My Path of Cultivation

By a practitioner in Taiwan

(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Dafa in November 1999 and became one of the county and city level contact persons soon after practicing. I also participated in Fa-rectification activities many times, but I never thought of writing experience-sharing articles for a Fahui (experience sharing conference). At first, I explained that I was a new practitioner and did not have an in-depth understanding of the Fa, and thus it would be better to listen to the sharings of veteran practitioners. But after I studied the Fa for some time and people started to take me as a veteran practitioner, I began insisting that it was better to give the opportunity to new practitioners. Upon reflection, I knew that my hesitation was not because I lacked experiences to share or write about. Then why was it so hard for me? It was because I still held attachments, specifically the attachments of fear and of seeking comfort - fear and laziness. What was it that I feared? As a doctor, and someone who got high scores from primary school to college, I have only had trouble writing essays. Even after reading numerous well-written articles, I could not produce one. At best, I could only write something just clear enough for others to understand. Seeing that some practitioners without much education could write so touchingly about their cultivation experience, I became even more afraid. If I did not present well in experience sharing, perhaps others might say, "Hey, he has been practicing for so long and is still at such a low level." Later as I continued practicing, I forgot these concerns, yet I was still too lazy to write an experience sharing paper.

In 1997, because of my work, my whole family moved to Nantou, Taiwan, and we lived near the Nantou County Stadium. When jogging in the morning, I would sometimes see a group of people practicing Qi Gong, and this sparked my interest. I still did not go over to make inquires because I was afraid of being swindled. However, I later learned that it was Falun Gong, and soon afterwards, the practicing sites in different parts of Taiwan started hanging up banners saying, "Falun Dafa: Free Teaching." I thought it very good, and later on I came to learn Falun Gong because it was, and still is, free of charge.

On April 25, 1999, tens of thousands of practitioners went to the Office of Appeals near the Zhongnanhai Compound in Beijing, where they tried to communicate with Chinese leaders in a peaceful manner about the truth of Falun Gong and the incident of Tianjin practitioners being beaten and arrested by police. Taiwan media reported the event, and at that time, I just felt that those people were so great. They dared to do such a thing under the immense pressure of the Chinese Communist Party. It was so incredible.

In August 1999, my wife's sister came to visit us in Nantou. She told me she was practicing a Qi Gong exercise called Falun Gong. She also told me that there was a practice site in Nantou as well, so afterwards I contacted Mr. Wu, a fellow Nantou practitioner. It was then that I realized the group of people doing the Qi Gong practice in Nantou Stadium practiced Falun Gong, and that it was free.

In November 1999, I attended the nine-day lecture class at Mr. Wu's place. He and his wife accompanied me in watching Teacher's lecture videos, and they taught me the five sets of exercises. Therefore, I say that I attained the Fa in November of 1999.

I was relatively healthy before practicing Falun Gong. I had no serious diseases except for some skin problems; I had acne on my face and a yeast infection on my feet and body. On the side of my bottom, I had dark stains. Another problem was in my back, where I felt soreness and pain. After practicing, all those problems gradually disappeared. Once, while I was practicing the fifth exercise, "Strengthening the Divine Powers", I felt two Falun Law Wheels working on my back. After that, my back never ached again. There was another case in which I had a serious yeast infection on the fourth toe of my right foot. The nail became gray and opaque, like lime powder. The medical term for it is onychomycosis, and it is hard to cure with medical treatment. But as I practiced, one quarter of the gray nail turned transparent, then one third, one half, until finally, it returned completely to normal. It was truly amazing.

When I first attained the Fa, there were few practitioners in my area. As we carried on the Fa-rectification activities, I had a limited understanding of what we were doing because I had not studied the Fa in depth. I tried my best to make arrangements for the activities organized by the assistant center. Sometimes I needed to mobilize practitioners and encourage them to participate so that we would have a certain number of people attending the activities. When many people participated, I felt good, whereas when practitioners seemed less eager to come, I became upset. I did not pay much attention to the cultivation states of fellow practitioners, for I thought that cultivation was a personal issue. After several years, some practitioners did not keep up with the Fa-rectification progress, and I tried to help them by periodically having conversations with one or two of them. Sometimes they failed to attend several activities, after which we would never see them again. I knew I had problems as a coordinator, but I just did not know exactly what. Teacher says in "Teaching the Fa at the Assistants' Fa Conference in Changchun,"

"It was only yesterday that I told those in charge of the Changchun assistance centers: 'Your most important task is to create for our students a stable cultivation environment that's free of disturbances. This is your greatest responsibility.' The same goes for those of you present here: Your greatest responsibility is to ensure that your assistance centers and practice sites are free of disturbances and to lead others in cultivation."

I realized that the environment of Fa-study in my area was unstable. We did not have ideal experience sharings in the Fa-study groups, and practitioners were not keen on joining in the Fa-study group. Many practitioners have been practicing for a long time and have studied the Fa a lot, yet they cannot step out to clarify the truth. It will not work for me to pull out one or two at a time. Teacher has told us to create environments for cultivation in which fellow practitioners can be tempered and improved. In such an environment, we can also see the differences among practitioners and be aware of what kind of path to embark on.

So I organized several Fa-study sessions, focusing on reading Zhuan Falun and sharing experiences with regard to cultivation issues in daily life, and I saw that practitioners shared their experiences well. Gradually, those who rarely came to the Fa-study group before began joining us. In addition, several practitioners in my area matured and took up Fa-rectification projects actively, so now I have more time to communicate and share experiences with certain practitioners. For example, one practitioner is 83 years old. He has been practicing for quite some time, but he never comes to the Fa-study group. When he had problems, he would just come to me. One day, he asked me why his feet ached. I said, "Is there anything happening in your life?" He told me he quarreled with the staff of the telephone company because they cut off his telephone at home and did not restore it for two days. He went over to their office and was told that it was a mistake and that they would send people to handle it, but because the staff did not apologize to him, he was very angry. In the end, a deputy director came out and gave some explanations, but he still would not forgive them. So the people in the telephone company dropped his case and would not do anything. He was helpless and asked me what to do next. How about sending a letter of complaint to a newspaper or to their supervisor? I said, "What do you think would be more proper?" He said, "I just don't know. That's why I came to ask you." We then talked, and I told him that we should live up to the requirements of cultivators. In the end, he decided to apologize to the telephone company.

Since I work in the newspaper office every Thursday, I asked him to come with me so that we may study the Fa together when I am not too busy. Often, other practitioners working at the office also shared experiences with him, and he found all of this helpful. Now he frequently asks me when I will go to the newspaper office. One day, he told me of a dream he had in which he passed an entrance exam and was admitted to college (in reality, he received only a high school education.) They gave him an admission notice with his photo on it, and when he arrived at the registration site, he saw many people boarding a boat and leaving. He asked around until finally he saw a man with a list. The man checked the list to see if his name was there and told him, "Yes, you are admitted. You have to go to another place to register. You'd better hurry and keep up." The practitioner told me he interpreted this dream as an encouragement from Teacher.

In talking to this practitioner, I learned that some practitioners do not attend the Fa-study group because they cannot keep up with the reading, or they do not have transportation, or the time is not suitable. So if we take into consideration their situations and help them accordingly, we might be able to help them strengthen their divine side. In particular, a being with a clear understanding will certainly know what to do. I have seen my path of cultivation; it is one in which I must create a suitable cultivation environment and take care of my fellow practitioners.

Written on January 27, 2006

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/1/28/119621.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version