(Minghui.org) The 2024 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference was held at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel on July 21, 2024. Over 1200 practitioners from major cities throughout Canada attended the conference. Translation in five languages – Chinese, English, French, Vietnamese, and Persian (Farsi) was provided. In addition, there was live broadcast online for several cities in West Canada with Chinese, English, and Vietnamese translations. Practitioners said they cherished the opportunity to practice cultivation and hope to improve together, and assist Master in saving more sentient beings through listening to other practitioners’ cultivation experiences.
Twenty-one practitioners, Chinese and Western spoke of how they followed the requirements of Dafa and eliminated their attachments; how their faith in Master and the Fa helped them fulfill their responsibility to save people.
The 2024 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference was held in Toronto on July 21, 2024.
Mr. Tian from Calgary began to practice in 1997. He said he constantly felt immersed in Master’s infinite grace during these 27 years of cultivation. He spoke of how he began to practice Falun Dafa; the brutal persecution he went through in China; how he continued to participate in saving people and raising awareness about the persecution after moving overseas.
He recalled: “In the summer of 1997, when I watched Master’s lecture, I fell asleep in 5 minutes despite suffering from long term insomnia. Yet, I heard every word Master said! I woke up as soon as the lecture ended! Within a few days, my heart problem, migraine, and insomnia went away!
Several months later, while driving a tractor to deliver grain to the depot, he and his tractor fell under a bridge connected to a steep slope on the mountain road. The bridge was about 5 stories above the road. “Every one, or two years, someone would crash in this area, whether driving or riding a motorcycle or bicycle. None of them survived. When I was lifted out of the deep trench I was taken to the county hospital. After being examined, I was found to be fine!
On April 25, 2005, he was arrested and his house was ransacked because he installed NTD satellites. Many satellite dishes, antenna, and Dafa books were confiscated. Even his curtain and bedding shop was seized. Detained in the labor camp, “I truly felt evil in that human hell! The other practitioners and I were shocked with electric batons, beaten, force-fed and cruelly tortured to force us to give up our belief.”
I and an 80-year old practitioner were transferred to another area. Every day, we worked together to get prisoners to quit the CCP, including several prison guards and captains.
With Master’s protection and the rescue efforts of many practitioners, I was unconditionally released when I was finally able to face life and death calmly.
After moving to Calgary in 2022, he participated in projects to raise awareness of the persecution. During his involvement in promoting Shen Yun, he realized: “It is Master who is saving people, however, it is my great fortune and honor to bring news of Shen Yun to sentient beings who have a predestined relationship with me just like handing out fliers on the Nine Commentaries in China!”
Ms. Cong from Montreal is a new practitioner. She spoke of her experiences in working to rescue her mother who is detained in China.
Her 78-year old mother, a practitioner, was arrested on October 16, 2022 and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. “My emotions and unsteady cultivation became a life and death test. With Master’s care and practitioners’ selfless help, I went from not knowing what to do in the beginning to finally gaining understandings based on the Fa.”
She began to call police officers in China. “It was my first time. I was so nervous I was covered in sweat. I dialed the mobile phone of the head of a 610 Office and he answered the call. I told him I was the daughter of so-and-so, who was arrested. He called out my name and said he received many phone calls in the past few days from overseas, but did not answer them. He took my call today. I told him the benefits my mother experienced after practicing Dafa. My voice was shaking, my mind went blank, and I did not know what else to say.
“Another practitioner quickly took over and began to explain the facts about Dafa. He listened for more than 20 minutes.”
Later on, while collecting signatures for a petition, “From telling people about my mother’s arrest to the over two decades long persecution suffered by millions of practitioners and how wonderful Dafa is, my mind became clearer: I was no longer attached to how many signatures I collected. Instead, I was focused on using my personal experience of my mother’s arrest to tell more people about the persecution.”
Ms. Wang from Vancouver is a beautician who owns a skincare clinic. Most of her clients are from China.
Through chatting with her customers, she told them the benefits of practicing Dafa and exposed the lies spread by the CCP. “Some of them agree to quit the CCP or want to read Zhuan Falun after I clarified the facts to them.”
However, some customers had a different opinion, “They argued with me heatedly. In the beginning, I argued back but later on I discovered this is pointless. I need to calm down and find my shortcomings. I was shocked to discover I had so many bad thoughts: The desire to compete with others, jealousy, looking down on others, saving face, vanity, arrogance and fear of being criticized etc., how could I truly save people with so many attachments? While clarifying the truth, I kept protecting myself so that I would not be hurt; I did not think of others at all! Of course I could not save people without the power of the Fa.”
When she changed her attitude, gradually, customers who argued with her before stopped being agitated, “They began to listen quietly, some even said what I said was right.”
As she kept clarifying the truth to customers, “Now, they watch programs created by major social media influencers that I recommend and they even recommend them to friends and family members. This helped a lot of people understand the truth and realize how evil the CCP is.”
Joel Chipkar, a Western practitioner in Toronto, spoke of how he eliminated his desire for control and inferiority complex while participating in demonstrating the Falun Dafa exercises online.
Joel began to practice in Falun Dafa 1998. He said last year he discovered that his desire to control things is a fundamental attachment that is stopping him from truly assimilating to the Fa.
He joined the project to introduce Falun Dafa online in 2022. “I saw many areas for improvement, yet when the coordinator challenged my ideas, I argued with him and developed resentment. I even thought it was a mistake to join this project.”
At the same time, he handled a real estate transaction that turned out to be a mistake even though he worked in real estate for 33 years. “After signing the contract, I went through unprecedented fear, anxiety, and worry physically and mentally. My mind was filled with devastating thoughts: I bought a house at the peak of the market! I paid a high price! I made a huge mistake!” He could not breathe or sleep, his stomach hurt and he vomited every day from his great mental suffering.
He kept asking himself: “What am I attached to?” But he could not find the answer. “Three weeks later, I started to lose my willpower, I could no longer endure such suffering. I then paused and finally asked Master for help: ‘Master, please help me understand what my attachment is.’”
By looking inward, he realized: “My desire for control led to me to not be able to work with others. When I signed that real estate contract, I was made to forfeit all control, as I could not back out of the deal. Master used this to help me see my attachment clearly.
“Through this experience, I began to cherish being a part of teaching Falun Dafa online. I was able to work with other team members better. I am still rather domineering at times, but my team reminds me and helps me change my ways. I am sincerely grateful to them.”