(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!