Overcome Hardships and Persist in Cultivation

(Clearwisdom.net)

Greetings, respected Master!

Greetings, fellow practitioners!

My name is Wong May and I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2002. One practitioner lent me a VCD introducing Falun Dafa, and I thought it was very good. I tried to buy Dafa books, but I could not find any. Therefore, the practitioner taught me the exercises first. I practiced once a week at the practice site and other times I practiced at home. I finally obtained Dafa at the age of 60.

Before I started the practice, I had many ailments. For about eight years, eight of my fingers were so swollen and painful that I could not even grow my nails or raise up or bring back my right hand. Both of my palms were numb and I could not bend my right leg. The doctor could not find the cause of my pain, even though I spent a lot of money trying to cure my illnesses. Now I am free of them. Thank you, Master!

The following are some of my cultivation experiences.

Seeing Master's Law Body

Not long after I obtained Dafa, a practitioner and I arrived early at practice site in the morning. As we were chatting, beside the other practitioner I suddenly saw a Buddha wearing a golden Buddha robe sitting in the full-lotus position with his hands in the Jieyin position. The Buddha moved away slowly and disappeared, reappeared at the same place, and then disappeared again, appearing and disappearing repeatedly like this three times. I was not surprised and just felt normal. Dafa in essence is a miracle. Later a practitioner gave me a photo of Master, and suddenly I recognized that the Buddha I had seen was actually Master.

Tribulations at the Initial Stage

A few months after I started to practice, my Fa-study slowed down because I was illiterate. Once when I was reading Lecture Three, I got afraid, but now I know it was actually thought karma interfering. I wasn't be able to read the Fa for two weeks. I discussed this with a practitioner and he asked me, "What are you afraid of?" I replied, "I don't know! I only know that Zhuan Falun had taught me to be a good person, so it must be right." He asked again, "What did you see?" I replied, "Nothing!" so he asked again, "What did you hear?" I thought back and said, "I introduced Dafa to my customers but some of them said that the Chinese Government had banned it! I don't know why and don't know how to explain it. I offered to lend them an introductory VCD but they didn't want to take it. I wondered why they didn't come and learn more about Dafa before they made such comments." The practitioner said, "Don't be afraid! Maybe this was a test from Master." I continued to study the Fa and haven't had any fear since.

After practicing Dafa, my body improved. One day my leg suddenly felt very painful. A month later I could only cross my leg. Later, my leg ached again and I could not cross my leg. I knew it was a test; everything was arranged by Master. In addition, in the past, I loved to sing. But after cultivation, I let go of it. My friend always asked me to sing but I'd rather study the Fa more at home. Dafa is precious and hard to obtain, and I must be diligent. I don't go singing anymore.

Studying the Fa and Hand-Copying Zhuan Falun

Practice site assistants reminded us to study the Fa more. At that time, I was a street vendor. I woke up at 4 a.m. and practiced the exercises. At 5 a.m. I started to do my business. I was busy until 2 to 3 p.m., and after that I studied Zhuan Falun. I was tired, but I still persisted, and I read as much as I could. I was illiterate, so I always asked my daughter questions but often forgot the answers later. In the beginning, I didn't know how to use a dictionary and asked my daughter to teach me. Sometimes it took me a half an hour to find what a word meant and sometimes I could not even find it. I used a memo book to write down the words I didn't know. When I read and came across the words I didn't know, I referred to the memo book, so I only managed to read a line or two line a day. I finally finished reading Zhuan Falun this way after a year.

The second time, it only took me a few months to finish. Now I can read almost all the words in Zhuan Falun.

This year, I started to hand copy Zhuan Falun in traditional Chinese. When I come across words that I don't know how to write, I use a magnifying glass to enlarge the words so that I can see the strokes clearly. I first practice writing the character on draft paper and only after that do I write it down. I hand copy like this for a few hours everyday. At beginning, I wrote two lines or a small paragraph per day. My speed has increased, and at the moment I am at Lecture Five.

Through hand copying Zhuan Falun, my understanding of the Fa has become much deeper and I understand it more easily. I always measure myself against the Fa when I do anything and my human thoughts have been reduced.

Assisting at the Practice Site.

This April, my leg suddenly ached again. It was very painful and I could not even walk. My family asked me to visit a doctor but I refused. After two days, they asked me again but I refused again. However, my heart was unsure. I thought about it for a while and finally I surrendered my life to Master and let Master decide. The next day was my son's wedding day. My leg hurt, but I could walk slowly and entertain the guests. I took half an hour to walk to the practice site when it normally took me only 10 minutes. I shared this with a practitioner and she asked, "Did you make a condition with Master but didn't do it?" I remembered that I felt that our practice site was good, although sometimes practitioners were there and sometimes not. Sometimes new people came to learn when there weren't any practitioners there. If I came out to assist, then there would always be someone to help out at practice site. So I told Master that I would help to assist them once the loan on my second house was settled. Six months ago, I settled my house loan and rented it out. However, I didn't come out to assist. I thought calmly that all my children had grown up and I had a rental income, so I could help out now. I gave up my business and finally began to help out.

Clarifying the Truth at the Batu Caves.

Half a year ago, other practitioners and I went to the Batu Caves to distribute truth clarification flyers. Every time before I went, I would study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. Hence, I was full of righteous thoughts and was peaceful, and I started to send forth righteous thoughts from the moment I left my house. Some tourists from China are eager to know the truth. Some said, "You are doing a good job!" Some were poisoned so deeply that they refused to read or listen and even said, "I have a job, I have a house, and I can go abroad on holiday. That's enough, I don't care for other things!" Some misunderstood Dafa and scolded us. Good or bad, I don't take it to heart, and I do what I should do.

Coordinating with Practitioners to Send Forth Righteous Thoughts at the Chinese Embassy

The first time I was going to go to the Chinese Embassy, I read one lecture at home before I left. I felt so normal and without any human thoughts. While sending forth righteous thoughts, my whole body was warm and extremely comfortable. My heart was calm and I sent forth righteous thoughts three times, for a total of 45 minutes.

Later, police came to check my ID and took a photo of me. I wasn't moved and sent forth righteous thoughts towards him. Before he left, he even said goodbye to me.

I studied the Fa after returning home. My understanding of the Fa suddenly became much deeper and not so shallow like before.

Assisting a Practitioner to Learn Chinese

A year later, I introduced my friend to Dafa. Everyday we studied the Fa together for two hours. She use simplified Chinese and I only know traditional Chinese. When she didn't know a word, I would compare it with my book and tell her how to read it. Now she knows how to read Zhuan Falun. I follow Zhen-Shan-Ren strictly and do the three things well, and I know what it means by "Accomplishing is cultivating" from "Solid Cultivation" in Hong Yin.

Lastly, I want to finish my sharing by quoting Master's words:

"For every one of you who makes up his mind to cultivate, you will be able to endure things, and when your personal welfare is on the line, you will be able to let go of your attachments, and you will be able to take those things lightly. As long as you can do that it's not hard, in fact. Now those people who say it's hard, it turns out, they just can't let go of those things. Doing the exercises isn't hard in its own right, and there's nothing hard about raising your level in and of itself. They only say it's hard because they can't let go of their human thoughts.."

"'It's hard to endure, but you can endure it. It's hard to do, but you can do it." And that's really how it is. When you go back you might want to give it a try. When you're going through an awful tribulation, or maybe a critical juncture, give it a try. When it's hard to endure, try to endure it. When it seems impossible to do, or just hard to do, give it a try and see just what you can do. And when you can really do it, just like that worn and weary traveler, you'll see, 'the shade of willows, the blooms of flowers, a place to rest my head!'" ("People with Great Inborn Quality" in Zhuan Falun)

Above are my personal understandings. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Heshi.