(Minghui.org)
Greetings, venerable Master!Greetings, fellow practitioners!
1. Obtaining the Fa is Difficult
I work as a tourist instructor. Sixteen new instructors, including a Falun Dafa practitioner, came to my workplace in 2009. That practitioner enthusiastically introduced Falun Dafa to all of my coworkers. One day in 2010, we rode the same bus going home, and she gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun before she got off the bus.
I began to read Zhuan Falun but closed the book before I finished reading the tenth page because I did not understand its meaning. I tried again the next day, but it was the same. I called the practitioner and said, “I want to read it very much but I can't.”
She brought another book to my home that evening. The book was Essentials for Further Advancement. I slowly read it page by page and finished reading it at 1:00 a.m. Some parts of the book were confusing, but it made me recall the mistakes I had made. This was the first time I looked within myself for shortcomings.
I called the practitioner the next day and asked her how should I finish reading Zhuan Falun. She recommended that I listen to the lecture recordings by Master Li. I took her advice and listened to Master’s lectures. It took me over a month to read Zhuan Falun. It was very tough to begin my cultivation path at the beginning.
2. Looking Within During Conflicts
My son did not do well in school. For years, I kept criticizing him and losing my temper with him. After I began practicing Falun Dafa, I looked within and found that I was expecting too much from him. As soon as I realized this, and a miracle happened. I thought my son was at the bottom of his class, but he passed his examinations one after another.
Master told us,“Some people have said, "This endurance thing is hard to do. I’ve got a bad temper." If you have a bad temper then just change it. Practitioners have to endure. Some people blow up even when they’re disciplining their kids, they’ll yell and make a big scene. You don’t have to be like that when you’re disciplining your kids. You shouldn’t really get angry. You should teach your kids with reason and good sense, and that’s the only way you can really teach them well. If you can’t even get over little things, and you lose your temper, then forget about gong.”(The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I used to complain a lot about my parents, my husband, and my son. I also had a tense relationship with my coworkers. After learning Falun Dafa, I realized it was caused by my karma. This a hard realization, but I kept studying the Fa. Within one year, my xinxing improved.
The practitioner told me that it was important to join a Fa-study group, but I was busy taking care of my twin-granddaughters. In the spring of 2014, I began to practice again. I usually stayed home to practice the exercises and study the Fa.
3. Becoming Diligent After the Taiwan Fa Conference
A fellow practitioner asked if I wanted to attend the Taiwan Fa conference in 2014. I wanted to go but was worried about traveling. I also felt I had many shortcomings. The practitioner said, “Moving one step forward is cultivating. Let’s go there together.”
Her words encouraged me, and I decided to attend the conference. For the first time, I participated in spelling out the Dafa characters. I listened to local practitioners as they shared their cultivation experiences.
Korean practitioners held an experience sharing meeting the day before we left Taiwan. I said, “I'm a new practitioner who just learned how to cultivate; I won’t be lazy from now on, and I shall be more diligent.”
The first decision I made after returning home was to join the outdoor practice site, because I told my fellow practitioners that I would be more diligent.
One day, when I was about to do the exercises at home, a voice told me that I should go to the practice site. I said, “Why can’t I practice at home?” The voice said, “You said you want to be more diligent. Then do the exercises with the others.”
I later realized why I did not want to go outside to practice. I found that I had no confidence in Dafa. I had an attachment to pride, which made me afraid that others would know that I practice Falun Dafa. I eliminated that attachment after I identified it.
The third day after I came back from the Taiwan Fa Conference, the weather turned cold. My husband suggested that I not go out to practice. I told him, “I used to think I was very good to you, and that every fault was yours. However, I now know that it was all of my karma which made you and our son feel pain. I knew I was wrong and will work to correct it.”
I talked to my husband all night long with tears in my eyes after I came back from the practice site. We no longer misunderstood each other. My husband walked over to me with Zhuan Falun in his hand and wanted to study with me.
My son also began to learn Falun Dafa. He used to ask me, “Why are you learning this?” After I identified my shortcomings, my family members all came to practice Dafa.
My married daughter used to have bad opinions about Dafa. After she listened to the lectures, she also began to practice Falun Dafa.
4. Removing the Attachment to Showing Off
I kept cultivating and studying the Fa’s principles. However, the practitioner who introduced Dafa to me did not frequently join our local activities. She loved to travel all over the country to talk with fellow practitioners.
I did not agree with her and gradually developed negative thoughts about her. My mind could not stay calm when I thought about her. I knew it was bad, so I tried very hard to get rid of it.
Our company began a new training program to train all of the employees at that time. I did not want to stay with that practitioner, so I had my training day switched to avoid seeing her. But Master had other arrangements for me.
That fellow practitioner shared the same training day with me after another coworker changed hers.
We shared the same room. The notions that I hung onto all came out. We talked all night, and I realized that my negative thoughts about her came from my attachment to showing off.
That practitioner showed me the qualities of a veteran practitioner. She was not moved by my irritating words at all, and only encouraged me to cultivate more diligently.
5. Cultivating My Xinxing
The fellow practitioner and I went to Daqiu City to join the Shen Yun promotion experience sharing conference before the 2015 Shen Yun show came. I learned a lot from the other practitioners about how they formed a group and worked extremely hard to promote Shen Yun.
I was ready to go to my daughter’s house in Anyang after the Daqiu conference finished. That practitioner told me again and again that I should not forget to seriously study the Fa and practice the exercises. She suggested that I also join the Fa-study group to avoid being weeded out on the cultivation path.
I was hesitant, because I felt quite a bit of pressure to attend the group Fa-study section in one area without knowing any of the people there. I asked Master to help me get rid of those unrighteous thoughts. I went to the Anyang practice site to do the exercises at 4:00 a.m. the next morning.
My xinxing test came soon. It was very hard for me to get up early in the morning. I also thought that because I was from a different area, I always felt uncomfortable. I became upset when someone looked at me or said only one sentence. I did not realize that it was for improving my xinxing. One practitioner saw my uneasy expression and said that my “doing the exercises looks like a battle.” I felt too tired to go to the practice site, but I kept going for the sake of my cultivation.
One veteran practitioner talked to me and described the kind of mindset that we needed when we attend the Fa-study group and how we should communicate. I felt that her words had no compassion, so I had bad thoughts.
I found that I also had that bad attitude in my behavior one or two months later. I realized that what she showed was exactly the same as my own problem. I felt ashamed and no longer was against her. After that, I joined with local practitioners to tell people about the persecution.
6. Collecting Petitions to Support Prosecuting Jiang
My daughter and I collected petitions in a subway station to support the worldwide effort to prosecute Jiang Zemin. I felt that we had moved one step forward on our cultivation path.
I observed that people passing the railway station were in a hurry, and it was not easy for them to listen to us. So we visited each shop to talk to people and collected signatures. My daughter asked passengers who were waiting for the bus to sign the petitions. We got quite a few signatures and felt happy joining the Fa-rectification course.
I went back to my hometown to visit everyone I knew. We told them about the persecution and collected signatures. My daughter asked me, “Mom, do you feel embarrassed?” I said, “Why should I feel embarrassed? You dared not tell others about such a good Fa, and you even felt embarrassed! But I do feel embarrassed about your thoughts.”
We went downtown to collect signatures on Sunday, but many shops were closed and there were only a few people in the street. We decided to go home, but it suddenly began to rain. We stayed in a big mall to avoid the downpour.
When we saw the rain slow and started to go home, it started raining heavily again. After this happened several times, we decided to visit each shop to collect signatures. The rain stopped when we finished visiting all the shops. It was amazing!
On our way home, we went to a library to get more signatures. Three hours of rain cleared the air, and more people went outside. Master knew I planned to stay in Rongzhou for only a short time, so he arranged for more people to come outside to listen to us. As a result, my daughter and I easily got lots of signatures. I got 912 signatures in only two weekends in Rongzhou city.
Some passengers refused to sign the petition even after we spoke to them. I felt sad for them. I thought: Is it because of my lack of righteous thoughts that so many sentient beings missed their opportunities? Maybe I failed to clearly let them know what Falun Dafa is and what the cultivation of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is about. Maybe it is because I failed to make them understand the crime of Jiang Zemin’s persecution of Falun Gong. Or maybe I am attached to the number of signatures.
I realized that while I collect signatures, I need to clear my mind and maintain righteous thoughts when I talk to people. Then, more people will sign the petitions.
Cultivating through today, I feel that each step I walked had not been easy. I gradually understood that my surroundings are my cultivation environment. I shall be more diligent while walking the cultivation path arranged by Master. I shall work hard to be a true Dafa practitioner.
Please point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
