(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Dafa at the end of 1996. I would like to share some of my experiences and understandings with fellow practitioners.

Upgrading My Xinxing and Validating Dafa While at Work

I worked for an organization in the legal system in a rural area of China and was frequently invited to dine out with clients. Such invitations were extended to me for a variety of reasons: some people wanted me to handle their cases fairly, some wanted favors, and some wanted to show their appreciation after their case was successfully completed. Before I practiced Falun Dafa I used to accept every invitation to a free meal, but after I became a practitioner, I started to live by the principals of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When possible I would politely decline the free meal, but when I had to go, I would just order inexpensive dishes. For my work, I was often praised by clients for handling disputes fairly, and under my influence, many of my colleagues have changed their characters, too. The whole organization became cleaner and fairer.

In 2004, the organization wanted to restructure some of its staffing positions, and so implemented procedures requiring managers over fifty years old to step down from their positions. I was one of them, but many people asked me to stay. They said that I was a well-liked and experienced manager who had accomplished great things and that I should not leave my position. Instead they said that I should be promoted. That night, when I studied the Fa, I read:

"Human beings often believe that everything they pursue is good. In fact, from a high-level perspective, these are to satisfy those bits of vested interests among everyday people. It is said in religion that regardless of how much money you have or how high your position ranks, it is good for only a few decades. One cannot bring it along at birth or carry it after death. Why is gong so precious? It is precisely because it grows right on the body of your Primordial Spirit and can be carried at birth and taken forth after death. In addition, it directly determines your Fruit Status in cultivation, and it is therefore difficult to cultivate. In other words, what you lose is something bad. Thus, you can return to your original, true self. So what do you gain? The improvement of your level; eventually you achieve Right Fruit and complete cultivation, solving the fundamental issue" ("Loss and Gain," Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun, 2000 Translation).

The next morning, I submitted my request to leave the management position and become a regular employee in another unit. In my new position, my work is still of good quality. Some of my colleagues knew that I practice Falun Gong, and have commented that Falun Gong practitioners have no attachment to fame and personal interest and are really different from other people. I thought that we Dafa disciples should validate Dafa wherever we are, so it was only right that I demonstrate Dafa's mighty power when I left the management position; that I should not curse or whine like other people when they are released from their positions. In every organization, in every industry, at every level, there is Dafa's existence and manifestation.

When my son was in high school, he ranked just above average in his class. But when he took the university entrance exam in 2004, he scored 160 points higher than his normal score. (Note: The total score varies by area, but normally is between 700 and 900.) As a result, he was admitted to a top university in China. One time when my son came home from university, he was not feeling well and had diarrhea. Two days later, he suddenly collapsed. When I sent forth righteous thoughts for him, I saw a dark shadowy figure fly out of his body. When he opened his eyes I whispered into his ear that he should silently recite, "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" He closed his eyes again and did it sincerely for five minutes, then opened his eyes and said he wanted to eat something. He had totally recovered and went back to university the next day. These miraculous things happened to him again and again. We both knew that this was the mighty power of Dafa.

My son will graduate this year, and will need to find a job in the tough and competitive environment. Seeing parents with power using their connections to help their children out, I could not hold back my human attachment. I went on the Internet to search for jobs and asked friends to find more information about good companies, such as their salaries and benefits. I spent quite a lot of time and energy on this. In the middle of March, my son got a job offer from a large state-owned enterprise. He put it down to his own achievements, without any consideration for my time and resources. I then realized that, as a cultivator, we should remember to be a true Dafa disciple at all times and in any circumstances. Trying to arrange life for my son showed that I still had not let go of the attachment to sentiment. Master said:

"You are unable to interfere with the lives of others, and neither can you control others' fates, including those of your wife, sons, daughters, parents, or brothers. Can you decide those things? Furthermore, how will you practice cultivation if you do not have any worries or troubles? How can you do the exercises comfortably and restfully? How can there be such a thing? That is what you think, from the perspective of everyday people."

"Cultivation practice must take place through tribulations so as to test whether you can part with and care less about different kinds of human sentimentality and desires. If you are attached to these things, you will not succeed in cultivation. Everything has its karmic relationship. Why can human beings be human? It is because human beings have sentimentality. They live just for this sentimentality. Affection among family members, love between a man and a woman, love for parents, feelings, friendship, doing things for friendship, and everything else all relate to this sentimentality. Whether a person likes to do something or not, is happy or unhappy, loves or hates something, and everything in the entire human society comes from this sentimentality. If this sentimentality is not relinquished, you will be unable to practice cultivation." ("Upgrading Xinxing," Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun, 2000 Translation)

Please help me improve and point out anything incorrect.

By March 17, 2009