(Minghui.org) I read an article, “Grateful for My Family's Blessings,” on Minghui.org the other day. The author of the article, a Falun Dafa practitioner, had a physical examination at the age of 75 and was told that he had the heart of a twenty-year-old. 

I believe this practitioner has regained a young body through cultivation practice of Falun Dafa.

Master told us:

“...we stress that your entire person must improve and elevate.” (The Second Talk, Zhuan Falun) “Ours is genuinely a practice for mind and body.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)“It occurs when the spiritual practice that you do works on both your mind as well as your physical body, such that your body changes from its core. With this process your cells will be gradually replaced by high-energy matter, and the aging process slowed. Your body will show signs of changing and reverting to a more youthful state, incrementally, until in the end the material of your body will have been replaced entirely by high-energy matter, and your body will no longer consist of the same material it once did.” (The Fifth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

My understanding is that while an everyday person becomes older day by day, Falun Dafa practitioners are getting younger by cultivating both mind and body. The practitioner mentioned in the above story apparently had become more than 50 years younger than his chronological age.

Then I wonder why many elderly practitioners have not reversed their age like the above-mentioned practitioner? I can think of several possible reasons.

The first reason could be the old forces' interference. The old forces did not allow practitioners, especially elderly practitioners, to look younger. That is, they did not allow practitioners' physical bodies to reflect their cultivation states. Otherwise, they thought that the enigma of cultivation would no longer exist. Master has talked about this in Fa lectures. In fact, the old forces can only change how practitioners look but are unable to affect their essence. Even though many practitioners look aged, their inside bodies are actually young. Instead of being misled, we should negate the old forces' persecution.

The second reason is that some elderly practitioners allowed themselves to think they are getting old and that such thought could make them indeed become aged. When we think like a non-practitioner, our xinxing level is at best as high as that of an everyday person, who of course would grow old. Therefore, the thought of us getting old means we've failed to believe that we are Dafa practitioners cultivating both mind and body.

An everyday person cannot escape the cycle of birth, aging, illness and death. As a practitioner, if we keep thinking we are getting old, we won't be able to regain our youth and we may even lose our life to old age. Cultivation of mind and body is able to make us stay young, but this requires solid cultivation. A genuine practitioner is truly able to stay young forever.

Having solid faith is critical in cultivation, and that means believing in Master and Dafa. Without solid faith, everything else would be superficial.

Master said,

“People in the past managed to become divine by subjecting themselves to nine years of hardship, where they would refrain from all activity, sitting in meditation facing a wall—and they became divine through it.” (Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference)

Bodhidharma misunderstood Sakyamuni's teaching but he achieved enlightenment by meditating for a long time. How did he do it? I realized that he made it because of his faith, his firm belief in his Master and the Dharma. His faith plus his persistence made him successful in cultivation. It was not easy for him to sit there for nine years in his cultivation. His thought karma and other factors all interfered with him, telling him that he could not accomplish anything by sitting there. But he did not waiver and he firmly believed in his Master.

Our Master told us,

“Others won’t be able to tell from your appearance what a change you’ve undergone, however, since at the molecular level your cells will retain their original structure and configuration. So the energy inside of you will have changed, even if your cellular structure hasn’t. This means that you will no longer be subject to aging. Your cells will no longer decay and die, and you will forever stay young. So spiritual practice can bring you a youthful look that never fades.” (The Second Talk, Zhuan Falun)

We should not be affected by some practitioners' aged appearance because that could be a false impression. Master has made it clear that our cultivation practice is for both mind and body.