(Minghui.org) The 2024 Australia Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference was held at the Hurstville Entertainment Center Auditorium in Sydney on October 27, 2024. Over 1,000 practitioners from different parts of the country attended the conference. Eighteen practitioners shared their journeys while practicing cultivation and fulfilling their mission of saving sentient beings.

The 2024 Australia Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience-Sharing Conference was held at the Hurstville Entertainment Center Auditorium.

In simple and sincere language, the speakers described how they applied the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance in resolving conflicts and improving their moral character, informed people about the persecution, and so on. Some began practicing cultivation 30 years ago, while others only recently began.

Several speakers teared up as they expressed their gratitude to the founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Some attendees were also moved to tears and said they were inspired by the sincere cultivation stories. They felt encouraged to do better in their cultivation journeys with determination and diligence, and they were reminded of the sacred mission of Falun Dafa practitioners in saving sentient beings.

Practitioners shared their cultivation stories.

Improving One’s Cultivation While Helping with Shen Yun

Several practitioners spoke of their cultivation opportunities while helping with Shen Yun.

Vlad said, “The greatest attachment I need to get rid of is ego. This year, while being involved in Shen Yun, this attachment was especially obvious. It manifested in defending myself and an attitude of ‘I am right.’ I was embarrassed by this attachment. My ego was exposed during discussions or the way I reacted to certain things. When I opened my mouth to speak, I felt as if I was looking at myself from outside my body, and thought, ‘This is gsgnot what I should be doing,’ or, ‘who is this person?’ Several times, my selfish ego was exposed when I ran into problems.”

He gave an example. “A practitioner with Shen Yun wanted to know why problems with the bus kept occurring. My attachment to ego wanted to protect myself and so I immediately explained that some things were beyond our control. I observed a venue staff member listening to my justification. From the expression on her face, I could see I lost her respect. I knew I was wrong. I shouldn’t act like that, and I wasn't behaving like a practitioner.”

Another practitioner who was there told him, “Ego is not an attractive trait.” Vlad realized ego is an ugly thing and felt disgusted by his behavior.

He sincerely asked Master to help him eliminate his attachments to “ego” and “proving himself right.” Soon, afterward he got a new job. His new boss was impatient with him, thought he was slow in doing things, not good enough and criticized him. Just as he thought he had reached his limit in tolerance, he told his wife, who is also a practitioner, about the problems he was facing at work. She reminded him, “Didn’t you ask Master to help you eliminate your attachment to self? It seems that Master arranged this. Do you think it’s easy to get rid of your attachment?”

Vlad said, “Time passed slowly when I was at that job, it was a humbling experience, a rare opportunity for me not to think too highly of myself, not to defend myself and a reminder that I should see things as well as solve problems from the perspective of a practitioner. It was this tense environment and constant reminder to see this as an opportunity to improve in cultivation that helped me overcome this tribulation. I would have quit months ago if I did not practice Falun Dafa.”

Mr. Huang talked about how he got rid of the attachment to comfort while searching for suitable accommodations for the Shen Yun performers. He thought he met the coordinator’s various requirements such as costs and facilities and soon came up with a list of potential accommodations. When he confidently handed the list to the coordinator thinking he accomplished the task and established his mighty virtue, the coordinator told him to find other options.

“I looked within and considered the reasons the practitioner gave for rejecting my list. I realized there were major shortcomings that would have severely impacted Shen Yun’s performances or led to higher costs. My attachment to comfort and reluctance to go through hardship gave me an excuse to look outward. I didn’t see where I could do better, and I was validating myself. I was focused on becoming a key person in the project rather than helping the project be a success and lessening the burden on the tour group so that they could better assist Master in saving people.

“I put aside my negative thoughts and was determined to do what I should do. I contacted the coordinator and we found a good solution. We were able to move to the next stage in the project.”

Mr. Huang said, “If not for this incident, I would not have been prepared to take on other responsibilities.”

Promoting Ganjing World

Ms. Huang began to promote Ganjing World two years ago. “I struggled to keep up with the rapid developments in the project,” she shared. Just then, a series of changes in her job and daily life happened. “It seemed to happen by coincidence, but I knew Master arranged this for me.”

An even greater gain was she got rid of her impure thoughts. She fell while she was doing the exercises at work. “That night, I happened to read about Master’s teaching on balancing work and cultivation. I had a revelation. I said, ‘Master, I am wrong!’ Despite practicing cultivation for over two decades, I did not treat the relationship between work and cultivation correctly. Master has arranged time for us to do the three things every day, it’s just a matter of how we manage our time. Yet, I have been using time at work for cultivation and thought I was being smart.”

She also realized she had been selfish in putting priority on Dafa work instead of caring for her children. She tried to be a good mother at home. “I showed my children the Ganjing World website as well as the new functions on the platform so that they know what I’m doing. I also stopped turning them down when they asked me for help. My children’s support and understanding was a great help. Often, when I ran into technical problems and asked them for help, they were able to quickly resolve things for me. They also gradually supported me in practicing Dafa.”

Her daughter-in-law began to ask her questions about cultivation and asked to read the English version of Zhuan Falun.

Creating a Cultivation Environment for Young Practitioners

Mr. Hua, a young practitioner, spoke of how he tried to find out what young practitioners needed and create an environment for them to practice cultivation. He thought that these young people can play a major role in helping society learn about Falun Dafa.

The first problem he noticed was the lack of deep communication among practitioners. He hoped that everyone could talk about how they improved their moral character after group exercises and Fa study. “There is something lacking in the environment that stops new practitioners from persisting in practicing cultivation.”

He also observed that if the actions of practitioners do not conform to ordinary society, it will have an impact on us clarifying the truth. “Some practitioners spend a lot of time on Dafa projects, this is a good thing. But, they lack the social skills to interact with people in mainstream society. They think it’s a waste of time to pay attention to ordinary society. It gives people the impression that Dafa disciples only care about human rights and their own cultivation. This is one of the reasons why we haven’t been able to breakthrough mainstream society because people see us as outsiders. They cannot feel our compassion.

“We establish better interaction through various activities such as camping trips, gatherings and learning traditional culture. More importantly, we have group study in English every week. This provides a relaxing environment for young practitioners to stay connected, learn how to work and communicate with one another, improve critical skills required in projects and opportunities to help one another in daily life as well as cultivation.

“I started this project to help young practitioners with a simple wish to help others. However, what I gained in cultivation is far more than the effort I put in. I became more tolerant and compassionate, I learned to respect that every practitioner makes progress in varying degrees as well. Those I help are in fact helping me become a better practitioner. I learned to accept criticism, lead a group, and come up with strategies. As I improve my character in conflicts, the project goes more smoothly.”

Cultivating Oneself in Small Matters

Several young practitioners also spoke of how they overcome fear and ego while participating in Dafa projects.

Kevin has been promoting the English language Epoch Times at local markets and community events nearly every weekend in the past year.

One time, while waiting for a parade to start, an incident prompted him to be aware of his attachment to ego. “I reminded everyone to stand in line and not step into another group’s boundary. However, no one listened. It is such a small thing, why is it so hard to get them to comply?! Yet they are practitioners!” A Western practitioner next to me reminded me: “This is an opportunity for you to improve.” However, I was upset and didn’t listen to what he said. I replied, “This is driving me mad.”

In the end, Kevin found many of his own attachments: “I often appear to be domineering, and pushy when I have the upper hand in an argument and make people feel embarrassed. Yet behind such behavior is the attachment to self. This leads to many attachments such as competitiveness, looking down on others, wishing to be praised, disliking criticism and so on. As a result, I am not patient and lack humility. There are no small matters in cultivation. How you handle things shows your state of cultivation. We should not fall into the trap of simply doing things. More importantly, we need to look within and cultivate our character. Only then will we be able to walk steadily and righteously on the path of cultivation.”