(Minghui.org)
Greetings to revered Master! Greetings to fellow practitioners!
I grew up in southern Taiwan. I look soft, but I am strong-willed. My complicated family background led to my confusion and rebellious behavior for a period of time in my life. I had to work from junior high school through college. Since graduation from college, I have worked in Taipei. I recently met a woman who worked at a small eatery. She became very important in my life. Merciful Master arranged for her to introduce me to Dafa. In the first few months of my cultivation, I already felt the great compassion of Master, who cared for me like a father. Master also changed me. I cannot find the words to express my gratitude.
Quitting My Addiction to Smoking
On April 5, 2012, I went with her to watch Master's lectures at a nine-day Falun Gong lecture seminar. I was deeply touched and my eyes filled with tears when I saw Master on the TV screen teaching the Fa in Guangzhou, China. I could not explain why. I controlled myself and held back the tears. The first day I attended was Lecture Five. I felt a twinge in my chest during Lecture Seven. It felt like a 5mm needle had been poked into my chest and come out my back. I had never experienced anything like it before. It was horrible, intolerable. The pain soon stopped, but a burst of chest tightness followed.
When I attended another nine-day Falun Gong lecture seminar, the tightness in my chest recurred at the end of Lecture Six. I went to her eatery at the end of the day and took out a new pack of cigarettes from my bag, completely forgetting the chest tightness and the principles in Zhuan Falun:
“Aren’t we practitioners trying to purify our bodies? We want to keep purifying our bodies, and keep moving up to higher levels. So what are you putting that in your body for? Isn’t that the opposite of what we’re trying to do? Besides, it’s another strong desire.”
I smoked one cigarette outside the shop and chatted with her a little before I left for home. I needed to smoke again after I got home, but I couldn't find my cigarettes. I decided to endure the craving despite the discomfort until the next day.
I had a dream before I woke up to do the exercises at 5:30 the next morning. I dreamed that a construction site foreman lit a cigarette for me, and I happily accepted. But I suddenly remembered after one puff that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner. As mentioned in Zhuan Falun, a cultivator has to quit smoking and drinking. Immediately, I threw the cigarette on the ground, frightened. When I looked up, I saw the foreman grow taller and he looked so familiar. I was frightened to see that it was Master. I became tearful and repeatedly said to Master in my heart that I did wrong. Master touched my head with his hand and smiled like a father does to a son. I understood what Master meant. I burst into tears and woke up. It was exactly 5:30 a.m.
From that moment on, I knew that Master was taking care of me and I could no longer behave like a wayward child. I have to study the Fa diligently because assimilation to the Fa can only be reached after immersion in the Fa. This made me determined to quit my smoking addiction of 18 years.
Eliminating the Attachment of Lust
After this incident, I attended the nine-day Falun Gong lectures every month to listen to Master teach the Fa and learn the exercises. I had different feelings and was enlightened differently at each one.
One morning two months after I had become a Dafa practitioner, I dreamed that I lived in an apartment where more than half of the space was a raised wooden floor with a big bed. On the left side of the bed was a window without a curtain. In the bed lay a beautiful woman in transparent silk clothes. She gestured to me seductively and and seductive things. I quickly said, “What you say is nonsense. There is no curtain on the window. How can you wear such clothes? Even though you are not embarrassed, I cannot look.” Suddenly, there was a thud on the ceiling and a stream of water gushed from a hole in the ceiling and splashed all over her. I immediately thought, “I have omissions” and realized that I had big problems.
Master said,
“As soon as you’re excited you might discharge and it’ll become a reality. Now think about it, in our practice the qi of blood and essence is used to cultivate longevity—you can’t just discharge like that all the time.” (Zhuan Falun)
Instantly, I said to her in anger, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. Don't try to seduce me and interfere in my cultivation.” At that instant, the bed, the woman, the hole in the ceiling, and the stream of water disappeared momentarily. Instead, I saw two rows of cultivators in exercise clothes with white tops and blue pants sitting quitly. Each row had nine people, but the first space in the front row was empty. I stood aside quietly and then Master appeared in front of the first row. He looked at me and said: “Good. Go ahead and sit right here and meditate.” I then woke up from the dream and wondered why I had stumbled and why I had omissions.
I immediately read Zhuan Falun. I realized that I had to seriously look inwards. There must be some attachments deeply hidden in my memory, or lack of firm righteous thoughts, or some causes leading to my failure to obtain the Fa. I also understood the crucial fact that I was not immersed in the Fa even though I had been read Zhuan Falun over and over in the past several days.
Master said,
“What I just said was to tell you that you absolutely must not slack off in your cultivation, you absolutely must not slack off in your Fa-study, and that you definitely must do it with all due sincerity. If previously you didn’t study well, you definitely should, once you leave here today and having heard Master address this again, really earnestly study and cultivate, and not let your mind wander.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa - Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference”)
After I studied this teaching, I understood that my mind wavered and I didn't take myself as a real cultivator. My xinxing has to comply with the principles of Dafa before I can cultivate well and do well the three things required by Master.
Saving Sentient Beings
Three months after becoming a Dafa practitioner, I started to do the three things. For the first time, I went with fellow practitioners to clarify the truth and demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises at tourist sites. I was full of both joy and fear. I was worried that I might not be able to take on such important responsibilities. But I overcame my attachment of fear with the support and encouragement of fellow practitioners.
Master taught us:
“Fear can cause one to make mistakes, and fear can cause one to lose a predestined opportunity. Fear is a death trap on a human being's journey toward divinity.” (“Pass the Deadly Test” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Encouraged by this teaching, I could not help but live up to Master's expectations. Since Master has endured most of the karma we accrued in history, I would disappoint Master and the sentient beings who had entrusted their hope in me if I could not eliminate this attachment.
I was planning to be at one tourist attraction after I went in the office to provide a design sketch to my customer. It was raining hard and the wind was really blowing. A very bad notion came to my mind: “Who would go to the site in this weather?” But instantly, I felt my thought was not right. I shouldn't have that kind of human notion. If everyone had the same wrong thought as I did, then there would be nobody to carry out this mission of clarifying the truth. Dafa disciples are one entity and no one should fall behind. Every practitioner needs to be as energetic and diligent as if we had just obtained the Fa, so that the whole entity will be powerful.
I immediately got on my motorcycle and rode to the tourist site. When I walked up the steps to the site, I heard the exercise music filling the air. I felt very happy that some people had already arrived. It was a little bit disappointing when I only saw two practitioners explaining the facts to people and one elderly practitioner. They stood by a truth clarification poster under a big umbrella. Seeing that they had come on time to set up the poster on this rainy day, I could easily see my gap and felt that I was really far behind. I thought that I would still carry out my mission to save sentient beings even if I were the only practitioner demonstrating the exercises. I did not want to be like the one Master mentioned:
“Many Dafa disciples speak about 'helping Master rectify the Fa,' or 'whatever Master wants, that’s what we will do.' And it is said with conviction. But as soon as Master actually has you go and do something that doesn’t agree with your thinking, or when things are a bit challenging, you completely lose track of that righteous thought about helping Master.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa- Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference”)
Even though I am a new practitioner, I have to fulfill my promises. I will do what I say regardless of whether or not I had a prehistoric vow with Master or made a promise to fellow practitioners. If I don't, I would be going against the principles of Dafa. I would also have a problem with my xinxing.
No matter how hard it rains, I have to show a Dafa practitioners' dignity. I sent forth righteous thoughts, did the first exercise, and sent righteous thoughts again. I then completed the remaining exercises in sequential order. When I did Exercise 5, the meditation, it rained harder and louder, and the wind grew stronger. It hurt when the raindrops carried by the wind hit me. I heard pictures being taken on the square. The number of Chinese tourists increased unexpectedly, making me feel fearful. My attachment of fear arose again. Suddenly, my stomach started to hurt, and I couldn't talk. My legs were so numb that I couldn't lift them. I had tears in my eyes, knowing that my thought was not righteous and the evil was taking advantage of my loopholes. I quickly sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate my fear. Although I am only a small particle among practitioners, I should make this particle as bright as possible. I should change the field and cleanse the evil with other practitioners.
After sending righteous thoughts, my stomach pain vanished and the rain stopped. The whole field became so quiet that I couldn't hear anything except my own heartbeat. I then heard several people talking. One of them said, “Look, that Falun Gong person is an Ah-Q [meaning silly]. I bet he'll move when the rain gets worse.” Another person continued, “If he stays put and gets soaked, we all will quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.” Master also mentioned the term “Ah-Q” as a good word in Zhuan Falun. To me, Ah-Q means tenacity. It reflects the character of Dafa disciples. When the exercise music ended, I opened my eyes and saw nobody in the square except one elderly female practitioner. Seeing the water level rising, I asked her, “Would you like to move to a higher spot so you won't get wet.” She replied, “Dafa disciples are not afraid of any hardship. We are qualified as Dafa disciples only when we do what we promised.”
My eyes were wet. I couldn't tell if it was because of the rain or my tears. I was so moved and felt so upright and clear. She told me that it was time to send righteous thoughts. We sat down and sent righteous thoughts together. A few minutes later, a child threw a stone in the puddle of water near me and said to her mother, “Mom, look at all the different colored flowers around the young man and the old woman. They are so beautiful!” Her mother said, “Don't throw things! Don't talk nonsense!” Ten minutes after sending forth righteous thoughts, I made a big Lotus Flower Hand sign and extended the strength to cleanse the evil in different dimensions and the cosmos. Then we cleaned up the site to move to another location for our Fa study and experience sharing. As we were leaving, a practitioner came to tell us, “Everyone has worked very hard today. We have helped 36 Chinese tourists renounce the CCP.” I thanked Master in my heart. Master is always around to protect every Dafa practitioner and leads each of us to the right cultivation path. It is Master who saves sentient beings. We should have righteous minds and help Master rectify the Fa. Numbers are not that important. What matters is our righteous thoughts and actions in eliminating the evil and saving those deceived sentient beings. The most important thing is to save those sentient beings.
Please kindly point out anything that is inappropriate due to my level. Thank you!
Heshi.
