(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Dafa five years ago. This is the first time that I've shared my cultivation experiences with fellow practitioners. First I would like to tell you some of my experiences before I started to practice cultivation in Falun Dafa.
I wanted to leave home to become a cultivator in a temple since I was 13 years old and studied in middle school. When I told my parents my wish, my mom told me that it wouldn't be too late after I finished middle school. So I had to go to school with some of my friends every day. We started to imitate some cultivation methods of monks, such as becoming vegetarians and sitting in meditation, and we didn't want to live with our families. We often lived in temples, monasteries and learned from monks.
In 1975, our study in school totally stopped due to the Communist Party taking over South Vietnam. Therefore, some friends and I became professional practitioners -- monks. We also thought that our cultivation would be successful in this life because we heard that in ancient times many young practitioners had finished their cultivation and become Buddhas. Why shouldn't we? However, our cultivation didn't make too much progress. In order to reach nirvana, a monk in our group even attempted to cut his throat with a razor blade. Now I understand that if we want to succeed in cultivation, we need to have Teacher's Fa to guide us. However, back then, we were so arrogant and thought our cultivation had reached very high levels.
We could no longer continue our cultivation in the temple since the political climate in Vietnam had changed a lot. So we left the temple, became non-practitioners and looked for a new life. By then, our xinxing level had also dropped. Although later I got married and had a family, the kind thoughts that I had when I was a monk were still within me. I knew that the purpose of life was to do good deeds instead of bad deeds, and not to compete and fight with others. Therefore, I often went to temples to do Buddhist rites and helped to build temples, etc.
By 2002, my younger sister started to practice Falun Gong. She asked me whether I knew about Master Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa and gave me Zhuan Falun and the video of the five sets of exercises. I was one of those people who normally didn't accept other people's things, especially from other religions and schools of practice. But this time I was very happy to listen to what she said. I encouraged her to practice and I also immediately started to practice the five sets of exercises. While doing exercise two, holding the wheel, I felt Falun rotating so I was very excited and told my sister about it and she was very happy for me. Just like that, I kept practicing the exercises every morning and also watched Teacher's movements on the video to correct my own movements.
A miracle happened soon after I started to practice Falun Gong. All my diseases disappeared and I didn't have to go to doctors any more. One day I ran into my doctor and he asked me why I had not seen him lately or bought my prescriptions. I told him that my illnesses disappeared due to practicing Falun Gong. He was surprised at first, and then was very happy for me because the medicine he had given me didn't work anyway. I became healthy and didn't have to bother him any more. My family members had witnessed the miracles that happened to me, and later they started to practice Falun Gong as well.
I still remember that after my children started to practice cultivation, one day my son came home from school and had a fever. Sometimes he was hot while other times he was cold. When his mom asked him whether he wanted to see a doctor, he replied immediately: "Mom, don't you want me to repay the karma?" after hearing his words I was very delighted and meanwhile realized that my wife still had the mentality of protecting her children.
Another time when my daughter got sick, her first thought was to see a doctor, but her second thought was that she was a Dafa practitioner, so she didn't go to see a doctor and soon her so-called sickness went away.
Let me talk about my wife and how she overcame her sicknesses hardship. Every time my wife suffered from her illness, I couldn't sit still. Not only did she see the doctors but she also argued with the nurses when picking up her prescriptions. Finally she realized that a Dafa practitioner's physical suffering is eliminating bad karma and it was not an illness, therefore, she stopped taking her medicine. After doing so, her sickness symptoms disappeared quickly. In fact, what happened to her was also a test for my xinxing.
Then it was my turn to suffer from sickness. One day when I got up in the morning, my back felt very painful and I couldn't stand straight. It seemed as though there was a big stone holding my back down. My back pain lasted for over a month and it was almost unbearable. Later my sister called me and encouraged me to spend more time to study Teacher's Fa so that I could upgrade my xinxing, eliminate my karma and get well. So I became more diligent in studying the Fa and listening to Teacher's Lectures. Soon Teacher helped me remove my sickness karma. At that time my whole body felt very light. Studying the Fa often was the key to answering all my questions. A great energy let me understand where the original life is coming from. Cultivation is not too high to reach. Zhuan Falun was written in simple words by Teacher and people can easily understand it, but its deep meaning is very profound and can solve all the issues of life and death. I understood the meaning of Dafa and why Teacher is saving us. I changed my lifestyle of pursuing material things. I became more diligent in cultivation and my mind and body improved. I told myself: "This is the last chance for you to truly cultivate your mind and body. You should walk out from Samsara of death and life." I was determined to diligently cultivate Falun Dafa so that I could be saved by our compassionate Teacher.
From that time on, my whole family and I had totally changed our lifestyle. We stopped spending weekends with playing and eating or going to the temples. It was really unthinkable and it seemed that someone helped us to rearrange our lives. Gradually I was not as busy at work as before. Instead, I had more time to do Dafa things and clarify the truth. I also often reminded myself to cultivate better. Especially when I did Dafa work with fellow practitioners, I often reminded myself: "Remember that Teacher said we are a whole body. So I should be a good Dafa particle and should pay more attention to each word and action and do everything according to the standards of Dafa, otherwise, I would bring negative effects to Dafa when clarifying the truth." Therefore, before I did Dafa work, I always sent forth righteous thoughts and asked Teacher to strengthen me. I tried to not miss any opportunity to clarify the truth, to save people and to establish my mighty virtue. There were two good experiences during the parades in 2005 and 2006.
We participated in the Huntington Beach Parade on July 4, 2005. Our float was the biggest one. Moreover, our float was driven backwards. After driving five miles on a very crowded street, we safely reached the destination. Even now when I think about this it still seems unbelievable. This was all because of Dafa's mighty power and Teacher's protection.
During the 2006 parade, our float had five wheels but four of them were broken. Two of the tires went flat due to the friction and overheating. Even though this occurred, we still safely reached the destination. Thank you Teacher for protecting us all the time on our cultivation paths. I am determined to do the three things well that Teacher asks of us which is studying the Fa, clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts. Let us never disappoint Master's benevolent salvation and accomplish our responsibilities as practitioners of the Fa-rectification period.
I am hoping that each one of my fellow practitioners becomes more diligent!
