(Clearwisdom.net) I am privileged to be here with you all today and to share some experiences from my cultivation in Falun Dafa. I would like to look back at aspects of my journey so far in this precious cultivating way.
In August 1999 my husband read an article about Falun Gong in a U.K. daily paper which touched him greatly. After reading it several times he found it difficult to settle his mind and felt strongly that this was something good and unique and set about obtaining the book Zhuan Falun. After the first reading of the book my husband enlightened to the truth of it almost immediately, as we were both aware that there was something missing in our lives.
He was happy that he had at last encountered a true and profound cultivation way, the cultivation way of Falun Dafa. He encouraged me to start reading Zhuan Falun and would leave the book around for that purpose. At that time I was in poor health suffering from heart disease, taking high profile medicine and several tablets daily, and had been written off by the medical profession. The references in the book to body purification and a possible cure for my illness was uppermost in my mind and looking back, I now see that I was hoping for a cure. But that attachment quickly faded into the background and Zhuan Falun opened up a vast new world of revelation to the universal truth. That was the cue for my husband to obtain for me my very own copy of Zhuan Falun.
We eventually made contact with other practitioners and joined them for cultivation practice and experience sharing on a regular basis. Sometimes a group of cultivators would come to our home to share, cultivate and read together. We found this to be beneficial to all the participants as we were gradually beginning to form one body.
After practicing for about three months we joined a group going to Brussels where we met many cultivators from all over Europe. Our mission was to inform the European Parliament of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and request that they use their influence to bring pressure to bear on the wicked CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Personally this trip was important to me because I met a Chinese cultivator who explained a lot of aspects of Falun Dafa to me. He made me aware of the great mercy of Master, to let go of the attachment of fear and to be aware that Master is always by my side, so, what was there to fear? He advised me to read the book more so as to gain a higher awareness of the principles and improve holistically. By this time I was free from illness, enjoying good health with abundant energy.
Back home in Ireland the emphasis was on exposing the persecution in China. We participated in various events, parades in Dublin and other activities to spread awareness of the state of affairs in China and how the practice was banned there and also the mindset of the CCP. By this time my husband and I continued to practice together although we also followed our paths independently. Sometimes our understandings varied on some issues. We read Master's articles together first thing every morning followed by reading Zhuan Falun separately as we are always at different sections of the book. We are both aware that we are Master's disciples and try as far as possible to think from our cultivated sides.
Sometimes I find it difficult to get out of the human everyday thinking. When I look inside I mostly find that I am practicing quite well. Nevertheless when I ask myself if I am upgrading my xinxing, or if I am assimilating to Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, when I ask if I am following high-level principles, my search points to where and how I can improve. Firstly I look for attachments and try to eliminate them. My attachments usually show up when I experience conflicts. I try to recall Master's words when he asks us to maintain a heart of benevolence so that when a problem occurs we can handle it properly. I am now able to buffer sudden tribulations as they happen. I can see how everyday people are suffering; they have no way out other than to take the road of Falun Dafa. Through this I can keep a heart of compassion and am always ready to clarify the truth to all.
Last week I attended a family funeral. I was saddened to find out that most of the people I met were suffering from some illness or other and relied on taking medicine and regular visits to doctors and hospitals. Few of them were in a good state of health and found it impossible to conceive that my husband and I have not needed any medicine or visited a doctor during the past eight years. This made me realise the importance of clarifying the truth to everyone everywhere.
Doing the three things well is ever present in my thoughts and is at the very core of my cultivation. I see them as a repetitive sign post leading me all the way to consummation and the return to my original heavenly abode.
Every day without fail I read Zhuan Falun and other supplementary articles. I have acquired a large collection of Master's articles down-loaded from the Internet. They date back to 1996 up to the present. They are an excellent barometer of my understanding and enlightenment and articles I read years ago are so different when I take them out again at the present time. In tandem with my Fa studies I practice all five of the exercises every day when my husband joins me. On Sunday afternoons we hold Fa study, discussion and experience sharing sessions in our home.
I speak to every one I can and tell them all about Falun Gong. Anyone who visits our house receives a Falun Dafa leaflet on leaving. I keep all the public libraries throughout Ireland North and South supplied with Falun Dafa leaflets. In addition I also supply all the prisons and detention centres throughout Ireland. Occasionally I receive phone calls asking for further supplies and I have built up a good rapport with many kind people over a number of years which gives me a great opportunity to clarify the truth and expose the evil in China and the brutal persecution against Falun Gong.
I send righteous thoughts at all the specified times. Apart from this I try to the best of my ability to always be in a state of righteousness so that I can truthfully claim to be a disciple of Master. I have managed to commit to memory the Chinese language version of the righteous thoughts preliminaries and use them because I believe they are more powerful. When events to expose the evil take place and I am unable to be present I send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil in that area.
We all know about the power of righteous thoughts and it may be appropriate here to end my sharing with an experience I had which exemplifies this power. Recently a friend called to our home and told us that on his way he stopped in a small rural library which was celebrating its double centenary. He gave me a flier describing the events surrounding the celebrations, which I found interesting because it was only a few days previous that I had sent the library their usual supply of Falun Dafa leaflets. At a quiet moment I thought about this and sent righteous thoughts that someone during the celebrations might pick up a Falun Dafa leaflet and be saved through a predestined relationship. A few days latter I spoke to a fellow cultivator who told me that she had a phone call from a person who had picked up a leaflet from that same library and wished to find out more about Falun Gong.