(Minghui.org) Greetings, respected Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I started practicing Falun Dafa almost eight months ago. I learned about this spiritual practice from my husband, who has been practicing for a decade. I personally benefited from the practice by improving my xinxing, developing a deeper understanding about the purpose of being human and I would like to share my experience.
Before I began practicing Falun Dafa I followed a religion, and visited a temple almost every day—there were many temples in the city in India where I lived. I always prayed for a better life or sought help in solving problems. I never prayed about cultivating to higher levels since the religion did not teach people how to cultivate.
My parents taught me the importance of being good and how to lead a regular life. The only issues I had were those a typical teenager or a young adult usually faces. I always had a sense that someone was watching over me when I had problems that I had difficulty handling. Whenever I was in a dangerous situation, someone always helped me.
After I married and moved to the U.S. with my husband, I continued to practice that religion. There were few temples where we lived, so I had to drive for an hour or two to visit different temples. This made it difficult to visit a temple every day or even on Fridays, and we only visited when we had time. We prayed for things we wanted in our lives. During one of the visits, my husband and I had a very eye-opening experience about the priests who were performing worship rituals to different deities in the temple. They were complaining about each other, and afterwards we always felt impure energies lingering in the temples.
In Lecture One of Zhuan Falun, Master said, “In the Dharma-Ending Age, even monks in temples have difficulty saving themselves, let alone offering salvation to others.”
This experience had a huge impact on our belief in that religion, and we often questioned our faith in this religion. We gradually stopped following it and started looking for answers about the purpose of life, the purpose of being human, and our reason for existing in this world.
In hindsight, I believe Master was clearing the path for us to receive the Fa. When we stopped practicing that religion, the concepts from that religion were cleared from our minds, which readied us to dedicate ourselves to Dafa.
Master said,
“I am not saying that you have to study my Falun Dafa. What I am talking about is a principle. If you want to cultivate, you must dedicate yourself to only one cultivation way. Otherwise, you won’t be able to cultivate at all. Of course, if you do not want to cultivate, we will leave you alone. The Fa is taught only to those who genuinely practice cultivation. Therefore, one must focus on only one practice, and even thoughts from other practices should not be mixed in.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
This was a blessing from Master, as we were able to practice Falun Dafa without interfering thoughts from the religion we used to practice.
Receiving the Fa
During this time, my husband’s colleague shared information about Dafa, and he was able to connect with a veteran practitioner who taught him the exercises and provided details about the practice. After practicing for a year, my husband explained to me what Falun Dafa is, encouraged me to read Zhuan Falun and practice the exercises. I read the Fa and did the exercises with him whenever I could. My children were two and six years old then, and I did not prioritize cultivation over managing work and family. I read the Fa and did the exercises for about six months, but I did not practice diligently.
I did not look within to identify the interference I experienced during Fa study, and I did not try to eliminate thought karma. I stopped reading the Fa, and went back to my old schedule of taking care of my family and focusing on my work. My husband continued to practice, and I supported him whenever I could to help him cultivate.
Resuming Practicing Falun Dafa
My husband talked about his experiences and encouraged me to resume practicing. Even though I’d stopped reading the main book Zhuan Falun, I continued to believe in the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and followed them as much as I could during my daily interactions in society. I had great respect for Master.
Late last year, I watched the movie, “Once We Were Divine” with my family, and the messages shared in the movie awakened my knowing side. I realized that I needed to diligently follow this practice and fulfill my oath to Master. In the movie, one of the main characters did not overcome the interference that prevented him from receiving the Fa, and in the end, he destroys himself and his world because he did not cultivate. This moved me deeply, and I understood that I was living in illusion and could not understand the purpose and the deeper meanings of the Fa above the surface level. Since then, I have been studying the Fa every day and trying to do the exercises as well. There is a big difference in my understanding of the Fa and my daily Fa study compared to earlier. I am able to understand how the Fa guides me in leading my life and can help me to continually improve my xinxing.
Harmony in Our Lives
Falun Dafa has brought harmony into our lives. We both have full time jobs, and it’s a challenge to balance work with daily life, which often caused conflicts with each other in managing household responsibilities and raising our children. Due to Falun Dafa, we are more compassionate with each other and are now able to share the responsibilities without much conflict. Even if a conflict arises, it’s quickly resolved, as we discuss it based on the Fa principles and let go of our egos.
We also discuss the benefits of the practice with our children and encourage them to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. We are able to discuss social media and other evil influences that our children are exposed to and help them to understand and stay away from the addictions of the digital world. We study the Fa every day, learn from our shortcomings and continue to develop our xinxing. We strive to be a good people all the time.
The Impact of Spiritual Practice at Work
I work for a Fortune 100 company, and my job responsibilities often include working long hours. It’s a stressful environment, and I have to deal with colleagues who are very sensitive and tend to create conflicts. By practicing Dafa diligently this year, I’ve been able to apply the teachings of Dafa in my day-to-day work and manage the stress. It also helped me look within and identify the attachments related to work: fame and self-interest. In meetings when there are conflicts, I no longer blame others; instead, I look inward to see what I did to create the conflict.
Master said,
“As practitioners, you will suddenly come across conflicts. What should you do? You should always maintain a compassionate and calm heart. Then, when you run into a problem, you will be able to do well because it gives you some room as a buffer. You should always be benevolent and kind to others and consider others when doing anything. Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems. Therefore, in cultivation you should follow a higher and higher standard for yourself.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I put myself in others’ shoes, try to understand the reason for the conflict and try to be compassionate. As I am still cultivating, I don’t always succeed in being calm and compassionate and I’ve failed many times. But Master’s Fashen (Law Body) is always guiding me to follow this principle.
Recently, a colleague from another city visited my office. He was here for a short period of time, and I asked him if we could go out for dinner. I’ve never before had unplanned dinners with colleagues. After confirming the time, I realized that I should use this opportunity to clarify the truth to him.
I spent an hour providing details about Dafa, explaining the persecution and sharing my experience about the benefits of Dafa. To my surprise, he was very interested in knowing more about this practice and thanked me for sharing the information. This experience reflects the importance of spreading the Fa at each and every opportunity that we encounter in our daily life.
Cultivation Tests
I’ve also had tribulations that test my faith in Master. I have passed some tests but failed others. When I started sending righteous thoughts, thought karma that Falun Dafa is bad interfered, and I was unable to focus. I started negating the thought karma and eventually it stopped. I thank Master for helping me eliminate it.
I also went through a physical tribulation with my right eye, which became red and very painful. I couldn’t see anything that was bright and I had trouble driving. My eye was constantly watering, and I was unable to perform my daily activities. It was a serious test of my faith in Dafa. The symptoms became worse as the days progressed. Even though I felt tremendous mental pressure, I did not give up my daily Fa study and every day, I became mentally stronger, persevered and overcame the tribulation. Eventually, I ignored it and went about my daily life. After a few weeks, all of my symptoms went away. I thank Master for his benevolence.
There are many attachments that I need to eliminate, for example, attachments to fame, money, self-interest, jealousy and many more. I am trying to eliminate my attachment to watching videos on my iPad; the attachment causes me to waste a lot of time. After finishing up my work, I want to relax, so I start watching videos and get addicted. In order to improve, instead of watching the videos, I started listening to Minghui podcasts. Recently, I listened to a podcast about how a practitioner helped his mom eliminate her addiction to watching videos. I was very moved by how Master is guiding me in eliminating this attachment.
Since restarting the practice, I have been clarifying the truth to people, and I am moved by comments that I receive from them. The majority of them say that they were searching for similar information and sincerely thank me for sharing the details.
I know I need to practice cultivation diligently and follow Master’s path in cultivating to higher levels. I consider myself very fortunate to have received the Fa. I thank Master for his compassion and for not giving up on me for all these years. Thank you, Master, for everything!
(Presented at the 2024 Philadelphia Fa Conference)
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