(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1999, three months after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution. As I did not understand much about Falun Dafa, I stopped practicing. It was not until 2005 that, encouraged by a fellow practitioner, I stepped again into Falun Dafa.
I have poor enlightenment. I only did the exercises, but did not feel like reading the teachings – the Fa, as I did not think that it was that important. As a result I did not do the three things well. Besides, I did not know how to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution. I didn’t pay attention to sending righteous thoughts, and I could not calm my mind when I did the exercises. In terms of cultivation I remained at the level of being a good person.
I suffered from sickness karma for a long time. In July 2014, I decided to memorize the Fa and I was determined to memorize a page a day. I had to read each small paragraph dozens of times in order to memorize it, and then I had to memorize it a few more times to learn it well. Finally, I was able to memorize several paragraphs together. Those days, my mind was almost all about the Fa—reading and memorizing the Fa. In this way, I started to correct my words and actions according to the Fa. I was finally able to use the teachings as my guide to cultivate my mind and I eliminated any thoughts which were not in line with the Fa.
In the process, my health was restored and I found that I had fewer distracting thoughts. My attachments like showing-off, competitiveness, and jealousy had slowly weakened. My xinxing improved. My mind was calm when I did the exercises.
I realized that I had not cultivated myself at all—in fact I did not know how to eliminate attachments and cultivate myself, let alone think about what I would achieve by cultivating. After I began memorizing the teachings I realized that I was really cultivating.
The first time I finished memorizing Zhuan Falun, I broke free from the bonds of atheism, and I understood what cultivation is about. Master opened our celestial eyes. He gave us a Falun and many other precious mechanisms so we could evolve the bodies of Buddhas or gods. He gave us the teachings, so we have a guide to replace a human mind with a god’s. Master did all this for us. All we have to do is to follow the requirements of the Fa and give up our human attachments. When we do this we are walking on the path to godhood.
In the past I thought Buddhas, Taos, and Gods were far away from me, but now cultivation suddenly became very real! I was anxious—why didn’t I pay attention to learning the teachings before? I need to memorize it quickly, I need to memorize it again seriously. I also began reading Master’s other teachings and my understanding became even clearer.
When I realized what Master has given us and how he has been protecting us on our cultivation path, tears came to my eyes. I focused on strengthening my righteous thoughts. Master has done so much for us. I began telling people how wonderful Falun Dafa is and how Dafa has been wronged. My positive thoughts keep getting stronger and stronger, and I no longer say that I don’t know how to clarify the truth.
I want to improve, I must improve, and I can no longer waste my precious cultivation time. Now, I get up every morning at 4:30 a.m. to practice the exercises. After I send righteous thoughts at 6:00 a.m., I read and memorize the teachings.
Now I’ve memorized Zhuan Falun for the fourth time, and I’m not behind in clarifying the truth. I use my own wisdom to talk to people, and I insist on sending righteous thoughts at the four set times every day. I know I’m not doing enough--I’m running to catch up on my path of cultivation.
Master often encourages me in my dreams and I am very grateful.
One day, I was talking with another practitioner about how to write about my experience, and we both said we couldn’t write well. That night, I had a dream in which I was reading a book. I couldn’t see the last line. It seemed that the corner of the book was folded. I smoothed it out with my hand and then I read the line, “Who is pushing history forward, is it not you?” I knew that this was compassionate Master encouraging me. The best shortcut to cultivation is to listen to Master’s words and internalize the Fa.
Editor’s Note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)