(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master. Greetings, fellow disciples.
I began practicing Falun Dafa when I was young. I would like to use this opportunity to share my experiences from cultivating in Falun Dafa.
I shared a living area and bedroom with three other roommates in the dorm. Over the first few weeks, I had to figure out when and where I could study the Fa and do the exercises. We were going to do a roommate contract so I used this meeting to discuss our schedules. It was an opportunity for me to talk about Falun Gong, so I showed them the flyers and explained the persecution happening in China. One of my roommates was interested in learning more and that was when I realized that I couldn’t explain it to him in detail. I could only recall the stories I had heard as I was growing up. Instead, I pulled up images of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) suppression of Hong Kong since I saw that it was in the news. After the roommate contract, I began to search online for videos and articles to learn how to clarify the truth to others.
When I adjusted to my class schedule, I was the first to wake up in the morning. I quietly closed the bedroom door and then played the exercise music in the study area. I would then eat breakfast and go to class. At night, I would sit on my bunk bed and join a Fa study online. We had nice weather at the start of the semester so I decided to do the exercises at a large grassy area on campus. It reminded me of when my parents and I joined local practitioners to do the exercises in a park. That day, there were lots of people and my attachment to self-image emerged. Distracting thoughts appeared about how people were watching me. I felt uncomfortable doing exercises one to four, as I was used to doing the exercises in my bedroom at home. Since I was outside already, I thought that I might as well do exercise five instead. When I finished exercise five, I remember feeling happy. There was a sense of freedom and I felt that this campus environment was a way to cultivate myself.
Master taught us:
“There are also many new Dafa practitioners who are secretly practicing at home, fearing the embarrassment of others finding out. Think about it: What kind of thought is this? An ordinary fear is an attachment that needs to be eliminated through cultivation practice. Yet you are afraid of others finding out that you're learning Dafa? Cultivation practice is a very serious matter. How should you regard yourself and the Fa? There are also some people in leadership positions that find it embarrassing to go out and do the exercises. If you can't even overcome such a trivial feeling, what would you be able to cultivate? In fact, even if you go to the practice site, there might not be people who know you.” ( “Environment,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
During my four years of college, I would often visit the grassy area to do the exercises. I was doing the fifth exercise once when I heard footsteps on my right side. I wondered if someone was sitting nearby. I thought to myself: “Should I stop the exercise and introduce the practice?” After waiting and hearing no noise, I decided to continue the fifth exercise. When I finished, I looked around and saw no one. I realized that I had missed an opportunity to clarify the truth. Perhaps they had wanted to talk but thought that it would disturb me. Many months passed by and we had an indoor Involvement Fair in the spring. Many student organizations on campus had booths with information to share. A woman recognized me and visited our booth to tell a story. She said she had been having a bad day and was almost crying. While out for a walk, she saw me meditating and decided to sit down to listen to the music. She said it left her feeling better. After relating the story, I introduced Falun Dafa to her and gave her a lotus flower.
Toward the end of my first year in college, the COVID lockdown started and we were sent home to finish our classes. Schedules changed and professors had to adjust to online lectures. It seemed that every time I got home, my attachment to leisure would emerge. In school, I needed to wake up early but with the online lectures, I could sleep a bit more. I still had assignments due for class so I tried to resist the urge to sleep. In my diary, I began counting the number of days that I could wake up at 5:55 a.m. to Send Forth Righteous Thoughts. In the beginning, it was difficult and I would often go back to sleep after I finished. After 14 days, my schedule was set and I did not need to keep counting.
The COVID lockdown was also a special period to improve my family environment. I noticed that my brother was entering high school, my mom was taking care of my grandma who had a stroke, and my dad was busy and tired from work. Fa study and exercises were usually done in our own time and sometimes were neglected. So I gathered some pictures and videos online to show my family what I had begun to understand through my cultivation. I felt nervous throughout the presentation since I was speaking to my family in a more formal way. Looking back, it seemed like I had no end result in mind since all I did was share some things I found interesting about Falun Dafa.
After I finished the presentation, my mom suggested we do the exercises together in the morning. For the rest of the summer, we were able to do the exercises and study the Fa as a family.
During my second year of college, in-person club activities were prohibited during the COVID lockdown, so I started to introduce Falun Gong online. There was a small, private room in the dorm building and I would set my computer there and students would join the virtual meeting. When no one joined the meeting, I would continue doing the exercises and wait for people to join. One day, I noticed that someone had left a pen on the table. I figured that musicians were using this room to practice. After writing a couple of sentences introducing myself, I left the sheet of paper on the table. Over the next few weeks, I saw that lots of people were writing on the paper. It was a way for students to talk to each other. So, I left a comment about how I liked to listen to Shen Yun's music.
My classes were a distance from each other, so I used a small skateboard to travel around. One day, I left the dorm and started to skate toward a group of girls. I made a quick turn and headed uphill toward the street. I misjudged the slope and with one foot on the skateboard, I leaned back and fell. When I stood up, I saw that the skateboard had gone into the street, going back and forth between the cars. There was an immediate feeling of sadness and I began to reflect on how my attachments had caused this issue. For me, it was easy to see that I was moving too fast. This speed often brings up an attachment to pride and showing off, since people see me moving around. To avoid stirring up this attachment, I tried to use my skateboard more slowly and quietly when no one was near me. I also tried to think of my skateboard as a tool for me to use. There was also a deeper attachment when I discovered that my feeling of lust had appeared when I made a quick turn to impress the girls. Since then, I have focused my eyes on the ground to be careful to not hit cracks and stones. This event also served as a warning because the skateboard could’ve caused an accident with the cars on the street.
At the start of the COVID lockdown, many young practitioners from Falun Dafa clubs on campus began to brainstorm ways to introduce the practice and clarify the truth to students. I met these practitioners through an organization called Students for Falun Gong. In the discussion, we decided to hold a movie screening for the animated film Up We Soar. Over a hundred people attended the online event and many stayed for the Q&A with the main protagonist of the film. In the beginning, I helped create promotional materials by editing and formatting the images. The event information was then posted online so young practitioners could share the link with others. Next, there was an effort of making email scripts and finding the college departments that might have professors interested in the film. I felt tired preparing the promotional materials and when we finished, I felt relaxed. There were many cycles of being tired and relaxed. But all I did was prepare the materials and we had yet to invite people to come watch the movie screening. I met with the young practitioners often to discuss how to share the event. I realized that there were lots of resources on campus and that young practitioners had to find their own promotional channels on campus.
The first movie screening was a success and we were able to hold several more. During the promotion period for one of the screenings, I was helping to pass out postcards on campus. These postcards were small with descriptions about the movie on the front and back. When I finished all my classes, I was heading back to my apartment on the campus bus. Few people were on the bus so I was able to walk to the bus driver and hand a postcard to him. I tried to avoid delaying the bus stop, so after he said thanks, I left the bus. After some time, another opportunity appeared while riding the bus. It was getting dark outside and after two or three stops, I noticed that no one was getting on or off the bus. There was one other person sitting in front of me and a thought appeared that I had to give her a Shen Yun flyer. Another thought appeared about how tired I felt and that it was too late since the Shen Yun performance was that weekend. Even if she didn’t go see the performance, I could still clarify the truth to her. All this time, I already knew I was destined to give her the flyer. So I went up to her to introduce the dance and orchestra of Shen Yun. Suddenly, the bus driver shouted, “Another movie screening?” I smiled and said, “No, this is something different.” It appears that it was the same bus driver that had received the movie postcard. We were able to chat for some time and the bus driver said that he would go see the performance with his wife.
Through social media, I heard that a controversial speaker was coming to give a talk on campus. The speaker was going on tour to different universities and a student organization had invited the speaker to come on campus. After learning a bit more about the event, I thought that there would be lots of people attending so this was an opportunity to clarify the truth by passing out some flyers. The day before the event, I was returning home from classes when I happened to meet the students who had invited the speaker to campus. I talked to them for a while, thanked them for holding this event, and gave them some flyers I had from my backpack. They were surprised to hear that Falun Gong is banned in China. They invited me to come early tomorrow so I could get a front-row seat at the event.
On the day of the event, local practitioners helped bring some flyers and materials to pass out. I went indoors to check with the event security about passing out fliers. They said that passing them outside the building was allowed. People came early to the event, so the waiting line stretched all the way down the stairs and outside around the building. So, I carried a bag and began to pass out flyers outside. The majority of people, including students, parents, and the elderly received a flyer. After some time, a group of student protesters came near the building. I headed over to the protesters while another practitioner handed out fliers to the people waiting in line. There were people watching the protest so I handed out flyers to them. When I ran out of materials, I began to wait in line to enter the event. A person told me that I couldn’t bring my backpack inside so I had to walk to the library to store my belongings. By the time I got back, the event venue was full. Perhaps I wasn’t meant to listen to the speaker. Local practitioners then had to leave so they gave me the materials that were left. It was a handful of Minghui special edition newspapers. Since most people were indoors, I waited until after the event ended and passed the newspapers out by the exit doorway.
I would like to thank Master for the opportunity to share my experiences from cultivating in Falun Dafa.
Thank you, Master.Thank you, fellow disciples.
(Presented at the 2023 Mid-US Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)