(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am a young Dafa practitioner from New Taipei. It has been 19 years since I started practicing Falun Dafa in elementary school. In the process of cultivating, under the protection of Master, I have come through safely, and I have felt that Master has endured tremendous karma for every Dafa practitioner in order for us to be able to cultivate, and my gratitude is indescribable. On the occasion of the Fahui, I would like to report my cultivation experiences over the years to Master and share them with fellow practitioners, in the hope that I will be more diligent and live up to Master’s painstaking efforts.
1. Obtaining the Fa and Cultivating in Tribulations
I had a low period. In my sophomore year of high school, my father was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, and he was unable to make a sound after the operation, and it affected our family factory’s business. Therefore, I decided to take a leave of absence from high school and run the business with my father. When I made this decision, I was facing a very serious family crisis, but when I thought of Master’s Fa, I persevered and got through it.
Master said,
“Each Dafa disciple has to make and complete his own path, and your paths in cultivation are different; in other words, each person’s cultivation path is different.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2004 Chicago Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IV)
Except for my parents, the elders in my family didn’t understand me very much. First of all, the academic qualifications that had made my grandparents proud disappeared after I took a leave of absence. I felt tormented. On one hand, I was worried that my decision to suspend school would embarrass my parents, but on the other hand, my father was very weak after the operation and the family’s financial situation was critical, so there really was no other choice. So, whenever I was asked why I had to take a leave of absence from school instead of hiring a few more employees, I could only smile and say nothing. When I couldn’t calm my mind, it was Master’s Fa that encouraged me. I now understand that only righteous thoughts that arise from the Fa can sustain us over one hurdle after another.
And on the road of cultivation, there are really waves that unsettle us. When the business gradually got on track, my father’s health deteriorated, and he passed away in 2016. After that, the factory needed me and my mother to run it on our own. Fortunately, in the past few years, in addition to running the business, I also learned how to operate the large machines in the factory, so the operation of the production line was not greatly affected.
However, these large machines are very dangerous, and serious occupational injuries are not unheard of in the industry. I had a similar experience myself, but fortunately because of Dafa I was fine.
Once, when I was operating a large machine, my hand was rolled into the machine, and everyone was terrified. Common sense indicated that my fingers would likely be broken, but when I took my hand out, it was just swollen and puffy like a steamed bun. At that time, my first thought was that I didn’t feel scared, I was a Dafa disciple and had Master’s protection. Fortunately, my mother is also a fellow practitioner, so she reminded me to practice more. After only a day or two, my hand was back to normal.
Of course, in the past few years, there have been some challenges: for example, the factory caught fire before I left for a Fahui held overseas, the large fan on the roof was blown off by a typhoon, and the former landlord sold the factory when the economy was bad. At these times, I thought of Master’s words:
“Those ordeals and the suffering, no matter how great or harsh you find them to be, are good things, because they take place solely on account of your cultivation. A person can eliminate karma and shed human attachments when he goes through ordeals, and through ordeals he can improve.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume VIII)
When I put my mind right and looked at everything that had happened from the perspective of a cultivator, these tests, which seemed to be as high as mountains, were unconsciously crossed.
2. Cultivating at University
When the pandemic hit in 2020, many industries were severely affected and stagnated, but our family business unexpectedly improved. At that time, someone liked the location of our factory and said they wanted to buy it. After discussing it with my mother, we felt that the pandemic was actually an opportunity to plan our future. At that time, I happened to read a passage from Master’s Fa:
“By the time I started to teach the Fa, those Gods came down like snowflakes—it was just that many. I calculated their ages now, and from when I started to spread the Fa till now, they would be young people around twenty-five years old, many of whom really have not been saved.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIV)
I thus decided to make up for my unfinished studies, because I would definitely come into contact with many classmates, and these young people are also those who need to know the truth and be saved. By 2021, I was basically able to settle down at work, and I finally had the opportunity to pick up my high school textbooks that I hadn’t touched for a decade. I was admitted to university the following year.
However, when I entered university, I was presented with another challenge. The exams and class reports were a bit difficult for me. I spent too much time on schoolwork, and it cut into the time for studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, which caused my cultivation state to fluctuate. However, when I read Master’s passage:
““Practice with the heart you first had, and success is assured.” These are words of truth from the spiritual community.” ("Dafa Spiritual Practice Is Serious")
I realized that I had put the cart before the horse. I told myself that I must strike a balance between my studies and my cultivation, and only when my cultivation is solid can I clarify the truth with strength.
3. Clarifying the Truth According to the Environment
During my years at work, I had basically focused on promoting Shen Yun. So when I went to university, I was thinking about how to introduce Shen Yun to the people around me. At the end of the semester, I wrote a thank you card on a Shen Yun postcard for each professor who taught the class, and briefly introduced Shen Yun.
In addition to Shen Yun, several truth-clarification movies had been released in the past few years that were also suitable as starting points for truth-clarification on campus. I took a course on film, and the semester coincided with the release of the movie “Eternal Spring,” so I took the opportunity of an oral presentation to present this film and introduce the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong to my professors and classmates. And this year, when the movie “State Organs” premiered in Taiwan, Canadian practitioners came to Taiwan to meet with the audience and answer questions. I thought it was a good opportunity, so I invited the professors to watch it, and I received very positive feedback from the professors.
I realized that the process of talking about Dafa and exposing the persecution is actually a process of self-improvement. In the process of clarifying the truth, I gain the most. For example, when promoting Shen Yun at tea parties, I changed my introverted personality. While I made contact with larger groups, I also became more optimistic.
In addition, the truth cannot be told at too high of a level. I realized that in order to help people understand, we must also go along with the attachments of ordinary people and cut through in a way that they can understand. In addition, participation in different projects can be aimed at different ethnic groups. For example, Gan Jing World is a great app to promote to college students. I remembered a course I took on communication skills, and my professor said that in order for someone you know to be interested in what you say, you have to connect what you say to yourself (i.e., talk about things that are relevant to you). This made me think about setting up my own channel and using myself as a starting point to invite people around me to visit my channel in a clean world.
When I was building my channel, I was figuring out how to choose topics for the channel, such as travel, food, or culture. Personal characteristics and content are also very important. I thought that my major could provide me with a lot of ready-made material to write articles about. It’s also an arrangement by Master when it comes to the major I’m currently studying. Because, when I was in high school, I studied science, but I chose liberal arts as my major in college. This field only occurred to me two days before I filled out the application. I believe that everything I encounter in my cultivation is not accidental, let alone choosing a major! There must be sentient beings in this environment who are destined for me, and the knowledge I have learned here can also be used as a tool for me to clarify the truth in the future.
Epilogue
Looking back on the many things I have experienced over the years, I have come to realize that when things don’t go well, I must remember that I am a Dafa disciple. When we recognize that everything that happens in our lives is a good thing, we will cherish every opportunity to improve ourselves more.
The above is my cultivation experience. If there is anything that is not on the Fa, please be merciful and correct it.
Thank you, Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners.
(Presented at the 2024 Taiwan Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
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