Cultivation Is to Fundamentally Change Oneself

(Minghui.org) Practitioner Aizhi (alias) returned home in October last year after she had served a three-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa. Several days later she came to my home and gave me over 3,000 yuan that practitioners had donated for making Falun Dafa materials before she was sentenced. I was very happy to see her and said, “We sent forth righteous thoughts for you so that you could come home safely.” She replied coldly, “I have been transformed. The evil will not harass me anymore.” Then she cried and said, “Your fellow practitioners were severely persecuted in prison.” 

I knew what she was going to say. I remembered what Master said in Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa,

“Without cultivating the heart, no one can make it.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)

“Even if you kowtow every day until your head bleeds or even if you burn bundle after bundle of incense, it is still useless. You must truly and genuinely cultivate your heart for it to work.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun) 

I realized that Aizhi no longer regarded herself as a practitioner. Still, I gave her Master’s recent articles. She accepted them. I hoped that she could write a statement to nullify what she had done and publish it on the Minghui website, but she refused. 

I felt sad for her. She was a good practitioner. She started to practice Falun Dafa after Dafa was persecuted. When her husband was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for the justice of Falun Dafa, she went to see the municipal and district government officials to rescue her husband. Later on, she took over the hard work of making Dafa materials. Why was she “transformed” by the evil? 

I phoned her daughter one month later and asked about her recent situation. Her daughter said that she gave up cultivation and didn’t want to see other practitioners because she was afraid that our practitioners would say that she was enlightened on an evil path. 

Another practitioner named Ling invited Aizhi to her home. She unwillingly went there and stayed for over an hour. She said that all the practitioners in prison had been “transformed.” She even believed the staged self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square. We worried about her and pleaded that Master help her return to Dafa. 

I found out that her only daughter suffered from lupus and the virus had reached her kidney by February 2024. She had to see a doctor in a hospital in Chongqing, which was hundreds of miles away. The medical cost would be over 10,000 yuan a month. The family was in serious financial trouble. Practitioners were worrying about them. 

The sister of Aizhi’s husband was released from jail in February this year. She came to see me from a rather long distance. I had a sharing with her. I told her to study the Fa more and review her past cultivation to see where she fell short, and to read related sharing articles published on the Minghui website. She said, “I know the practitioners around me are stable in cultivation while I was repeatedly persecuted. The main reason is my selfishness. The practitioners in the jail believed in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lies and when they had illnesses, they complained that Master didn’t look after them. Some even said that they only believed in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and didn’t believe in Master.” 

I understood now that those practitioners who were persecuted and “transformed” were those who didn’t cultivate diligently, understood the Fa shallowly, and didn’t look within when conflicts arose, or when facing tests, and even badmouthed Master and Falun Dafa. 

Ling and I went to Aizhi’s home with the excuse of seeing her daughter. Aizhi said that she didn’t feel any wonderfulness of Falun Dafa though she had practiced Falun Dafa for over 20 years. Her parents opposed her practicing Dafa. So she quit. 

I shared with her based on her attachments. I told her that after she was arrested three years ago, her daughter found a good job thanks to Master’s arrangement and later bought a three-bedroom apartment, and she had been healthy. I asked her why her daughter had a terminal illness after she came home for two months. I said, “You practiced Falun Dafa for over 20 years. Isn’t it a pity that you have given it up now? How will you and your daughter do without Master’s protection?” I shared with her many amazing stories of what my family and friends experienced after they practiced Falun Dafa. 

Aizhi finally admitted that the reason she practiced Falun Dafa was to have good health and a happy family and get other benefits from Dafa. She then sent forth righteous thoughts with us. I felt relieved that she came back to Dafa and felt happy for her. But, I knew that she must work hard and fundamentally, change her human mentality, and cultivate herself genuinely. 

Looking back at my own cultivation of the past 25 years, I felt emotional. I started practicing Falun Dafa in October 1998. Within less than a year, the CCP launched a brutal persecution of Falun Dafa. In my heart, I always believe that Master is the most righteous and Falun Dafa is the best. I study the Fa and do the exercises almost daily. But, I was not able to step out to clarify the truth to people given my attachments. Thanks to Master’s compassion and warnings, I was able to let go of my attachment to my husband. I started to memorize Zhuan Falun once every year from the year 2004. With the help of fellow practitioners, I increased my clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. I set up a materials production site at my home. I realized that a Falun Dafa practitioner must do the three things. I was able to look when facing conflicts and constantly improve myself. 

My mother, my husband and I together with my six-year-old niece distributed the pamphlets of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in the streets one day in 2008. My mother and niece were arrested. My niece told them about my husband and me. The director of the local Domestic Security Division and an officer from the local 610 Office came to my company and told us that they would interrogate us that night in their office. Thanks to Master’s protection, we were safe. We clarified the truth to the officials. My mother was released that night. 

This incident awakened me. I cultivated diligently and did the three things constantly. Why did I come across such an incident? Why was the evil able to enter into my dimensional field? I looked within and found my attachments such as competitiveness, complaining, fear, seeking comfort, showing off, and more. But, I felt lost and didn’t know my future direction. I decided to study the articles in Essentials for Further Advancement.

I realized why I was persecuted. Although I did the three things and looked within when experiencing conflicts, it was centered on myself. I wanted to cultivate. I wanted to elevate. I wanted to achieve consummation. I wanted to do this and that. It looked like I was far away from Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. 

Falun Dafa opened up my heart. I memorized the 40-plus articles in Essentials for Further Advancement and used them to guide my cultivation. As I studied the Fa more, I gradually realized that selfishness was the main attachment that prevented me from improving. Selfishness was the root of all my attachments. When I recited Zhuan Falun, I understood why Master told us that we dropped our levels due to selfishness, and selfishness was the fundamental characteristic of the old cosmos and was the main reason that the old cosmos became rotten and was being demolished. Falun Dafa practitioners must cultivate and get rid of selfishness and fundamentally change themselves if they want to assist Master in rectifying the Fa and complete their mission and responsibility of saving sentient beings. 

Gradually I changed when facing conflicts with people in my daily life. I let go of selfishness and attachment to myself when I work with other practitioners and deal with my husband regarding his attachments to smoking and drinking. Gradually I could understand and put up with everyone and everything I came across with compassion. 

In the past, I emphasized what I wanted to do. Now, I do whatever Dafa needs me to do. I have gone through a fundamental change from an everyday person to a cultivator and then to a cultivator in the Fa-rectification period. My mind becomes broader. My cultivation has become more stable. I feel healthy, light and sharp-minded. I feel as if I am in my 30s although I am 72 years old now. What Master has arranged for me is a wonderful and magnificent path to heaven!

Those practitioners who are experiencing hardships and tribulations are repeating the mistakes I once made. They only want to get something from the Fa and practice Falun Dafa out of selfishness. They cannot understand the immense Fa-rectification and the boundless Fa principles. They are still human and subject themselves to persecution. They struggle with the huge hardships the old forces have arranged for them. 

If we can truly cultivate ourselves, completely let go of selfishness, fundamentally change ourselves, and enlighten from the Fa, the power of the Fa will naturally come into effect. We can naturally achieve “The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and harmonizes everything.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun). We can save more sentient beings and rectify any abnormalities. The evil will be eliminated by Dafa practitioners’ righteous thoughts and righteous actions.