Beginning Falun Dafa Practice During the Pandemic

(Minghui.org) Thanks to Master’s arrangement, I was born into a family that was favorable towards Dafa, and one family member practiced Falun Dafa. My mother exposed me to the preciousness of Falun Dafa when I was young.

My mother used to be weak and sickly when I was little. She took a lot of medicine, which didn’t help. We were poor. My shoes were made by my mother. My childhood wish was to wear a pair of shoes bought at the market. When I saw other kids buying good food, I walked away, because I knew our money was for Mother to buy her medicine.

After Mother was introduced to Falun Dafa, our family experienced a huge change. Mother’s cousin’s wife came back from her hometown. She told my mother that Falun Dafa could help her return to good health. Mother didn’t believe it, and didn’t even try it, until one day she had a terrible headache. She finally did the Dafa exercises and has not stopped practicing Dafa for the past more than 20 years. She recovered from all her diseases, and our financial situation improved too. Mother was even protected when facing several dangerous situations.

Mother treated people and everything else according to the Dafa principles – Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance – which deeply influenced me. I learned to be a good and considerate person and understood that good will be rewarded, and those who do evil are punished. I knew that Falun Dafa was precious, but I thought I wasn’t up to par. I had the desire to strive for a good career, and not allow anyone to bully me.

Understanding the Importance of Dafa

Mother brought two copies of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, in 2020. She wanted all family members to read it during the pandemic. My husband, however, played video games so much that he forgot about the book, and my sister only read a few pages because she was too busy preparing for her admission exam for graduate school. I suddenly had the urge to read the book one evening. Although I didn’t understand some sections in Zhuan Falun, I seemed to be driven by a force to continue reading it. I even took it to work to read.

After reading it once, I felt it was a book that teaches people to be good, but it seemed too difficult for me. How can anyone accomplish it? However, reading the book made me admire the people who cultivate according to Falun Dafa. They were so great in my eyes.

I thought, “Why don’t I read it again?” A few sentences in Zhuan Falun appeared before my eyes:

“You can’t up and do that in one shot, but we can do it gradually. If you could just do it right off today, then you’d be a Buddha today. Cultivation takes time. But you shouldn’t slack off, either.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

I was excited to see those sentences and thought I might be able to practice it, too. I thank great Master for letting me see them on my second read, because I almost gave up.

I was so excited after reading the book for the second time! I called Mother and told her that I wanted to learn Falun Dafa. She was thrilled. She couldn’t come easily because of the lockdown, but she gathered a set of all the Falun Dafa books she could find in a big box, and asked my aunt to take them to me. I learned the exercises from the pictures in the book but wasn’t too sure about some of the movements. Mother visited me, coming by taxi a few days later, and stayed overnight to teach me the exercises.

The Demeanor of a Practitioner

It was payday a couple of weeks later. My boss asked me how we should handle the payment for that month. We couldn’t work due to the lockdown. My first thought was that my boss couldn’t make any money, so I told him it was okay if he couldn’t pay me, since he had paid for my social security. My boss didn’t expect this answer. Since I had helped him make some extra money by helping another company with budgeting, he gave me the full amount of the extra money we made. My husband and my friends said I was silly, but I simply dismissed it with a smile.

I came down with hemorrhoids one day. I knew that Master was cleansing my body. They were large and painful, but I didn’t use any ointment as my husband suggested. I persisted in doing the meditation, even though it was painful to sit. After I let go of my notions, the hemorrhoids disappeared. I used to have pain in my neck and shoulders, but the pain was gone after I practiced Falun Dafa.

I ran into many tests that had to do with money, probably because I used to think that money was important. The company I worked for eventually closed due to the pandemic lockdown. I found another job. The first pay I received had an extra payment of six days. I asked the accounting department to verify. When I went back the next day, they told me to keep the money, and they would deduct six days from my second month’s paycheck. I did, but it wasn’t deducted from my second paycheck either. I told my supervisor about it, and he said it was fine, that I could keep it. I thought if I continued to report it, I might get someone in trouble. I planned to use the money to take my colleagues out for lunch. Other employees in the company told me that they had reported being underpaid but had never heard of anyone reporting being overpaid.

My job involved intensive mental work and required a lot of overtime. I neglected to study the Fa, which bothered me a lot. My goal was to learn the Fa instead of making more money with a busy job. I eventually quit this job. My supervisor was very sad to see me leave.

I told my mother that I was looking for a job that guaranteed free weekends and spare time to study the Fa. My mother said that Master would make all the arrangements for me. I thought it was her wishful thinking. However, I did find such a job, and it paid more. It seems to have been an accidental happening, but I realized that it was actually arranged by Master. I would like to thank Master again!