(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

It’s a great honor to share my cultivation experiences at our regional conference. I used to think that I was pretty good at looking inward and finding my attachments. Each time I thought that I found the one thing that I could fix, and it would solve all the problems in my life from here on out. But many times I felt frustrated that certain attachments were hard to get rid of, even though I was fully aware of them.

I know letting go of attachments is a gradual process. I realized that no matter how good I think I am at looking inside or analyzing my problems, this is actually a pursuit and only solid Fa study can help me truly get rid of attachments and elevate.

Master said,

“While learning the Fa, you should not search for relevant parts, stubbornly intending to solve a particular problem. In fact, this is (with the exception of those problems that need an immediate solution) also a form of attachment. The only way to gain a good understanding of Dafa is to study it without any intention. Each time you finish reading Zhuan Falun, you have made progress as long as you have gained some understanding. Even if you understood only one point after reading it, you have truly made progress.

“Actually, in cultivation practice you ascend by improving yourself gradually and unknowingly. Keep in mind: One should gain things naturally without pursuing them.” (“Learning the Fa” in Essentials for Further Advancement)

Throughout my cultivation, I tried to make Fa study my priority, but often felt frustrated due to my inability to truly calm down and stay focused while reading. This was usually the case whether I read alone or with a group. I was worried about this and wondered how I could make progress in cultivation without achieving this basic requirement.

A year ago, I was invited to join a daily group study in the morning that perfectly fit my schedule and was held at a time that guaranteed I would not be interrupted by family duties, project meetings, etc. I felt that this would help give me the solid foundation of Fa study that I needed.

Arranging the best time and setting for Fa study is a good start, but it is still not a guarantee of achieving the best results if we do not truly put in the effort ourselves. So when I joined the group I was still easily distracted by things like other practitioners’ reading styles or my own stray thoughts. But the steadiness of the study helped me to purify my thoughts and seize the precious opportunity to study the Fa. I felt that I changed quite a bit in the process.

Although I sometimes felt like my life was really hard and I felt overwhelmed by negative thoughts, I felt a sense of joy knowing that I had this study, this pure land, to go to each morning. I know it’s important that I not only gain from this cultivation environment, but that I contribute to it by keeping my mind calm and focused while we read.

Besides improving in Fa study, I’ve often felt the need to improve in cooperating with other practitioners. Though I did cooperate with others on various projects, I tended to prefer doing things on my own. When I looked inside about this I realized that one reason was laziness, as I found it easier to do things on my own than to communicate with, assist, and motivate others. Another reason I preferred to work alone was that I feared criticism. For example, if I wrote an email to a government office, I preferred not to share what I wrote with other practitioners for fear that they might criticize my approach. When thinking about this rationally, I know it makes more sense to share more so that others’ feedback can help me improve.

Two years ago, a group project in our state provided a great opportunity to cooperate with fellow practitioners throughout our state. Several of them are also isolated like me, and do not have a local group. World Falun Dafa Day was approaching, and since it was also the 30th anniversary of the public introduction of Falun Dafa, I thought this was a great opportunity to re-visit the state level government after having worked on the organ harvesting resolution there in previous years. It was an opportunity to reach out to more cities throughout our state, inviting them to participate in this statewide celebration.

In the beginning of this project, I struggled a lot with negative thoughts when the group and the tasks did not come together easily, but in the process of looking inside, improving group communication, and sharing, the situation improved. Everyone on our team did their best and we received various forms of support, such as letters of support or proclamations. There were some rejections, too, but this was also good for our cultivation, as we looked inside and shared about how to better clarify the truth to our local officials and to put down the attachment of pursuit. I also felt that I made progress regarding my fear of criticism. I was able to share my work easily, and welcomed suggestions for improvement.

The project culminated with our World Falun Dafa Day celebration at the state capital. This was over two years ago, but the special things I remember about this event was that a state senator came to speak and present us with a courtesy resolution, even though the Senate session had unexpectedly ended early, the day before our event. A local TV station did a report about our event and about the persecution in China. Despite our previous failed efforts to receive support from our Secretary of State and the governor, through our cooperative efforts, they both sent letters of support to the event, with heartfelt words.

Some practitioners from the major city two hours away could not leave work to attend the event, since it was on a weekday. Hoping to have a bigger audience at our event, we also asked some friends and family to attend. I was very happy for them when I saw their smiling faces while they held up proclamations in our group photo with the state senator. They had an opportunity to show their support for Dafa and participate in such a blessed event.

As World Falun Dafa Day was approaching this year, I wanted to hold some kind of celebration event in the community. I knew it wouldn’t be as big as the previous years’ event at the capitol because it was already too late to organize an event like that, but I still wanted to do something. While we do things around the year to clarify the truth, I feel there’s something special about the May 13 celebration events worldwide. I’ve always cherished opportunities to be a part of such celebrations over the years, whether smaller local events, or the large-scale ones in New York City.

After reaching out to practitioners in various parts of the state, it was obvious that we were not going to be able to pull something together as a group. Some people were busy and it would be a long way to travel for even just a few of us to gather in the same place. I started thinking about what I could do on my own in my small city.

At this time, Master’s new teaching was published,

“It is your responsibility to provide salvation to the sentient beings where you live. Accordingly, you must cultivate yourselves well! Cultivate diligently and solidly and become a genuine Dafa disciple.” (“To the India Fa Conference”)

I started my Falun Dafa Day efforts by calling my state senator’s office whom I had met with in person in the past. I requested a courtesy resolution which he mailed to me. Then I made an appointment with my new state representative and we had a very long talk. She issued a house courtesy resolution and invited two other representatives to co-sponsor it.

As I was thinking about what else I could do in my own community, one day while I was near the campus at the university in my town, I started thinking that I really should have a table there so that I could distribute flyers and I would likely encounter many Chinese students. This was something I could easily do on my own, so even though it was near the end of semester, I reserved a table at the student union.

When I arrived, I found that the table was inside, but that there was very little traffic in that area. I went to the administration office and clarified the truth to the office manager in charge and she agreed to let me move the table outside in front of the entrance. It was windy, so my display didn’t look as good as it did inside, but I talked to a lot of people and even met the University Chancellor. I also talked to a Chinese student who was misled by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda. At first she didn’t want to take the Chinese truth-clarification booklet I offered her, but she eventually agreed to take it and read it.

Meanwhile, I hoped to plan an event for World Falun Dafa Day in a park downtown that features a small stage and is right next to a large parking lot where the Saturday Farmers Market is held. I reached out to the manager of our city Parks Department, but based on his initial response, it seemed like it was not feasible to hold the event during the Farmers’ Market due to city rules and regulations. I started to give up on the idea, especially since I thought I’d need more practitioners to hold the event, but they were not available.

But then the manager emailed me again suggesting we meet to discuss it further. When I met him in his office, I learned that he reads and highly values The Epoch Times and was familiar with Falun Dafa. Around the same time I reached out to him about offering Falun Dafa classes near the farmers’ market, a yoga instructor had also reached out, so he decided to give us each two dates in May and that our classes would be a city-sponsored event. That way we would not have to deal with getting insurance and paying to reserve the space. The yoga instructor also writes for a local news media and interviewed me about my appeal in China and she wrote a story for the paper.

Before my first class, I went to the city council meeting and was given 3-5 minutes to speak. I told the council members and other attendees about Falun Dafa as well as about the persecution in China and the support we received from our state and federal representatives. I invited them to come learn the exercises at the farmers’ market. One councilwoman came up to me afterward and said she was excited about the classes and had already shared the class flyer that was posted by the farmers’ market on her social media page.

The weather was beautiful for the classes I held in May and though there were not a lot of people who came specifically for the classes, I met a lot of market attendees who were very interested in taking classes in the future. One man who had time to learn some of the exercises there right away said that this is exactly what he had been looking for. Seeing that it takes time to build a presence, the parks manager agreed to let us continue teaching classes there throughout the summer.

I had the notions about the events I plan, that they have to be big and impressive in order to draw a lot of attention and for me to feel it was worthwhile. I know that even if only one person is saved, it is truly worth it. I also learned to be more flexible, worry less, and most of all, trust Master through the process. Though I did not end up with one, major event as I originally envisioned, one by one, the opportunities to clarify the truth in my community unfolded naturally when I had the heart to try.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at 2023 Midwest Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)