(Minghui.org) Greetings, venerable Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2003. On my 20-year-long cultivation journey I’ve occasionally stumbled, but I’ve made it to today thanks to Master’s compassion and protection. Even my smallest improvement reflects Master’s sacrifice and care for me. I’d like to share my cultivation experiences.
I was born into a poor peasant family. The Cultural Revolution started when I was in the third grade. I didn’t have any textbooks so it was difficult to study. My mother often told me traditional stories and urged me to study hard. Even though we were poor, she bought books with traditional stories. These stories taught me how to live decently. The school entrance exams were later restored in China. I was able to pass the tests to get into a junior vocational school and became a teacher. Then I studied the five-year online education courses and earned a bachelor’s degree. I made every effort to live righteously and make my dreams come true.
But reality was cruel. I was discriminated against by my colleagues due to my ethnic background. I missed opportunities for promotion because I didn’t bribe the leaders. I was angry and felt I was being treated unfairly. My husband and I were both teachers, but even with our combined salaries, we barely made ends meet. So that our daughter would have a good education, we paid a large sum of money and managed to move to South Korea in February 1996.
I worked in Korean restaurants and on construction sites. I worked very hard and paid off my debts. I bought an apartment and sent my daughter to a university. Due to overwork, my arthritis flared up. I couldn’t walk up or down stairs. I also suffered from heart problems and my chest felt tight and my limbs were numb. I was not able to work. My nose wouldn’t stop bleeding once it started. Thinking I could make easy money, I got involved in pyramid schemes and lost all my savings. I complained about my life and my husband. I was miserable.
On my way to a New Year event at Kyung Hee University in 2003, someone gave me a Falun Dafa flyer. I called the contact person right away, because I really wanted to get healthy.
I practiced the exercises in the morning for several days. My chest didn’t feel as tight and my mind was clear. I felt happy and walked lightly. Thanks to Master’s compassion, I started practicing Falun Dafa.
As I was watching TV one afternoon in 2003, I saw countless black dots of light were being sucked into it. At that time, Falun Dafa was being persecuted severely in China. I sent forth strong righteous thoughts, and the black dots disappeared.
I saw many Falun in various sizes in a video that was shot during the Han River Fireworks Festival. I also saw transparent Falun fill the room. When I meditated, I felt like I was sitting inside an eggshell and only my main consciousness existed. Sometimes I saw the three Chinese characters for Zhuan Falun glow with a golden light. At other times, I felt like I was floating in the air.
I understood the meaning of life after I began practicing Falun Dafa. Dafa’s miraculous power reinforced my confidence in cultivation. I was determined to practice Falun Dafa no matter what happened. I used to struggle every day, but I became healthy and am now optimistic thanks to Falun Dafa.
Thank you, Master!
Master tells us to study the Fa and practice the exercises together. We decided to practice the exercises in the morning at Maru square in front of Bucheon metro station. Many working class people and university students pass by there. The church provides free breakfast every day, so many people gather there. It was a good place to let people know about Falun Dafa. There were many homeless people and drunken people nearby. This practice site was also a good place for us to cultivate ourselves.
Master said,
“Has it ever occurred to you that cultivation is the best form of rest? You can obtain the kind of rest that can’t be obtained through sleep.” (Teachings at the First Conference in North America)
Getting up early was an issue for me. I sent forth righteous thoughts to break through my notion that I must have enough sleep. I set the clock to wake myself up, and I broke through this issue easily.
But I didn’t practice the exercises diligently, and the other practitioners pointed out that my movements weren’t correct. Because my shoulder was stiff I wasn’t able to do the second exercise correctly even though I watched Master’s exercises demonstration and tried to correct my movements. I worried that I couldn’t teach new practitioners how to do the movements correctly.
One day I went to the square in front of Cheong Wa Dae to do the exercises with other practitioners. One practitioner quietly helped correct my movements. A hot current of energy spread throughout my body and my shoulder muscles relaxed and stretched, and my movements were corrected. I realized that Master saw my heart and had this practitioner help me. My eyes filled with tears.
Although there weren’t many practitioners in our area and we lived far apart and were busy, we still practiced the exercises together. Some passersby stopped and watched us and accepted our flyers. Some followed along with us and did the movements. Some bowed to us to show their respect. Because we always cleaned the area before we started to do the exercises, some people helped clean the area for us. Others helped pack up our banners and other items. If a drunk person caused trouble, people stopped them. If there was danger, people helped and called the police. We continued practicing the exercises there even on New Year’s Day.
We had some interference, and our peaceful environment was disrupted.
On the morning of July 4, someone kicked our music player in front of him as he ran by. I ran after him, but he didn’t stop. He kept kicking the player as he ran. After we ran dozens of meters, the music player hit a pole. When I tried to grab it, the young man kicked me hard. I fell backward and hit the ground. I felt dizzy, but I knew people were watching, so I immediately stood up. The young man was gone by the time the police arrived.
I told the police officer that the perpetrator was the same young man who had threatened us with his bicycle ten days before and had destroyed our banner the day before that and that we had witnesses who saw what he did.
Afterwards, I wasn’t able to bend over or sit in a chair due to the pain in my hip and leg. I had severe pain in my chest and I couldn’t cough. I worked as usual but I was struggling. From a practitioner’s perspective, I might have had a karmic relationship with that young man and I needed to pay my debt.
I looked within to see if I had any omissions or attachments that allowed this to happen. I realized that I wasn’t focused when I read the Fa or did the exercises. I didn’t send righteous thoughts at the set times. I scolded other practitioners when I had conflicts with them. I was complacent when I helped with projects to tell people about Falun Dafa.
Most importantly, I realized that I wasn’t assimilated to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and didn’t treat sentient beings with compassion. When I had just started practicing Falun Dafa, a Christian lady tried to interfere with us. She stopped me from playing the exercise music, then grabbed another practitioner and shook her very hard. Afterward, the woman slipped on the wet path and almost fell. I felt a sense of satisfaction because I believed it was retribution. The other practitioner kept her from falling and reminded her to be careful. I was ashamed and saw the gap in my cultivation. I’ve tried hard to treat sentient beings kindly since then.
Another young man recently came to our practice site and videotaped us. When I scolded him, he said he was sorry. But later on, he disrupted us several times. I fussed at him loudly and drove him away every time. Looking back, I realized I should have talked to him so he could see that Falun Dafa is good. I didn’t have compassion or behave like a practitioner.
I didn’t know what karmic relationship I had with that young man, but the incident made me realize that part of me was not assimilated to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Whatever I experience, whether it’s good or bad, is arranged to help me improve. After I realized this, my grudges and unbalanced heart disappeared.
A week later, that young man returned to our practice site with a group of people and harassed us. He said he would stop us from doing the exercises there. I told him that Falun Dafa is wonderful, that people in over 100 countries practice it, and that only the Chinese Communist Party persecutes it. He didn’t listen and threatened me, saying he would kill us if we continued doing the exercises there.
I reported the incident to the Falun Dafa association in Seoul. They agreed to send more practitioners to our site. We sent strong righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference. We prepared a camera and decided to call the police if anything happened.
A week later the man returned with over a dozen people. When a male practitioner started to videotape them, they began causing trouble. Another practitioner called the police, and the other practitioners sent righteous thoughts. The young man ran behind me, put his arm around my neck in a choke hold, and tried to trip me with his leg. Someone stopped him. The police came, questioned everyone, and released the young man.
I wanted to improve my xinxing and look within, but I couldn’t figure out why these repeated disruptions happened and what attachments I needed to let go of. I was afraid the young man would return and attack us again.
Several days later, the police called and told me the young man was a high school student and his father apologized to me. His father said that he would discipline his son and he wanted to see me, so he could apologize in person. I told the police that I accepted his apology and asked them to find out why the young man hated Falun Dafa so much and if someone was instigating him to do these things.
My hip pain disappeared 15 days later and the pain in my chest lessened a month later. The young man didn’t come to our practice site for two months. I met with his father, who said his son suffered from ADHD and hadn’t attended school for three years due to the COVID lockdown. He was currently in a youth detention center. The father was a retired policeman and expressed his sincere regret.
I accepted the young man’s apology letter and the parents’ guarantee letter and decided to forgive him. I refused their cash settlement and accepted only enough to replace the banner and cover my basic medical expenses. The parents were very moved. I took this opportunity to tell them about Falun Dafa and give them a paper lotus flower and a copy of Zhuan Falun and wished them a beautiful future.
After these incidents, I realized that if I wanted to be a genuine practitioner who was admired even by the Divine, I had to be courageous and very tolerant. After this incident, more practitioners came to the practice site to do the exercises every day. We help and learn from each other. We cultivate ourselves solidly.
(Presented at the 2024 South Korea Fa Conference)