(Clearwisdom.net) During a high school English class, one of the articles we studied told about someone's dream that truly occurred many years later and was instrumental in overcoming an ordeal. I was no different from other students, with everyone influenced by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) atheistic education. I couldn't fathom that something like that could really happen, and it seemed like something cooked up by one's imagination. About a month or two after we studied the article, I began studying the Fa, and I experienced over ten impressive dreams, which I will talk about later on in this article.
--From the author
Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am a young Dafa disciple who lost his government job because of the persecution of Falun Gong. Although I lost my job and was persecuted and harassed, it didn't stop me from moving forward on my cultivation path. Actually, I believe that as long as we cultivate, Master will arrange everything for the best.
I wish to thank the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) for providing an opportunity to share experiences. I would like to share some of the amazing things I have experienced since I started to cultivate.
Mysterious Experiences Before and After Learning Dafa
I was introduced to Falun Dafa while a student in a big city near my hometown in May 1995.
Puzzled About Atheism
In my early years of high school, I read some short Chinese stories as well as some stories from foreign countries. These stories mentioned someone having a dream, which then actually happened exactly as the person had seen in the dream. I thought these incidents must have happened accidentally, or most likely weren't true. Due to my mind being poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party since childhood, atheism was something that I ascribed to. From the time I could reason, I thought about death and felt that it was a very sad. It made me feel as if there was no hope. l was also fearful. As the years went by, my feelings concerning the subject of death intensified. It got to the point where I worried constantly and had trouble sleeping and eating.
I later heard that a person could become a ghost after death. I shrugged off this thought and believed it wasn't true. After all, my thinking was ruled by atheism. As I heard other people discussing this, detailing their personal, family's, or friends' experiences, I started to believe that there may be truth behind them. By now I was actually feeling a bit more happy, and was telling myself that people could continue to live after death and might not really die. Then, when browsing at a bookstore, I looked at several books that discussed supernatural things from Zhou Yi, and cultivation. I thought that after I turned 40 or 50 years old and had taken care of everyday people's matters, I would go to a remote mountain, or find a job like guarding the mountain gate, and spend the rest of my life thoroughly researching Zhou Yi. I would research cultivation and how to become an immortal, Buddha, or Tao. I thought that it would be great if I had the opportunity to make that wish come true in the future.
Strange Dreams
I believe that it was in my second year of high school, in 1990, that I had the same dream for several nights running. I remembered this dream very clearly but didn't understand it. In the dream, a small plastic sign was hanging from a short string on my chest. When the wind blew, the sign was blown to the left, hitting a small badge I was wearing. I worried that it would scratch the badge. I checked it carefully to see if it was scratched. It had the Taiji symbol on it, but it was not in black and white. Instead, it was red, blue, and black. Strangely, I had never before seen such a badge, but it did not feel strange in the dream, and after I woke up, I felt that it was very natural and was very impressed.
A year or two later in high school, I often went to the library to read magazines and newspapers, and I once suddenly had the urge to read a qigong magazine. In the first one I picked up, there was a feature article about Master Li and Falun Gong. The article introduced Falun Gong, said that there was no cost to attend a class, and that Master Li had over ten thousand disciples. I thought it was an ancient practice and had the urge to learn it. I later searched in several big parks in my city, but couldn't find the practice site. I then went to the library many times, but lost interest in reading qigong magazines.
Not long before that, probably in 1992, I woke up one morning but decided not to get up yet. I was awake and half asleep, when the blackness in front of my eyes suddenly split open. I saw many flowers on branches nearby and then a distant stone statue. To my surprise, the statue was moving towards me. When it was near me, it turned into a person in yellow clothes, and it began to move. I was startled, but I remembered that I was in a dream! I thought that since I was aware that it was a dream, the scene would definitely disappear. I must have immediately woken up and opened my eyes, but the scene before me didn't vanish. The person sat there, arms and hands slowly and gently moving, with the right arm lifted above the head at times. I watched, and after quite a while the movements stopped and then the picture vanished. I opened my eyes. I remembered it very clearly at that time, but I didn't understand what had happened. I mentioned it to a schoolmate afterwards, but he also couldn't explain it.
In the second half of 1994, I attended school in another city. When I returned after the 1995 Chinese New Year, I had become very interested in qigong and wanted to learn it. After I returned from a May vacation on a Saturday, I noticed that students were introducing Falun Gong at the entrance of another school. After listening to the practitioner's introduction, I went to the practice site to learn the exercises.
Several days later, we watched Master's lectures on a video. I then saw Master's exercise teaching instruction video. After watching Master doing the hand gestures, I suddenly remembered my dream. It was the same, only the color of the flower and Buddha image was slightly different! I was shocked.
After several days, I saw a veteran practitioner wearing a Falun emblem, which looked familiar. I asked if I could have one and then wore it. At that time, my school implemented strict rules that required students to wear a badge. It was clipped on at first, but it broke easily, so they gave us a yellow string, and we could hang the badge around our necks. I then remembered the dream that I had for several days in a row! Actually, I had feared that the school badge would scratch the Falun emblem!
During a high school English class, one of the articles we studied told about someone's dream that truly occurred many years later and was instrumental in overcoming an ordeal. I was no different from other students, with everyone influenced by the Chinese Communist Party's atheistic education. I couldn't fathom that something like that could really happen, and it seemed like something cooked up by one's imagination. About a month or two after we studied the article, I began studying the Fa, and I experienced over ten impressive dreams, including the two I've mentioned above.
For example, I was once visiting my grandfather in another city. He and Grandmother were not at home however, but at an uncle's home. I went to my uncle's home to see them and stayed overnight. After dinner we chatted, and it was a scene I had dreamed about several years before. The furniture was in the same places, everyone sat in the same position, and the way Grandmother smoked was just like in my dream. I was very impressed when I realized that I had seen this in my dream. Another scene was when I was playing at the zoo. Even the words I said to the tiger were the same as in my dream. There was no difference from the dream, although so many years had passed. It is absolutely impossible to explain dreams with atheism.
My father was deeply poisoned by the evil Party's atheism. Given his influence on me, I earned high marks in political studies and was deeply affected by atheism. The dreams that turned real helped me let go of atheism when I began studying the Fa. It strengthened my confidence in Falun Gong and helped me realize that everything Master said was truth. After I studied the Fa, I understood what happens in real life and in dreams.
Proud to Practice Falun Dafa
When I began studying the Fa, I felt joy from deep within my heart. I learned that humans may not die. I learned that there was a deeper origin and that people are cultivating to reach a wonderful destination! Humans may really become immortals! It is our eternally fortunate opportunity to learn Falun Dafa. I let go of the desire for achievement for the privilege to cultivate. In daily life, I was willing to treat others kindly, which was incompatible with how society interacted. It worried me and I became depressed. After learning Falun Dafa, I understood that humans should treat others with kindness. This made me so happy, because I could openly, honorably, and righteously be a good person! More importantly, I learned that humans really could become immortals and cultivate to become gods. Before I practiced Falun Dafa, due to strong pressure to achieve good grades, I suffered from insomnia and I often took over an hour to fall asleep. After I became a practitioner, this problem immediately disappeared, and I fell asleep within a short time after going to bed.
I spent all my spare time on Falun Dafa practice. I was diligent in studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, introducing Dafa to the public, and sharing experiences. There were eventually five to six practitioners at my school. A nearby university had more practitioners, so we ate our meals quickly and went there to practice the exercises, and then ran back for self-study at night. We really enjoyed it.
I returned home during the 1995 summer vacation and looked for practice sites everywhere. I finally found one in a park after looking for over a month. They had just begun to introduce Falun Gong in that park several days before. As soon as I saw them, I felt so close to them, as if I had known them for a long time. While doing the exercises with fellow practitioners in the park, I felt very uncomfortable in the sitting meditation several times, and was going to put my legs down. But I persisted and felt intense energy pouring through my body.
I returned to my city in 1996 and started to work. Because we were introducing the practice all over, the number of practitioners rapidly increased. I actively participated in group Fa study, practicing the exercises, and introducing Dafa to the public. I went to practice the exercises early in the morning. People sometimes asked about Dafa, or practitioners shared experiences. I stayed there until it was time to go to work and had no time for breakfast. A Fa study group attended by the elderly had begun studying at 6:00 p.m., thirty minutes after I finished work. I went there directly from work. After Fa study, some practitioners wanted to keep sharing. As the food stores were closed by the time I went home and I hadn't eaten dinner, I often had only one meal per day—at noon in the cafeteria. Others had three big steamed buns. I usually had six, but I was still very thin.
I worked in a very powerful governmental department. Everyday people envied me in my career. In order to spread Dafa, I often wore my uniform to join activities, Fa conferences, and experience sharing. I hoped that this would help others to join the practice and let others see that Falun Gong was different from other qigong practices, and that people from all walks of life could learn Falun Gong.
(To be continued)