(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in March 1996, and I have experienced many ups and downs on my cultivation path. Even though I didn't stay on track the entire time, our great and compassionate Master didn't give up on me. The following are some of my experiences.
Truly and Rationally Gaining an Understanding of the Fa
After I stopped practicing Falun Dafa for a while, I resumed my cultivation in June 2014. I had a lot of attachments and karma at the time, but my health and realm of mind improved quickly after I started following Master's teachings.
I started to talk to people about Dafa and the persecution with my relative, who is also a Dafa practitioner. However, I didn't pass many xinxing tests due to my lack of Fa study and solid self-cultivation. There were omissions in my cultivation, but I failed to address them. I simply tagged along with my relative to clarify the facts to people.
The relative suddenly passed away in March 2016. I didn't know anyone else to turn to who could help me with my cultivation. The old forces took advantage of my over-reliance on my relative and took her life. They meant to see if I would still continue to cultivate by myself. After a period of sadness, I realized that I had so many human notions and such a shallow understanding of the Fa that I had left a loophole for the old forces to exploit.
I continued to study the Fa, clarify the facts, and send forth righteous thoughts. I replaced my sadness with an open and calm mind. During family gatherings, I spread a spirit of courageousness, optimism and tenaciousness in the face of tragedy. Because of my cultivation, I was able to overcome my painful loss and validate the power of Dafa to the people around me. At one family gathering, a friend of mine said, with a glass of wine in her hand, “Cheers to your faith!”
Master said:
“So whether it is good things or bad things you run into, so long as you cultivate in Dafa, they are all positive, to be sure.” (“Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005”)
I learned to treat the bad things that occur with a positive attitude.
Purifying Myself by Eliminating My Attachments
The worst temptations for young people in today's society are the Internet and sentimentality. As a young Dafa practitioner, I experienced the same temptations but eventually eliminated my attachments to them. It used to be hard for me to refrain from checking WeChat during the breaks between my Fa study. All of the chats were about fame, fortune, sentimentality, and other worldly matters. I enjoyed browsing shopping sites before bedtime, and wasted a lot of time watching movies and TV shows on my cell phone, sometimes for the whole night. It made me exhausted and lost in foolish ideas. I couldn't do the three things at all.
Master said:
“Things are a mess now in today’s society, and the Internet is now a mishmash of all sorts of bad things—it’s really like the Devil, and those things are like a whirlpool, with whatever enters it getting mixed in and jumbled together with everything else. It is a menace to society as well as to people’s minds, morality, and traditions, altering how people live. It’s one big motley mix, with good and bad jumbled together.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
My state of mind was in a dangerous situation. I knew that the old forces had taken advantage of practitioners' attachments to throw degenerate thoughts into their minds. Practitioners who don't have a rational understanding of the Fa would consider such thoughts their own, indulge in desires, and make mistakes again and again.
It was time for me to break away from it. As soon as the idea of playing on the Internet came into my mind, my first reaction was to refuse it and reject it. Then I would send forth strong righteous thoughts to eliminate such degenerate notions and materials in my body.
I sent forth righteous thoughts at any time and location. The time I used to spend playing on the Internet was now used to study the Fa. I completely quit Wechat, Internet games, movies, and online shopping. I became energetic, peaceful, and rational. I now spend more time doing the three things.
The same principle applies to eliminating sentimentality. As Dafa practitioners, we have to treat ourselves as cultivators all the time, and rationally eliminate interference from sentiment. The desires generated by sentiment can be very powerful, and we shouldn't be discouraged if we can't eliminate them immediately. As long as we deny them with righteous thoughts when they appear, the desires will weaken.
I feel that I have never been so pure. The condition of my physical body and my xinxing keeps improving.
Following Master's Guidance and Doing the Three Things Well
I became unwilling to clarify the facts in July last year. I could sense a form of sticky matter was filling my dimension, and wearing down my will. Looking inward, I found that my selfishness was blocking me from fulfilling my vow. The principles of the old cosmos are based on selfishness, but the new cosmos, which has been rectified by the Fa, won't be like that. I made up my mind to eliminate my selfishness and continue clarifying the facts with righteous thoughts.
Though I obtained the Fa many years ago, I found that I had read Zhuan Falun less than ten times. Many fellow practitioners have read the book more than 100 or 200 times.
I decided to read through all 45 Dafa books and 19 Master's new lectures. I wanted to read Zhuan Falun again and again. After making this decision, I spent my spare time on studying the Fa instead of entertaining myself.
As I studied more and more, I gradually found my human notions and desires, and rejected them. Whenever I ran into something in my work and life, I didn't treat it as a coincidence. I searched within for any attachments. If I found any, I eliminated them immediately. If I couldn't find anything, I would just deny the arrangements of the old forces.
During the process of intensive Fa study, the degenerated matter that stopped me from clarifying the facts disintegrated slowly. My well-cultivated side became stronger and stronger, and my main consciousness became clearer about my mission. I resumed truth-clarification work and my distribution of Dafa materials went smoothly.
I truly experienced what Master said:
“Study the Fa well, do the three things well, and you will have all that you need.” (“On the Responses to the Piece About Assistant Souls”)
Looking back at my cultivation, I believe it was simply a process of making improvements. I would like to encourage practitioners who are in the midst of tests not to treat the degenerate spirits, desires, and attachments as part of yourself. Never hold them in high esteem. No matter how hard it is, persist in studying the Fa.
As Master said:
“The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts.” (“Drive Out Interference” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I know that I still have many attachments and human notions to eliminate, but I'm no longer affected by them, because I'm already a particle that melts into the Fa. Anything that doesn't conform to the Fa will be completely eliminated in my cultivation.
