Latvia: My Cultivation Experience as a New Practitioner

Greetings, Master and fellow practitioners,

Today I will share my journey of letting Dafa in my life and how it has already changed my will, heart and mind.

I first held Zhuan Falun in my hands in April this year, when a person who had been practicing cultivation for more than eight years gave me the book after a short intro into this immense and new world to me. It felt heavy in my hands, but at the same time, I could feel the lightness it held inside. And it turned out that I was right for both – up until now, I have experienced that it is truly hard to and, at the same time, wonderfully easy to practice cultivation with the help of Master Li Hongzhi. But this experience I will share today is not about this but rather the turning point in my mind.

When I started to study Falun Dafa thoroughly, I had different ideas in my head regarding cultivation practices. Still, I had never sat down to deeply reflect and learn about any given opportunities that appeared in my life. Throughout the 28 years of my life, I always felt that there was something more, but never grasped even the tiniest particle of what it could be.

I have friends who wholeheartedly gave me a hand in looking into Christianity, and I have a friend who had given me insight into Judaism and even a person who talked with me about Zen Buddhism, not to mention other smaller encounters with spiritual practices. Although I am thankful for all my friends' offers, I never felt those teachings were my predestined path in this human world. However, I need to mention one specific occasion - for around ten years, I had known a person who was and still is practising Falun Dafa, but our paths repeatedly crossed for very short moments in our lives. I had seen him meditating in the park, I had seen him sharing information and had met him for a short talk, but it never was the right time to ask more. And then, this year, after the lowest point of my life, it was destined for us to meet for a longer talk, and I was finally introduced to Masters Li Hongzhi's book Zhuan Falun. This is the start of my journey to my true self.

When I first opened the book, it was just out of interest to understand the person I had recently met, and I did not expect anything to come out of it. However, the further I read the book, the more it felt like something was opening up in front of me. Yet still, I was very cautious and so full of attachments or fear, to be exact. Until I experienced an extraordinary situation that changed my long-known reality.

I was walking to the office near my home and was passing a construction site. The previous evening I was reading one of Master`s lectures, so I was thinking about the whole cultivation practice`s meaning when suddenly a strong wind gushed right where I was walking. Right then, I saw one of the heavy metal temporary fence pieces falling on me. I had no time to move out of the way but I also did not feel any fear. The fence just fell next to my left side right next to my feet and did not harm me in any way. It weighed almost half of my weight and could have hit my head pretty hard, but it just fell right next to me. At that moment, I understood that this is something very special and genuine and thought of Master's quotes from Zhuan Falun, Lecture Three:

“..no matter how many more people there are, I will still be able to take care of them”
and
“..you have the protection of my fashen, and you will not be in any danger.”

After this first experience, when Master`s words became true in front of my eyes, it shifted my thinking, and I suddenly knew how precious this cultivation practice is. I knew I had to become a true cultivator and devote time to learning Dafa. And I kept in my mind Master’s words, “To truly cultivate, you must cultivate your mind.” So I started to read Zhuan Falun daily and joined our local Falun Dafa exercise group in Riga. Although I still need to temper my will to do the full lotus position, I meditate every day - from 30 minutes in May to 1 hour in July. And lastly - I truly started to try to keep my mind calm and my heart compassionate in all everyday situations to be a true cultivator of Falun Dafa.

There have been many tests and tribulations that I have gone through and many that I still need to overcome. I still have many more attachments to let go of and many more areas for xinxing improvement. Those experiences I will leave out for now to share some other time, but I can say that for each and every tribulation, I am thankful and keep learning with an open heart. Even though I have been practising cultivation for only half a year, I can gladly say that I am determined to continue to improve my xinxing truly for years to come.

Each and every word here is my own interpretation, so please do point out if any inaccuracies appear in the text.

Thank you Master and fellow practitioners.

(Selected to the European Fa-conference 2022 in Warsaw)