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Precious Photo, Happy Memories By a Falun Dafa practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) I have an extremely precious photo. In it, Master is
smiling and looking compassionately at me standing next to him. When I met
Master at that time I was tremendously happy and could not stop smiling. Whenever I see this photo, my whole body and mind melt into unspeakable
happiness. The photo was taken in 1996 at an International Falun Dafa Experience Sharing
Conference in Fangzexuan, Ditan, Beijing. When Master came to the main hall
after the last experience sharing session, I had the opportunity to get my
picture taken with him. That was the first time I met Master. When I recall the scene, I can still
remember every detail as if it was yesterday. It will forever be my most
precious and beautiful memory. I obtained the Fa in 1996. In April 1996, my mother called me and told me her
story with excitement: She went to Beihai Park for her morning exercise and was
attracted by a kind of serene and beautiful music. So she followed the music and
went to the Falun Gong practice site. Originally she wanted to buy a tape with
the music, but the assistant there suggested that she read about Falun Gong
first, so she got a book called Zhuan Falun. From my mother's words, I could clearly feel her excitement. She said,
"We have practiced qigong for so many years, but there are no qigong
masters who can explain the principles so clearly..." After that, my mother
called me every day, talking about her experiences and reading chapters from Zhuan
Falun to me. After my mother read Zhuan Falun with great respect, without
hesitation she gave up another qigong that she had practiced for more
than 10 years, and she started to cultivate Falun Gong. My 73-year-old mother
came with her cane to deliver Zhuan Falun to me. At that time, I had been
sick for many years and spent most of my days in bed. For many years, I had also
been searching for the true meaning of life, and I had read many ancient
Buddhist and Taoist books, wishing to find the answer. I also practiced other
schools of qigong, but I was never able to find the true meaning of life. After my mother sent me Zhuan Falun, I did not read it immediately.
Several days later, one morning, I felt a kind peace in my heart that I had
never experienced before, just like a clear blue sky, so pure with no
distracting thoughts. I glanced around and noticed Zhuan Falun on the
table. I opened the book and started to read. Immediately, I was deeply attracted by
the simple and easy-to-understand words that conveyed such deep meaning. A
thought rose from the bottom of my heart: "I also want to be such a kind of
person, one who cultivates 'Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.'" After I read more than 20 pages, my body was purified! I later discovered
that symptoms of more than 10 diseases in my body had disappeared! It was truly
miraculous. Within just a few days, I was completely relieved of the severe
diseases that had accompanied me for decades ! Master had given me a brand new
life! After cultivating Dafa, I not only obtained physical health, my mind also
experienced intense changes. I gradually stepped out of my narrowminded
selfishness. I learned to forgive and tolerate and to think of others with
kindness. I asked myself to abide by the standard of a cultivator in everything
I did and wherever I was. In the morning on November 2, 1996, I was notified to attend the
International Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Beijing and to talk
about my experiences at the meeting. When I arrived at the meeting hall with my
daughter, who was a little disciple, the conference had already started. I heard
fellow Chinese and Western practitioners talking about their physical changes
after practicing Dafa, from their pain and confusion when going through xinxing
tests and then to the peace they experienced after getting rid of the
attachments. My heart was touched. In the afternoon we had group discussion and
experience sharing. In the evening, we arranged to have dinner together. There were two meeting rooms at Fangzexuan Meeting Hall. Practitioners placed
dining tables in both rooms. I sat in the back room. Soon after the waiters
brought the second dish, I heard shouts of excitement from the front room.
Although I couldn't hear what it was about, my instincts told me: Master is
here. My daughter and I originally sat at the very back of the back room, and the
tables and chairs were very close together because there was not enough space
for everyone. There was no space for us to get out. However, when I realized
that Master had come, I was like an arrow, shooting right around the many chairs
in front of me. Immediately, I was standing at the door of the front room. I saw
many practitioners in the front room rushing to Master. Many practitioners
reached out to shake hands with him. It was the first time that I had ever seen
Master, and I also wanted very much to get closer to him. But a thought suddenly
came to me: "Now that I am a cultivator, I cannot squeeze around other
people to get to the front." But I really wanted to look at Master
carefully, so I stood on the one-foot-tall threshold on the doorway and tried my
best to stretch myself as tall as I could. I finally saw Master clearly! Among
the practitioners, Master looked very handsome with his tall figure. However,
the most obvious and unique part was that Master's face and whole body were
shining! I could not help pressing my hands together in front my chest. I did not expect it, but Master walked towards the back room. I was just
standing in the doorway between the front and back rooms, when all of a sudden,
Master was in front of me. I took a step back without any thought and just
followed Master towards the back room. I also wanted to shake hands with Master.
"Now I am right next to Master," I thought, "it would be very
easy to shake hands with him." But suddenly I remembered a sentence from Zhuan
Falun: "Some folks want to shake hands with their teacher ..." So,
I never reached out my hand. Since Master came to the back room to see
practitioners, the back room also became packed. Practitioners were extremely
happy and excited. When I stood next to Master, my heart was so pure that there
was no thought at all. I just smiled and smiled. Later, I realized that my
facial muscles was tired from all the smiling. Several times I tried to close my
mouth, but I couldn't, I just smiled and smiled. Then someone asked practitioners to go back to their seats and sit down.
Although I was very reluctant, I had to follow everyone back to my seat.
However, there was a force keeping me from bending to sit down. So I stood with
my hands pressed together in front of my chest like magnets. I stood there just
like that, staring at Master with my hands pressed together. Master waved his hands and said to everyone, "You have dinner first.
With me here, no one is able to eat anything. I will come back after you are
done." Then Master walked out of the room. We could not recover from our excitement. No one was interested in dinner
anymore, but cultivators could not waste food. So we asked the waiters to stop
bringing more dishes. We all tried our best to finish the food on the tables.
Then we moved the tables and chairs aside quickly and waited with excitement for
Master to come back. Finally Master came! It was the first time that I heard Master lecture in
person. When Master mentioned that "it has been really hard for you to
obtain this Fa. Perhaps the hardships you endured in the first part of your life
have been for the sake of obtaining this Fa. That's the part you know about.
There are still things you don't know about; perhaps you have been suffering and
undergoing hardships in your previous lives or for an even longer period of time
in order to obtain this Fa."("Teaching the Fa at the International
Experience-Sharing Conference in Beijing"), tears flowed from my eyes. That
day, Master lectured for nearly two hours. Later, we heard that Master traveled
for more than 10 hours and came directly to the meeting to see practitioners
right after he got off the airplane--he didn't even rest. When practitioners
were having dinner, Master went out to see the little disciples that were doing
the exercises. After practitioners finished dinner, Master came back to the
meeting hall and gave a lecture for nearly two hours. If the host hadn't kept
mentioning that Master had come directly to the meeting after getting off the
airplane without eating dinner, we would have really hoped to hear more from
Master. After the lecture, we gradually left the conference hall. I stayed there, not
willing to leave, to stay for a little longer in the place where Master gave a
Fa lecture. Finally they were going to lock the door, so my daughter and I left
reluctantly. On the bus back home, my tears kept falling. I was worried that other people
would notice, so I tried to hold my them back, but it didn't work. Fortunately
it was at night and no one paid any attention to me. That night, my daughter and I knelt in front of Master's picture and pressed
our hands together in front of our chests. We pledged in hearts: "We will
follow Master and cultivate until the last minute!" That night, I was not sleepy at all. All the things I had experienced that
day arranged themselves before my eyes. They had all happened so suddenly, just
like a dream. Did I really see Master? I could not believe that I was so lucky.
I thought that it would be nice if I could have a picture of Master at our
conference to prove to me that what happened today was not a dream. I did not expect that, soon afterwards, I indeed got a most precious photo of
me with Master at the conference! I cherish this photo. Whenever I have
encountered hardships and everything seemed too difficult, as long as I could
see the photo, all the difficulties were as nothing. On the path of cultivation, there is pain and happiness. There is
unforgettable pain when we encounter hardships or tests; there are regrets and
self-recriminations when we do not pass a test; there is also peace and relief
after we let go of the attachments. Although the road is rocky, I will always
remember my promise. In celebration of the 16 years that Dafa has been spread, I
want to tell Master: "I will remember my prehistoric promise and the
promise in my current life, I will try my best to do the 'three things,' I will
definitely not disappoint Master's compassion and salvation, and I will reach my
consummation and return with Master. Master, please trust me! Posting date: 5/24/2008 |