Zhiping Y.

I have been practicing Falun Dafa for nineteen years. Looking back at the nineteen years of ups and downs in cultivation, I have many enlightenments, but the deepest feeling is Master's infinite grace and the Buddha Fa’s mighty power. Storms and tribulations came one after another on my path of cultivation. Every hurdle, every difficulty, all tested my will. Without Master’s care all the way, without Dafa’s timely guidance, I can not be where I am today. I cannot repay Master’s merciful salvation with any act. Today, I’d like to share with you some of my cultivation experience.

Believe in Master and believe in Fa, break through the sickness karma

In my cultivation path, I experienced two big tests of sickness tribulation. Under Master’s care I made it through.

At the beginning I obtained Fa because I wanted to get rid of my illness. Not too long after practicing, I became very healthy and learned Dafa’s extraordinary power from my own experience. In 1999 when persecution started, many people around me were afraid and walked away from practice. I didn’t give up. The evil force then used another way to persecute me. My body got a serious illusion of illness. In 2000, my previous illness came back, manifested as tumor. I was a doctor. With common medical knowledge of diagnostics, I knew that was it. What shall I do? Shall I go to hospital? I hesitated for two to three months. My human side said I should go to the hospital because otherwise I would die. My knowing side said that Dafa practitioners don’t have illnesses. Studying the Fa over and over again, my knowing side became stronger and stronger. Master said: ”For us cultivators, other than the karma Master has eliminated, we still have to pay a portion ourselves. You will thus feel physically uncomfortable, as if you were suffering from sickness. Cultivation practice is to cleanse you from your life’s origin. The human body is like the annual rings of a tree, whereby each ring contains sickness-karma. So your body must be cleansed from the very center. Were karma to be pushed out all at once, however, you wouldn’t be able to take it, as it would endanger your life. Only a piece or two can be pushed out every once in a while, allowing you to overcome it and pay for your karma through suffering. But this is only that little bit left for you yourself to endure after I have eliminated karma for you.” [Essentials for Further Advancement] Master also said: ”So in cultivation you’re bound to be tested amidst the uncertainty of what’s true and what’s false to see how you deal with the matter at hand—to see whether you’ll regard yourself as a cultivator or as an average, everyday person. Isn’t this to see whether you can cultivate?” [Lectures in the United States] From the Fa I knew what to do. One day I had a strong thought: I am determined not to go the hospital, I will accept anything arranged by Master. As soon as I had that thought, I could not help laughing, could not help but roll in the bed back and forth, that is, could not stop laughing and laughing. Looking back, that was because I overcame a test of life and death on my path of cultivation, Master must have been happy for me. My knowing side was cheering, the sentient beings in my world were cheering. Very soon after, the illusion of illness disappeared, everything went back normal. From that experience I understood how critical one’s righteous thoughts are. It is that one thought that makes all the difference between being a human and being divine. Only when we walk on the right path and conform to the Fa, will Master help us overcome any tribulations.

Looking back, because I overcame that sickness karma pretty thoroughly that time, in the next fifteen years I didn’t have much interference of sickness karma. I became quite relaxed. I wouldn’t read Minghui articles about how fellow practitioners overcome sickness karma. I thought that’s not relevant to me. But who knows, after fifteen years, in 2015, sickness karma attacked me again. One night, I suddenly felt pain in my neck. The next morning I found my mouth, my eyes and half of the face were crooked. The left side of my neck was very tense and caused a bad headache. I started to send forth righteous thoughts, listened to Master’s lecture and looked inwards. I found many of my human notions. For example I had a big ego, I was reluctant to listen to others' criticism, I didn’t cultivate my speech well, and I even killed indirectly. Besides that, there is one thing that I ignored for a long time, that is the “No second cultivation way”. Before I practiced Dafa, I was interested in the side-path practices in the Tao School. I had someone do fortune telling for me and I was told I will have a major sickness at this age. After practicing Dafa, I knew my fate has been changed by Master. Old arrangements wouldn’t work anymore. But the story of the fortune telling still remained a tiny bit in my mind. I didn’t totally get rid of this second school thing. The old force thus used this attachment to create the tribulation to me. I sent forth righteous thoughts to get rid of my human notion and let the Fa bring me to the right course. At that time, this piece of Master’s teaching were always on my mind: ”I'm Li Hongzhi's disciple, I don't want other arrangements or acknowledge them--then they won't dare to do that. So it can all be resolved. When you can really do that, not just saying it but putting it into action, Master will definitely stand up for you.” [Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference]. With the guidance from Master, I denied the arrangement from the old forces, and acted in the way Master arranged for me. I ignored the illusion of illness and did what I should do as a Dafa disciple. At that time, a nearby city was hosting a Shen Yun show and needed helping hands, so I went. But the old forces didn’t let me go. It was so painful at night that I couldn’t fall asleep. I did the exercises, Fa Zhen Nian and listened to the Fa lectures. I switched between lying down and standing for the whole night until the early morning when other practitioners woke up. We did the exercises and Fa Zhen Nian together. After being like this for several days, my pain was still the same. I felt like I couldn’t take it anymore, so I begged Master: ”Master, I need to go out to promote Shen Yun, with my face like this and the pain, I can’t do anything. Please help me!” At that moment, I felt my jaw was pushed towards the right side by a force with a click sound. My face was not crooked anymore. My neck pain almost disappeared as well. I deeply appreciated what Master had done for me. Being a veteran practitioner, I felt a little ashamed though. By this time I overcame this tribulation but it’s kind of wishy-washy. The lesson I learned was, at the beginning of the tribulation my righteous thoughts were not strong, and I still had the issue dealing with no second cultivation way. For example, when I was in pain my husband used hair dryer to blow the area in pain and I thought it was useful. It’s a human notion that the old force would latch on. Later, although Master helped me out, but because of my human notions the old forces wouldn’t let it go. A slight symptom lasted for a long time. Here, I’d like to deny the arrangement of the old forces again, and completely clear up the issue of no second cultivation way. I am a Dafa practitioner, if I have shortcomings, I will correct it in my cultivation, there is no role for the old forces to play. I will eliminate all dark minions; completely negate the old forces' arrangements; eliminate the dark minions' interference and their persecution of me, walk on the path that Master has arranged for me.

Cultivate my heart and overcome attachment to fame and money

It was ok when my interest was stolen by others

I published a book before I cultivated Dafa. The book was sold pretty well. After all, the prints were sold out at the time, I didn’t follow up. After practicing Dafa, I just forgot all about it.

Ten years later, by accident, I found on the internet that someone was selling my book, they even had phone number and email address for contact. That surprised me. I am sure my copyright was stolen. With ordinary people’s mindset I would have issued a law suite for copyright infringement and asked for financial compensation. But I thought I am a Dafa disciple. At that time the evil forces were in the heat of slandering Dafa. If I went to argue with an ordinary person, I may be used by some people with bad intent, and it could damage Dafa’s image. Also, if I went to argue with him, all I wanted was my financial interest. Is that like the behavior of an ordinary person? Master said: “A Dafa disciple should put the Fa first in everything he does--whenever you evaluate something you have to consider the Fa first.“ [Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston]. Master also said: “Amidst the complicated environment of everyday people and its interpersonal xinxing frictions, you are able to rise above and beyond—this is the most difficult thing. It is hard in that you knowingly lose your vested interests among everyday people. Amidst your critical self-interests, are you moved? Amidst interpersonal mind games, are you moved? When your friends or family suffer, are you moved? How do you weigh these things? Being a practitioner is just so difficult!” With Master's teachings, I calmed down really quickly. Not only had I no complaints to that person, but also felt that the person is very poor. He was willing to take the risk of offending the laws to get such a tiny interest. What happens if he comes across someone else? Everything passed calmly.

Give up inheritance

In 2010 when my parents passed away they left a house that was sold for 1.2 million Yuan. I was eligible to inherit part of it according to the inheritance law in China. To my surprise, my bigger brother and sister took the whole thing without me. After they deposited the money into their bank account, my brother called me and told me that I got 10,000 yuan. When I heard it I just couldn’t believe it. I never thought this was what my dearest brother and sister could do to me. It hurt so much and I could only cry alone. I wanted to give back that 10,000 yuan and go to the court. But when I calmed down, I realized I am a Dafa practitioner. Saving people is my duty. I shouldn’t be attached to gain and loss and argue with everyday people. If I did that, my siblings could turn into enemies, this way how could I save them. Master said: ”We therefore believe in following the course of nature. Sometimes, you think that something should be yours, and others also tell you that it is yours. Actually, it is not. You may believe that it is yours, but in the end it is not yours. Through this process, it can be seen whether you can give it up or not. If you cannot let it go, it is an attachment. This method must be used to get rid of your attachment to self-interest. This is the issue.” [Zhuan Falun] Master’s teaching opened my mind. I think this amount of money may not belong to me from the beginning, maybe it’s because I owed them before. Even if it was their fault, me as Dafa disciple shouldn’t argue with them, I should let it go naturally. So I quietly accepted it and said nothing to my siblings. One year later my brother and his wife came to my home to say sorry. I told them that thing was over and we are still family. They were moved, especially my brother. Through this event, they acknowledged Dafa is good. My brother was a director at a company and he was afraid of the CCP and had asked me to give up my cultivation practice many times previously. After this they all said: “Falun Dafa is good, go ahead and practice, be careful to be safe.” Later, I had 23 of my family members quit the CCP. Thank you Master for helping me go through the test in the family and the test of gain and loss.

Return the salary in excess

Coming to overseas, to make a living, I work at an oriental supermarket. Because I don’t speak English, I can only work in the warehouse doing physical labor, making $7.25 an hour. This way I earn about $300 a week. One week, when I got my check, there was more than $700 on it, more than doubled. I knew my boss wouldn’t raise my pay all of a sudden, it must have been a mistake by the accounting department. The boss must also have missed it when he signed the check. If I kept quiet, no one would know. $300 is not much but to me in my 60s, it’s a week of heavy labor. Before this, what I first thought of was, I am a Dafa disciple, no matter when or where, I shouldn’t behave against the principle of Dafa’s teaching, I can’t take advantage of anything. So I went to the boss and told him there was a mistake on my paycheck. But his first reaction was unhappy. I heard my coworker mentioned before that he used to deduct employee’s paycheck before and thus went to law suite. This time he may have thoughts I was there for trouble again, so he showed much unhappiness on his face. I then told him that I was there to give back the money that’s more than what it should have been. I can only take $300 but there was $700 on the check. He was surprised when he heard my words. He then turned into smile and thanked me. He said he will ask the accountant and get back to me. The next day he told me the money will be deducted from my next paycheck. This thing was thus settled. Later my manager told me the boss said he owned the supermarket for so many years, he only saw employees asked for money but never had an employee asked to return money. From then on, my boss had a better understanding of Dafa. When I clarify the truth at the supermarket, he never said no. There is another interesting thing about him. There are many other flyers and newspapers displayed at the exit of the supermarket in disorder. But he put the Shen Yun flyer I brought to a very nice place at the exit. He even put an incense burner beside the Shen Yun flyers and he often lit the incense by himself.

Looking back to my nineteen years of cultivation, I deeply feel Master’s mighty benevolence. The chance for me to practice Dafa is so precious and time is so limited now. Compared to the Fa’s requirement, I still have many attachments to let go, like the attachment to comfort, ego, competitive mentality, to be in a hurry, loss and gain, the communist mentality, etc. But I will persist to cultivate myself on the rest of my path and turn in a qualified answer to our Master.