How the Fa Gave Me a Quiet Mind

Before I started practicing Dafa, I liked to sit quietly with crossed legs. Daily, before going to sleep, I would sit down for half an hour to clear my mind of stress from the day. However, whenever I sat down, my thoughts would pour out like unleashed wild horses. I tried everything to quiet my mind, but nothing worked. There is a Chinese idiom, “It is useless to try to scratch an itch on one’s foot through the boot.’ That was exactly what I was going through.

After beginning cultivation practice in Falun Dafa, I learned that the only way that one's mind could be calm and peaceful was to eliminate human attachments through cultivation. I often laughed at my prior ignorance when I recalled my useless efforts to clear my thoughts away by using external forces. After learning Falun Dafa, my mind gradually became more and more serene as I eliminated more attachments. Now when I sit in the double lotus position, my everyday thoughts become less and less. Occasionally, my mind is still disturbed by some thoughts, but they are only trivial.

After the crackdown on Falun Gong began in China, clarifying the truth and exposing the evil of the persecution has become my daily task. I was always thinking of how to do better. Even in my dreams, most of the time I found myself with other fellow practitioners going outside and spreading the Fa [Promoting Falun Gong and it’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance]. However, this busy, stressful state affected my sitting meditation and my mind became less tranquil and was often overwhelmed with the amount of work I was doing for Falun Dafa. When I realized that this state of mind was not right, I intensified my study of the books of Falun Dafa and recognized my deep attachments. When I identified my attachments to Falun Dafa work and the outcome of the work, my mind became clear and quiet again. My cultivation made me realize and understand deeply that our enlightened side would never think of anything related to human beings. At that moment, my spirit was serene, untouchable and transparent. All of the human feelings and thoughts were gone and I experienced a tranquil and empty, bright and clear state.

Since that experience, I find that I seldom recall anything from the past. It seems that every minute in the past has become a long, long history. Future issues rarely get into my heart. Everything just happens naturally according to its own course. I have become more focused and I try to do my best on the current task. I am still as busy as before and have not reduced my work for Dafa. However, when I sit down to send forth righteous thoughts, I forget all the work that I was busy doing a minute ago. The only thing that is left in my heart is the verses. When I finish sending forth righteous thoughts, I feel like I have just come back from far, far away.

[Sending forth righteous thoughts is a kind of meditation, in which the practitioner holds one hand in front of the chest and thinks of eliminating evil from the universe.]