Li Y.

Greetings to our great and compassionate Master.
Greetings to my fellow practitioners.

I obtained the Fa in the United States at the end of 1999. In the 18 years since then, basking in Master's compassionate care, I bungled and progressed along the way. What gave me the deepest feeling was to experience the far and wide-reaching mighty grace of Master, as well as Dafa's magnificent wonder. I feel so fortunate that I’ve been able to become a Dafa disciple in this life, and that I’m able to help Master during the Fa Rectification period. When I first obtained the Fa, I was upset with my poor enlightenment quality, that I had missed the opportunity a few times and didn’t start cultivating earlier. But then how lucky I had been that Master had never given up on me and time after time gave me a chance so that ultimately, I could become a cultivator. In the following I’d like to summarize my experience in cultivation practice for Master.

1. Firmly cultivating Dafa, the heart unmoved

I started Dafa cultivation during the July 20 period in 1999 when the Evil commenced their maniacal persecution of Falun Gong. At that time the rogue group of Jiang Zemin mobilized the country’s propaganda machine at full steam to crack down on Falun Gong, fabricating and spreading lies everywhere. Even though I was overseas, I could still sense the tremendous pressure. My husband did not cultivate and he tried to convince me to give up cultivation by saying I’d not be able to return to China otherwise. My friends had also advised me that “the arm can’t overpower the leg”, that how could we fight with the government. I was faced with having to make a grim decision, to continue to cultivating or not. Time and again I read the book Zhuan Falun and kept thinking how nice were the three words “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” I felt that this practice was to guide us to be good people and there was nothing wrong with that. Thus, I decided to adhere to the path of cultivation.

In the beginning I wasn’t clear on the concept of cultivation, or how to cultivate, except knowing that there would be a time limit to cultivation. I enjoyed all kinds of Dafa activities and participated fully as much as my work schedule would allow. However, I didn’t know that I should have cultivated to improve myself. Every day after work I’d study the Fa and practice the exercises. I left all the chores to my husband, and often lost my temper. One time after a temper tantrum of mine, my husband placed all of my Dafa books in a bag and hung it outside the fence. He asked me to choose either cultivation or the family. I answered that I’d pick cultivation. At that time, even though I had the determination I didn’t really cultivate myself. Sometimes after an outburst I’d feel sorry and regretful, thinking that I shouldn’t have been like that. Master says, “Of course, while cultivating in ordinary human society, we should be good to our parents and look after our children. Under all circumstances, we must be good and kind to others, not to mention our family members. We should treat everyone in the same way. We must be good to our parents and children and be considerate of others in all aspects. Such a heart is thus unselfish, and it is a heart of kindness and benevolence-it is compassion.” [Zhuan Falun] Master also says, “In the course of our cultivation, only when the various bad things that exist on the human body are removed can you move up. The characteristic of the universe exactly plays this role.” [Zhuan Falun]. Through the continuing study of the Fa I gradually realized that when encountering any problem, the cultivator needs to look within. When having a conflict with an ordinary person we have to cultivate ourselves. Conflicts would arise in the family because we have not conducted ourselves according to the requirements for cultivators, that we have not cultivated ourselves. After coming to this realization, the negative substance had been removed from my body. From then on, every time before any Dafa activity I’d take care of as much of the household chores as possible to lighten the burden on my husband. In everyday life, I try to balance our family life and my exercising and studying the Fa. I strive to let my non-practicing family members perceive the wonderfulness of Dafa and the kindness of Dafa disciples. In doing so I’ve been able to create a good family environment conducive to cultivation, even till today.

2. Treating issues with righteous thoughts, converting bad things to good things

In 2014 I was laid off from work. From the view of an ordinary person this would be quite an unbearable incident. However, I kept in mind that I’m a cultivator. With Master watching over me I trust that whatever belongs to me would still be mine. I did not become frustrated or dejected, and instead treated this as a good thing. Master says, “it is because you are a cultivator that you experienced that, and since you are a cultivator, those things—whether they seem positive or negative—are all good. That’s because they were put in place for you so that you can improve yourself on your cultivation path.” [Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference] From Master’s Fa, I realized that this was an opportunity for me to cultivate. I’d be liberated from mundane activities and fully dedicate myself to Dafa activities. That year our city and a few surrounding cities were all hosting Shen Yun shows. Every day I’d be the driver taking fellow practitioners to hang brochures from door to door, to put up posters, and to deliver flyers to office buildings. Even though the weather that winter was colder than usual, we were undeterred regardless of it was snowing or sleeting. When practitioners from out of town came to help, I let all of them stay at my house. My family members were quite supportive and also helped with their daily needs as much as possible so that they could fully devote to saving sentient beings. With fellow practitioners all working together we had full house shows at our city. After we finished with our shows I went to a different city to help with their Shen Yun promotion. I made quite a few trips back and forth driving by myself. Right upon arriving I’d start driving the practitioners there to hang brochures from door to door. Even though it was tiring physically, mentally I felt very happy. I knew that our compassionate Master was strengthening me, pulling me upward. I could sense great improvement in cultivation during that period. Amazingly, after the Shen Yun shows I found a new job very quickly. Once more I experienced what Master says, “But as a practitioner, you are in principle protected by Teacher’s fashen. Others cannot take away what is yours, even if they want to. We therefore believe in following the course of nature.” [Zhuan Falun]

3. Looking within when facing tribulations, eliminating the attachment to comfort

For more than a year recently, I had relaxed my Fa study and had not proactively been doing the three things. I frequently missed the time of SFRT and even when doing so could not concentrate well. I also had often participated in social gatherings of ordinary people and didn’t dare to clarify the truth in those occasions. As a consequence, lapses like those, I gave the old forces a chance to exploit my gap. My body started to experience the false manifestation of illness.

One night, the nose bleeding problem which I hadn’t experienced for more than 20 years recurred with full force. I stuffed my nostrils with cotton balls to no avail, with the blood drenching the cotton balls and kept on dripping. If I tried to raise my head, I’d start spitting blood clots. This went on for more than two hours. Also, during another night, my neck and tongue started to feel stiff and my heart began palpitating. Right away I started to SFRT and practicing the exercises. I knelt in front of Master’s portrait and said, “Master, I have been wrong and not behaving how a Dafa disciple should. I will do as a Dafa disciple should, clarify the truth and cultivate myself. Master please grant me another chance.” The tears of regret could not be held back. After just 3 hours, the false symptoms of illness disappeared completely. I knew that our benevolent Master had born the hardship for me again. I felt so remorseful, thinking that as a veteran practitioner of 18 years, how could I let Master worry about me like that. I was determined to examine where I had fallen short and quickly get back on the right path in the Fa. I doubled up my Fa study effort. In the immense Fa, Master has admonished the disciples, “It is necessary for a Dafa disciple to ensure his cultivation on a daily basis, and it is the mission of a Dafa disciple to clarify the facts and save people. You cannot go without either of these as you journey toward consummation. How well you do is a reflection of whether you are diligent in your cultivation. The current state of affairs in society may change, but never will the requirements for cultivation, as they are the standards of the cosmos and the standards of Dafa.” [New Jingwen, A Reminder] Referencing Master’s requirement, I realized where I had gone wrong. I felt that after all these years I had done quite a lot for Dafa, thinking that I deserved a break and that I should have been able to relax a bit and enjoy life as an ordinary person. Unknowingly I had allowed the attachment to comfort grow. I treated Fa study and exercising as a way to relieve myself of discomfort. How selfish had I been! In trying to save all sentient beings, Master has gone through countless hardships, and prolonged time after time the Fa Rectification Period. However, I did not cherish this precious time. I felt so ashamed in front of Master, not deserving the title of a Dafa disciple. Having truly understood the Fa, I doubled up my SFRT to eliminate all attachments such as to comfort and selfishness within my own dimension. I am now re-invigorated and will do the three things well. Now I have regained the sensation of when I first began cultivation. I feel forever grateful to Master.

Looking back at my cultivation of more than a decade, I see that Master is caring and guarding the disciples at every single moment and hoping that we’d do well. I’m fully determined to not let Master down. From now on, I will fully grasp the final moment to cultivate solidly and do the three things which are the duty of Dafa disciples. I want to reach Consummation and return to Heavens with Master.