Understanding the Importance of Classical Music After Gaining Clarity About Cultivation

(Minghui.org)

Greetings Master!Greetings fellow practitioners!

I am a music student at the Northern Academy of the Arts. I would like to take this opportunity to share how I overcame a xinxing tribulation. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Understanding the Deeper Purpose of Music

I have enjoyed music since a young age. I felt that music relaxed my body and alleviated my stress. I also realized that modern music is getting worse. Despite the fact that modern music goes against traditional values, I still had the desire to listen to it.

I was living at a relative’s house in the summer of 2022, and I rode my bicycle to Northern Academy since the distance was not far from where I was living. I often hung out and played with my friends when I was supposed to attend the local group Fa study. I would play with my friends until very late before going home.

I was out very late one Wednesday night with my friends. I got on my bicycle and started to ride at a very fast speed. It was around 9 p.m. when I was on my way home. It was already quite dark outside and I was wearing dark clothes. I sped up while listening to rap music.

I reached an intersection and saw a truck. The truck stopped and I thought the truck driver had seen me and wanted me to pass through first. I sped up and crossed the intersection but the truck suddenly sped up. It was already too late to stop my bicycle, and it turned out that my brakes weren’t even working. There was a loud “bang.” The next thing I knew the truck and I had crashed.

I flew two meters high and landed on the ground. I was conscious the whole time and my first thought was to recite the nine special words “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” I did not feel any pain but I couldn’t get up no matter how hard I tried. A passerby called an ambulance.

I listened to Master’s Guangzhou city audio lectures while waiting the entire night for the doctors. The doctors’ diagnosis was that I had broken my collarbone and needed surgery right away. I decided not to proceed with the surgery and went home.

My family members were all practitioners. They were very calm after learning what had happened. They briefly shared their thoughts with me and I returned to my room. I looked at my viola, and tears started to fall uncontrollably.

Master Li (Dafa’s founder) had been constantly trying to enlighten me for the past three weeks, but I had disregarded what Master had revealed to me. My dream was to be a musician in Shen Yun Performing Arts, but I had regressed so much in cultivation. I was playing video games, watching anime, reading novels, listening to ordinary music, and chatting with people on social media. I did not practice my viola, and I didn’t study the Fa or practice the exercises.

Master had attempted to enlighten me many times, and yet I deliberately did things that a cultivator should not do.

My cellphone broke, but I did not realize that this had happened so I would stop using my cellphone, so I went ahead and bought a new cellphone. I continued listening to degenerate ordinary music, even though it made my head and ears uncomfortable. Though I practiced my viola every day, I’d always think about playing on my cell phone. The sound that my viola made was very scratchy, and it was hard for me to concentrate while practicing. It was not until the accident that I questioned myself: What happened to my original goal and dream of getting selected to be a musician in Shen Yun Performing Arts? What has happened to my cultivation?

I thought about a lot of things in the days after the accident. I knew that Master had been giving me opportunities to improve and eliminate my karma. I was not in pain when the accident happened. A nurse at the hospital had said, “You’ll need to take painkillers every day. Your injuries will hurt a lot.” Weeks after the accident, I often recited the nine special words when I felt pain and didn’t need to take painkillers.

I know that everything in this world happens for a reason. I found my attachments but it was hard for me to relinquish them. I would wake up every morning hoping for a miracle like, “Will my collarbone miraculously heal itself?” I wanted to practice the exercises but I couldn’t lift my left hand.

I suddenly remembered a section of Master’s lecture in Zhuan Falun.

Master said,

“I’ve been asked by people who had a sterilization procedure done or had something surgically removed whether they can still do this practice. I always assure them that that’s of no consequence, since your bodies in other dimensions didn’t undergo the procedure, and those bodies are what’s involved when we practice.“ (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)

I started to practice the exercises with one arm then slowly began to use my left arm. I was practicing the first standing exercises one day when I heard Master say “stretch.” I opened my eyes and saw that my left arm was almost straight. It was quite straight and it looked good! My left arm started to get better after that.

I play the viola and it requires using my left arm to hold the instrument. Because of the accident, I couldn’t practice my viola for six weeks. I felt very frustrated. I went to Shen Yun Zuo Pin and watched videos under the “Classical Music” section. I was moved by the videos. I enlightened and knew why there were different instruments and different forms of art. These were all given to humans by gods. Sometimes people would say a music piece, dance choreography, or artwork cannot be expressed with words. Humans have a connection with gods through melodious music, beautiful dance pieces, and traditional artwork.

I began to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the demons that were interfering with my viola practice, and I faced everything with the purest heart.

I felt that my viola was very light when I picked it up again. I attempted to practice my viola and could practice normally within two days!

I realized that gods will help you when you have the heart to accomplish a task. The improvements that I experienced were because I had the heart to do better.

Master said,

“This is because spiritual practice emphasizes emptiness and being free of intentions. You should want to do spiritual practice but not desire to gain things from doing it; you should want to do spiritual practice but not desire to gain higher energy from it.” (Lecture Given at the Conference in Sydney)

I enlightened that I should not be attached to the results and do everything wholeheartedly.

I gained a new understanding of music after I upgraded my cultivation. There were times when I was immersed in music and it was such a beautiful feeling. No words can describe how wonderful I felt.

Eliminating My Attachment To Lust and Desire

I did not wish to address my attachment to lust and desire initially. I used the excuse that I did not have time to write about it. In reality, I was afraid to talk about it and did not want to be laughed at. However, after reading a few cultivation experience articles and reading Master’s lectures, I enlightened about a few things and obtained new insights.

The ancients said, “It is improper for men and women to touch each other’s hands when passing an object.” This is proper moral etiquette for a male and a female. A male and a female should keep their distance and be restricted by various factors such as time and place. In fact, these are the standards set by gods between a man and a woman. If one deviates from these traditional values, it would be a problem of moral integrity and one could commit sinful crimes.

I had not been very cautious about relationships between males and females. I had attempted to correct myself but would relapse. My bad habits have already been rooted deep inside me. I often chatted with girls and tended to have close relationships with them. At times I would still make mistakes unknowingly. But many times, I would be able to detect these mistakes and maintain distance with girls. I hope my experience sharing can be a reminder to practitioners who have similar attachments to me.

Above is my current level of understanding. I still have many shortcomings. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!

(From the 2023 Northern Academy Experience Sharing Conference)