First Step toward Zhen-Shan-Ren

Dear Master Li and Fellow Practitioners,

When asked to write about my experiences with Falun Dafa, I didn't think that I was well enough versed or even that I could be considered a practitioner. In fact, I am still on the pre-school level of cultivation.

Growing up I have always known certain things in my heart and soul. Such as, it doesn't cost me anything to be nice to other people regardless of how they treat me, that I was capable of finding kindness in others, and that there is something greater in the universe than myself. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on or understand. I believe that the short time that I have begun to study the Fa, it has reinforced and broadened these innate beliefs and opened doors to new higher and powerful concepts.

Somehow telling every aspect of my life thus far that could relate to my pre-destined relationship with Falun Dafa could take some time, therefore let me just speak of my most recent experiences that have sent me head on to meet this Fa.

I have always believed that everything happens for a reason and therefore my moving to Houston wasn't solely my choice. I moved here upon a deep dedication to heal. To heal myself, and those around me that would need it. Not saying that I think or thought that I could ever really heal anyone, but that I could help them in their healing process if they so chose to heal themselves. I came to Houston to attend acupuncture school and it was very interesting how that happened. I was in New Orleans before moving here and back in April I had an opportunity to travel to Houston with a dance and music school as one of their drivers. I wasn't sure about the trip because my boyfriend at the time was sick and also there was someone here who I had become very attached to emotionally from my past. I wasn't sure if it was the healthiest thing to see him. The only thing that would have propelled me to come was the event that happened. I went to the office where I had been working at the time and looked at the web page for the acupuncture school here in Houston and oddly enough they were having an open house the same weekend that I was to be in Houston. That was the deciding factor, so I was off to Houston. I tell you this because it was in that weekend that I decided to move here.

I now know that my life was pre-destined to occur in the way that it has. It has all happened positively to move me towards a certain path. I believe it is towards the path of the Divine Oneness that unites us all. Perhaps, my move to Houston isn't what I had intentionally thought it was supposed to be for. Perhaps, my pre-destined goal isn't necessarily to go to acupuncture school, but to have met the practitioners who are teaching me Falun Dafa.

When I first got to Houston, that same night while falling asleep the words "you have traveled over great time and space to be here" came into my head. I knew that those words meant more than my physical trip from New Orleans to Houston, but that I was suppose to be here and that I was going to encounter something of paramount importance. Also that my "traveling" was something involving more than just my present lifetime, but that it went far, far beyond that.

Moving here and being here proved to be a most enlightening experience. I was in search of something big, something that would lift me to a greater understanding, but I was also aware that I had to be patient, that whatever was out there for me would sooner or later show up. I asked, I asked God, the Universe to help me heal. The difference between asking this time and the other times I had asked was that this time I asked in a holistic sense. I didn't only want my body to be healed, even though I had endured lymphoedema of the right leg for five years, I wanted my whole being to be healed. My heart, my soul, my spirit. It is interesting how we ask for things when we aren't even totally sure what it is we want in return. I wanted a healing of some sort. Someway to help me better understand my path. Where I had been and where I was going and how that related to everyone around me. I had recently began to fully try and understand and live a life of non-attachment, even though it was a concept that I had encountered a long time ago. And it wouldn't be until I began to study Falun Dafa that I would see just how important and pertinent this concept of non-attachment would be to everything that I have described so far and more.

On a journey in which I had a vision, I was told to "spread love". I know this sounds kind of weird. But what was conveyed to me was to give love to everything and everyone, and to be love. That "to spread love" wasn't meant on the physical level, because that was limiting, but that it was meant on a higher spiritual plane. So I was elated, I was content to be in the world.

A few days after being told to "spread love," I was reading through the Houston Press wondering what events or activities might have been going on that I could attend, I encountered an advertisement for Falun Gong/Dafa at the public library. Bear in mind that I had no idea what this was and all that I knew was that I had been searching for some sort of chi moving system. I had been looking for a tai chi class, but so far hadn't come across anything that agreed with my budget. I found the advertisement at 5pm when the class started at 6:30. I decided that I wanted to go and check it out. Later on I would reflect back on that moment as a definite pre-destined occurrence.

After the first class, in which I was the only student, I knew that this was something that I wanted to learn more about. While learning the first exercise I felt immense heat, to the point that I was sweating in the air-conditioned building. I felt calm, serene and smooth like deep water. I could feel Divine energy coursing through me and I felt love. Falun Dafa has pushed me into wanting to be a better person every moment of my life. While listening to Master Li's lectures I feel very connected to what he is saying because with truth resonates love and that is what I feel when I hear his words. It has brought me back to when I was really young and my intentions were pure. Learning the Fa has drawn me to want to return to those expressions. Now my main aspiration is to Love unconditionally, and the principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance are all encompassing tools to that goal. I have found myself letting go of a lot of things and situations that in the past I was extremely attached to. I have found myself letting go of a lot of views that in the past harbored much anger and resentment. I now have the desire to increase my xinxing not really for any other reason but that that it feels good to do so. The amazing thing is that in letting go of attachments it opens you to better or fuller possibilities. Therefore, I feel as though I haven't lost anything that I wasn't meant to have lost in the first place and the result is an evolutionary gain.

Learning Falun Dafa has made me extremely aware of the illusions that I had been and still am submerged. It has helped to reconcile the fact that everything that I have been brought up in this society to believe is what is valuable is all mis-education. The truth isn't all this glitz and glamour that we have become accustomed to wanting and attaining through physical manifestations, but that the truth could never be confined to such limiting and mundane things. But that through cultivation, through raising our xinxing, through being truthful, compassionate and tolerant people we can then attain what is truly important.

I am not Chinese, but in beginning of learning the Fa I have come to realize more than ever before in my life my connection with all other people. That my former anger and resentment toward people of other races had been founded in something historical, of course, but that still it was something that was unhealthy. Meaning that all of the anger and resentment that I felt for them was only harming myself, making me less of a good person. Now I strive to learn from the past, use it as an example, but not to dwell in it, and to treat people the way that I want to be treated.

In my feelings of connection to other people I went to the Chinese Consulate with other practitioners for a peaceful demonstration of Falun Gong. I felt extremely honored and good to be in solidarity with people across the world who practice Falun Gong. In doing the exercises it is great to know that I am not alone in doing them and that the energy that I feel running through me also runs through many other people. This is a peaceful Dafa. It is evolutionary, with the intent to raise people to higher levels through the practice of cultivation.

Thank you!