Western Practitioner: What Falun Dafa Day Means to Me

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a western practitioner of Falun Dafa from Australia. I'm 21 years old this year and I've been practicing Falun Dafa since March 2005. I am currently in Taiwan studying the Chinese language. Although this year, May 13, 2010, World Falun Dafa Day, is on a Thursday, practitioners here all believe it is a special day that should be celebrated and thus practitioners jointly organized to celebrate it on a Sunday.

Why did I participate? I participated for a few reasons. One is that I, a practitioner of Falun Dafa, have benefited so much from Falun Dafa that I would like to validate Falun Dafa as a great practice that can uplift the spiritual side of people, particularly with regard to morality. Falun Dafa teaches practitioners to cultivate themselves according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I also hope the world's people can all have a positive view of Falun Dafa. Another reason is that May 13 is the birthday of Falun Dafa's founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi. I have great respect for Master Li, so I would like to participate in the activities on Falun Dafa Day as a way of celebrating Master Li's birthday.

Since 2005 I have been trying to cultivate myself according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In the process I have really felt how great it is to improve myself spiritually. To rid myself of various attachments and strong desires, moving away from selfishness and attaining a state of calmness really makes me happy from the bottom of my heart. Other people talk about how doing something makes them happy; having this or that makes them happy and so on. Actually, if a person gets rid of their attachments and desires to the things in this world and learns to take things more lightly (such as material gain, emotions and interpersonal conflicts), following the course of nature, then the happiness that comes as a result of that comes from within, and it is an everlasting, true happiness.

It is easy to say Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, but it is not always easy to put it into action, particularly forbearance, or tolerance. But I have truly found that when I have refrained from talking back and arguing after a person has spoken badly to me, I have truly carried out tolerance. And at a higher level, when even in my own mind I'm calm, I can treat the matter very lightly with forbearance, and treat the other person with compassion, not holding any bad thoughts towards that person. Then, I feel I have done well.

If I find that I have some thoughts that the other person is too annoying and my mind feels somewhat moved, then I look within myself to find why I'm moved by what that person said. When I find out what it is, maybe it's a lack of forbearance, or an unwillingness to listen to criticism, and then I work on being more tolerant and open minded, and thus I attain an even higher level of peacefulness.

This is just to testify to the positive improvements I've experienced after having learned Falun Dafa. That is why I participate in the Falun Dafa Day activities with enthusiasm and joy.

Falun Dafa is great! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are great principles!