Remembering When Teacher Taught the Fa in Changchun
By Falai, a practitioner in Changchun, China
(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa was first introduced to the public in May1992,
in Changchun City, Jilin Province. The principles of the universe had come to
the human world and helped people become Falun Dafa practitioners. Thinking back
on the days that Teacher taught the Fa and exercises in Changchun, they were the
happiest days of my life. Teacher said, "I think that those who can listen to my lectures in person, I would say,
honestly... you will realize in the future that this period of time is
extremely precious." (Zhuan Falun) I would like to share my experiences with everyone. I Had Looked for Teacher Everywhere and Here Teacher Was, in My Hometown I met Teacher in the golden fall season of 1992, and since then have felt
that I have stepped on the path that leads home. My life experiences had made me tired both mentally and physically. I felt I
was too miserable to continue living. In order to escape the tribulations, I
chose to cultivate and often went to temples to borrow some Buddhist books to
read. To become healthy and fit, I attended all kinds of qigong classes. At the
time I thought I had to find a famous teacher to teach me how to practice, and
hence I started my life-long search for famous teachers. In the subsequent few
years I went to Putuo Temple, Shaolin Temple, Baima Temple, Lingyin Temple, and
Famen Temple etc. I even went to Emei Mountain, Leshan Mountain, and Qingcheng
Mountains. However, I did not find a teacher. In the fall of 1992, my neighbor taught me the Falun Gong exercises and said,
"The teacher you were looking for could be Teacher Li. When he gets back to
Changchun, we will go and meet him." One day four of us went to Teacher's home.
Many people were there and so was Teacher. I knew Teacher immediately. I pressed
my hands together and bowed to show genuine respect. I greeted Teacher and
thought, "Teacher, finally I have found you." Tears were in my eyes. Teacher
smiled and shook my hand. I was very excited and emotional, like a lost child
that finally found his home. Those who had gone with me told Teacher my
situation and Teacher was very happy. I asked to go to Beijing with Teacher to
attend the Fa lectures. Teacher suggested I could wait until he held classes in
Changchun. While Teacher was talking to others, I looked around his apartment. It was a
two-room apartment. The inner room was only large enough to hold a double bed.
We were in the outer room, which was bigger, and contained a long sofa, a table,
and two stools. At that time, whenever Teacher was home, his apartment would be
filled with people. There were a few paintings of Buddhas that Teacher had
painted himself. The Buddhas were all sitting on layers of lotus petals. There
was also a clay Buddha statue that Teacher had made. Early tapes of Teacher's
lectures showed the Buddha statue from Teacher's home. For many years I went everywhere by train, by boat, and by airplane looking
for a master. I never thought I would find Teacher that day, just walking up to
meet him. There was only one bus stop between where I lived and Teacher's home.
Teacher said, "There are many people in the community of cultivators who have always
attempted to practice toward high levels. They have traveled everywhere and
spent a lot of money. They have not found the well-known masters after
having been all over the country. Being well-known does not necessarily mean
that one really knows things well. In the end, these people have traveled
back and forth, spending much money and effort for nothing. Today we have
made public to you this great practice. I have already delivered it to your
doorstep." (Zhuan Falun) That day I felt like I must have been dreaming to have really met Teacher.
Right then I swore that I would follow Teacher and practice all the way until I
reach consummation and return to my true home. Attending Teacher's Lectures and Exercise Teaching Classes Teacher came back to Changchun in July 1993 and held the fifth session of the
Fa lectures and exercise classes in the Provincial Commission Hall. Many people
attended. Shortly after that, Teacher held the sixth session at Jilin
University. In May 1994, Teacher held the seventh and eighth sessions at Jilin
University. I attended all four of these sessions. Later, I went to another
session in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. In a place filled with more than
one thousand people, it was absolutely quiet. When Teacher taught the Fa, he
asked all staff members to stop working and concentrate on listening to the Fa
lectures. In all of the fifty classes I went to, Teacher was always there before the
classes began and he would stand by the podium to watch the students coming into
the hall. I took the opportunity to ask Teacher to have his picture taken with
my family. In the picture, you can see that Teacher is holding a small piece of
paper with a few sentences that no one else would understand. That was all
Teacher used when he taught the Fa. Teacher had no script, and no plan. He spoke
to us from his heart. Whenever I sat in the hall, which could be described as
"the Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities," I
would have my legs double crossed and my hands conjoined. I looked at Teacher's
bright image and listened to the sound of his voice describing the universal
principles, and telling us about the characteristic of the universe.
Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is the Buddha Fa, and the true meaning of
life is to return to one's true self. He told us to be selfless and to always
think of others first. In the sixth session of the Fa lecture and exercise classes, the Fa Teacher
taught was a little higher level. When talking about the celestial eye, Teacher
mentioned the issue of other dimensions. In other dimensions that exist at the
same time and same place as this one, everything has its own form of existence.
Teacher saw that we could not comprehend what he was saying, so he picked up the
cup on the table and put it on his right hand. He asked everyone to watch
closely, whether their celestial eye was open or not. Teacher used the thumb and
index finger of his left hand to slowly pull another small cup from the original
cup. The small cup looked exactly the same as the original one but was ¼ of the
size. Teacher asked, "Did you all see it clearly'" Everyone answered with
excitement, "Yes we did." Then Teacher slowly put the small cup back into the
original cup. We could clearly see the small cup gradually merge into the
original cup. Teacher let us see something that truly existed in another
dimension, which cannot be explained by scientific means. Hence Teacher said,
"People ask how big the universe is. Let me tell you that this universe
also has its boundary. Even at the level of Tathagata, however, one will
regard it as boundless and infinitely immense. Yet the human body's inside
is as big as this universe, from molecules to microscopic particles at the
microscopic level. This may sound very inconceivable. When a human being or
a life is created, his unique life elements and essential quality are
already composed at the extremely microscopic level. Thus, in studying this
subject, our modern science lags far behind. In comparison with those lives
of higher wisdom on the planets throughout the entire universe, our human
race's scientific level is quite low. We cannot even reach other dimensions
that exist simultaneously in the same place, while flying saucers from other
planets can travel directly in other dimensions. The concept of that
time-space is completely different. Thus, they can come and go at will and
at a speed so fast that the human mind cannot accept it." (Zhuan Falun) Teacher Removed My Attachments Teacher said, "Let me also tell you that the content of this book has combined the Fa
that I have taught in several classes. Everything was taught by me, and
every sentence was spoken by me. Every word was pulled from the tape
recordings and transcribed word for word. My disciples and practitioners
helped me transcribe everything from the tape recordings. I then revised it
over and over again. It is all my Fa, and what I have taught is only this Fa."
(Zhuan Falun) I was lucky enough to be part of the team transcribing the recordings of
Teacher's lectures. In the classes of the seventh session, Teacher taught very
high-level Fa. After the session was over, Teacher had us transcribe what he
taught from the recordings of that session. The requirements were very strict;
we had to write down every single word exactly as it was in the recording, and
in a very short time. I was very excited the minute I got the tape. I felt that
Teacher trusted me. I also thought this is not a difficult task; it was just
copying something down, very simple and easy. Zealotry hence emerged. Teacher
said, "In other matters and in the course of cultivation practice, one should
be sure to not develop the attachment of zealotry--this mentality can be
very easily taken advantage of by demons." (Zhuan Falun) When I was copying down words from the recording, I had a hard time
accomplishing what I wanted to do. My memory was bad and my speed of writing was
slow. For almost every phrase, I had to stop the tape player once or twice. I
kept on stopping and rewinding. I felt I was going too slow and started to feel
anxious. At the same time an attachment of fear emerged. I feared that I was
falling behind, and I feared how other practitioners would look at me if I could
not finish the work on time. Then, the tape player stopped working and I had to
get a new one. In the end, I was far behind and needed help from other
practitioners. I was the last one to finish the work. At that time we knew
Teacher was going to turn the lectures into a book we would use to study the Fa.
We did not know this precious book would be named Zhuan Falun. In September 1994, Teacher held a small conference and answered questions
from practitioners about cultivation issues. There were many questions and
Teacher answered every one of them in detail. By the time the conference ended,
lunchtime had passed. We asked Teacher to go to lunch with us. My attachments
emerged again. I rushed home to get my camera and put in a new roll of film. I
started to take pictures of Teacher for I knew that Teacher would soon leave the
country to spread the Fa and teach the exercises overseas. The opportunities to
meet with Teacher would be fewer and I wanted to have pictures of our time with
him. I was busy taking pictures here and there. I took a picture of each person
there with Teacher. I still thought it was not enough and kept taking pictures
of Teacher. My husband, who was sitting beside Teacher, kept on passing me
signals trying to make me stop. I thought that since Teacher did not say
anything and he was smiling at me, it should be fine. I ignored my husband's
signals and finished the whole roll of film. I took the film in to be developed
right after the meal. The next day I looked at the negatives and saw that
something unexpected had happened. The negatives were all black and had no
images. I immediately enlightened that Teacher was helping me get rid of my
attachments by giving me a direct hint. For showing his immense Buddha's grace,
I could think of no word to express my appreciation and respect for Teacher.
Even now, every time I realize I have attachments, I see Teacher's smiling face
and the way he looked at me. I feel very ashamed that I do not meet Teacher's
expectations, and then I try very hard to get rid of the attachments. Under Teacher's compassionate care, I am able to be where I am today. I
deeply feel that as long as we firmly believe in Teacher and the Fa, take the Fa
as the Teacher, look inward, lose attachments without being moved, follow
Teacher's Fa, don't go to extremes, and do our best to save sentient beings, we
will be qualified to be called Dafa practitioners. We ask Teacher not to worry. Practitioners from Changchun will take on the
responsibilities of Fa-rectification practitioners and make sure we do the three
things well. We will catch up with the progress of the Fa rectification and will
not disappoint Teacher's compassionate salvation. Teacher, practitioners from hometown miss you! We wish Teacher a Happy
Birthday.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/5/1/73587.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net
|
Related Articles
|