(Minghui.org) I am a young practitioner in Iran who has been practicing Falun Dafa for four years. I remember when I was a teenager, I felt very frustrated and depressed with my family because my older brother used to beat and humiliate me. He would not let me use the computer and I was hospitalized because of a stroke. When I was very upset, I often cried and asked God what was the meaning of life, and sometimes I thought of suicide.
As time passed, things like meditation and cultivation in the mountains took shape in my mind, and I was interested in these things when I saw them in cartoons or films. I would wonder why we were alive, who God was, my purpose, and about death. Sometimes I looked out the window at the world outside and asked myself these questions. I wanted to go to the mountains to find those who knew about the meaning of life, but I asked myself, "How could I leave my family?"
I liked to read, so I began to read spiritual books in search of the meaning and purpose of life. I read books on other methods as well as books by great philosophers. Although I enjoyed them at that time, they never led me to an understanding of the meaning of life.
I met with a great philosopher from Iran. He was very famous and sometimes I used to listen to his lectures. When I was in the car with him, I asked him, "What's the purpose of life and why do we live?" He answered that life is like a chess game. Do you like to play or not? And if you do not play, you will be out of the game. It was strange to me to think this way. How could it be so simple? I was expecting a better response.
As I grew older, these spiritual thoughts lessened and I had ordinary thoughts like anyone else. I thought about things like money and human emotions, but as I thought more about them, I gave in to them. I was having more troubles in my life while under the influence of the ordinary world. I was looking to make more money and to compete with others. Given the damage that I had incurred during conflicts as a youth, I had developed a competitive mentality, and I even had hatred. I had also found a keen interest in political issues and my mind was filled with these thoughts.
One day when I was out with my friends, one of them said that his father did meditation early in the morning in the park.
I knew about meditation and I was interested in doing it, so I asked him how to get started. After a few days I went to the park to learn Falun Dafa. Everything was great. I was taught the relaxing exercises with the beautiful music, and those who were there were very kind.
When I read Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, I was very surprised that, for the first time, I found the answers to many of my questions in life.
Before I started practicing Falun Dafa, I used to feel dizzy at times, as if I had low blood pressure and I was about to collapse. It was a strange and painful feeling. Although I went to the hospital, they could not find anything wrong. I also went to a doctor for a blood test, but the result did not specify anything. For a while, I did not eat foods with a lot of fat or I would eat little food and endure a lot. After I started practicing, these symptoms disappeared, although I did not notice it at that time. Later I was surprised by the fact that these symptoms had disappeared.
During the exercises, I was very relaxed and experienced the feeling of having an empty mind. Dafa eliminated many of my illness symptoms, including heart cramps and dizziness, and I became much more relaxed than before. As my mother constantly pointed out to me, no matter how nervous and angry she was, I responded calmly.
I do not know what my life would have been like if I had not encountered Dafa. With Dafa, many issues have been resolved, including sexual freedom, smoking, alcohol, lying and many other things.
I have tried my best to be a better and kinder person. At work, despite being in a position where I can seek to get a promotion and achieve fame, I've tried my best to avoid such things.
I have been kind to my colleagues, who say, "Wherever he goes he brings along goodness." Many times I leave behind my own work and help others. I was recognized as a top employee, which is all because of Dafa.
The results of medical check-ups necessary for my work showed that I was healthier than many of my colleagues my age or younger. My colleague, who is 22 years old and 8 years younger than me, had a fatty liver and kidney stones. In fact, it can be said that Dafa purifies my body and mind.
After reading Master Li's (the founder) articles, I understand the need and urgency to awaken sentient beings, especially the Chinese who have been poisoned.
Master said,
“Chinese people, owing to all the persecutions they’ve been through, have been in terribly bad shape in recent times, and their outward appearance is even unsightly. But I will tell you: your king, your people’s king, may very well be one of them.” (“Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day”)
I often go with other practitioners to places where there are Chinese and we try to talk to them if possible. If not, we give them Falun Dafa informational materials.
Through reading experience sharing articles of practitioners on the Minghui website, I came to realize that it is better to speak to the Chinese people before giving them the materials.
I first start to talk to them about issues regarding China, or how the people of Iran have treated them. I then tell them how much I love China and its rich ancient culture, and that I got to know more about China through a great book. When they ask about the name of the book, I tell them it's called Zhuan Falun and I tell them that this book changed my vision of China.
I have also noticed that some Chinese people are poisoned so much that they think that Falun Dafa is an institution or they ask how much money I get paid to distribute those leaflets to them. Sometimes I'll show them the book and say that this exercise is not forbidden in my country, and it's only banned in China.
At the beginning of my cultivation, I was doing the exercises with great interest. Even in the winter when it snowed, I was doing the exercises at an amphitheater park with another practitioner. While our hands were freezing and numb we would still do the exercises and we enjoyed it.
The exercises were really relaxing and sometimes I experienced very deep sleep afterward. My body was purified through doing the exercises and it gave me a great feeling, but as time passed and with changes to my lifestyle from a college student to a part-time worker and student, I joined another practice site and we did all the five exercises on weekends.
I had become very calm and I could manage myself in different situations and at conflicts at work. Later, my work environment changed, and I had little time to study the Fa. As a result of this change, problems appeared in my living conditions and I failed xinxing tests.
I came to the understanding that I should prioritize Fa-study and do fewer exercises when I was short on time. Over the course of time, because of this mentality, I completely stopped doing the exercises because I thought I should focus on my xinxing improvement, and I felt that doing the exercises had no effect on this improvement. As a result, I rarely did the exercises. But instead of improving my cultivation I became weaker in my cultivation. In other words, along with the weakening of my xinxing, I was lazy in doing the exercises as well.
The long hours of work and also the exhaustion after that and the conditions that I had not experienced until then, caused me to not be able to control myself well in my family and work environment. As a result, I changed my mentality, and after reading an experience-sharing article, I realized that difficult and complicated circumstances were a good thing. The practitioner who wrote the article had realized that, if he woke up a little earlier, everything would change.
I realized that this mentality of the exercises not being important is wrong and that the exercises include aspects of improving our mind and heart nature, such as patience, tolerance, and endurance, as well as getting rid of laziness, which are all effective in our improvement. I realized laziness is related to so many other aspects of improving moral character, such as seeking comfort and lust.
As a result, I woke up earlier in the morning and started doing some of the exercises every day. I started with practicing one exercise, and after that, I started practicing for 30 minutes and then 45 minutes. As a result, my mind has become more relaxed at work and I have more energy after work to study the Fa.