Ottawa, Canada: Practitioners Learn from One Another Through Experience-Sharing Conference

(Minghui.org) At the recent Falun Dafa Experience-Sharing Conference held in Ottawa, Canada, on June 18, nine practitioners talked about their journeys of cultivating themselves based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Through reading Falun Dafa teachings and constantly looking inward to remove attachments related to fame and gain, they were able to do better and help others benefit from Dafa as well.

The Ottawa Falun Dafa Experience-Sharing Conference was held on June 18, 2023.

A practitioner talks about his cultivation journey.

Righteous Belief Comes from Dafa

When encountering tribulations during cultivation or helping with projects to tell people about the persecution of Falun Dafa in China, Yang learned the importance of staying firm. He said one should have faith that Dafa will show practitioners the way and that they can make it.

After the pandemic started in 2020, Yang and some other practitioners decided to launch a website that explains what Falun Dafa is, how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) slanders the practice, and how Chinese people can renounce their memberships in CCP organizations.

With little experience in launching a website, Yang turned to an everyday company for help. A lot of money was spent, but there was no progress at all. “From this I learned that we cannot count on everyday people in our efforts to validate Dafa and save people. So I learned how to launch a website. It went well, and thousands of people registered online to quit the CCP organizations they had joined.”

Yang said that when he faced challenges and could not move forward with a project, he found insights would come when he did the Falun Dafa exercises. “As long as we have righteous faith, we will receive help and Master will give us wisdom,” he said. “It is important to maintain righteous faith, and eventually we will see breakthroughs.

“Why would we question ourselves? There could be hidden attachments. When digging further, we may find that we lack faith in Dafa and Master,” Yang said. “When we are truly aligned with Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Master Li (founder of Falun Dafa) will give us wisdom.”

Letting Go of Attachments

Jean distributed Shen Yun pamphlets in residential areas and helped sell tickets in shopping malls. At first, she was unwilling to endure hardships and realized that she had attachments to competitiveness and resentment.

While selling tickets at a mall, Jean noticed that she did not do well compared to other practitioners. Through exchanging ideas, she found the gap in her cultivation. “For many years, I did not truly cultivate myself. Instead, I just took things for granted and assumed everything was fine,” she said. “I found that those practitioners who sell tickets well are always very calm and dedicated. That is, they put their hearts into it.”

In January 2023, Jean traveled for two weeks to promote Shen Yun and developed a deeper understanding after reading the audience feedback. She said the training, improving presentation skills, knowledge of Shen Yun, and cultivation practice are all important. “I learned to improve in these areas and connect with people instead of remaining stagnant,” she explained.

Rui said she had similar experiences. She learned to let go of pursuit and treated everyone with compassion. “We are here to assist Master with Fa-rectification. That means we cannot be led by our own human notions or be disturbed by bad thoughts from everyday people,” she said. “Instead we should look at things on a higher level and help people to go back to traditional values so that they will have a good future.”

Donna said that when she worked with a news media during Shen Yun promotion, she saw her jealousy and other attachments. “I reminded myself that we are Falun Dafa practitioners and are assimilating ourselves to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We can overcome any obstacle,” she said. As a coordinator, she learned to work with practitioners and emphasize reading the Falun Dafa teachings and doing the exercises. By breaking down barriers between the news media and practitioners, she was able to assist the team to enable in-depth reporting.

Seeing Through Sickness Karma

After she began to practice Falun Dafa in 1997, Grace said she seldom had health issues. While working for The Epoch Times this last January, she suddenly felt discomfort and dizziness. She also vomited and had bloody stool. This had never happened before. She fainted while doing the exercises at noon one day. For several days, she was very weak and was taken to an emergency room.

Realizing this was interference from the old forces, Grace knew that as a practitioner, she needed to negate it. She reflected on her cultivation, looked inward, and identified some issues she had. That morning, the hospital told her that nothing was wrong during the physical examination and that she was fine.

Grace said this was a serious lesson. “Even though I sent righteous thoughts, I was unable to resolve the physical tribulation, so I lacked confidence in my cultivation. After experiencing dizziness and fainting, I did not increase the length of time I read the Fa, sent righteous thoughts, or did the exercises. Instead, I just laid down like an everyday person. When we handle issues in our cultivation with human notions, we may experience the appearance of being sick.”

Huang also talked about how she overcame sickness karma. After coming to understand that it was a tribulation on her cultivation path and how she should handle it as a practitioner, her fever that lasted for days went away immediately. “When facing pain or other discomfort, it is important to maintain righteous thoughts. We should improve our xinxing and eliminate attachments–not just saying it but also doing it,” she explained. “When we do that, the tribulation will be gone and our xinxing will improve.”

Practitioners who attended the conference said they learned a lot from others’ experiences. One of them said, “Only through solid cultivation can we have strong faith in Dafa, live up to Master’s expectations and fulfill our mission.”