(Minghui.org) Greetings, esteemed Master and fellow practitioners!
I am 11 years old. I was very privileged to be born into a family of Dafa practitioners. “I came from heaven, I came to study the Fa.” From the age of 3, I could recite Hong Yin, a book of Master’s poems. Before my 5th birthday, I had finished reading Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, for the first time.
I want to thank my parents and grandparents for their help and support. Ever since I was born, I have never taken any medicine and have grown up healthy given Master’s compassion and care.
I have had the privilege of seeing Master when I attended the 2017 and 2018 Fa conferences in America. I have also participated in parades in New York, and Washington D.C. Although I have never had the opportunity to visit mainland China, I have attended a few Hong Kong parades. I also participated in many kinds of events clarifying the truth before I started learning to play the violin.
However, as I got older, and my studies increased, plus taking piano and violin on the weekends, I spent less and less time doing the three things. In the past year, with the goal of getting into a good high school, I faced many tribulations and tests. But, after I started treating myself as a practitioner and doing the three things, the results were wonderful. Thank you, Master.
When I was little, I really enjoyed learning, and my grades were outstanding. I skipped kindergarten and went to the first grade. From then on, my grades have always been near the top of the class. I have clarified the truth to my teachers and classmates. But when I got to fifth grade, my studies and homework increased. I also took violin. I studied the Fa less, and, except for Minghui School on Sundays, I did the exercises at home less and less. Needless to say, I hardly did any truth clarification. I could no longer maintain a balance between my studies and my cultivation. My xinxing dropped, and I developed some very bad habits.
First of all, I started getting lazy. Before, every Saturday I would go to tutoring from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. But I didn’t like doing the homework, so I told my parents I needed more time to practice the violin. and I didn’t need tutoring anymore. As soon as I stopped being tutored, I hurt my hand and couldn’t practice the violin for over two weeks. So stopping tutoring didn’t give me any more time than before to practice the violin.
I also developed a habit of complaining. I complained to my parents about the pressure from not just school, but also learning my two instruments, the violin and the piano. When my mother thought of applying for a private scholarship and taking the selective exam, I didn’t want to take them at first. I wanted to stay at the school where I was, but after learning that most of my friends were also leaving, I didn’t object.
Before the tests, I only got tutored in writing and had no time for mathematics. In February, I sat the scholarship exams for five private schools and didn’t complete the mathematics portion for any of them. I also applied for music scholarships and prepared two pieces for an audition. But after waiting a month, there was still no news. I was very worried, wondering if I would even get an interview. In March, I received rejection letters from a few private schools. I opened the reports and wasn’t surprised to see that my mathematics scores were only in the top 5 to 10 percent. My other subjects were in the top 2 to 3 percent. I heard that only if you were in the top 1 percent in all the subjects would you have a good chance of getting a scholarship offer.
I was very disappointed, and started doubting whether my efforts were actually worthy of a reward. My body also started eliminating karma. A cough and a runny nose continued to bother me.
When my parents saw all this, they started talking to me about their take on the situation. After I finished the scholarship applications, I started going to Minghui School again and participating in the Saturday group Fa study. I even started occasionally going to the local group Fa study. I started looking inwards and found that there were many areas where I had to improve.
The first one was my respect for my parents. My parents had helped me prepare for my future education, but I completely ignored their efforts, and I even got angry at them sometimes. They have much more reason to get angry at me, but they usually don’t. I realized that they had put a lot of effort into raising me, and I should try to take the pressure off them.
I also needed to increase my focus when studying the Fa. I realized how important studying the Fa was. Master has made known to us all we need to know: how to make the right decisions and finally reach consummation.
Another area I needed to improve in was saving sentient beings. Master did everything for us, so we could be saved. Master gave every sentient being the opportunity to be saved. As a cultivator, as a young practitioner, I must assist Master in a rectification, I must help people to return to tradition and return to their origins.
By studying the Fa and looking inward, I improved my xinxing. Later, I was offered interviews at two private schools. One of them was a music audition. I put down my attachment to pursuit and diligently prepared. During the holidays before my selective exam, I got rid of my laziness. Every morning at seven, I took the train with my mother to go to the tutoring college. I took many practice tests and did better each time. I believed that Master was always helping me. When I started treating myself as a cultivator, my situation changed dramatically. On the day of the interview, I didn’t have any attachments. I gave the teachers fliers for Shen Yun and introduced them to Shen Yun. I ended up getting a scholarship to that school.
During the second semester vacation, I added Fa study and exercises to my daily schedule. I did the exercises every morning and studied the Fa with my mother and grandmother in the evening. On regular school days when my mother takes me to the school bus, I memorize “On Dafa” from Zhuan Falun. If I have time, I will recite a few poems from Hong Yin. When I get home, I listen to my parents’ advice. In addition to completing my homework on time, I have become more diligent when it comes to playing the piano.
Although my studies and instrument practice already took up a lot of my time, when I heard about the violin performance for the May 13 celebration of World Falun Dafa Day, I eagerly participated in the rehearsals and performance. I knew that this time, I was playing the violin to spread the Fa and clarify the truth, so I had to do well. I discovered that the most difficult thing is not to play, it was how to find a balance between practicing the pieces for the performance and practicing the things my teacher had assigned. I later realized that only after I first did what my teacher had assigned could I play the performance pieces better so that sentient beings would be more able to sense just how precious Dafa is.
In Hong Yin IV, Master wrote a poem titled “Your Sentient Beings Are Waiting For You.” I believe this is telling us that, because all sentient beings are waiting to be saved, we must be more diligent about doing the three things, especially clarifying the truth.
I have been attending Minghui School for six years. Usually when I went to Minghui School on Sundays, I did the exercises, studied the Fa, and studied Chinese in the morning and then took Chinese traditional culture or drawing in the afternoon. I am very happy that we have violin rehearsals in the afternoons from April to September, which gives us the opportunity to clarify the truth through our performances. In addition to the May 13 activities, we also participated in four community truth-clarification activities.
We participated in the artistic performance organized by a local organization on June 4. We played Flying Falun. Our violin ensemble was selected to participate in a dinner attended by 400 to 500 people on June 17. There were principals and teachers of many language schools and many guests at the dinner. We played I Am a Young Dafa Disciple, A Letter to Mother, Beautiful May, and Flying Falun. Before the performance, I told everyone that Minghui School focuses on teaching traditional Chinese culture and traditional Chinese characters and that its students are guided by Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance in their daily lives. We also participated in many other community events to spread Dafa.
Recently, I unexpectedly earned unprecedented good grades and was the recipient of several honors: a gold award for the WriteOn writing competition, a perfect score in AMC (the Australian Mathematics Competition), and High Distinctions for Mathematics, English and Technology in ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools). I also received an offer from a top high school.
I realized that all of this was validating Dafa. These good results are all because I have fixed my relationship between my studies and my cultivation.
This is my cultivation experience sharing, I know that I still have many shortcomings when it comes to my cultivation, so I ask my fellow practitioners to please help me improve.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2023 Australia Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
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