(Clearwisdom.net) Here are some of my experiences cultivating and validating Dafa.
Before I began to practice cultivation in Falun Dafa, I didn't believe in any qigong at all. This is the story of how I began to cultivate.
On the eve of the Chinese New Year in 1994, I suddenly had a stomachache and it hurt more and more. I took some pills and felt a little better. It still hurt a little, but I didn't pay much attention to it. A few days later, it started to hurt again, so I went to a hospital. The doctor said I had nothing wrong and prescribed some pain-relief pills. I took them and felt better. But after a few days, it started to hurt again. The situation lasted for more than three years. I even attempted suicide three times, because I could no longer tolerate the acute pain. Seeing doctors or taking pills didn't help. I couldn't even go to sleep at night. I had to jog on the roads (which seemed to slightly relieve my pain) every night when others were sleeping. Later, I became extremely weak. I had to infuse myself with nutrients every other day to maintain my life. I didn't think I would survive much longer. When I was dying, I was fortunate enough learn of Dafa, and obtained a new life. It happened as described below.
One day in May 1997, my older brother came to visit me. He didn't say anything and left when he saw in how much pain I was. That evening, he came back to my home and said, "I have borrowed Falun Gong video tapes. Let's go watch them." As I had never believed in any qigong before, I was very reluctant and went with him just to be polite. When I watched the video, every word that Teacher said made so much sense to me. So the more I watched, the more I liked it. After I watched one tape, I went back home. I began to spit up blood. I vomited for a whole night, and vomited two buckets full of stuff. It looked like the Chinese medicine that I had been taking for years, with blood and other dark stuff. My weight dropped from 154 pounds to 117 pounds. I lost more than 30 pounds of weight in one night. This was just amazing. On the second day, I felt very energetic. The sickness from which I had been suffering for more than three years was gone.
A few days later, the cleansing of my body continued. My liver hurt so much that day that I could not bear it anymore. I wanted to stab myself with a pair of scissors. Suddenly I felt something stiff drop from my liver and the pain was gone right away. That evening, I began to vomit again. I lost consciousness as I was vomiting. Right at that moment I wanted to say a few words to my family before I died. I wanted to tell them not to blame Dafa and that Dafa was very good. (Note: I had just started to watch the tapes and didn't quite understand what Dafa was truly about. My family didn't even have a clue. However, I just knew that Dafa was good.) After a while, I woke up. I vomited another two buckets full of stuff. From then on, I became healthier and healthier. In half a year, I gained more than 66 pounds- more than 10 pounds per month. This is another miracle. Witnessing my change, my family members were also fortunate enough to start practicing Dafa.
In my cultivation, I have realized that the evil cannot easily interfere with us when we have strong righteous thoughts. Before July 20, 1999, so many people began to practice Falun Gong and we were very short of Dafa materials. I happened to have a small bookstore, so I was able to supply some Dafa materials. When I supplied Dafa materials, I sold the books at the price for which I had paid and I never made a profit from them. Actually, I had to cover all of the expenses myself. Later, Dafa books were not allowed to be published. Many dealers published pirated copies. The evil fabricated rumors that Teacher had made money from the books. That was completely bogus. Government controls later got more and more strict. Staff from the Cultural Bureau constantly came to check the bookstores, so many bookstores did not dare to sell Dafa books anymore. Dafa books were therefore in seriously short supply. Two people came to me and told me that they had Dafa books. I then purchased Dafa books from them. I had never bargained with them, because I didn't think it was appropriate to bargain for such a sacred Dafa. I sold the books to practitioners at the same price that I had paid for them. I had not been interfered with by the evil for doing so. Many bookstore owners or persons were arrested or fined for making money from Dafa books. I realized what righteous thoughts and actions were: thinking and doing things in accordance with the Fa as taught by Teacher.
When clarifying the truth to people, we can do better if we always keep our compassion. We are cultivators and we are the ones who live our lives for the benefits of others. An enlightened being is responsible for the sentient beings in the universe, and our clarifying the truth is saving sentient beings. So, no matter what kind of people we are facing, whether they are officials or everyday people, we should save them all.
When we clarify the truth, it is better if we can start our topics from where their attachments are. I have consistently clarified truth to people who come to my store and this way has been effective.
Since July 20, 1999, my family and I have been clarifying the truth to people and more than a dozen friends and relatives have started cultivation.
March 23, 2005