Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- We Must Look Inward When Having Problems with Everyday Matters
- I Have Learned to Truly Look Inward
- Attachment to Comfort is a Tribulation for Dafa Cultivators
- Digging Deep to Discover Why I Was Not Comprehending the Fa When I Was Studying the Fa
- Don't Let a Comfortable Environment Wear Down Your Will to Be Diligent
- Our Righteous Thoughts Will Be Strong When Our Fa Study and Cultivation Are Strong
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the November 2011 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
We wish all readers a Happy Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Diwali is symbolic of coming out of darkness into the light of peace, prosperity and enlightenment.
This issue has a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom that always shine through because of their insights and fine quality of sharing. It is important to read the Clearwisdom, Pureinsight and other Dafa sites. We make an effort to select Articles from the Archives which people don’t go back to and are relevant even today. Contributions are welcome from practitioners.
Heshi! Hope, you like the selection of Articles and gain some new insights!
Note: "All the contents in this newsletter - except for quotations and excerpts of writings of the founder Mr. Li Hongzhi - are only ideas and experiences of practitioners and do not represent Falun Dafa in itself."
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- 2. What’s Happening?
Practitioners from Bangalore introduced the practice to two MBA colleges in Bangalore. The truth clarification video was shown which touched the hearts of many students. Many students showed keenness to follow up on the exercises.
The Dignity Foundation Bangalore has featured an article on Falun Dafa in their November issue. They also invited practitioners to introduce Falun Dafa to senior citizens in a camp held in a school premises. Many senior citizens from the Dignity Foundation, Bangalore are doing the exercises and reading the books.
Practitioners from Hyderabad organized The Truth-Compassion-Tolerance Art exhibition in Shantingar club. Many came from nearby places and were shocked to know the truth by watching the paintings. Flyers were distributed to all. News reporters too came and reported this in their newspapers the following day.
The Truth-Compassion-Tolerance Art exhibition was also held in Warangal which is nearly 155 kms from Hyderabad. Many people from nearby places visited and were moved by the paintings. Flyers were distributed to everyone. This was reported in News papers. The practitioners also got an opportunity to inform many reporters about the practice.
Practitioner from Pune introduced the practice to NSS camp in Karanja, Maharashtra. All the NSS participants learned the exercises also. Other Schools & Colleges teachers and principals invited to introduce Falun Dafa practice to their students. Another NSS camp organizer also invited to introduce Falun Dafa practice to their camp. One Yoga teacher also invited to introduce Falun Dafa practice to his students.
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- 3. We Must Look Inward When Having Problems with Everyday Matters
By a practitioner in North America
(Clearwisdom.net)
Recently I ran into some trouble with everyday matters.
This interfered with the salvation of sentient beings, and I found out that it
had something to do with my slacking off in personal cultivation.
As Fa-rectification Dafa disciples, Fa-rectification cultivation is what we
are supposed to do. However, if our personal cultivation has not met the
required standard, we are not able to do well in Fa-rectification cultivation,
or we may easily experience interference, and as a result we aren't able to save
people. Teacher has talked about the relationship between personal cultivation
and Fa-rectification cultivation many times, but sometimes I still slack off and
am not strict with myself.
Some time ago I wanted to buy a used car, and my friend purchased one for me
from another friend. When the car was transferred to my name, my friend (a
non-practitioner) suggested that I write down a lower price to avoid paying
extra taxes. I didn't think it was right, so I said, "Isn't that
cheating?" But I didn't insist on paying the original price because my
friend said that everyone does that when a transaction is conducted between two
friends. I thought to myself that since the money I was saving was less than a
hundred dollars, it wasn't such a big deal. Actually, I was not strict with
myself, and this incident exposed a loophole in my personal cultivation. The car
ended up breaking down several times after I had it for only a few months. The
money I spent on fixing the car far exceeded the money I had saved from paying
less taxes. On top of that, I wasted a lot time trying to get the car fixed.
Nothing a Dafa disciple encounters is by chance. If our actions are
righteous, situations like this will never happen, because the money and time
Dafa practitioners spend is for saving people-- and this is the most solemn
thing in the universe. How could I run into interference like this? Didn't this
problem arise from the fact that I did not let go of the attachment to personal
gain? In addition, Dafa practitioners' actions will be followed by people in the
future. What kind of example are we setting for those people if we consider acts
like this just a minor detail and don't pay attention to them? People in the
future will say that Dafa practitioners tried to evade taxes back then. Is that
right?
There was a period of time when I was under great duress because I was so
busy dealing with constant interference from everyday people. It was either
work-related or a family issue. If I didn't handle it, others would say that I
failed to fulfill my responsibilities. I worried that this would affect Dafa
practitioners' image. Yet, if I did handle it, it would keep me so busy from
morning to night that I wouldn't even have time to study the Fa and practice the
exercises. I was very upset. I searched within myself and realized that this was
the result of my not cherishing my time well. I usually spent my time surfing
the Internet for fun things, and sometimes I even watched TV or slept in. In
short, I had the mentality of seeking comfort, so evil forces had an excuse to
interfere with me: "What you are engaging in is not righteous anyway, so
let me arrange for some people to bother you." If I had been able to truly
utilize every minute well and use it completely on the three things,
would the evil dare to come and interfere with me? It is like how Teacher said
that it was because we didn't cherish the Dafa books that the evil used it as an
excuse to confiscate or destroy them.
If we don't cultivate well personally, not only will it affect our Fa-validation,
but also others and our whole body. In Teacher's recent lecture video, Falun
Dafa--Teaching the Fa to Australian Falun Dafa Practitioners, Teacher talked
about some problems practitioners are having. For instance, practitioners' not
trusting each other or not cooperating well with each other is all because of
the evil taking advantage of practitioners' not cultivating well enough, and
this has had a negative impact on Fa-validation and the salvation of sentient
beings. Of course, Teacher is compassionate and always takes into consideration
the perspective of being understanding to practitioners and said that it was the
human thoughts that we had not cultivated away that was having this effect.
Nevertheless, we should not use Teacher's compassion as an excuse to slack off
in cultivating ourselves.
When we have problems dealing with fellow practitioners, my understanding is
that we should make an effort to look at it from the perspective of Fa-rectification
cultivation, and look at the positive effect they can have during this precious
Fa-rectification period. In particular, when they encounter a tribulation, we
should understand that they should not accept the old forces' arrangement and
test, because Teacher is looking after practitioners. And as for ourselves, we
should try hard to not use Fa-rectification cultivation as an excuse to
neglect our own personal cultivation. Yet, we tend to do the opposite. For
example, we can see problems in other practitioners' personal cultivation very
clearly, and we even criticize or blame them. But when it comes to the
tribulations we encounter ourselves , we often blame it on
"interference" and neglect to look inside for the fundamental problem.
As Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, personal cultivation is the
foundation for doing well. We should calm our minds to study the Fa and
establish a habit of strictly conducting ourselves based on the standard of Dafa.
In doing so, we'll naturally and constantly be in a state of cultivation. Fa-rectification
cultivation is the prehistoric oath we took and the historical mission bestowed
upon us for coming into this human world, and it must be completed. Just as
Teacher said,
"Aside from what you as individuals need to go through and
establish on your final road to Consummation, what is most important for you
and most significant right now is to save people."
("Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital")
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- 4. I Have Learned to Truly Look Inward
By a practitioner in Beijing
(Clearwisdom.net)
I have recently run into different conflicts almost
every day, during which the weak points of my xinxing become
apparent in all aspects. Due to my limited level, and because I haven't paid
much attention to internal cultivation since I started practicing, I have not
remained undisturbed, and many attachments of everyday people, including my
attachments to fame, profit, and personal feelings, have thoroughly exposed
themselves while I overcome these tribulations. I have learned, however, to look
inside!
Whenever there is a conflict, I no longer dispute who is right or wrong on
the surface level as I did before. I no longer look for others' attachments or
feel anguished, and I am no longer trapped in an endless conflict for a number
of days to the point that I am unable to extricate myself, which then results in
my becoming depressed, giving up on myself, throwing in the towel, and losing
myself in a struggle against tribulation and pain. I--who was so obstinate and
incorrigible and always looked outward in the past--have changed.
I really feel like I've been reborn, although others may not see the change.
Only I am aware of it, but this change comes from the very depths of my heart. I
continually keep uncovering my true being, rather than being attached to a
superficial ego.
My method is as follows: When I run into a conflict that disturbs me, I look
inside at once and ask myself, "What and how did I think and feel about it
before the conflict? Was my thinking in line with the requirements of Falun Dafa?
If not, why did I have the wrong idea? What was I attached to? How was it
generated? Was it generated from notions in everyday human society?" Then I
challenge myself: "Find the source of this wrong idea, and deny and
eliminate it."
I no longer put myself down. Instead, I cling to an idea. That idea is that
my life will be purified in Dafa and return to its beautiful and sanctified
home. I believe that every conflict is arranged by our merciful Master in order
to enlighten us to look inside. I need to seize every opportunity to look inward
no matter which level I reach, and what I find after looking inside are all
manifestations of my xinxing. When I face my true being, am I always
considering which attachment have been exposed after the conflict today? Is it
jealousy, fame, or the mentality of showing off? In the process of this
examination, I find what I am subconsciously pursuing. As a practitioner, is it
really what I should strive for? I will rationally ask myself, and then
rationally answer myself, "No, it is a wrong notion formed when I was
deluded by ordinary human society." Each time I realize this, I again
cultivate closer to my true being.
I have been keeping a record of my cultivation experiences in the form of a
dairy. This has made me very happy, and I have upgraded myself very fast since I
learned to look inside. Just yesterday I realized something from one issue, and
then I upgraded myself. Today, I found a new attachment in regards to another
issue, and again had another realization, and again eliminated that notion. I
can feel Master's intricate arrangements for our cultivation from instant to
instant. I thank our merciful Master for his step-by-step elaborate arrangements
for me. I will put all my efforts into cultivation. I finally have a true
realization of Master's teaching:
"Whatever you experience during your cultivation--whether good or
bad--is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating."
("To the Chicago Fa Conference")
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- 5. Attachment to Comfort is a Tribulation for Dafa Cultivators
By a Falun Gong Practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
I have stumbled enough times on my
cultivation path to realize that pursuing comfort is a tribulation
for Dafa cultivators. In the past, the police in my hometown went
to our homes to harass our family members and tried hard to find
our work phone numbers. When we learned this, we felt a great
pressure. After a brief period of panic, our enlightened sides
allowed us to understand that we should negate the old forces'
arrangements and not allow the evil to persecute Dafa
practitioners. In the meantime, we started to search inward and
tried to find the loopholes that had been exploited by the evil. We
had thus found many attachments such as slacking off, dropping our
guards, becoming indifferent, wanting to avoid conflict, having
unrighteous thoughts, as well as the attachment to lust and desire,
and so on. While looking inward, we also spent more time sending
forth righteous thoughts. After a period of sending righteous
thoughts, we felt that the pressure had gradually disappeared, and
that the substance which caused us to be afraid had also gradually
disintegrated.
During that period of time, I did not dare to slack off, so I
appeared to be relatively diligent. I could basically get up at
around 3:50 am every day to practice the exercises, and as a
result, my cultivation state also started to improve. I also felt
that my righteous thoughts got stronger. Because of this, the many
human thoughts of mine also did not manifest themselves as much.
For example, I felt that my attachment to lust and desire had
lessened. Therefore, in my mind, I sometimes had the feeling of
wanting to relax; I felt that I could take a break and catch my
breath.
However, for several days in row, I failed to get up in the
morning to practice the exercises. After I got up, I could not
recall if the alarm clock had rang, and how I had unknowingly
fallen asleep again. In this way, I wasted a lot of time every day.
Today when I got up, it was almost 6:00 am. I felt quite upset. I
did not want to act that way, but I felt that the obstacle was too
huge to break through.
Today at noon, I practiced the exercises that I had missed.
Before I began, a thought came to my mind, which interfered with my
completing the exercises, and it made me feel very upset. But from
the bottom of my heart, I felt that I could not let it continue
this way. So I made up my mind to practice the exercises. After I
started, that uneasy feeling quickly disappeared. When I practiced
the second set of exercises, I suddenly came to understand an
issue: My pursuing comfort was actually a reflection of my going
through a tribulation. When the evil comes to interfere and
persecute us, we know that it is a kind of tribulation. However, is
it possible that this state of letting us slack off is also a kind
of tribulation? When a demon comes to frighten us, we know that we
need to resist and repel it; however, when the demon transforms
itself into a beauty, and then comes to seduce us, we fall for
it.
When I looked further within myself, I found that, under
pressure, my human mindset did not come to the surface. In order to
avoid persecution, I appeared to be very "diligent," but when I
felt that the danger had disappeared, when I felt that the pressure
was relatively minor, and the environment had become relaxed, my
human mentality started to manifest itself. Several days ago, when
I came back from a meeting in my company, my attachment to fame and
personal gain were triggered again, so I again wanted to accomplish
something important so as to show off in front of my supervisor. My
attachment to lust and desire also started to surface. When
studying the , I became muddleheaded. When I recalled the
times I have done well, I found that some of my ordinary people's
troubles were quickly resolved as I diligently studied the Fa. As a
result, I had more leisure time and a feeling of "having nothing to
do." The following thought kept coming to my mind: The danger has
gone, and I can take a break, do something else, spend more time
collecting materials (that is, going to the Internet café), and
finish an ordinary people's project (which I did not have to
finish), and so on. My mind had been interfered with by various
things. I allowed these thoughts to continue for quite a while
before I finally came to my senses.
I suddenly realized that this was essentially a trap. After I
had gone through many tribulations and endured the pressure, and
when the environment became relaxed, I always wanted to "take a
break" and "find relaxation," and my attachment to lust and desire
and so on became magnified. As a result, the old forces easily
manipulated me, and in this way, I stumbled here and there, and I
was "forced" to become diligent again. As I further looked into
myself, I found that what was behind all these attachments was my
pursuit of comfort.
Ordinary people want to be comfortable above all else. The
ordinary people's concept of "working hard" is also for the purpose
of attaining future "comfort," clearly a human notion. When I wrote
out this understanding, I found that for a very long time, this
notion of mine had not changed at all. Why have I encountered so
much interference? Why have I had so many attachments that I have
not let go of? Why have I always been so passive in my cultivation
journey? It turns out that I have always had the pursuit for
comfort deeply in my mind; it even seemed that I had taken my
pursuit of comfort as my cultivation goal. As a result, it was
always the case that I became diligent again only when I got to
know that tribulations were surfacing. What has been hidden behind
this "diligence" was my goal of wanting to escape from an
unpleasant tribulation, my wanting to eliminate my ordinary
people's troubles, and my wanting to keep this comfortable state.
In a severe sense, I have been exploiting Dafa by using my
cultivation to achieve goals in ordinary society. This is just like
the thought: "As I cultivate, Master will take my illnesses
away..." My basis for cultivation was wrong, and my cultivation
objectives were wrong. This does not amount to genuine
cultivation.
Today I deeply feel that the attachment to comfort is an
insidious tribulation. People have difficulty recognizing it, and
they get attached to it, want it, and pursue it. This attachment to
comfort has been hindering our doing well with the
that Master has required us to do. It has prevented us from
cultivating ourselves diligently, made us unaware of the danger
that we are in, and caused us to be unable to break free from the
attachments that we have had. It can ruin a cultivator without him
even realizing it.
When one is surrounded by hardships and in a difficult
environment, he knows to be diligent. There is an old Chinese
saying, "Worries and suffering make one live, while comfort and
delight make one die." Of course, we will never acknowledge the old
forces' using our attachment to comfort to create another kind of
tribulation to force us to be diligent. The dangerous environment
arranged by the old forces does not help us in offering salvation
to sentient beings, and it can ruin their opportunity. So in a more
relaxed environment, we should even more realize the seriousness of
this tribulation and become more diligent, because it is most
difficult for us to be diligent in such a state. I believe that
what is most important is that we completely change our human
notions and come to understand that our pursuing comfort is, in
fact, a very big tribulation. We should know that pursuing comfort,
like jealousy, competitiveness, lust and desire, is also an
attachment, and we should be even more wary of it. Master said,
"In fact, let me tell you that they do not have correct thoughts
to guide themselves, and it will not be easy for them to quit that
way. As a practitioner, why don't you take it as an attachment to
be abandoned, and see if you can quit." ("Lecture Seven,"
Zhuan Falun)
I feel that when we truly realize that pursuing comfort is a
tribulation and a huge attachment, we can then eliminate it,
cherish the normal cultivation environment, and become truly
diligent while studying the Fa more and doing well with
Fa-validation work.
I now understand that diligence is not an abstract concept, and
it means being consistent with starting the exercises a little
after 3:00 a.m. every day. I have noticed that some practitioners
cannot persist in doing the exercises in the morning. I feel that
if one cannot practice the exercises in the morning, then this
couldn't be a reflection of diligent cultivation. I have deeply
realized that when I could not persist in practicing the exercises
every morning, my cultivation state would become worse and worse.
The same held true for the effects it had on my Fa study. Dafa
cultivation requires us to work hard. "Working hard" is the basis
of diligent cultivation.
Let us, from now on, be determined to get rid of the attachment
to comfort, and always stay vigilant.
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- 6. Digging Deep to Discover Why I Was Not Comprehending the Fa When I Was Studying the Fa
By a Dafa practitioner in Beijing
(Clearwisdom.net)
I have been cultivating for more than ten
years and have been studying the all that time. However, I
always felt that I wasn't comprehending the Fa after I'd read it.
Therefore, I improved little to none in all respects. And I felt
like I wasn't much different from everyday people. What was
happening here? This made me very upset.
I used to think that I didn't know how to cultivate myself and
wondered what real cultivation was. While this was true, it's in
the past. Over the past year, I have known how precious the Fa is,
how time is running out, and that I need to be more diligent. I
have also been striving to eliminate my attachments and human
notions. But why was the process so long and painful? I was greatly
touched after reading many fellow practitioners' cultivation
experiences on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website about how one needs
to study the Fa well in order to cultivate well and do the well. I read Master's articles intently and truly realized
the importance of studying the Fa well.
Later, each time before I studied the Fa, I tried to clean up
the evil factors, dark minions, and rotten demons in my dimensional
field that could interfere with my studying the Fa. Then I
concentrated on studying the Fa. After a while, I found that I was
doing better in studying the Fa, and occasionally I would enlighten
to new things from the Fa. I felt that I had finally learned how to
study the Fa. But gradually I again felt that I was improving too
slowly and that my enlightenment from the Fa was really
superficial. I kept thinking about this.
Although I made a little improvement, I still did not truly know
how to study the Fa. Wondering what the reason was, I kept thinking
about it and suddenly found the root of the matter. I realized that
when I studied the Fa, my mind was always busy thinking about many
interesting things of everyday society. I often recalled some
memories over and over, imagined, pondered, edited, and processed
them. Those messy thoughts followed me quietly and secretly like
ghosts.
No matter when I studied the Fa, did the exercises, or sent
forth righteous thoughts, they'd emerge, and oftentimes I didn't
even notice. When I found them, I knew that I had to eliminate them
to truly learn the Fa by heart. Why did they still appear? I
realized that I had not sent out, from the bottom of my heart,
strong righteous thoughts to eliminate them all at once. I
corrected my thoughts after this realization. Those things weakened
gradually, but they were still in existence and interfering with
me. It was not until a few days ago, when I was reading a seemingly
irrelevant part of the Fa, that I realized the profound principle
behind the words. Dafa disciples have experienced thousands of
years of glories and hardships just to obtain the Fa today, and
everyday people had waited thousands of years to be saved by Dafa
disciples. Haven't the attachments, notions, and messy thoughts in
Dafa disciples' minds been formed and deposited over those
thousands of years? How can they not be stubborn and hard to
eliminate? Isn't the purpose of their existence to prevent Dafa
disciples from and saving sentient beings?
How can they be willing to be eliminated?
After finding the root of the problem, I suddenly enlightened
and knew what to do. I had to send out the powerful righteous
thought from deep in my mind to completely disintegrate and
eliminate the evil spirits, rotten demons, and evil factors that
interfered with my Fa study and prevented me from comprehending the
Fa. In just a few days, the thinking and pondering about everyday
things in my mind became weak; I felt those thoughts were boring
and meaningless.
During the past couple of days, I could obviously feel that I
have removed those substances in my mind with only a little scar
remaining. In a second thought, I suddenly realized it is not I who
eliminated them; it's Master who helped remove them after my
improved. Now I am more steadfast in cultivation and assisting Master in Fa-rectification.
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- 7. Don't Let a Comfortable Environment Wear Down Your Will to Be Diligent
(Clearwisdom.net)
Listening to "Ease and Comfort Is Worse than Poisonous Wine," the 13th episode of the traditional culture program on Minghui radio, caused me to deeply reflect.
An ordinary person pursues ease and comfort to relax and to become physically comfortable. However, for a practitioner, pursuing ease and comfort has the effect of relaxing one's cultivation. It allows one's attachments to grow, leaves the door open for interference and thus allows evil thoughts to also grow, and allows the desires attached to self that we have not eliminated to also grow. I see some fellow practitioners around me who have been idling along in their cultivation, having stayed at the same level for a dozen years and still not able to come out with a firm mind to fulfill their pledges. In my opinion, they can only be counted as "Dafa students" in name only and they only participate in the daily group study. They rarely do the , and some even do none of them. When they have free time, they do not study the Fa and do not do the three things that a practitioner should do. They spend their time on their own things--sleeping, watching TV, or doing things they like to do to kill time. My words may be harsh, but as a fellow practitioner I have to speak up. At this point, each day is destined for Dafa practitioners to validate Dafa. Master said,
"......we can wait for you during the process in between. However, the true, great, final moment cannot be delayed." ("Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference")
Fellow practitioners, cultivation and Fa-rectification are extremely serious. Just a little bit of easing up on ourselves may result in a total waste of all of one's previous efforts. As an example, if a student does not complete his homework in time and does not study well, he will not get a good grade. If a farmer does not apply fertilizer to his land, does not water his land, does not remove weeds, and does not want to do anything, then his land will not be fertile and he will have no harvest. Master has taught us over and over again and encouraged us to be diligent over and over again. How can some of us still slack off? Some fellow practitioners even say, "I have nothing to do and have no pressure." It is not that you have nothing to do, it is that you have not regarded yourself as a practitioner. There are so many lives waiting for us to save them and there are so many lives being deceived by the lies. Why don't you come out quickly to tell people the facts, instead of using all kinds of excuses to cover up your fear and your attachment to ease and comfort? You say that you have grandchildren to take care of. I can tell you that there are practitioners I know who have talked about the truth face-to-face, handed out fliers, and gone in and out of police stations many times to save the police officers, taking their grandchildren with them. Their righteous thoughts and actions have really startled the evil and woken up the world's people. Another person may say that he is working and has no time. No company works their employees 24 hours a day, and compassionate Master has already made the arrangements for you to have time to validate Dafa--you just need to do your part. You can post fliers and banners and make phone calls. There are many ways to validate the Fa, and everyone walks his own path according to his own situation.
I hope that our fellow practitioners who have not come out yet can let go of their attachment to ease and comfort. It may be difficult to start. However, when you truly come out, you will find that the path is broad. Please do not let our attachments to ease and comfort cause us to miss the opportunity that we have awaited for thousands and thousands of years. It is time for our fellow practitioners to wake up! Please forgive me, I am somewhat anxious today, and some of my words may sound harsh.
Top
- 8. Our Righteous Thoughts Will Be Strong When Our Fa Study and Cultivation Are Strong
By a practitioner from China
(Clearwisdom.net)
In "Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference," Master gave a response to a practitioner's question:
"Some people who used to have illness did recover as soon as they started cultivating Dafa, and they really were cured. But, in order to remove your attachments and test whether or not you have what it takes, the old forces cause you to have pain wherever the focal point of your former illness was, or have a relapse, with the symptoms even being the same, all to see whether you believe in Dafa."
I have not taken any medicine for many years, nor do I have any illnesses. So I often use myself as an example when I talk to people about Falun Dafa. Recently, I also had similar symptoms mentioned in Master's lecture. I did not believe they were illnesses, and sent righteous thoughts to eliminate them. Sometimes it was effective and sometimes not. Is it because I have not cultivated well? After studying Master's recent lecture, I enlightened to the fact that my righteous thoughts are not strong enough.
I started practicing in February 1999, and have just turned 70 years old. After the Chinese New Year in 1999, I had many health problems, such as high blood pressure, problems with my upper spinal column, and heart disease, plus I suffered from vertigo. I could no longer take care of myself and went to various hospitals in Harbin for medical treatment every year. But the medicine I took was not effective at all.
My younger sister and local practitioners urged me to practice Falun Dafa and brought me a copy of . I tried to study with them and listened to Master's lectures. No matter how uncomfortable I felt, I continued to listen. Soon, my head didn't seem so dizzy. I saw hope and gained a bit of self-confidence. When my sister took me to see Master's lectures on videotape, I saw four to five hundred people there. This was how I learned that so many people were practicing in our local area. I felt very comfortable while I watched Master, and a thought flashed through my mind, "This is what I have been looking for."
I asked for ten copies of Zhuan Falun, CDs of Master Li's 9-Day Lecture in Guangzhou, and the exercise tapes, so I could hand them to my close friends and relatives. After watching Master's lectures for 10 consecutive days, all of my symptoms disappeared, and I have not taken any medicine since then. There are no words to express the joy I felt in my heart. I was enveloped in compassion because my view of the world changed. I told people, "Falun Dafa is good" and tried to encourage them to practice. My home became a practice site, and I got up every day at 4 a.m. in order to prepare everything for my fellow practitioners to come and do the exercises.
During the last ten years, I have done the to validate the , but I have not been diligent enough. The meanings of Master's words did not penetrate my heart when I studied the Fa. The principles of the Fa were not clear to me. The old forces were able to interfere and persecute me because I did not raise my . I had a pain in the heel of my left foot in 2006. It felt as if a thorn was piercing into it when I walked. I was not able to go out to talk to people about Falun Gong because of this. By studying the Fa and talking with fellow practitioners, I decided that it was interference from the old forces, as I sought ease and comfort and was indolent. I sent righteous thoughts and realized that I should go out and . I distributed fliers in a few villages, and when I had finished, my foot did not hurt anymore. A fellow practitioner said, "You look exuberant! You've scared off the old forces."
After a period of time, the back of my right knee hurt so much that I could not walk. It swelled up so much that my right knee was much larger than the left one. I looked inward and discovered my attachments of zealotry and showing off. During group Fa study and sharing, I found out that two other practitioners also had pain in their legs or similar symptoms. We found our attachments and removed them by collectively sending righteous thoughts.
Towards the end of 2009, I was carrying a bag of Falun Gong materials as I left a practitioner's home. A fellow practitioner offered to carry the materials for me, but I refused out of my attachment to competitiveness. I had not walked far when my right leg collapsed and I narrowly missed falling down. I quickly called my son to collect me. My leg hurt so much that when I practiced the exercises, I could not cross my legs. I continued to send righteous thoughts and eliminated the interference.
Another time, my right arm went numb and I didn't dare turn my neck. I felt my head was spinning so much that I spent the whole day lying down. I recited, "Falun Dafa is good." My children wanted to take me to the hospital and feared that I had a cerebral hemorrhage. I said that I did not want to go. All of my previous illnesses had disappeared, and I knew that this was just interference. I kept reading the Fa and doing the exercises. That day I heard that there would be a Fa conference in another country and I wanted to attend.
Master said:
"The ancients have a saying, 'Having heard the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening.'" ("Melt Into the Fa" in Essentials for Further Advancement)
I hesitated at first, and then thought, "I am on a divine path, I am definitely going to attend the conference." I felt good throughout the whole trip, and when I returned home, all of my symptoms were gone.
When I practiced the exercises or sent righteous thoughts during the first half of this year, I was easily distracted. I wasn't thinking about personal matters, I was thinking about how to validate the Fa, and who would I clarify the truth that day, and the next. Through talking this over with other practitioners, I learned that the old forces will transform our thoughts in order to interfere with us. It is very subtle, but sometimes interference appears even when we send righteous thoughts to eliminate it.
I will definitely cultivate well and diligently study the Fa. My righteous thoughts will then be strong and I will do the well.
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