Some of My Recent Cultivation Experiences

By a practitioner in the U.S.

(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to share some stories concerning my recent cultivation experiences.

It was the first day of a new semester at the local Minghui School and I felt so good as I did the exercises at home. How could I keep the enjoyment of this wonderful Dafa just to myself? It was too selfish. I prepared some Dafa materials and distributed them at Harvard Square while my son was at school in the afternoon. My purpose was to help more people know about Dafa, practice Dafa and walk on the path of returning to their true selves. I stood at the entrance of the Tube-station next to the escalator, and passed on the precious information to people with predestined relationships. When there were only a few people, I would offer the truth clarification materials to each person that came up. One young man welcomed me with both hands as soon as he saw me. When he finally arrived at the top of the slowly rising escalator, he accepted the materials so gratefully. My heart was deeply touched.

One day I was listening to a broadcast on the Minghui Radio Station. Disciples from mainland China were sharing and I was very touched by one fellow practitioner who said that he told everyone he met about Dafa. I thought about how wonderful it would be if I could do that too. On the following weekend, on my way to Chinatown to distribute the book, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I felt the urgency of saving sentient beings. I took out the Nine Commentaries newspaper edition, and gave it to everyone I met along my way. Another thought also came to me. I frequently visit Chinatown to do truth clarification and distribute the Nine Commentaries. During the past few months, every time I was there, people came to ask for the newspaper.

Not long ago, I saw a story on New Tang Dynasty TV entitled "Mishaps of Two Generations," which showed the very miserable lives of two generations in one family suffering under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I felt so angry. And naturally, when I saw my husband I talked about it. He was working on the computer at the time, and very unexpectedly, he started yelling at me. I could not forbear, and I argued back. I first found myself thinking, "This person is finished, he can't be saved. He jumps up and gets angry whenever I mention the evil things that the CCP does." Then I thought about what Master said in Zhuan Falun, The Third Talk:

"When people who have bad thoughts think about wrong things, under the strong effect of your field they might change their thinking, they might stop having bad thoughts for the time being. Maybe someone wants to badmouth somebody, but out of the blue he changes his mind and doesn't want to talk badly about him anymore".

There must be areas where I have to improve myself, but how? After thinking about it carefully, I realized that there was something that I did not do right. My husband was busy with his own work, but I kept on talking without thinking too much about his ability to listen and accept what I was saying. I realized that I was wrong, but still could not calm down. That night, I woke up my husband, who was sleeping on the sofa and said, "You yelled at me, why are you upset?" But he didn't answer, so I left him alone.

The next morning before he went to work, he left me a note saying how angry he still felt. I wrote a reply and explained, responding to what he said, and sent it via email. The third morning, another note was left on the table. Briefly, it said that I wrote well, but did not act in keeping with my speech. I had to think again. Although in my heart I knew that I was wrong, I still could not forgive him. I immediately sent an email to him and even though I sincerely apologized, I could not help trying to further explain Dafa's principles to him. On the fourth day there was another note left for me on the table, still arguing with me. I realized that although I had apologized, what I meant was, "I was wrong, but yelling at me was not right either." This time I only said a few words, "Sorry, I was wrong. I will improve myself." When I think about it now, I was still focused on personal cultivation at that time. He replied immediately with, "I apologize too."

Not long after that, he discussed with me one of his friend's bad luck at work. I explained that it was related to his attitude towards Falun Gong. Four or five years ago, when we first met, I clarified the truth to him, but he did not agree and said many disrespectful words. He had a car accident after that. His car was totaled and he always has bad luck at work. Now I regret that I didn't clarify the truth well. I did not use wisdom and did not save him. I then switched the topic and said to my husband, "You should always remember that Falun Dafa is good." He did not say anything, but I could tell that he was very happy.

On April 18 of this year, with fellow practitioners' encouragement, I started to memorize Zhuan Falun. It was very difficult at the beginning. I felt something was in between the Fa and me, and I just could not remember. I had to write, read, and recite each passage many times. However, it felt good even if I only remembered one paragraph a day, because I felt that I had truly gained the Fa. Although it was very difficult, I was willing to do it. Gradually, what was between the Fa and me became more transparent, and no longer even seems to exist. Now, I only need to write once, or read and recite several times depending on the length of the paragraph. I noticed several obvious changes in myself after I started memorizing the Fa. First, I became much calmer than before, and I became more mentally relaxed and have fewer impure thoughts in my mind. Second, I started to truly cultivate myself, and follow the principles of the Fa voluntarily. Third, my mind is becoming clearer each day. After starting to recite the Fa, I feel that I am still an elementary student who has just entered the doorway and am far away from what the Fa requires at different levels.

October 14, 2007

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/15/164499.html

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