(Minghui.org) Greetings, venerable Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am from the province of Catamarca in northern Argentina and I am 69 years old. I learned about Falun Dafa in 2003 when I was practicing something else. During a meeting at this other practice, a man gave me his phone number and said, “Call me, I have something to tell you!” At that moment I had a thought, “It must be time to make a change.” Deep in my being I felt that something important was about to happen.
That night I dreamed that I got off one train and onto another. There were hundreds of people, children, young people, adults and the elderly, but mostly many young people who rushed up and took me forward on the train. When I woke up, I decided to throw away all the statues, books and things from other cultivation ways. I hadn’t talked to the person who gave me his phone number yet, but internally I knew something important was coming.
The next day I called him and we met. He told me about Falun Dafa, and then we watched the Nine Day Lectures, did the exercises, and read Zhuan Falun. But I learned that man continued to practice other ways. He didn’t practice Falun Dafa, he just told people about it.
That night I had a vivid dream in which all kinds of saints of other practices, whom I used to revere, surrounded me. They were huge, bigger than a mountain and they came looking for me. I rejected them all so firmly that they shrank. They shrank to tiny dots and disappeared behind a mountain.
Giving up all those things helped me understand what Dafa is, because for a long time I had been practicing many deviant things in search of a righteous path. This is how I started practicing Falun Dafa.
At that time we didn’t have printed copies of Zhuan Falun, so we used photocopies. We also did not have access to an MP3 player for the exercise music. Since we didn’t have music, I wrote down the phrases from the beginning of each exercise on a piece of paper. I counted the movements to do them correctly. For the meditation I used my watch to calculate the time, although I couldn’t cross my legs properly.
Before I began practicing I had all kinds of illnesses. I had to take medication for the rest of my life due to intestinal ulcers. I could hardly walk because my spine was out of place. When I started doing the exercises and reading Zhuan Falun, everything changed.
One day I thought, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had my spine adjusted, and I haven’t needed any injections either.” Whenever I had symptoms of being ill, I understood I was eliminating karma. My illnesses gradually disappeared.
Because I couldn’t read well (due to lack of education), I read very slowly, sometimes letter by letter, then word by word. It took me a long time to finish Zhuan Falun. Even so, every time I had a question, when I opened the book I saw the answer. I eventually got an MP3 player and was able to listen to the lectures. This helped me a lot and advanced my understanding. By reading Zhuan Falun I learned how to read.
I had a house in Buenos Aires, but I moved to Catamarca to take care of my father. I stayed there for more than 10 years, until he passed away. Soon after I began practicing Falun Dafa, I contacted the practitioners in Buenos Aires. I traveled back and forth carrying materials for new practitioners in Catamarca. After my father passed away I decided to return to Buenos Aires because I realized that I could not advance diligently alone.
In the process I was able to see many attachments, to affection and to material things. I gradually let go of everything.
Throughout the process I have had many tests, but above all was the test of lust. Both in my dreams and in my daily life, I kept having this test for a long time. I had thoughts of being with another person, even though I was married. I always rejected the thought and now these tests hardly appear anymore. When they do, I immediately recognize them.
Several years ago I worked in a place where I started at 6 p.m. and I finished work at 2 or 3 a.m. the next morning. I had to wait for the bus for three hours. There wasn’t much shelter at bus stops and it’s very cold in the winter. I decided to buy a motorcycle.
I was still learning to drive it one morning when I was returning from work. I crossed an intersection and a bus was coming from the other side at high speed. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to stop but the brakes on the motorcycle didn’t work. I was not afraid. The only thought I had was to say: “Falun Dafa is good!”
I was about to collide with the bus, but it passed in front of me and I went behind it. Nothing happened to me. I knew that Master saved me and I thanked him. It took a long time before I realized what happened.
Almost ten years later, when I recall the moment I was about to crash, I experience it in slow motion, as if I’m watching it from another dimension. I felt like I was suspended in the air and the bus had time to pass in front of me. I understood at that moment that Master protected me because I have work to do.
A year after that incident, I was driving home in very strong wind and rain. The road was bumpy and I fell asleep. The motorcycle was knocked over and I flew a couple of meters. I landed on the sidewalk. I could feel and hear the crunching sound in my arm and knee as I landed. It felt like my bones were broken. It usually takes me a long time to stand up. But this time, it was like I had a spring, I immediately jumped up and said, “I practice Dafa! Falun Dafa is good! Zhen Shan Ren is good!”
Under my clothes, I felt the blood running down my arm and from my knee. I ignored it, walked over to the motorcycle and picked it up. I saw that it was off but the key was in the “on” position. I thought: How can it be off? To turn it off one must turn the key. It ran fine when I turned it on. I gathered up some things that had fallen, and got back on the bike. I didn’t stop to check myself or take off my rain suit. As I drove, I could feel the blood running down my leg and arm.
When I got home I took everything off. When I examined myself for injuries, there was only a scratch on my elbow and another little scratch on my knee, nothing more. The rain suit was not even torn!
Many times, temptations to move away from Dafa and quit cultivation have appeared, but I never gave in.
My family descended from native people in northern Argentina. My hometown is very small, everyone knows everyone else and the aboriginal community is very strong. There is a whole organization where there is a Cacique, who is supposed to lead and guide the community. But today that role is only used to obtain power and wealth.
For a long time the Cacique of our community looked for me and insisted that I should take his position, since, in reality, I was the legitimate heir. He told me that if I took the position I would receive great benefits from the government, money and land. But I always refused.
After I began practicing Falun Dafa, the Cacique looked for me again and insisted. Once again I refused. That night I had a dream where a huge bright image came from the sky towards me and wanted to take me with it. I refused to go and immediately the being, which was gigantic and radiated light, left.
I remembered what Master told us,
“You should also stay composed if you see higher beings from another school of practice, and stay true to the discipline you are in. Your practice will have a good chance of success if you can disregard any supposed Buddha, Daoist deity, divinity, or fiend that tries to tempt you.” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
A few days later when I met the Cacique again, I was with the community shaman. The shaman was furious with me. I realized that the being I saw in the dream was that shaman’s spirit. He was angry with me was because I refused to follow him and instead chose the path of Falun Dafa.
Since then, they have not come to look for me, or insist that I become the Cacique.
I don’t regret for a single second rejecting all those material benefits that were mine by birth. What I have gained through Dafa cultivation and our Master’s teachings is absolutely priceless.
I always try to participate in Dafa-validation projects or truth clarification activities, such as magazine distribution, The Epoch Times newspaper distribution, going to Chinatown or the Chinese embassy, etc. But many times I relaxed, stopped studying the Fa, thinking, “It’s okay, I’ll continue tomorrow.” or “Tomorrow I’ll finish reading.” I was slacking off, but didn’t realize it.
But thanks to the coordinator and the other practitioners, someone contacts me and asks, “Are you busy? Can you help with this activity or project?” I immediately wake up, and remember we’re here to validate Dafa and save people.
I’ve been very stubborn. I don’t have a good understanding of cultivation, because the karma I had did not allow me to understand. Because I read slowly, I used to fall asleep while reading. But I persevered, and always try to follow my understanding according to Dafa.
I remember that during a Shen Yun promotion, I was at home fixing the car. A practitioner phoned and asked me to help. I dropped everything because I knew it was more important. On another occasion they called me to see if I could cut the hair of some Shen Yun crew. I said yes right away, even though I had lost all my hair clippers and items a while back. I only had a poor quality hair clipper that was not professional. I went anyway and the result was positive.
That experience gave me another push to continue. I never thought of giving up Dafa, it never crossed my mind. But if you don’t read the Fa, you slowly drift away, relax, and inadvertently stop cultivating.
I am immensely grateful to Master and all the practitioners for providing me with such a good cultivation environment, for their constant concern for my cultivation state and for always keeping in mind how I, a 69-year-old man with no formal education, could help, with what I consider few skills, to validate the Fa.
The arrangements Master made in my life to obtain the Fa were perfect. I have no words to describe how grateful I am for his infinite benevolence.
Thank you Master for your salvation, thank you for allowing me to fulfill my vow. What Master has done for me is priceless. And I will continue like this, firm in Dafa until the end.
(Presented at the 2022 Argentina Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)