(Minghui.org) Articles celebrating World Falun Dafa Day from Falun Dafa practitioners around the world are published each year on the Minghui.org website. The online postings are like a large-scale experience sharing meeting. Each article presents the journey of a practitioner in cultivation. Among them are joyful experiences after learning Dafa and recovering physical health, and practitioners experiences of improving in cultivation after getting rid of attachments when facing conflicts.
The 2023 articles celebrating World Falun Dafa Day confirm that Falun Dafa can fundamentally change a person and provide good references for practitioners in different stages of cultivation. Through reading the articles, practitioners can improve further by comparing how practitioners study and cultivate.
Ms. Takase Yoshie, a single mother, suffered from an autonomic disorder and anxiety due to the pressure of work. She visited a doctor of Chinese medicine, and the doctor introduced her to Falun Gong. She now firmly believes in Dafa and has gained strength from it, becoming more confident and broad-minded.
She read the article “My Life's Silver Lining” and was touched. The author stated, “My body was purified from time to time, mostly through headaches, fever, and body aches. It usually happened on weekends or days that I was off.”
Ms. Yoshie said, “The author once had severe allergies, which completely disappeared after practicing. Being able not to be moved by the superficial state of the body is wisdom bestowed by Dafa. I am very encouraged by the righteous thoughts that can only be displayed if one truly believes in Master and the Fa.”
She went on to say: “As a psychiatrist, the author patiently dealt with patients according to Dafa’s principles, but she was terminated due to the jealousy of other doctors. For a person with a mortgage and three young children, under normal circumstances, resentment, anxiety, and despair may arise. But the author treated everything calmly and had no negative thoughts at all. In the end, she got a good job and workplace, and it became a better cultivation environment.”
“I think another door opened because the author let go of resentment and the competitive mentality, held the greatest kindness toward patients, and cultivated herself according to Dafa's principles, to overcome difficulties. I am touched by how the author was able to look inward and firmly believe in Dafa. It made me realize that this is fundamental to being more diligent.”
Ms. Sasaki Masae missed an opportunity to practice Dafa. She went to a practice site for some time, but due to her busy work schedule she did not continue practicing. At the invitation of a friend, she joined a practice site again in 2011. This time she felt that Falun Gong was what she had been seeking and decided to continue practicing.
Before practicing Falun Gong, she always complained to her husband. After practicing, she got rid of her resentment, and her husband also changed. Family life became relaxed and harmonious. She said, “Recently, many things have happened in my life. For me, I feel that no matter how big or small the issues, they are Master’s arrangements.”
In the article “Immersed in Joy and Happiness After Eliminating Jealousy,” the author stated, “I couldn’t stand others’ criticisms, and I was jealous of people who I felt were better than I was.”
Ms. Masae said, “I felt the same way myself. When I had different understandings than fellow practitioners in a project, I always felt burdened. The author said, ‘My surface understanding of Dafa was no longer enough to keep me calm during conflicts, and the old way of being tolerant didn’t work.’ I was also in this state. In conflicts with fellow practitioners, although I had objections in my heart, I wouldn't voice them aloud. I just endured on the surface. And after a while, the conflict would return.”
A fellow practitioner recently told Ms. Masae, “I might be better if you do it this way.” Sasaki Masae felt that the fellow practitioner was speaking down to her, so she retorted indignantly, “I just think it’s better to do it this way. That’s how it was done.” After the words came out, Ms. Masae felt that something was wrong, but I didn’t understand what it was.
After she read the sentence, “I didn’t realize the knot in my heart had to do with jealousy,” she realized that she had jealousy too. When she let go of the attachment, the fellow practitioner talked to her gently the next day, as if nothing had happened.
Ms. Masae said that no matter what happens in the future, she would only see the good side of the other party. The key is to maintain a peaceful state of mind. She said she would get rid of her bad thoughts one after another, and return to her true home with Master!
Mr. Teru Ochiai was an elementary school student when he came into contact with the book Zhuan Falun for the first time. His father got a copy of Zhuan Falun from a colleague and gave it to him, since he was interested in qigong. He said that Falun Gong taught him to change himself so that he could face difficulties and pressures in his life positively. And he experienced that when he became a better person, everything around him also became better.
“I read the article ‘Immersed in Joy and Happiness After Eliminating Jealousy,’” Mr. Ochiai said, “The author developed jealousy at a young age. It seems that I have similar situation. The author used to only superficially forbear for a long time. But after her husband practiced Dafa, she noted the difference with her own cultivation state, and she began to realize her jealousy and get rid of resentment.”
“At the same time, the author realized that both her husband and fellow practitioners were helping her in cultivation. She accepted their strengths frankly and was truly happy for them from her heart. I was very moved by this fundamental change,” he said.
The author wrote, “The heart flower bloomed not because I was happy, but because I was happy for someone else.” Mr. Ochiai said, “I feel that practicing Dafa can really change a person from the deepest and fundamental level. I feel that I still have jealousy. I am encouraged by this article, and I hope to truly change myself.”
Ms. Fujita Machiko first started to learn Falun Gong because her daughter was in poor health, and she received a flyer with information about a group practice site in her mailbox. Her daughter recovered right after practicing the exercises. Many of her own diseases also disappeared, and now she does not need medicine at all.
As a diligent elementary school teacher, she was impressed by the article “How Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Changed Me and My Students.” Ms. Machiko worked in a middle school a long time ago. The school paid close attention to academic performance, but the school was in disarray, and students threw tables and chairs, and broke glass and toilets. Faculty and staff felt unsafe if they were in the office alone, so she left that school.
She said, “At that time, I chose to escape. The teacher in the article taught the students as if they were their own children, telling them the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She put the students’ growth first rather than academic performance. This allowed the children to have peaceful minds and really benefit from Dafa.
“While this teacher attaches great importance to teaching, she also paid attention to the students’ conduct. She guided students to be sincere, kind, and tolerant, and often told them stories about ancient sages. This enabled adolescent students to understand the importance of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
“After it became popular to run extracurricular classes to make money, this teacher insisted she would not run such classes to make money after practicing, and the academic performance of her students all rose steadily, becoming the model class. The teacher didn’t treat students differently based on their scores, and didn’t give up on any student. This teacher takes Dafa as the criterion and let the students truly benefit equally.”
“A teacher who believes in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance can have such a great influence on the students. It is really amazing. After reading this article, I recalled a student that I once taught who kicked a table, and I regretted not learning Dafa at that time. For students, being able to learn Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance from teachers is an irreplaceable opportunity.
“Although I quit my previous job as a teacher, I am determined to strictly conduct myself with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and guide the students around me to train them well. No matter what the situation is, I pass on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to them as much as possible: Truth means telling the truth and not lying. Kindness means being considerate of others and being kind with a peaceful mind. Forbearance means facing any issues positively even in pain.”
Ms. Hasegawa Kozue started to learn Falun Gong after attending a local class 13 years ago. She suffered from sciatica, anemia, hypertrophy of the heart, rheumatism, hyperthyroidism, benign breast cancer, uterine bleeding, and other diseases at that time. These illnesses disappeared after she practiced Falun Gong. “Thank you Master for purifying my body so that I can cultivate,” she said. “He also teaches me to live with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and gave us a ladder to heaven.”
Of the articles celebrating World Falun Dafa Day, she said the article ‘Immersed in Joy and Happiness After Eliminating Jealousy’ touched her the most. She said the sentence in the article regarding passing the test as a tribulation in life was similar to her state when she started to practice.
When facing the problems, she said she only solved them superficially. The author stated, “I realized that true forbearance is not aimed at resolving conflicts. That is doing something with intention. Only when the heart is not moved or does not show any ripple has one reached the state of “forbearance” that a practitioner should have.” This resonated with Ms. Kozue very much. When encountering a problem, one should look at its essence and then remove it.
The author stated in the article, “It was the first time I learned what practitioners I had conflicts with and non-practitioners had to shoulder for me. Master built a ladder for each practitioner to reach heaven, and there was someone on every step of the ladder to help us pass the test. Every bit of improvement was accomplished by stepping on someone’s shoulders, with Master’s blessing.” This sentence provided a lot of inspiration for Ms. Kozue. She said that she should thank those people who helped her overcome the conflicts in the future.
The author stated at the end, “Thank you, Master, for your care and guidance, for leading me out of the attachment to jealousy, and for teaching me to improve bit by bit.” In this regard, Ms. Kozue said, “I realized that the most important thing on the journey of cultivation is not to give up. I am grateful to the author for sharing. I will also read more of Minghui’s cultivation experience sharing articles in the future to be more diligent.”