(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I’m a veteran practitioner who obtained the Fa in September 1996. During my 18 years of cultivation, I have felt Master’s compassionate care at all times and in any location.
Dafa miracles cleansed my body, confirming that Dafa is boundless. This encourages me to walk steadfastly on the path of cultivation. Even under enormous pressure, I have never hesitated or been moved.
My significant positive changes due to practicing Dafa helped me win the support of my husband and protection of leaders of my work unit.
Also, because I paid attention to Fa-study and xinxing cultivation, I could walk a relatively smooth path on the way of cultivation. Next, I’ll report some of my cultivation experiences to Master, and share with fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Master has repeatedly taught us to study the Fa more:
“Why did I always used to tell you so emphatically to study the Fa, study the Fa, and study the Fa well? Because it's of utmost importance.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference”)
Hence, I have always paid attention to Fa study. Prior to 2003, I used to study five to six lectures each day. In 2004, because of being busy with housework, I studied less, and later it occurred to me that I wasn’t studying the Fa with my heart, and my brain was full of irrelevant, ephemeral matters. My mind wasn’t taking in what I was reading.
In order to solve this problem of not studying the Fa with a clear mind, I started to memorize the Fa. Because I memorized very slowly, and quickly forgot what I memorized, I stopped after memorizing Zhuan Falun’ four times. I found out that transcribing the Fa is also helpful for studying the Fa with our hearts, so I persisted in transcribing the Fa as I read the Fa. I am now transcribing Zhuan Falun for the sixth time.
During my cultivation process, I have gained a deep understanding of Master’s Fa-teaching:
“When one is attached to nothing
The path underfoot is naturally smooth”
(“Unimpeded” Hong Yin Vol. II)
I realize that as long as I don’t have attachments, everything will work out smoothly and even miracles happen. There would always be a green light when I was about to cross the street; if I was on the phone platform the connection rate for the rescue lines was always high and the numbers quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were always high as well.
Whenever there were troubles, and things did not go so smoothly, it meant there must be one or more attachments creating a blockage. Those attachments should be eliminated through cultivation.
I identified a lot of attachments through Master’s hints. Here are some examples.
Once when I was on my way to a tourist site to clarify the facts, my leg banged against a steel bench at the side of the road. I thought that I was walking in the middle of the road, how could I hit the bench?
Suddenly, Master’s words: “You will be made to stumble, whereby you will become enlightened to the Tao.” (Zhuan Falun) came into my mind. It was to help me to find attachments. I quickly recalled what I had just been thinking.
Because I didn’t like hot weather, a human notion came to me: “I'm wearing too many clothes, but the clothes inside my coat don’t look good so I can’t take off the coat even though it is hot.” Will gods be worried about heat and cold or worried about their appearance? So I must eliminate this human notion.
In winter, I did exercises outside the Chinese consulate. When the temperature dropped I worried about my hands becoming cold while doing the standing meditation.
Then Master’s teaching came to mind:
“You're cold, and you try to make me cold--are you trying to make me freeze? I'll be even colder than you, I'll make you cold.”
“You're trying to make me hot. I'll turn it around and make you hot--so hot that you can't stand it.” (“Explaining the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)
So I talked with the cold just like Master did and then I didn’t feel cold anymore. Sometimes when I was doing exercises in front of the consulate or cooking food in my backyard at home, mosquitoes often came.
Before, I would kill them once I saw them but then I remembered Master’s Fa-teaching:
“Now they want to cultivate today and not even allow mosquitoes to bite them? You want to just leave here as if nothing happened? How could that work?” (“Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference”)
Then I spoke in my heart to the mosquito. “Mr. Mosquito, you may bite me if I owe you! However my blood is of high energy and it’s not good for you if you suck my blood.” Then the mosquitoes flew in a circle and left.
Once our printer stopped working while we were printing everyday people’s stuff for my husband and we couldn’t use it for a long time. One day I read an article on the web that was the perfect material for me to use to clarify the facts. I badly wanted to print it. I recalled that Master once talked about how all things have spirits:
“In this universe all things, and this includes even all the matter that permeates the whole universe, they’re all living entities, they all have thinking, and they’re all forms that the Law of the universe exists in at different levels.” (Zhuan Falun)
Then I talked to the printer, asking him to help me, and it started to work. It has been working normally ever since.
I used to fear talking with strangers. But I enlightened to the fact that it was my responsibility to save sentient beings, so I participated in the truth clarification project at the Chinese Consulate, tourist sites and Quit-the-CCP center.
Especially after the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published, we needed to persuade people to quit the CCP and its affiliates. When I met someone, just before I started to talk, a very negative thought came to me: “He probably thinks that we are getting political.”
Because I wasn’t confident, I couldn’t clarify the facts well. I realized that this was evil interference. I had been influenced by the evil CCP’s party culture since primary school; thus my mind was full of the evil party culture. I saw the need to clear the evil party culture from my mind, so I arranged time to read the Nine Commentaries and The Disintegration of the Party Culture again.
After a period of time, the interference was cleared. However, when I met someone who didn’t listen, or who cursed me, I couldn’t stay calm, particularly when I encountered someone who opposed me strongly. Although I didn’t argue with him or her, I felt rather uneasy.
I realized that this was actually a manifestation of my attachment to competition. At this time, international practitioners established the platform to call China and my son helped me to buy a laptop so I could participate.
With the help of fellow practitioners I joined the platform. Because I saw that practitioners in China were brutally persecuted; every time I read about the persecution cases, tears came to my eyes and I had the impulse to speak to the persecutors; so I chose to join the rescue program to call perpetrators to awaken their conscience.
At the beginning I was just listening. I was very touched by practitioners’ telephone truth clarification and open-hearted sharing. I found this to be a very good cultivation environment.
The more I listened, the more I was inspired. Once, I listened to a Taiwanese practitioner speaking to a police officer with benevolence and dignity. Eventually the once aggressive and abusive policeman shouted repeatedly “I want to quit [the CCP].” I then decided to be like the Taiwanese practitioner, to rescue fellow practitioners and those policemen who didn’t know the truth, by making telephone calls.
I trembled while making my first telephone call. I didn’t know how to deal with the people who verbally abused me. I was upset when they didn’t answer the calls. I didn’t do well in making telephone calls.
In order to do well and overcome fear, I often encouraged myself by saying: “I am a Dafa disciple, I’m God’s messenger. I’m saving you - what is there to fear?”
Gradually, I was able to do better and better. Now I’m able to convince those who abused me to listen and remember what I said. I have removed a big part of my attachments to fear and competition. Besides making phone calls to rescue imprisoned practitioners, I also make phone calls to help people quit the CCP.
Sometimes my sentimentality could still be aroused by the result. I was happy if more people quit and felt uncomfortable if less people quit. This is a human attachment I still need to eliminate.
Master said:
“Those who are attached to their reputations practice an evil way, full of intention.” (“Cultivators’ Avoidances,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
“Fame, gain, emotion—cultivate each away, And ascend to the Firmament at Consummation,” (“Success at Consummation,” Hong Yin)
Master lists fame before other attachments. It’s obvious how important is letting go of the attachment of fame. For a long time, I thought my attachments to fame and profit were very light. I didn’t expect to stand out when I was a everyday person - even less after beginning cultivation. I often felt I was lucky.
Master said:
“I don’t emphasize any specific approach; I use various means to expose your deeply-concealed attachments and get rid of them.” (“Digging Out the Roots,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Quite by accident, I found I still have a strong attachment to fame.
Once, the Divine Land Marching Band had group training. The conductor asked me to play “Thank you, Master” alone. I didn’t play it the right way because it was difficult to play the high pitch and I couldn’t play the notes when I was nervous. I felt embarrassed and upset.
I couldn’t control my emotions and cried on my way home. From this, I realized that I had a strong attachment to fame. I thought to myself: “To rectify the Fa well, if you don’t play well, simply practice hard, but why are you so upset? Isn’t this a strong attachment to fame?”
I was shocked. I had such a strong attachment to fame. I thought: “I must eliminate it.”
After a while, another incident again exposed my strong attachment to fame, that had not been removed. Here is the story. To win more votes, my local Member of Parliament (MP) sent me and other voters an invitation to tea. I realized this was a good opportunity to clarify the facts.
I don’t speak English so I had to ask a practitioner who can speak English to come with me. But I lived in a remote suburb and there wasn’t a practitioner who can speak English living nearby. I asked my local coordinator to arrange a western practitioner to go with me. Because I feared that my daughter might laugh at me, I didn’t ask my daughter to look at the invitation.
I mistook the return address for the address where the event was being held. I also had a strong attachment of relying on others - simply leaving things like communicating to the western practitioner to the coordinator. In the end, we went to the wrong address.
I made a fool of myself, and missed an opportunity. It was a simple task, but I messed it up. We travelled a long way to the MP’s office, but the event was actually held near where I live.
I settled down and looked within, finding the cause of this mistake. It was still the attachment to fame, and lot of other attachments such as relying on others and validating myself, etc. I know that once my heart is on the Fa, everything should go smoothly. This has been proven many times. I warned myself that I really must eliminate this attachment to fame.
Something happened during Shen Yun promotion in 2013 that awakened me to the fact that Master had given me hints to eliminate the attachment of relying others a long time ago. I went with fellow practitioners to Canberra to do a letter box drop of the Shen Yun special edition. I was asked to partner the practitioner that I liked the most because with her, I didn't have to worry about anything; she always took care of everything. I didn’t even bother to take my mobile phone.
The other practitioner and I walked down opposite sides of the street putting the special edition into the letter boxes. The road ended and there was just grassland. Then I realized I could no longer see my fellow practitioner.
However, I didn’t panic. I started to check whether I had some attachments that were not in line with the Fa. I was doing the most sacred thing, how could this happen? It must be the interference of the old forces. At the same time, I thought: Master will help me get home.
So I sat down and sent forth righteous thoughts. At the same time as eliminating the interference, I asked Master to help me.
In the end, my fellow practitioner found me. I only had one enlightenment; namely, that Master has evolved a way for us, and through it to test to what extent we believe in Master and believe in the Fa.
When I made the mistake regarding the meeting with the MP, the attachment that caused it was the same as the attachment that caused me to get lost in Canberra. It was because I had a strong attachment to relying on others.
Our benevolent Master wanted me to become enlightened, wanted me to find out my attachments, and purposely arranged these situations for me. When I enlightened to this, tears welled up in my eyes, and my heart was filled with gratitude. Thank you Master for your care and thoughtfulness. Thank you Master for your merciful salvation.
Now, my attachment to fame has become much lighter, but still hasn’t been completely cleared. The attachment of relying on others also manifests from time to time. Checking myself, I find that I still have a lot of human notions. These are the blockages to prevent me from ascending.
In order to eliminate them, we need to continuously work hard. However, Master, please rest assured, I will follow Master’s teachings, study the Fa attentively, cherish every single test and tribulation that Master arranges for me and never miss any opportunity to elevate myself. In every project for clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings, I will cultivate diligently and eliminate all attachments; assist Master to rectify the Fa and follow Master back home.
Let us encourage each other with two paragraphs of Master’s teachings:
“Only after you've let go of all your human attachments can you step out from the throngs of everyday people.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students”)
“You walk this path of Fa-rectification well, you manage to overcome your limitations in cultivation, you let go of your attachments, you save all beings with righteous thoughts in your mind, and you handle everything you face with righteous thoughts--that is mighty virtue.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference”)
Thank you, Master! Thank you, all fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2014 Australia Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)