(Minghui.org) I am a teacher and have a daughter in the fourth grade. During the two-month summer break in 2024, we spent precious time together improving in our Falun Dafa cultivation. I would like to share my cultivation experiences from that time and how I guided my daughter on her cultivation journey.
Clarifying the Truth
During the school break, I dropped off and picked up my daughter from summer classes, so I couldn’t set a fixed time to join other practitioners at the market to clarify the truth. I could only talk about Falun Dafa and the persecution with acquaintances. During those months, I met classmates, former colleagues, and relatives I hadn’t seen for many years. Although I didn’t manage to talk to all of them about Dafa, those I did talk to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations.
On July 15, I ran into a colleague I hadn’t seen in 10 years. She was waiting for her older sister at the garage door downstairs. I was helping my mother move out that day and was surprised to learn that the colleague and my mother lived in the same community, yet I had never bumped into her on my daily visits. Now, on the last day I would be in that area, there she was. I knew that Master Li had arranged for her to be saved, so I quickly shared facts about Dafa with her and helped her quit the CCP.
Studying the Fa
Every afternoon, I went to a practitioner’s home to study the Fa together. We read at least one lecture, sometimes two or more, and I seldom missed a day. She and I found that the more we studied the Fa, the purer our hearts became, and the more the Fa principles were revealed to us.
In addition to studying Zhuan Falun, I also studied Master’s other teachings, and I hand-copied two pages of the Fa a day. To discipline ourselves, my daughter and I made a “weekly check-in sheet” that included sending righteous thoughts four times a day, doing the five Dafa exercises, studying the Fa, hand-copying the Fa, clarifying the truth, and reading experience-sharing articles. We used a check mark to show we completed an item. Throughout the summer, it was clear at a glance which days we did well and which days we did not. This helped us a lot.
Doing the Exercises
My biggest improvement during this time was making a breakthrough in doing the exercises. In the past, I struggled to maintain consistency for various reasons. At the beginning of the summer, I thought that I finally had time to study the Fa and do the exercises regularly. Perhaps because of this thought, and through studying the Fa, Master’s Fa principles continued to enlighten me. On the surface, the reasons I was not able to be consistent in doing the exercises were laziness and seeking comfort.
The actual factors behind the issues were the old forces. They did not want me to succeed in cultivation, so they interfered with me to prevent me from doing the exercises. After I realized this, I made up my mind that nothing would stop me from doing them. No matter what time I did them, I always completed all five exercises.
The old forces’ factors interfered with me the next morning. I suddenly experienced severe stomach pain, which scared me. I asked Master for help. The pain lasted for half a day. I lay on the sofa for over two hours and felt like I was about to faint. Since then, I have done the exercises every morning. Twice, at around 4 a.m., I clearly felt that Master had woken me up to do the exercises. After I achieved a breakthrough in doing the exercises, I felt clear-headed and refreshed, and my brain was unusually alert and full of energy. I could go without sleep for two days without feeling tired. After that, I did the exercises almost every day during the entire summer vacation.
Breaking Through the Attachment to Cell Phones
I think the attachment to cell phones has become the biggest obstacle for young practitioners. This summer, my daughter and I quit wasting time on our cell phones. Before that, we couldn’t leave our cell phones alone. Now, we no longer pay attention to the news or watch other things.
The summer break provided an opportunity for us to quit playing on our cell phones.
During the first few days of vacation, my daughter spent a lot of time playing games on her phone. I thought it was okay for her to relax and play for a few days, so I didn’t restrict her much. Then one day I discovered that she had spent over 1,000 yuan on a game (Master let me see this). She also realized the seriousness of the problem. I asked her to stop playing on her phone, and for the rest of the summer, except for checking and doing homework, my daughter hardly used her phone at all. A bad thing had a positive resolution.
After I also quit playing on my cell phone, I had another cultivation breakthrough. I finally eliminated the severe interference of thought karma. In the past, because I couldn’t give up my cell phone addiction, I didn’t eliminate the attachments to watching short videos and reading online novels. This was reflected in my dimensional field as lustful thought karma, which had been difficult to eliminate for many years. During the vacation, I finally removed the thought karma, and it no longer interfered with me.
Cultivating My Xinxing
This summer, because I was able to keep up with Fa study and doing the exercises, when I encountered problems, Master’s Fa principles continued to enlighten me, which allowed me to gain new insights into the Fa. With Master’s guidance, I felt like I had gained wisdom and reached a new level. During this time, I came to a new understanding of letting nature take its course. Everything is arranged by higher beings, which is heaven’s will. If people want to change or pursue something for selfish reasons or attachments, that wish is actually against heaven’s will. I can now let go of many things more calmly.
I also found that my faith in Master and the Fa was still superficial, and I was not understanding the Fa rationally. My understanding of and faith in the Fa were still at a superficial level. True faith is unconditional. Only this kind of faith is pure and as solid as rock.
Through cultivating in Dafa, I passed almost all of the daily tests I encountered. Moreover, Master constantly tested me in my dreams to see if I was steadfast in cultivation. Within a few days, I clearly felt that a cultivation stage had passed. I cultivated away the attachments of resentment, jealousy, and seeking profit. As these disappeared, layer by layer, I finally experienced the transcendent and pure feeling of truly getting rid of resentment, which is a real substance. When my daughter disobeyed, I got better at maintaining my xinxing, not getting angry, and not being moved. My mentality became ever more peaceful, and the influence of the CCP culture became less dominant. I also felt that the smile on my face became brighter.
I have taken my daughter to the Fa-study group twice a week since she was in the first grade. Four years have passed, and she has progressed from stumbling along to reading the Fa fluently. She went from eating and sleeping when she was tired to being able to sit still and concentrate. There were times when she didn’t want to go to Fa-study, but I insisted. Now, it is a natural habit for her.
I believe that children who grow up in China are seriously polluted and poisoned by the CCP’s ideology and propaganda. Children are easily drawn in by negative content on mobile phones and the Internet. They are unable to distinguish good from bad, so it is difficult for them to study the Fa actively and voluntarily. This requires adult supervision. Now, in addition to group Fa-study, I have discussed with her the importance of studying the Fa at home every day. She decides how much to read. We must create a field of assimilating to the Fa ourselves, and adults need to help their children do this.
At the Fa-study group, my daughter read in an issue of Minghui Weekly that Fei Tian Academy of the Arts was recruiting students. She liked the idea of attending Fei Tian. She started learning dance in kindergarten. At 10, she is now 153 cm (five feet) tall. Because she did well in dance class and often was the lead dancer, she is eager to train as a dancer at Fei Tian. When we returned home, she asked me to print out the Minghui Weekly and save it. She studied the college admission requirements carefully and has been stretching her legs every day since.
Participating in group Fa-study allows my daughter to assimilate to the Fa. She has become more active in talking about Dafa with people in the community. She has distributed Dafa amulets and put Dafa flyers on cars in the underground garage. Because she was not very good at clarifying the truth, when she tried to talk about the persecution with two junior high school girls, they refused to listen, and she broke down in tears. When she told me about this, I went and spoke to the girls and helped them quit the CCP’s youth organizations.
Since I was consistently doing the exercises that summer, my daughter started to copy me and quickly learned how to do them. She followed Master’s instructions and did them well. However, she couldn’t maintain the standing posture or sitting meditation for the full time.
Compared with other practitioners who do the three things well, my daughter and I are far behind, and there are still many things that we haven’t done well. Because we know Master is waiting for us, we will cherish time even more and make progress in our cultivation together.