(Minghui.org) I’m a retired teacher and I started practicing Falun Dafa in the fall of 1995. After I retired, I decided to use my knowledge to help fellow practitioners who have difficulty studying the Fa (teachings), especially those who are older or “slower,” so that they can better understand the Fa, and so their cultivation can quickly improve.
We formed a Fa study group of five practitioners, which later grew to seven. These practitioners were all older than me, and they all had one thing in common, they were uneducated. Some had completed second or third grade in elementary school, some had completed fourth grade, and three of them had never attended school. Master arranged these sacred and predestined connections between us, as we all shared the same goal... This Fa is wonderful, so precious, I want to learn it.
I’d like to tell you about my cultivation journey with three of these practitioners.
I first met practitioner Mei (alias) more than a decade ago when she was in her 70’s. She’s now 91 years old. A practitioner led her to me when she heard that there was a Fa study group for older practitioners and she wanted to join us.
Mei hadn’t attended school and had difficulty hearing, which made studying the Fa challenging for her. She also had never participated in group Fa study before. Although she could read Zhuan Falun she made many mistakes, sometimes two or three errors in a single sentence. When I corrected her, she could not hear me clearly. I had to sit next to her, point to the character in the sentence, and speak into her ear. It took three or four minutes to read a short paragraph, and I had to be more patient with her for longer paragraphs. She couldn’t keep up with the group since she couldn’t hear the others reading. Every time we turned a page, I nudged her and made a page-turning gesture, so she would know to turn the page.
I was a little anxious at first, and other fellow practitioners were also a bit annoyed because she made our Fa study slower. I promptly corrected my mindset and said to the other practitioners in the group, “Mei came to study the Fa with us because this is a group for older practitioners. We should follow Falun Dafa’s principles and not look down on our fellow practitioners.”
Our group went out to clarify the truth about the persecution in the morning and studied the Fa in the afternoon. Before we read the Fa, everyone gave me their list of people who had quit the CCP, which I then compiled and posted online. Mei also told me her list of names. Although Mei can’t write, she clearly remembered every name, and the reason the person quit. She could sometimes name three or four people, and we were all happy for her.
Her hearing continued to deteriorate, and at the age of eighty-one, she decided to leave the Fa-study group to study at home on her own. She said she couldn’t hear the other practitioners reading the Fa at all, and her family was worried about her safety when she crossed the street. Even though she didn’t join the Fa study regularly, we kept in contact with her. She visited us every once a while, and we visited her and brought Master’s new lectures to her.
Master published a new version of “Lunyu” in May 2015. We contacted Mei and said we’d bring her a copy of Zhuan Falun to replace Lunyu. Seeing that some books had missing pages, some had loose pages, and some were rebounded but the edges weren’t neat, I found a practitioner to help rebind her books. Mei’s book was particularly yellowed and stained but when the book was rebounded and returned, she refused to take it and insisted that another clean book was hers.
I told her that the clean one belonged to another practitioner who would pick it up later. Mei reluctantly took her book home. Two days later she asked me to exchange the clean book with hers. Another practitioner who was there told her that she had the correct book and she didn’t remember well. Mei returned on the third day and said to me, “I want my book back.”
My anger flared up instantly. I thought, “Is she still a cultivator?” Her own book was yellowed and dirty, but when she saw that other people’s books were cleaner, she wanted theirs. Everyone said that she had her own book, but she didn’t believe it. It was rather incomprehensible, and I argued loudly with her. She was startled by my yelling, and muttered, “I just want my own book back, why are you so angry?” Then she left.
Two days later, I calmed down and looked within. Master said:
“Therefore, from now on when you come across a conflict you should not consider it a coincidence. This is because when a conflict occurs, it will take place unexpectedly. But that is not a coincidence—it is for improving your xinxing. As long as you treat yourself as a practitioner, you can handle it properly.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun 2014 English Edition)
We shouldn’t judge things by appearances, human notions, or human reasoning. I felt wronged and resentful because these practitioners usually respect me, but Mei’s behavior showed a lack of trust. I also saw my own selfishness. I thought my giving was unconditional, but in reality the patience and kindness I showed to the elderly practitioners was conditional. My prehistoric vow was to help them return to their heavenly homes. After realizing my shortcomings, I quickly went to Mei’s home and apologized to her.
Zhou’s Story
Zhou (alias) is 85 years old this year, and is one of the earliest members of the group. I’ve known her for 21 years. She is sincere, conscientious, and hardworking. She’s also hard of hearing, but she can hear better than Mei. She can hear some of what other practitioners say, but not everything, so she easily misunderstands. She has developed a quiet and cautious personality—she was always afraid of causing herself trouble because she lost her parents at a young age and lived with relatives. I often tried to comfort her and encourage her.
She didn’t join the group Fa-study for a few days in 2007 and no one knew where she was. On my way home after studying the Fa one day, I happened to run into Zhou. She held my arm and tearfully said that something happened at her home. After her daughter and son-in-law lost their jobs, they opened an arcade (video games), but business wasn’t very good. A while ago, people from the Bureau of Industry and Commerce came to collect money, and because they couldn’t pay, the authorities confiscated several game consoles. Her son-in-law jumped off a building and committed suicide.
I comforted her. I bought some fruit and visited her again the following day. I shared with her that life and death are predestined, and we cultivators should not be concerned or worried. We should quickly step out of the shadows and return to the Fa-study group. In terms of daily life, she should help her daughter and grandson, giving them spiritual support so they can recover quickly. She returned to our group Fa study the next day.
We later had a conflict. One day, while we were clarifying the truth on the street, a stranger told Zhou that Master took all the money to the U.S. She believed him and secretly told two members of our group that I was a coordinator and I collected money from practitioners and sent it to the U.S. Other practitioners jokingly told me what she said. I was furious. I had used my own money and time to print truth-clarification materials for the group for many years and never collected a penny from anyone. I held back my anger but I refused to talk to her for several days.
A few days later I realized that we had fallen for an old forces’ trick—Zhou believed the rumors, and I became angry. This was meant to create a gap among fellow practitioners. Looking inward, I found that I wanted to hear only compliments. I valued others’ opinions of me too much, and I craved fame. As I searched inward, the ice of resentment in my heart melted, and I felt that Zhou practiced diligently.
I apologized to her and said I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I also told her not to believe the rumors spread by malicious people in society. I pointed out that Master never asked practitioners for money, and that in the future, we should discuss things openly in our small group, share our understandings on the Fa, and improve together in order to avoid unnecessary interference with our cultivation. She happily agreed.
My Cultivation Journey With Wang
Wang (alias) is 81 this year and she and I were in the same exercise and Fa study group before the persecution started. I was still working then. She and I, and two other practitioners, formed a Fa study group to share our experiences and distribute truth-clarification materials during the most difficult years. After I retired, I organized a Fa study group for older practitioners, and then we split up.
She joined our group for older practitioners in 2010, and she and I teamed up and distributed truth-clarification materials, New Year calendars, and amulets in rural townships.
Wang often mentioned having leg pain, and said her feet hurt after she walked a lot. But every time I asked her if she could go with me to hand out calendars, she always answered “yes” without hesitation.
As I pushed my bicycle along the road, I felt it was heavy. I realized she was holding onto the back seat, which probably made it easier for her, but I found it quite tiring. I wanted to ride my bike to save some energy, but that would leave her behind, so I had to walk.
We often went to the suburbs to distribute truth-clarification materials. Wang was nearly 80 years old then. She studied the Fa with me in the morning and walked more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in the afternoon. We sometimes went to the fields to deliver calendars to farmers who were working there. She never complained about the hardship or fatigue. What a wonderful practitioner she is! I told myself I had no reason to complain. I later told her, “You hold on to the bike, I’ll take you with me.”
When I saw her beside me, I felt more at ease while we walked along country lanes. It’s so good to have a fellow practitioner. Sometimes we sang Falun Dafa songs as we walked, and sometimes we loudly recited “Falun Dafa is good” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
Wang has no sense of direction and usually doesn’t know the way. Every time we came back, I took her to a place near her home and made sure she was okay before I left. I felt that as long as a fellow practitioner is willing to accompany me, I will never abandon her.
After the New Year last year, Wang told me that a practitioner who lived near her home invited her to study the Fa with her. It would save her two-thirds of the journey compared to coming to my house.
After the New Year this year, I heard that her health had deteriorated, and she often talked about death. As a result, when the family of the practitioner who studied the Fa with her heard this, they were afraid of taking responsibility, and told Wang to stop coming to their house. So she studied Fa at home by herself.
I recently visited her and noticed that her condition had worsened. I asked her what she did every day. She said she studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts. She then asked me how to send forth righteous thoughts. I said, “Don’t you do it every day? Why are you asking me?” She said she couldn’t remember.
I know that an elderly practitioner suffering sickness karma, without an environment to study the Fa or share experiences with fellow practitioners, is going to be dragged down by the old forces. I felt I couldn’t ignore her. It was about the human attachments I needed to let go of and the responsibilities that I, as a fellow practitioner, should bear.
Wang lives in an attic on the eighth floor of a building that has no elevator. I’m over seventy years old so it’s a challenge for me to go up to her floor. In the summer, her apartment is hot like a steamer. Cultivators have no age limit and don’t discriminate based on their cultivation environment. We are fellow practitioners and we will help each other and progress.
Master said:
“Spiritual practice will bring our hearts togetherLet us spur each other to diligenceAs we embark on the journey Home, guided by the divine”(“Share in the Journey,” Hong Yin IV)
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Selected submission for the 22nd China Fa Conference on Minghui.org)
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