(Minghui.org) Greetings Master, and fellow practitioners!
I am a practitioner from Seoul, Korea, who began practicing Falun Dafa three years ago.
Cleansing My Body
I had come across Falun Gong long ago, as there were always people asking me to cultivate. Maybe because my affinity with Dafa had yet to mature, I did not start my cultivation in Dafa any earlier.
My right shoulder started to ache in April 2017. Although I went for acupuncture treatment, there was no improvement. Therefore, I went to a nearby hospital for a nuclear magnetic resonance test. The test result showed that I had torn my ligament, which was quite serious. Immediate surgery was recommended and was scheduled for April 30.
Considering any further action, I sent a Multimedia Message (SMS) to a close friend who practices Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) to ask his advice. He replied that there was still some time before the surgery, and he persuaded me not to think about it. Instead, he suggested that I attend the nine-day Falun Dafa seminar at the Tianti Bookshop.
I was quite worried about my condition, and grasped for anything that gave me any glimpse of hope. I did not respond to my friend, but attended the Tianti Bookshop’s nine-day seminar. On the first day, listening to Master Li's (the founder of Falun Dafa) recorded lecture, I could not understand anything. All I remember is that I kept falling asleep and in the end, I went home without having learned anything. Beginning on the second day, in order to catch up with the progress of the class, I started to read one lecture of Zhuan Falun at home before attending the lectures. Although, I still felt sleepy during the lectures, as long as I attended the class, I felt comfortable and all my worries disappeared.
However, not long after attending the new practitioners' Fa study session to study Master’s lectures, my right shoulder suddenly became as if frozen, and it hurt badly. I could no longer sit or lie down. I called the practitioner who is in charge of the practice site. He told me that this means that Master was cleansing my body and eliminating my karma. After tolerating the pain for three nights, I could no longer take the pain, so I went to the hospital, where I was given some medications.
That day, after taking the daily dosage of medication, I went to the practice site to do the exercises. At the practice site, I talked to a senior practitioner. After listening to him, I understood that this pain is the suffering that a practitioner should tolerate in the process of getting rid of karma, but I took the medications instead.
After returning home, I thought about being a cultivator, and wondered whether these medications might not affect me. Therefore, I threw all the medications away. Amazingly, after I threw away the medications, the pain in my shoulder gradually disappeared.
Experiencing the power of Dafa when I first started my cultivation made me determined to believe in Master and Dafa unconditionally and cultivate diligently no matter what happens. I canceled the surgery. Although my husband and daughter did not object to my decision, my son, who had gone to the hospital with me to arrange for that surgery, could not understand my decision.
Now that my shoulder no longer has any problems. and I have recovered, my family no longer interferes with me. When they ask if there is any problem with my shoulder, I raise my arms and show them that there is no problem. Also, I once saw in a dream something removed from my shoulder towards my wrist, and I knew that Master was cleansing my body.
Before my cultivation, I had cystitis; my heart valves could not close properly so blood leaked into my heart resulting in heart murmurs. I had to take antibiotics during season changes, as I always came down with a sore throat. However, all these problems no longer worried me.
Changing Myself after Starting to Cultivate
One day, when I got home after clarifying the truth about Dafa at the Konkuk University subway station, my husband, who normally has a gentle temper, suddenly shouted at me, “You are not going there to cultivate. You are actually participating in an organization that is similar to the CCP!” He even scolded me loudly as though he was going to hit me. The commotion lasted for a while.
As it happened so suddenly, I had no time to react, so I said, “What did I do wrong?!” However, it would be very shameful if our neighbors heard us quarrel, so I tolerated and did not continue to argue with him. After that, no matter what my husband said, I did not answer back. I just kept reciting, “Eliminate all the evil, eliminate all the evil!” in my heart to reinforce my righteous thoughts. However, my husband became even more angry and continued the commotion. I did not fight back, no matter what my husband said, and gradually, his volume started to decrease and finally he simmered down.
I felt that I had done nothing wrong, but was being scolded. I was feeling very wronged. In my heart, I hated my husband. This feeling continued for a few days.
Later, I understood that I thought that by not answering back, I'd achieved the tolerance requirement – but I did not. On the surface, I seemed to have tolerated the matter, but in my heart, I was still very angry. The things that I thought about were worse than those of an ordinary person’s thoughts.
Master said,
“Perhaps as soon as you step in the door, your spouse will throw a fit right in your face. If you endure it, your effort of practicing qigong today will not be in vain.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
“Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing. To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator.” (“What is Forbearance (Ren)?” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I understood that my behavior was worse than that of an ordinary person, and Master’s Fa awakened my conscience. I now understood the meaning of true tolerance.
Looking Within
I understood that regardless of whether something was big or small, was an issue within or outside my home, was a matter of the past or a current matter, or any matter between people, as long as it has something to do with me, I should look within to find the reason for why it happened.
During the first 10 years of our marriage, my husband had a stable job. Although we were not rich, we had few problems and we had a harmonious life. However, after the 1997 economic crisis, the company where my husband worked was closed down. Despite being the head of the house, my husband did not want to go out to work, and he did nothing. I had to work to support the family. Since that time, I complained a lot, and held hatred and dissatisfaction in my heart. I even watched my husband closely. I was sulky and impatient with my children. This caused the whole family to be stuck in a depressed atmosphere.
As a practitioner, I finally understood that this was due to the karma that I had accumulated in my past lives. In my past life, how many bad deeds had I done to my husband to make him treat me like this now? I start to feel that my husband was actually very pitiful. Once I no longer looked down on my husband, everything naturally started to improve. In the past, in order to pass the time, my husband would do some small household chores. Now, he is taking on more chores. What I am most grateful for is that after I started to cultivate in Dafa, no matter where I go for cultivation matters, my husband has never stopped me or objected. For this, I am really thankful to him.
Master said,
“In cultivation, there may be two scenarios when dealing with specific conflicts or when others treat you badly. One is that you might have treated this person badly in your previous life. You feel in your heart that is is unfair, “How can this person treat me like this?” Then why did you treat this person that way in the past? You might claim that you actually did not know it at that time, and this lifetime has nothing to do with another lifetime, but that won’t do.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I have been working at my company for 17 years. I do not know what past affinity I had with this company that made me stay there so long. My colleagues’ ages are about the same as that of my children, and I became the company’s oldest employee. Sometimes I would lose my temper when the younger colleagues did things that I was not happy with, and I would show a dissatisfied expression on my face. Every time I'd get angry, the anger would continue for a few days. After cultivating, I understood that maybe I also owed these younger colleagues a lot. That is why we kept having conflicts. Now, when conflicts arise again, I try to look within to resolve the problem.
Validating the Fa
On July 20, 2020 I participated in a Dafa parade. I was assigned to demonstrate the exercises, and I played a critical role in the parade. However, 3 days before the parade, my right thigh started to feel very heavy and my knee became very painful, causing me to limp when I walked. But, I had already agreed to participate in the parade. As the pain increased, my main consciousness also started to weaken.
My son sent me a message saying, “Seeing my mother's leg ache until she could not walk, after returning home, I could not sleep that night. Mother worked hard all her life for her children and wore out her knees. I am not able to earn more money to let my mother retire early. I feel really sorry. Sorry Mother.” After reading this message, I felt that my son had finally grown up and matured.
However, the pain in my right leg did not get better. Sitting and standing both became difficult and even going to the toilet also became a very difficult task, so I called a practitioner. The practitioner shared his cultivation experiences with me and told me not to acknowledge the old forces’ arrangements. He said that I must persist in my confidence that “I will definitely participate in the parade,” believe in Master and believe in Dafa. I should also study the Fa more, look within, get rid of my attachments, such as complaints, hatred, jealousy, showing off, and also get rid of the bad thoughts that had formed in my mind over time. He also told me to send forth righteous thoughts.
Three days passed, the day of the parade arrived, and it rained in the morning. Although my right leg had not truly improved, my heart did not waver. With a “take a taxi there first and see how it goes” thought, I set off to the parade area. There was still a short stretch of road to walk. Although I limped there with my not very agile right leg, I did not feel any shame. The parade finally started. Although during the process, the pain caused me to fall behind the others occasionally, I endured the pain and successfully finished the whole course, reaching the end of the parade. On the way home, due to the pain, I took a taxi home. After reaching home, I thought, “This is a miracle! Without Master’s help, I would not have dared to think about it.” Very quickly, after a week, my process of karma elimination ended.
However, problems started again. Just 2 days after the recovery of my right thigh, my left thigh started to ache just like my right thigh. Although I tried to keep it from my family, the pain caused me to have some coordination problems. When they saw that, no one in my family was willing to let go this time. “Just as it looked like it was going to recover, why is it like this again!” My daughter made an appointment with a major hospital for a checkup and insisted on coming along with me. My son called every day to check if I'd gone to the hospital. However, as I had already experienced the miracle of my right leg recovering, I did not feel any unease in my heart.
Not long after that, I heard the news that there was a Dafa parade near the Daerim train station. But at that time, my left leg was as painful as the right leg had been. When the pain reached the extreme, I felt that I could no longer predict what would happen the next day, and whether I could participate in the parade.
However, on the day of the parade my left leg no longer ached that much.
It is really just as Master said,
“Things are bound to turn around after reaching the limit!” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
“When you feel very uncomfortable, it indicates that things will turn around after reaching an extreme. Your whole body will be purified; it must be completely purified. The root cause of your illness has been removed, and what remains is only this bit of black qi that will come out on its own to let you suffer a little and bear a little hardship. It wouldn’t do for you to not bear even a little bit.” (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun)
On the day of the Daerim parade, it rained early in the morning. I followed the parade group at the end and I kept asking for Master’s help in my heart—“Please help me, Master, Please help me, Master!” As I dragged on with my limping leg, I completed the four km route.
Although I was wearing a raincoat during the parade, when the parade ended, my whole body was drenched. The air conditioner on the train was turned on high. But, I felt warm and not cold. I read Lecture Five of Zhuan Falun on my mobile phone and returned home successfully.
Five days after the parade, my son was getting married. Therefore, the children were teasing me, asking, “Do you want to limp throughout your son’s wedding?” I said, “Nothing bad will happen, and I am recovering so don’t worry.” My heart was also very stable.
Now, thinking back, I should have looked within when my family members reacted adversely. If I had treated them better earlier, they may not have misunderstood me. My right leg had already recovered, so I should have thought about the matter in a positive way, answer my family wisely, and reinforce my righteous thought. I think this may be due to my lack of Fa study. However, all in all, under Master’s care and protection, I attended my son’s wedding with a pair of healthy legs, and the wedding was perfect. Thank you Master.
Through this experience of getting rid of karma through my legs, I thoroughly understood that I had not been cultivating diligently for the past three years. I had always been superficial, and not serious in my cultivation attitude. I claimed that I could not sit in the lotus position as my legs hurt. I prioritized family matters instead of cultivation matters. I only do Dafa projects when I have time, which is really not the correct behavior of a cultivator.
However, I am starting to change now. Every morning, my first thought is, “Dafa is the topmost priority.” Then, I get up and complete the five sets of exercises before I make breakfast and head out to work. Waking up early every day makes my body feel lighter and faster than when I wake up late. I am determined to be more righteous and more persistent on my cultivation path.
Thank you Master, and fellow practitioners.
(Presented at the 2020 Korea Online Fa Conference)
