By a practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) I began cultivating on July 26, 1993. Fourteen years of Fa study and cultivation have led me to deeper understandings of the Fa principles and confirmed my belief.

Prior to the persecution, which began on July 20, 1999, during the personal cultivation period, the environment was very relaxed. Every practitioner went joyfully to group study and practice daily. Our xinxing improved rapidly. Our Fa-study group members at the time had already started reciting Zhuan Falun. We would close the book, then one practitioner began reciting a paragraph, followed by another. Thinking back to this time, it seems like it was just yesterday.

After July 20, 1999, the cultivation environment was tough. Facing all kinds of tests the old forces had for Dafa practitioners, in spite of the wicked situation, we walked along with Master. We were able to rectify the Fa along with Master, which would have been impossible had we not had the solid Fa-study foundation. Based on this, I was able to handle all the burdens, while firmly believing in Master and the Fa, and remaining firm when faced with evil lies, fabrications, high pressure, violence and threats. In seeking the truth, with the Fa as my guide, I could distinguish the real from the fake. My heart was filled with Dafa, and no one could take Dafa away from me.

With Master's protection, my involvement in the Fa-rectification process was smooth. I do not have any especially exciting stories to share, besides being a Dafa practitioner and steadily doing the three things. I clarified the truth and distributed Dafa flyers and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. For years I have posted and distributed Dafa materials from one place to another, street to street, and door to door. I have been to bus and train stations, hospitals and markets, and anywhere I could get to for materials distribution, and become steadfast and mature in my faith in the process.

In 1993 I went to Master's lecture. I remember that toward the end of the lectures I felt extremely fortunate to have been there. Master provided me with a ladder to climb up to the heavens, so that I could return to my true self, and it happened in modern society, during the last phase of the existence of a muddied world. I was extremely lucky to obtain Dafa, and I could not wait to cultivate in Dafa. Summarizing what I had learned, I wrote down this promise to Master, "I am determined that from the time I obtained the Fa until the end, and without wavering, I will overcome all hardships without slowing in my cultivation, and will return to my original, final destination."

From that moment on, I have kept my word and treated cultivation as my first priority. No matter how rampant the evil, I persisted in cultivation. I focused on cultivating my mind and correcting any wrong notions or attachments, and melded into the Fa.

I think that memorizing the Fa is a good method, and studying the Fa well is the foundation for doing Dafa work well and can ensure that we remain on the right path. With righteous faith, we can experience righteous enlightenment. Having righteous enlightenment leads to righteous actions. Applying the theory of righteous enlightenment to the Fa-rectification, we can correctly upgrade our minds.

As Dafa practitioners during Fa-rectification, we must do the three things, one of them being to study the Fa. How can we study the Fa well? Master said,

"Don't just go through the motions when you study the Fa. You should study with a concentrated mind, and you must really be studying." ("To the Australia Fa Conference" in 2006)

I have asked myself, "Am I doing this?" I have read and studied the Fa, and never stopped studying the Fa as part of cultivation for fourteen years. However, why was I still unable to fully concentrate when I was studying the Fa? Sometimes I fell asleep or had thoughts about other things. Occasionally, illness symptoms interfered with my Fa-study. Why was my improvement so slow, and why was I not aware of this from time to time?

Looking inward but initially failing to find the attachment had me worried. Why was I unable to find the problem? One day I suddenly understood that I had an attachment to self-satisfaction. I regarded myself as a veteran Dafa disciple. Although I have not told an exciting truth-clarification story, I have never stopped cultivating. In addition, I attended Master's lecture series twice and felt I was the one who was the closest to Master among my local fellow practitioners. In the Fa-rectification process I had never been behind other practitioners. When other practitioner praised me, I did not light up with pleasure, but silently felt joy from the inside. I was satisfied with my stable cultivation condition, and was satisfied with what I had accomplished. Isn't that an attachment to self-satisfaction? Did that mean that I was happy with my current cultivation condition? I was not the best, but was better than some of the others. This notion prevented me from improving.

How did I overcome my problem? I thought about memorizing the Fa. My cultivating experience prior to July 20, 1999 indicated that memorizing the Fa was a good method to assimilate myself into Dafa. I knew that I should do it and knew at the same time if I decided to do this, it required hard work and commitment. When I still hesitated to start memorizing the Fa, the word "continue" popped into my mind. I was not clear what exactly it was referring to. Was there anything that needed to be continued? I was confused and could not find the solution. However, I decided to memorize Zhuan Falun. As soon as I decided, I realized that "continue" meant that I should continue memorizing Zhuan Falun. I had memorized the book prior to the onset of the persecution, as mentioned above, but had stopped years ago. Now, I would memorize the book again. This is what the word "continue" was trying to tell me.

When I mentioned to my daughter and son-in-law that I would memorize Zhuan Falun again they reminded me that I was in my seventies, and that it would be hard to memorize the book, and that reading the Fa daily was good enough for me. I then thought, "My primordial spirit might still very young!" I told them that I could do it. My sincerity would be "rewarded." There was nothing that I could not do since I have Master and the Fa. Master would help me.

I memorized Hong Yin, and Hong Yin Vol. II within six months and was gratified and more confident to memorize Zhuan Falun. I then started memorizing Zhuan Falun. I went from memorizing one paragraph per day, then one page per day to four or five pages per day. Here I would like to share my memorization experiences. Sometimes I forgot the paragraphs that I had memorized a couple of days prior, but I just continued on. I don't think that is a problem. Perhaps, after we have memorized the paragraphs, Master would separate them from us and we should continue memorizing the following paragraphs.

I encountered a problem when I was memorizing Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun. There was major interference, and I could not even memorize a small paragraph in two days. The words did not go into my mind, no matter how hard I tried. I developed a headache. I fell asleep when I tried to memorize the book. How should I deal with this? Should I let my promise go? No, I should not! I forced myself to memorize the Fa, despite the headache. I changed my sitting position when attempting to memorize the Fa so that I could not easily fall asleep. I sent righteous thoughts and experienced a battle between good and evil, a battle the old forces arranged, to have the righteous thoughts triumph and overcome evil karma. Eventually, the righteous thoughts replaced the bad things, and my mind was filled with Dafa.

Sitting in the lotus position, I started cleaning up bad substances from my mind and disruption from other dimensions. I told myself that from the microcosm to the surface, I must assimilate to Dafa. Only if I did that, could I go home with Master. All substances that block life assimilating to Dafa must be cleared out, eliminated or dissolved. They are not allowed to exist in our space, they cannot interfere with my assimilating to Dafa, and they should stay away from me. I sent righteous thoughts as solid as diamond. I realized that Dafa has great compassion and is powerful. I knew I must purify myself, have righteous thoughts, and assimilate to Dafa. I must eliminate selfishness and fear, and accept the universal law and become a new life as a selfless Dafa practitioner.

After I completed memorizing Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun, one day at noon, when I prepared to send righteous thoughts, I become tranquil very quickly and felt powerful. I continued after the 10-minute period was up. Suddenly, I felt something fly away from the back of my head. My body was shaking and my hair stood on end. I touched my hair. It stayed the same, and I became nervous. When I came out of the tranquility, I realized that Master had removed bad things from me. I immediately felt that my body was light and comfortable. From then on my memorizing the Fa sped up and became more smooth and stable. My head was clearer than ever before, and no longer became tired, no matter how long I studied. Now, my memory can compete with young people and I can instantly memorize what I read.

Posting date: 1/19/2008
Original article date: 1/19/2008
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Translated on 1/2/2008
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/12/23/168881.html

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