Becoming Mature in Falun Dafa Cultivation

(Minghui.org) I stepped into Falun Dafa cultivation nearly nine years ago. I am in my thirties. Thinking back, I had mixed emotions. The path of cultivation has been bumpy, but I’ve also become mature. Being able to begin Dafa cultivation and assist Master in Fa-rectification has been my greatest honer. Thank you, Master, for saving me!

Looking for Dafa

When I was a child, I felt that I had to complete a certain mission in this world, and I believed that there was a “law” between heaven, earth, and the universe. If I could find this “law” I felt that I would be so free. But, for many years, I did not find it. Therefore, I often felt confused about life, and didn’t know where to go.

Then, one day I met an older woman when I was on the bus going to school. Before that, I seldom talked to people on the bus, but this time was different, because this person was quite noticeable. She was skinny, but carried a large backpack. She was calm and smiling, and gave people a sense of openness. So I took the initiative to talk to her.

We chatted throughout the trip. I told her a lot of my thoughts and doubts that I usually didn’t share with anyone. The woman listened patiently, while holding a smile, and answered my questions by targeting the important issues. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to get off the bus. So we shared our contact information. I have communicated with her frequently since then, and benefited a lot every time.

As the discussions between us got more in-depth, the woman told me that she was a Falun Dafa practitioner. She clarified the facts to me and brought me the precious book Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa. She said that the inner meaning of Zhuan Falun was very profound, and it could resolve my confusions.

However, as I had been severely brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) atheistic ideology since childhood, I didn’t fully accept the information about Falun Dafa. But she was very patient with me. Because of her sincerity and kindness, I finally understood. I acknowledged Dafa and made up my mind to read Zhuan Falun.

When I first read Zhuan Falun, my experience was difficult to forget. Master’s Fa is concise and straight to the point. The language is straightforward, but the connotations are profound, and the meanings go directly to the heart. The content I found in Zhuan Falun answered all my questions, such as where do people come from? Why does a human being become a human being? What is the meaning of life? How to be a good person? How to improve one’s own realm? And so on.

Master said:

“Under such difficult circumstances, this person is still not lost and wants to come back. As a result, people will help him and unconditionally give him a hand—they will help him with anything.” (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun)

When I first read this, an emotion that had been suppressed deep in my heart for a long time burst out. My tears could not stop flowing, my whole body was shaking, and I could not suppress the excitement. I finally found what I’d been looking for, which was this precious book called Zhuan Falun!

Elevation

After I began practicing Falun Dafa, I spent a lot of time reading Zhuan Falun and other relevant Dafa books, especially when I was on vacation. Sometimes I ended up spending half a day, to a day, reading it. I was immersed in Dafa’s principles every day and went through many transformations.

I shared the Fa principles that I’d enlightened to with this woman once in a while. Every time she saw the changes in me, she was happy and surprised. So I kept studying the Fa and sharing with her. Gradually, I learned to use the Fa to measure my every word and action, and I looked inward when facing issues.

With in-depth Fa-study, I began to realize something, that Dafa is a cultivation method of mind and body, but I didn’t know how to do the Dafa exercises. So I began to look at the pictures and instructions in The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection to learn the exercise movements one by one. When I tried to do the first few movements of the first exercise, my body became hot.

I finally learned the five sets of exercises. For the meditation exercise, I first sat for two minutes, then ten minutes, then up to over half-an-hour. Finally, I made the breakthrough and was able to sit for a full hour.

After I had been cultivating for a while, my body felt comfortable every day, as if I was surrounded by energy. My skin became more delicate, especially my face, which used to be dry and rough, but has now become smooth and tender.

Studying the Fa and doing the exercises helped me elevate rapidly in cultivation. This wonderful feeling can not be described in words.

Being Persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party

After I graduated from the university, I had to take tests and go for job interviews, and I was eventually offered a decent job. However, when I went out one day to put up Dafa informational materials, I was reported to the police, arrested, and held at the police station.

This sudden incident shocked my family, especially my parents. They didn’t cultivate, although they knew that Dafa was good, so when facing something like this, they found it hard to accept. Being in shock, they felt helpless, worried, and scared.

It was also my first time feeling this type of pressure. During the time when I was illegally detained, I tried to maintain righteous thoughts, and clarified the facts to the police officers I ran into. I didn’t answer any of their questions and did not make wrongful confessions. That first night, I talked to a young man who was responsible for monitoring me.

The next morning, the police decided to take me to a detention center. When I passed by the hall in the detention center, I saw my parents who had been anxiously waiting all night. My mother was crying, and tears were streaming down her face. Seeing her like this, I couldn’t hold back my tears either. Before leaving, I said to them, “Mom, Dad, your son has done nothing wrong, please take care of yourself.”

At the moment I was about to be taken away, my mother passed out. It wasn’t until I shouted, that she came around. My father, who was always strong and strict with me, also cried and begged helplessly. The moment seemed to be frozen in time. I would never forget it.

The young man who was responsible for monitoring me the night before also came. After seeing him, I felt pity. I suppressed my grief and said to him, “My friend, you have seen what I have experienced from yesterday to now. Am I a bad person? Look at what these people have done to me! I just hope you are well. Are you a member of the CCP or its youth organizations?”

He replied me in a whisper. I then continued, “How about if I help renounce your memberships from these [organizations]?” He seemed to feel my kindness and agreed without hesitation.

Upon arriving at the new cell, I noticed that the cell was not big, yet it was packed. I was told to sleep on the floor next to the toilet. I had to sleep on my side. This unprecedented blow exposed my fear, worry, resentment, sentimentality, and other attachments. How were my parents now? Could they bear it? My grandparents were so old. What would happen if they found out about my detention? Could I still get out? Would I lose my job? All kinds of human thoughts surfaced. I couldn’t stop the thoughts from popping up, and my state of mind was greatly affected.

After a few days my family hired a lawyer, who brought me the bad news. The police had searched my two cell phones, both of which had applications for automatically playing truth-clarification messages. In addition, they found out that I had made a lot of calls on them. The lawyer told me that if I wanted to get out of there, I must quickly “repent” or “confess,” but I refused.

After being held for 37 days, I was officially arrested. This news was undoubtedly bad. However, I tried to hold myself to a practitioner’s standard, and used that to measure myself. I gradually began to calm down and think through the whole process. This persecution didn’t happen without a reason. Where didn’t I do well? I began to look inward, and found some attachments which I hadn’t noticed before, such as when validating the Fa, I had the mentality of showing off, selfishness, sentimentality, comfort, fear, and resentment. The old forces were targeting all these attachments to persecute me. I told myself, “I will never acknowledge the persecution, I must do well!”

I tried to recall Master’s lectures. At first, I recalled what I had already memorized, such as “On Dafa” and poems from Hong Yin, followed by what I had memorized in terms of certain words or sentences during my day-to-day Fa study. After that, I tried to recall Zhuan Falun from lectures one to nine. Even though I couldn’t have access to Dafa books, Master opened up my wisdom. Soon enough, my state was elevated and my righteous thoughts became stronger.

Even though I had lost my freedom, I knew I had to validate the Fa and save sentient beings regardless of where I was. Thus, I began to make use of all kinds of opportunities to clarify the facts to the inmates. Almost every inmate learned the truth about Dafa and quit the CCP and its youth organizations. I’ve been recalling Master’s Fa and using the Fa to hold my every word and action. Meanwhile, I was clarifying the facts to save people.

Forging Ahead

I returned home after two years in prison. With the long separation, my parents were very happy to see me again, and I was happy to see them. A month later, I successfully found a job. Although the income was not high, it was a stable job at least.

I then began to wonder that since I didn’t have any Dafa books, how could I study the Fa? Where should I go to find them? The practitioners whom I was in contact with before had lost contact with me. I was at a loss.

While in this dilemma, an idea flashed through my mind, “Why not look through my old desk cabinet?” So I did. As soon as I started to look, a small memory card that I used before appeared in front of me. I found the card reader and put it in. I was immediately delighted: Zhuan Falun and other books were all saved on it. There was also an app to break through the Internet blockade, so I could browse the Minghui website. I realized that this was Master helping me!

Now I am married, have a child, and a happy family. But during that period of time, I had been harassed multiple times by the community management staff and the police. Every harassment made my family very anxious, especially my parents, who were under great pressure.

The police once called my father and asked to see me. They plotted to have my father talk me into giving up cultivation.

My father couldn’t persuade me, so after drinking, he argued with my mother. My mother was also harassed by the police, and staff from the community and other departments. Coupled with my father’s scolding, she was close to a mental collapse. My mother begged me with tears in her eyes, asking me to give up cultivation. Seeing my mother like this, I felt very sad. I explained to her why I couldn’t give up my cultivation. But the explanation didn’t have a positive effect. The more I explained, the sadder my mother became.

I eventually calmed down and asked myself, “Why is such strong interference occuring? What didn’t I do well at? For these things to happen, what kind of attachments were being targeted?” I began to look inward, and found many issues. After I got married, I became attached to regular people’s lives, and thus developed an attachment to comfort. When I did the three things well, I developed zealotry, and I had fear when faced with harassment from the police and community staff.

I also realized that the old forces persecuting my family also targeted my attachment to sentimentality. I began to send forth righteous thoughts to dismantle the interference from evil factors and negate the old forces persecution.

The next day, a miraculous thing happened to my parents. It was as if nothing had ever happened. People from the community and the police also changed their attitudes and stopped harassing me. It put an end to the harassment, so this issue was over. I came to realize that the attachments I didn’t pay attention to or eliminate in my day-to-day life, could be very dangerous for me. If I wasn’t careful enough, it could have caused even greater interference. Cultivation is very serious, and lessons learned are also very serious. In order not to be persecuted, one has to pursue righteousness. Only by having one’s every thought on the Fa, can one cultivate well.

My family and I have experienced interference and persecution multiple times. For instance, during the so-called sensitive dates, people would come and knock on my door to harass me, or harass me over the phone. It was sometimes staff from the community, and sometimes the police. For instance, a police officer called my company to put pressure on them. In order to protect themselves, company management asked me to resign. Thus, I lost my job.

When I read persecution articles on the Minghui website I realized the importance of the “Justice Forum,” so I joined the platform. By reading posts on the forum, I had a clearer understanding of many issues, especially how to deal with harassment from police and community personnel. I learned that a more powerful way to fight against the persecution was from a legal perspective. In the face of harassment, we should take up the weapon of the law and clearly point out the illegal behavior of those who come to harass us.

In order to do that, I found relevant articles, and listed each law that the harassers violated. I took a lot of notes so that I could constantly strengthen and deepen my knowledge and understanding. After I did that, when I went to clarify the facts to people again, I found that people were really receptive to what I had to say.

Reciting the Fa, Being More Diligent

Soon enough, my cultivation state reached a bottleneck, and it was hard for me to improve. When I looked inward, I realized that my issue was that I was just going through the motions in my daily Fa study. I also wasn’t focused. In order to address this, I began to recite the Fa.

In the beginning, I didn’t recite a lot of the Fa, but I tried to memorize it well and by heart. Sometimes when I was busy, I spent less time on it, and when I had more time, I memorized more. But every time I set a certain amount for myself to memorize, according to my schedule. My way was that I memorized it sentence by sentence, and checked on my understanding while memorizing. After I reached the daily quota, I recited the passage from beginning to end, over and over again, until I could recite it word for word.

After a while, I could feel the benefits of reciting the Fa. At first, I found some issues that I never realized before, and now I could understand deeper inner meanings of the Fa. Another significant improvement was that I became more composed. Things that were hard to handle before became much easier. I could also let go of my attachments that were hard to let go previously. I felt as if I was in a brand new realm. The feeling of when I first obtained the Fa came back, which was truly miraculous.

My family has changed according to the changes in my cultivation state. My parents have become more light-hearted, and more understanding, and my wife’s fear of me being persecuted has subsided. My family has became happier and more harmonized.

Reciting the Fa has helped me become more diligent in cultivation. I will hold onto it.