(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa, along with my family, prior to the beginning of the persecution in 1999. I was still a student back then. My focus was mainly on my studies, and I was not diligent in cultivation. After graduating from a university, I went to South Korea to work.
In 2010, my mother was persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. My father, who had always been very healthy, suddenly became critically ill. Together with a series of other problems, the onslaught of suffering within that short month was something I could not bear. I had thoughts of ending my life to escape it all. I knew this was a family tribulation, but because my cultivation state was not solid and my Fa study was not good, I could not break through this tribulation. I even had the thought: “It’s so painful, what’s the point of cultivating?” So I stopped practicing Dafa.
In 2018, while returning from a trip abroad, the plane encountered a typhoon and shook violently. I asked Master Li to save my life, “If I return home safely, I will definitely read Zhuan Falun.” After returning home, I intended to keep my promise, but whenever I picked up Zhuan Falun, a phone call or some other matter would interrupt me. I always had it on my mind to read the book and do the exercises, but somehow, I could never accomplish it. In this way, I was delayed for another year. Then, in 2020, the COVID-19 virus broke out, and I stayed at home.
The virus spread rapidly in South Korea, and many people died. I lived with my mother. I was afraid to go out, but my mother went out daily to clarify the truth. Moreover, she only wore a disposable mask. Seeing how careless she was about safety made me upset; I was angry and afraid. No matter how much I argued, I could not stop her from going out. I thought to myself, “If she continues like this and catches the virus, won’t I be infected too? We might both die. In that case, I won’t wear a mask either. I’ll also just do the Dafa exercises.”
With this fear and desire to save my life, I secretly began to do the Dafa exercises at home.
Because I had not done the exercises for 10 years, my legs hurt terribly when I did the sitting meditation. The minute hand on the clock seemed to move only after a long while. I thought, “When I was young, I could sit in the full-lotus position for an hour. I refuse to believe I can’t do it now.” With that pride, I endured the pain and finished the meditation, while tears streamed down my face.
The first and second days were like this. When the pain became unbearable, I repeatedly recited, “I will never give up, please strengthen me, Master. I must persist to the end!” On the third day, not long after crossing my legs, the pain started again. After about 10 minutes, I could not endure it and lowered my legs. But a thought popped up, “If I give up like this today, then sitting in the full lotus position might become an insurmountable mountain to climb.”
I gathered my courage and began the meditation again. Soon after crossing my legs, the pain returned. Tears streamed down my face, and I began to cry uncontrollably. I tried to stop crying but could not, as the pain was unbearable. In my heart, there was only one thought: “I must pass this test today!” I repeatedly recited the Fa in my mind,
“When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I also asked Master to strengthen me. In this way, I finally completed the meditation. I had exerted all my strength to endure the pain and collapsed to one side in complete exhaustion.
After enduring severe pain for more than a month, my legs no longer hurt as much, and I thought I had passed the test. But later on, there were still times when the pain was difficult to endure, though not as severe as in the beginning.
One morning, after doing the exercises at a group exercise site, a practitioner from the Tian Guo Marching Band invited me to join. I had absolutely no musical talent. Not only could I not sing, but I hated music when I was in school; music classes felt like endless torture.
Music and I were like two parallel lines that would never meet. Moreover, the band instruments were wind instruments. Since I couldn’t even sing in tune, how could I possibly play an instrument? It felt impossible, so I declined.
A few days later, the practitioner brought it up again at the exercise site. I again said I had no musical talent. But this practitioner never gave up and even asked another practitioner to help persuade me. At that point, I felt bad about refusing outright. I thought, “I’m not some famous person. Refusing three times in a row would be very impolite.” So I said I would go to the band rehearsal to check it out.
The band had group Fa study and rehearsals on Sundays. After Fa study, the coordinator introduced the instruments to me. I looked at them and thought: “The snare drum had to be played constantly and seemed exhausting. The cymbals were heavy and awkward to hold. The woodwinds had too many keys. The brass instruments were heavy and hard to blow.” None of them looked easy.
I felt certain I couldn’t do it, so I told the coordinator that I couldn’t and started walking toward the door. A practitioner who played the French horn pulled me aside and asked me to sit down. She handed me the French horn and asked me to try blowing it. I had never seen such an instrument before. I held it in my arms, and it was not light. But seeing the hopeful look in her eyes, I gave it a try. A sound came out immediately. Her eyes lit up. She clapped and said the sound I produced was stable and full-bodied. I felt too embarrassed to leave, so I sat down and listened to the band rehearse.
As they began, the deep beats of the bass drum beside me sounded incredibly beautiful. With each beat, it felt as though bad substances in my body were being struck down. After listening to the two-hour rehearsal, I felt my body had been greatly cleansed.
On my way home, I felt light and joyful, as if I were walking with the wind. That feeling was indescribable. It was an unforgettable experience. After that, every time I returned home from rehearsal, my body felt light and comfortable. By the next day at work, I did not feel tired and was full of energy.
I shared this experience with another practitioner. She said, “You’re a new practitioner. You haven’t even studied the Fa extensively, but you’re already going out to do other things. You’d better stay home and study the Fa well first.”
What she said made sense. Work was busy, and overtime shifts were frequent. Doing the three things already left me little time. I thought I should focus on studying the Fa more. Besides, I didn’t even know whether I could learn the French horn. So I contacted the band coordinator and explained my reluctance to join.
He said, “Young people learn instruments quickly. Have confidence in yourself. The band is also an important Dafa project, and learning an instrument won’t interfere with anything.” Seeing that I was hesitant, he encouraged me to just come and learn a little every day. In this way, I joined the band and began learning to play.
I found the French horn concertos on the Shen Yun Creations website and realized how beautiful the French horn’s sound was—elegant, humble, and harmonious. Its appearance is like a beautiful, dignified crown. After learning to play for a while, I felt it was a sacred instrument from heaven. I began to love it so much that I even wanted to bring it to work and kept it by my side while sleeping. I was completely captivated by it. I have now been playing the French horn for three years and still love it as much as ever.
I had no musical talent and needed to work harder than the others, so I dared not slack off. No matter the weather, I would go to rehearsal after work. Even after group Fa study on Thursdays, I would still practice the French horn for a while. During the busy season at my company, I worked overtime almost every day. For three or four months each year, I worked until 11 p.m., and until 9 p.m. for three other months. When I got off after 11 p.m. I felt sad because I could not practice the French horn.
Being part of the band did not affect my job, as I completed my work as efficiently as possible. I rarely made mistakes and received praise from my supervisors and colleagues. My boss was very satisfied with my work and often praised me. Our company normally finishes work at 7 p.m., and I would arrive at the rehearsal 40 minutes later.
To save time, I ate steamed buns or dumplings on the way, or instant noodles when I got there. I would practice the French horn first, then join online Fa study for an hour, then after Fa study, I would continue practicing until nearly midnight.
In Korea, the time for sending forth righteous thoughts is 12:55 a.m. So I went to sleep after that. This also solved my long-standing problem of not waking up to send righteous thoughts. If I woke up early in the morning, I would do all five sets of exercises. If I woke up late, I would do the sitting meditation before going to work and find time during breaks to do the first, third, and fourth exercises. If I missed any exercises during the week, I made them up on the weekends. On weekend afternoons, I went to rehearsal and stayed until after 10 p.m. Every day was very full and joyful.
I could practice so late because my home was close to both my company and the rehearsal location. If either place had been farther away, I might not have been able to learn the French horn. This was all arranged by Master, so I could learn it well under the best conditions. I became even more certain that joining the Tian Guo Marching Band was a cultivation path arranged for me. Thank you, Master!
At the beginning, fellow practitioners taught me how to play the French horn. I first learned all the notes, then started practicing Dafa pieces. But I always felt that my foundation was weak, and I had reached a plateau where I could no longer improve. So I found a private French horn teacher and began to take lessons. Because the teacher often had performances and I had to work, I could only take lessons during the off-season. At first, it was once every one or two weeks, then once every two or three weeks. I studied with the teacher in this way for about two years. Now that I’ve moved, I can only go for lessons occasionally.
At that time, I was experiencing pain in my right shoulder. And since the subway station was a little far from the teacher’s practice room, carrying my heavy French horn was difficult. But even so, I was happy each time I went. I always came back with many gains and never tired of it. The first time I went, many people shared the rehearsal space, and the room was dirty. A year later, the teacher changed to a new space, where each person had a small private room. It was much cleaner than before.
Six months later, the teacher moved again. The new rehearsal space was better than the second one and much larger. Then, a few months later, he moved to a newly renovated space that was slightly larger. When looking back, I realized that the upgraded conditions of the rehearsal spaces not only reflected my level of playing, but also the state of my own dimensional field.
When taking lessons, I could generally understand what the teacher explained, but when I tried to put it into practice, it was extremely difficult. Also, when I played alone in the rehearsal room, the notes sounded fine, but when I arrived at the teacher’s residence, the sound would often barely come out, or be noisy. Especially when playing the Dafa music pieces, my mind, hands, breathing, and tongue were completely out of sync. When I corrected one mistake, another one would appear.
I felt frustrated and embarrassed. I felt I was the worst student the teacher had ever taught. In this process of learning the French horn, I also cultivated away my ego, my attachment to saving face, my show-off mentality of wanting to play well in and receive praise, and jealousy when I could not play a note correctly. I also managed to get rid of my desire for instant results, as well as feelings of frustration, disappointment, inferiority, and embarrassment.
The teacher once said, “Most students can produce the sound after a few lessons. Why can’t you? Maybe I just don’t know how to teach. A teacher’s ability is shown by being able to make people understand.” Hearing this made me feel guilty and even somewhat resentful toward myself for being so bad at it.
Once, when I could not play properly no matter what I did, the teacher suddenly looked up at the ceiling and said, “Is something interfering with you?” I realized that I faced two major difficulties in learning the French horn. One was my extremely poor musical sense. The other was that my mind was constantly being interfered with, causing me to react very slowly when reading sheet music. My fingers, tonguing, slurs, and breathing could not coordinate. Even so, I never once thought about giving up.
During the 10 years when I had given up cultivation, I occasionally read Dafa books. Whenever I read for an hour, my mind immediately becomes clear. But this time, when I was determined to cultivate again, my thought karma seemed to mobilize all its forces to resist. It constantly made my main consciousness unable to stay alert, leaving me lightheaded all day. I tried to eliminate these thoughts by forcefully rejecting them, but it felt like the pressure in my head increased. Strange thoughts kept emerging. I clearly knew these thoughts were not mine.
When studying the Fa, I would feel sleepy, or my mind would wander elsewhere, unable to truly absorb it. When doing the exercises, distracting thoughts came one after another. Sometimes, it became so severe that I could not even hear the exercise music. These problems troubled me deeply. I wondered: “How can I eliminate this thought karma? When will my mind become truly calm?”
While worrying about these issues, I suddenly had the thought of memorizing the Fa. Just a few days later, a practitioner asked if I wanted to memorize the Fa together online. I was overjoyed. Master knew that I wanted to memorize the Fa and arranged for fellow practitioners to do it with me. I had previously tried memorizing the Fa, but I could never persist. After a few days, I would give up. This time, being in a group with practitioners encouraging one another, I was finally able to memorize Zhuan Falun. It took us a year and a half to do it. We did not seek speed; we simply focused on memorizing the Fa.
In our group, there was a Korean practitioner. She read more slowly, and her pronunciation was not perfect, but she read each word with great care, which helped me a lot. During the process, her Chinese pronunciation improved greatly.
Sometimes, I could not join because of overtime at work or other matters, so I made up the missed portions on weekends. As I continued memorizing, my thought karma gradually diminished, and my mind began to clear.
After practice one day, as soon as I lay down, my mind suddenly filled with the sounds of many people, like a noisy marketplace. I was a little frightened. I used the strongest righteous thoughts to reject and eliminate it, but it had no effect. I exhausted all my strength and, word by word, recited in my mind, “the Fa rectifies the Cosmos; the Evil is completely eliminated.” (“The Two Hand Positions for Sending Righteous Thoughts,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress II) I also asked Master to strengthen me. Within just a few seconds, my mind suddenly became quiet. I then fell asleep, or perhaps lost consciousness. When I woke up the next day, my mind was much clearer.
Memorizing the Fa, rejecting thought karma with righteous thoughts, looking inward when problems arose to remove my attachments, and practicing the instrument to strengthen my concentration and main consciousness—through this daily cultivation routine, my mind gradually became clearer.
Now, when studying the Fa, I no longer feel sleepy. Whenever my thoughts wander, I can quickly refocus. When doing the exercises, I can feel that the power of thought karma has decreased greatly. I no longer need to force my concentration to the point where the pressure in my head rises. With a clearer mind, I could also keep up with what the teacher taught me on the French horn. We both improved together.
During sectional practice, there were no major issues, so I thought that playing in the whole band simply meant following the rhythm and playing my own part. But once the whole band rehearsal started, my sound was buried by the sounds of other instruments, and I could no longer hear myself. What should I do? In my next lesson, I asked the teacher about this. He said, “Your Tian Guo Marching Band plays ensemble music, so you need to practice harmony.”
The harmony exercise was simple: the teacher and I started playing the same note together, then he would change notes midway. I thought this would be easy. But as soon as the teacher changed notes, my note immediately shifted. I felt quite embarrassed. The teacher told me to maintain focus and hold firmly to the note I was playing. After practicing a few times, my technique improved significantly. Practicing harmony and playing in the whole band helped me strengthen my main consciousness and eliminate thought karma.
During one rehearsal, the conductor asked the clarinet section to play a portion of “Triumphant Return.” As I listened, I seemed to see a young girl with a serene expression running slowly through a field of flowers with her long hair flowing, occasionally looking back with a smile. Her innocence gave me a very comfortable feeling. At that moment, I realized that this was the feeling of the music “Triumphant Return.” I had always thought it only represented victorious excitement and surging energy.
Another time, I asked my teacher to play “Falun Dafa Is Good.” The melody he played was so joyful and uplifting. I felt the message conveyed by the music was: “With the most kind and sincere heart, I tell you from the bottom of my heart—Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is truly very good!” I was deeply moved. So this is what the piece truly expresses! I suddenly understood. If an ordinary person can play it with such an effect, then when Dafa disciples play it, how powerful it must be!
Seven months after studying the French horn, I passed the exam and began participating in parades and activities with the Tian Guo Marching Band. During my first event, many problems appeared. While marching and playing at the same time, I could not control my breathing well and had to take breaths frequently. Also, the mouthpiece kept moving as I walked, so air would not enter the horn properly, and I could not play accurate notes. I felt very troubled. After several activities, the problems still remained. I thought, “I must improve this.” So I practiced walking while playing to train taking breaths and keeping the mouthpiece firmly against my lips.
A practitioner called and said, “You don’t play well. Stop playing. People say your pitch is bad. You should leave the Tian Guo Marching Band. You are affecting the overall performance and causing interference.”
I replied, “I will not leave the Marching Band. The French horn is a sacred instrument from heaven. This is arranged for me by Master.”
When the practitioner said those things to me, I felt a bit angry. Resentment, jealousy, and competitiveness all arose. But I knew the practitioner was right. It was indeed my own shortcomings, and I could not blame others for criticizing me. But I did not become discouraged. I asked Master to strengthen me, and I was determined to play the French horn well. Although I learn slowly, I can rely on perseverance, righteous thoughts, and determination to break through any difficulties. I also have Master’s strengthening and the all-powerful Dafa that opens wisdom. What is there to fear?
During a 2024 activity on Jeju Island, a practitioner from my section sat beside me. I mentioned that my breathing and mouthpiece problems were improving very slowly. The practitioner told me to lower my center of gravity, try not to let my upper body sway, and walk as if gliding. After returning to Seoul, I practiced walking this way and gradually adjusted my stride and posture. My breathing improved, and the mouthpiece began to stay against my lips.
As I write this sharing article and look back on my cultivation journey, my every step has been inseparable from Master’s compassionate strengthening and careful arrangements. Thank you, Master, for saving me, a person full of karma.
The above is my cultivation process and growth in the Tian Guo Marching Band. If there is anything not in accordance with the Fa, please kindly point it out.
(Selected article from the Tian Guo Marching Band 20th Anniversary Experience Sharing)