(Minghui.org) Greetings, Revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I have been cultivating Falun Dafa since 2006. It wasn’t until three years ago that I realized what true cultivation meant – measuring every thought and every action of ours by the Fa’s requirement and looking within. Below are some of my experiences and understandings.

Assimilate to the Fa and Get out of Police Custody

One day I went out to talk to people about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s persecution of Falun Dafa. When I was ready to go home, someone grabbed my arm and handcuffed me. 

It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened: I was arrested. What should I do? Oh, ask Master for help. “Master, save me! Master, save me!” I shouted, after a slow reaction.

I was extremely upset. This was the fourth time that I got arrested for my faith. I had just been released from prison less than two years ago. I was still in prison when my son took his high-school entrance exam and now he was scheduled to take his national college entrance exam in four months. Would I be jailed again and miss another important exam of his? Moreover, my elderly mother would have to miss me again if I got sentenced again.

Having been persecuted several times, I was fully aware of the CCP’s tactics aimed at destroying Dafa practitioners’ willpower. Would I write a guarantee statement to renounce Dafa in order to get released? Definitely not!

I told myself to stop thinking about what would happen to my family if I were to be jailed again. Whatever was predestined to happen would happen. Everyone’s life including that of my son has already been arranged by the divine; and Dafa practitioner’s family members, including my mother, will be rewarded later for the suffering they endure now. 

Instead, I should focus on how to pass this tribulation.

I thought to recite Master’s Fa, and the poem “What’s There to Fear” (Hong Yin Volume II) came to my mind. I focused on sending forth righteous thoughts so that I could clear my impure thoughts and have only this poem in my mind. I wanted every character of the poem to show up before my eyes when reciting it; if I could not do it, I would use my mind to write the character.

I got enlightened when writing the first character “Fear (Chinese: 怕).” This Chinese letter is composed of two letters: “忄(thinking)” and “白 (in vain).” It was telling me that whatever human stuff I kept thinking about would end up in vain. I should keep my mind empty and stop worrying about any human affairs, because as the poem said, “If you have fear, they will grab you.” 

I came to know more as I continued reciting the poem: 

“Once your thought is righteous, evil will collapse” - I should rectify all my human thoughts and destroy the evil. 

“Sending righteous thoughts, exploding rotten ghosts” - I should concentrate on sending forth righteous thoughts.

“Gods are in the world, validating Fa” - The CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa is not a human-to-human persecution, but rather a persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners by the evil factors in other dimensions. The police officer who arrested me and those people working in the law enforcement system were not the origin of the evil. Most of them were courageous divine beings coming down to the human world to save the sentient beings in their divine world. I should avoid triggering their negative elements and instead try to save them.

Wait a minute. Aren’t there five verses in this poem? How come I only recited four? The one I omitted was likely to be my omission in cultivation.

I calmed down and started reciting the poem several times. I found that I missed this line: “People practicing cultivation, filled with Fa.” 

I saw my gap. I didn’t fill my heart with the Fa.

I promised Master that I would fix my omission. Also I thought that I should not remain in police custody – Master didn’t arrange the persecution for us and we disciples should not acknowledge the persecution either. Our mission is to assist Master in rectifying the Fa and saving people!

I kept reciting this poem and felt my entire body melting into the five verses. My mind became more and more tranquil and compassionate. I was completely empty (of human beings’ thoughts) and the whole world became still.

All of sudden, the door opened. “Go home!” 

I was shocked. This shock was even bigger than the earlier realization that I was arrested. I had never thought that I could get out of the police station within less than three hours of my arrest. 

The doubt I had regarding whether I would be released was based on my human notions. Master broke through my human boundary to show me what was higher. As long as we cultivate in the Fa, Master can do anything for us. 

Instead of being fearful or happy upon returning home, I was calm, in a state that the persecution could not reach me at all. I experienced a wonderful state of assimilating to the Fa. When I woke up the next morning, a sentence appeared in my mind: “Master is Great! The Fa is Great!” It must have come from my knowing side that saw everything Master did for me.

Diligent Cultivation

Master has an article titled “practicing cultivation after retirement” (Falun Dafa Essentials for Further Advancement). I was once that type of person who wanted to wait until after retirement to cultivate Falun Dafa. 

I changed in 2006 when I heard that all Dafa disciples around the world were sending forth righteous thoughts at four uniform times each day. I said to myself, “Is the cultivation going to end soon? If they have all cultivated to consummation and left, what should I do? I need to hurry up! Master, please do not leave me behind. I want to go home with you.” Then I started cultivation.

Master said, 

“For starters, a practitioner should be able to hold back from retaliating, and patiently endure.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun

But I didn’t do it well.

I thought “cultivation” just meant to understand the Fa, but I failed to use the Fa to guide my cultivation. I didn’t truly understand the Fa. I felt that Master has explained everything clearly but I couldn’t comprehend Master’s teachings. What is assimilating to the Fa? What is understanding the Fa based on the Fa? I just didn’t know.

Unable to study the Fa well, I was like an everyday person doing Dafa work and had been arrested several times.

I was not even able to sit in meditation in the full lotus position until I was put in a detention center. When I was later jailed for three and a half years, the inmates there called me “Falun Gong” (Falun Dafa is also called Falun Gong), which forced me to do well; otherwise I would ruin Dafa’s image. After I was released, people also knew me as “Falun Gong,” and again that forced me to do well in everything. Thus, I was pushed into cultivating myself.

I had a first-hand experience of Master’s protection when I was in prison. I kept hearing people moaning and crying out of pain. But I never felt any pain after being beaten by guards or inmates. Once I asked Master to let me experience the pain myself. Immediately I felt a sharp pain in my finger. I called out, “Master!” The pain was immediately gone. I knew that Master bore the pain for me; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to stay firm in Dafa.

My shortcoming was failing to study the Fa well. When I was released in 2018, I wanted to strengthen my Fa study. Master arranged a practitioner to help me. We studied the Fa together and shared our understanding of the Fa. That practitioner never told me what to do, but just looked within. I came to realize that we needed to use the Fa to guide every thought and every action of ours. When I studied the Fa the next time, I had a totally different experience. Master’s Fa was quite clear and there was nothing I didn’t understand. 

I used to think that “You put in the effort and your teacher will handle the rest” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun) was just a description, but now I experienced it in my cultivation. I realize that cultivation requires us to truly cultivate ourselves following the Fa’s requirements; every moment of our life is for cultivation.

To improve the quality of Fa study, I started hand-copying the Fa. It was hard and I could barely keep my eyes open and stay awake. My first copy was done in a tough battle against the evil force, which resulted in many errors in my transcription of the Fa.

I decided to do it again. I used a pencil this time. Amazingly, I was in a clear mind from writing down the first character, and I was never sleepy. I finished the second copy on the day before “World Falun Dafa Day” on May 13 last year. 

I then spent over a month tracing the pencil handwriting with an ink pen, which was my third time copying the Fa. Afterwards, I hand-copied Zhuan Falun two more times, and other Dafa books including Hong YinEssentials for Further AdvancementFurther Discussions on Falun Dafa, and Guiding the Voyage

I now enjoy hand-copying the Fa so much that once I pick up the pen I do not want to put it down. Hand-copying the Fa and reciting the Fa has become a routine part of my Fa study. I became more and more careful in copying the Fa and my writing has become better and better. Sometimes when copying the Fa, I could see that my body was surrounded by a layer of white substance. When I hand-copied the Fa for a long time, my human notions made me think that I was tired so I stretched to relax. To my surprise, I felt my body was empty and shockingly light. 

Copying the Fa also enabled me to understand the deeper meaning of the character “tribulation” (Chinese: 难). This Chinese character is made up of “又 (again)” and “佳 (better)” (note: this explanation is based on the simplified Chinese character). To true cultivators, every tribulation is for them to improve themselves and then take them to a better stage again. It was a good thing, not a bad thing like most people think. Cultivation is sacred and does not follow human notions.

My cultivation state has a fundamental change. When I continuously use Dafa to guide my actions, I know I am improving every day. When I study the Fa well, I have a strong energy field and am more effective when sending forth righteous thoughts; when I do the exercises well, I have a light (healthy) body. It is also easier for me to talk to people about the persecution of Falun Dafa and urge them to quit the CCP.

All these are interconnected. This is the path for diligent cultivation.

I feel Master’s compassionate salvation for me. I also feel Master’s compassion for all the sentient beings, including police officers whose kind sides are waking up.

It is Master who lifted me up from each tribulation. I must get rid of all the degenerate notions, human thoughts, and attachments, in order to become a true altruistic being.

Thank you, Master!