitioners from deviating. How does it protect you? If you are a true practitioner, our Falun will safeguard you. I am rooted in the universe. If anyone can harm you, he or she would be able to harm me. Put simply, that person would be able to harm this universe.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I was playing badminton with a friend in elementary school. My partner, a very strong boy, accidentally hit me in the temple. I had no time to react and just heard a ringing sound in my head. It hurt a little but I didn’t panic. I knew I was a young Dafa practitioner and would be fine, because I was protected by Master. I put my hand over my temple and sat for a while. I felt fine later and went back to playing with my friends.
According to ordinary thinking, the temple is one of the most important acupuncture points. A blow to a temple point could be serious. But I was fine. I was still young and knew that Master protected me, but I did not realize that Master helped me endure a great deal.
My father does not practice Falun Dafa. Driving home one winter, my father was going really fast and saw the ice on the road too late for him to slow down. The car veered off the main road and was headed into a ditch when, at the last second, the car stopped right before the ditch on a steep slope. Neither of us was hurt, and I knew that Master had protected us. I told my father, “Look, thanks to Master, we are fine.” My father does not support Dafa, but at that moment he nodded and said, “Yes! Yes!”
Master also helped us get the car back on the road. There was no way my father and I could tow the car by ourselves. What were we to do? We then saw several farmers who helped us push the car up the slope. It was very rare to see anyone on such cold days. Everyone was usually at home sitting in front of the fireplace. Who would come out? Master not only protected us but also solved our problem.
The use of cell phones was at its peak when I was in high school. From being curious to being addicted to it, many people like me got trapped in a web of “smartphones.” There were applications for novels to read, music to listen to, dramas to watch, and games to play. At the beginning of my cultivation, I was not very diligent and did not realize that my attachment to my cellphone had become so strong. That attachment led to other attachments, such as wanting to be comfortable, lust, competitiveness, holding grudges, fame and gain, jealousy, showing off, violence, selfishness, and negative thinking. All these negative substances were filling up my dimensions.
Master said:
“The same applies to surfing the net on computers and playing video games, the same principle applies. “You’re going to give it up. You give it up to let me die?” It won’t let you. “I must make you surf the net.” You don’t want to? It won’t let you work; it won’t let you study; it just makes your mind be preoccupied to play with it. It will let you play the games even in dreams if you don’t play.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference,” Team Blue Translation)
My state of mind was exactly like what Master said, and it only got worse when I entered college. I did not pay attention in class, and whenever I had free time, I would be on my phone, attending parties, or crash studying for my finals. My inner world was very empty.
I was also tormented mentally. The worst part was of it was that it attacked my will to cultivate. I would feel miserable every time I picked up a Dafa book. When I tried to do the exercises, I always wanted to lay in bed and play games on my cellphone. Fortunately, I went home during my break, and under my mother’s guidance, I would overcome my reluctance to cultivate. I realized that cultivation is the most precious thing and that, once lost, I would never have another chance. However, my resolve didn’t last. As soon as I returned to school, I regressed. I was never truly happy and felt something deep down inside crying in despair. I knew perfectly well that I should quit using my cellphone, but I couldn’t bring myself to give it up. It was just too hard for me to do.
I implored Master many times to give me the strength to eliminate the cellphone demon so that I could return to being a diligent practitioner. Master was compassionate enough not to give up on me and enlightened me several times through dreams. In one dream I fell into a cesspit and was covered in feces. Another time I dreamed about carrying a bag of feces and still looking very happy. I knew Master was trying to enlighten me by telling me that things on the internet are just dirty like the feces and not to be attached to these things anymore.
There was one dream that I remember quite clearly: I was taking a test and everyone else had finished. The proctor gave me more time, but no matter how hard I tried to answer the question, I just could not finish it. This was a compassionate and serious warning telling me that there is barely any more time. If I still indulged in using a cellphone, I would be lost in ordinary society, as well as lose my chance to cultivate. If I did indeed lost my chance to cultivate, it would be too late to regret it!
Master said: “Opportunity knocks but once. Once the illusion that you cannot let go of disappears, you will realize what you have lost.” (“Practicing Cultivation After Retirement,” Essentials For Further Advancement)
I did not want to miss my opportunity to cultivate and regret it for the rest of my life, so I made up my mind to cultivate well. I put behind me what I didn’t do well, since it had already happened and there was no use dwelling on it. I still had chances to do well and would make use of them!
Amazingly, after I decided to get rid of my cellphone and let go of this attachment, I felt all the negative substances in other dimensions could no longer restrain me. I deleted all the entertainment applications and put my cellphone in a drawer.
Having once been literally addicted to the cellphone and now being able to not look at it for an entire day at a time is pretty miraculous. For an ordinary person, it would be extremely difficult to quit using a cellphone. I was able to resist the negative substances coming from cellphones with Master’s help—and by being a Dafa practitioner.
Master said:
“If thoughts are righteous, evil will collapse” (“What’s to Fear,” Hong Yin II, Translation Version A)
“Master can help you when your righteous thoughts are sufficient.” (Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles)
I have experienced that when my main consciousness is determined enough, and with strong righteous thoughts, Master will help me eliminate the negative substances. My level of cultivation has also risen, and the evil can no longer take control.
In giving up my incessant use of my cellphone, I’ve gone through many ups and downs. Sometimes when the evil forces see that I am very determined, they tell me: “Look at your cellphone for just a few moments—it won’t affect your cultivation. If you are afraid that it might affect you, you can study the Fa first!” If I did that, I would fall into their trap and would need a much longer time to regain a good state of mind.
When I am being very passive and negative, Master always enlightens me and has me read cultivation experiences written by other practitioners regarding how to eliminate the use of cellphones. I then regain my confidence and find my way back.
One time, after improving in my cultivation, I had a vivid dream that I was in a hurry to catch a train. I missed the first and second trains, because no matter how fast I ran, the doors of the trains were already closed. I was not worried and just wandered around. Then I looked at my watch and realized that there wasn’t enough time, that the third train was due to arrive. The doors to the third train were closed, too! But someone next to me said, “Look, that door is still open!” I hurried and got on the train.
When I woke up I told my mother about my dream. She said, “Isn’t it obvious? You were not diligent enough for the first two trains, but Master let you get on the last one!” I was very emotional and glad. No words can describe how I felt. When I do well, Master encourages me and lets me know that it is still not too late. I was blessed by Master’s benevolence.
I hesitated for a long time before writing what I have experienced in regard to cellphones. I did not do well in a recent tribulation and felt really remorseful. So why should I even write about my cultivation if I didn’t do well? But thinking back, if I write about my experiences, am I not eliminating and exposing the bad matter? By writing about my cultivation experiences, I realize my cultivation state is getting better and my righteous thoughts are getting stronger, too.
Master enlightened me:
“DeterrenceThe divine pens deter those demons in human skinLike sharpened blades, they extirpate rotten spiritsThe old forces pay not the Fa its due respectWielding the brush you shall subdue the surge of madness” (Hong Yin II, Translation Version A)
If you also are interfered with by your cellphone, I hope you can do the same and share your experience. You can expose these negative substances and help other practitioners at the same time.
“The heavenly gates opens once in a millennia, exactly how many people have gone to and fro.” Every time I read this sentence from “Mei Hua Shi” (“Plum Blossom” poem) [a Chinese prophecy], my heart is filled with emotion. No matter how many times we have cultivated in our past lifetimes, everything has been arranged for today. We are Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, a special title given to us, and we need to live up to it!
Last, I would like to refer to something Master said:
“Actually the fundamental meaning of what I have said is to tell everyone: Your lives have come here for this! (All disciples applaud enthusiastically) There’s no alternative, really no alternative! These are Dafa disciples. With everyday people, they may go through the sixfold path of reincarnation and reincarnate in various realms; you no longer can, you are here for this undertaking of Dafa only. So, if you do not do it well, you will leave yourself nothing but regrets. Those veteran Dafa disciples in particular, don’t slack off. You’ve walked till today through years of tremendous hardship, it is not easy at all! Don’t you know how to treasure it? Even I treasure you! Even Gods treasure you! (All disciples applaud enthusiastically) So you should treasure yourselves even more.” (“Teaching the Fa in Washington D.C. in 2018” Team Blue Translation)