France: Grateful to Master for my two years of cultivation 

Greetings esteemed Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!

My name is Jurong Shi. I am a practitioner from Strasbourg, France. I was a baptized christian before obtaining the Fa. The topic of my sharing today is: Grateful to Master for My two years of cultivation. Looking back on over two years of cultivation in Dafa, I am filled with gratitude, and I also deeply admire Master's careful arrangement and care.

In 2000, I came to France as a preparatory doctoral exchange student. After completing my doctoral studies, I stayed in France and married a man I met in church. After that, I became a housewife. It seems that life was going smoothly, but disaster unexpectedly struck. In 2019, my husband got terminally ill. Only then did I grasp that the moment of parting was to come, and I realized painfully: life and death are determined by heaven, not by people.

Obtaining the Fa

My husband had a colleague, one half of a German Chinese couple who practiced Falun Gong. Knowing that they were kind-hearted, he called, told them about his illness, and asked for their help to find herbal medicine. They said he could try Falun Gong. Immediately, they sent the link of Master's "Zhuan Falun". Worried that my husband would have difficulty reading the book, they also sent a link to the audio lecture. They told me, it would be better for my husband if I could study together with him. I immediately agreed. I would do anything to save my husband.

I started to study the Fa and do the exercises as the practitioners told me. They sent me Dafa books. My husband couldn't do the exercises, so practitioners read Zhuan Falun with him via his phone. When he was in good spirits, he would listen to Master's lecture recordings, and I also read them to him. That period was the height of the CCP virus epidemic in Europe, and the practitioners also planned to contact fellow practitioners nearby to visit us and teach the exercises. I was very moved. People were so scared that they dared not go out. Dafa disciples are really different!

I started to study the Fa in April 2021. At that time, I just wanted to know what it is about, but I didn't think I would start to cultivate. I didn't even know what cultivation was. Unexpectedly, I couldn't stop reading the Dafa books. It took me three months to read all of Master's scriptures. I thoroughly understood: Master is the only hope for people in the Dharma-ending period to be saved. and everything he said was not human knowledge and wisdom, but heavenly secrets and the supreme truth. Afterwards, I read the Fa over and over again, and the comprehensiveness of Dafa's principles constantly shocked me!

My life after obtaining the Fa

The unhealthy bad habits I developed during my life, such as smoking and drinking, were easily quit after practicing Dafa. It is unbelievably fast from an ordinary person’s point of view. It seemed like a miracle. It was a miracle!

I am the kind of mother Master talked about, who used to get angry and sometimes even resorted to physical force when educating her child. Although I invested a lot in my child, it seemed like they only remembered my bad temper. After obtaining the Fa, I could see my own shortcomings and started looking within. I took the initiative to apologize to my child and said I would refrain from getting angry. My child genuinely felt my tremendous change and began to enjoy listening to me talk about the wisdom in Dafa.

Last year, my child readily agreed to participate in the Minghui summer camp, and he gained a lot from it. Nowadays, he reads the Fa every day and sometimes discusses it with me. One day, I was in a hurry to study the Fa and left my meal unfinished. After the Fa study, I saw that my child had covered my food with a lid. It was something he had never done before, the first time he showed care for someone, and it moved me to tears. Thank you, Master, for everything!

My elderly mother also noticed changes in me. She is over 80 years old and in very poor health, a typical kind and caring mother, who worried about me raising the child alone. She sensed that I had become very optimistic and had no trace of negativity. After my husband passed away, I found strength in this straightforward Fa principle from Master:

“How could the nuclei in one’s body easily become extinct as one dies? Therefore, we have found that when a person is dead, only the largest molecular elements in this dimension of ours have sloughed off while the bodies in other dimensions have not degenerated.” (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 1)

Master said in the scripture “Melt into the Fa” in Essentials for Further Advancement: “The ancients have a saying, “Having heard the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening.” No one among mankind today can really understand its meaning. Did you know that when a person’s mind accepts the Fa, that part of his mind that accepts the Fa is assimilated to the Fa? Where will that part go upon the death of that person who has heard the Fa?”

I realised I should be happy for my husband, for how lucky he was. Master said in “Teachings at the Conference in Switzerland”: “Human beings are precisely amidst this emotion. The more you are attached to it, the greater its power and thus the more effect it has on you. In particular, when people lose their loved ones or when young people have their hearts broken, the more it’s thought about, the greater the power emotion has. Emotion is inside the Three Realms, so you, a cultivator, must shake free of it.” Looking inward, I saw that my sadness was filled with grievance and resentment about life. I was still complaining about the injustice of fate, and I was still yearning for a peaceful life with my husband, all of which were selfish. What shocked my mother the most was that my “common sense” had changed and I learned how to apologize. I am ashamed to say this, but it seems that I used to be really awful. But bad things can also turn into good things. This change in my nature also became an opportunity for my mother to learn about Dafa. I only had one thought, that to allow my mother to obtain the Fa, I must first work on my Forbearance. Otherwise, is it right to lose my temper to prove myself? It will only backfire. Master gives wisdom when we have righteous thoughts, and I clarified the truth to my mother step by step. Finally she let go of her prejudice against Dafa and began to listen to me. When she was sick, she recited “Falun Dafa Hao, Zhen Shan Ren hao” every day, and persisted through a critical illness.

Looking inward to get rid of the attachment to fear and establish a practice site

A fellow practitioner suggested that I set up a practice site in our city, but I looked for various excuses to avoid doing so. Once, I clarified the truth to a friend in Germany, and she said that she doesn't want to practice, as she has to go back to mainland China. I said that she can read Dafa books online, and she won't get into trouble. But she was still afraid and didn't dare to study the Fa online. When I was sharing this matter with fellow practitioners, a voice suddenly came in, “You are the same, so you don't dare to open a practice site.” I realized: Wasn’t it true?!

In “Fa Teaching Given at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Practitioners”, Master said in answer to a question from a student: “Actually, I’d say that if there really are people like that, then it’s the result of their human attachments. Those who this question is referring to can dig into the recesses of their minds, if they don’t believe it, and they are sure to find attachments. To put it lightly, you are lazy. Put more seriously, you’re afraid.”

I looked inward and found that I have both laziness and fear. I realized that clarifying the truth is like a mirror. When you see the various attachments in ordinary people, you can also see your own. If I were asked to look inward, I might not be able to find the right one. When I clarified the truth, they would be immediately exposed. I understand that looking inward is to cultivate oneself. The key is not about doing things, but cultivating yourself while doing things.

On March 7, 2022, another practitioner and I established a practice site to teach the exercises for free every Sunday in the park. This is currently the only practice site in our city. Since then, there have regularly been predestined people coming to learn the exercises and understand the truth about Dafa.

Once, I read “I Smile”, the last poem of Master's HongYin. One of the lines, “I smile - the ferryboat has set sail", reminded me of a dream I had not long after I obtained the Fa. The dream was about a catastrophe, the kind of catastrophe that will destroy the world. I saw a huge fireball in the sky rushing towards the earth. People panicked and ran for their lives. I was also terrified in my heart, but I saw a car or a boat beside me. Some people were boarding the boat leisurely, but others couldn't see it. I knew it was a lifesaving boat. There was a person at the boarding gate, holding a booklet, who signed me in and allowed me to board the vessel. After getting on the boat, I sat down. There were only a few empty seats, and everyone was reciting Master's scriptures. At this time, I was very nervous and anxious that I couldn't recite anything, so I looked around for the books. Why didn't I bring them with me? Then when I woke up, I felt guilty, and knew that I should not be lazy, and that I had to study the Fa well, so that I could better clarify the truth and save people.

Master often gives me hints inadvertently. Once, I finished doing exercises at a practice site and was packing my things to leave when suddenly a message came to my mind, “Be a stepping stone, not a stumbling block”. My surname is Shi, as in the Chinese character for stone, and I realized that Master used my name to enlighten me: When clarifying the truth to save people, you must listen with a humble heart, and be a “stepping stone” for sentient beings to understand the truth. I have a competitive mentality, and when I clarify the truth, I always try to convince others with reasoning. I asked Master, is this wrong? The understanding I got is that it is to “help” people, not to “persuade” them. It is guiding them to see reason, not making people submit.

Promoting Shen Yun and assisting Master in Fa-rectification

After the epidemic, Shen Yun started performing again in 2022. Through studying the Fa and sharing with fellow practitioners, I understood the power of Shen Yun in saving people. I took the initiative to participate in some leaflet promotion activities.

During an activity to spread the Fa, a Frenchman came and he was interested in the exercises. After the fellow practitioner finished teaching the exercises, he saw the Shen Yun brochure and wanted to look at it. He asked if anyone could give him a lift to the show. A fellow practitioner asked me if it was possible to take him along. We wanted to see the show in Basel, Switzerland the next day and I still had a free seat in my car. Master will help when we have righteous thoughts, and the Frenchman immediately bought a ticket with his mobile phone.

The next day, we set out as a group of four. First we had to arrive at a French town close to Basel and change to a tram to the city. When I approached the town, Google Navigation led me around in circles, and other people couldn't find the right way with their GPS either. Seeing that time was running out, I decided not to listen to the navigation and read the road signs by myself, and finally arrived. After the car was parked, I found that the sole of one of my shoes had cracked and fallen off. I calmly opened the trunk of my car, lifted the bottom panel, and found some strong adhesive tape to secure the shoes. Then, I set out on my journey. The time was getting tighter and tighter. I was thinking about what to do if we couldn't make it in time. I decided that if we missed it, I would buy another ticket for this Frenchman. I must let this life see Shen Yun. If we can’t catch up with this one, we can watch the next show. Once I clarified my thoughts, the suspenseful feeling in my heart immediately eased. Afterwards, we received help from strangers along the way, which saved us time, and we arrived ten minutes earlier than expected. This is just like what Master said in “The Master-Disciple Bond” (Hong Yin II): “When disciples have ample righteous thoughts / Master has the power to turn the tide”

Afterward, I couldn't help but marvel at Master's meticulous arrangements that provided me with the adhesive tape to tie the shoes at the critical moment. I had no knowledge of what was inside the car; my husband used to take care of such matters. After he passed away, I had never even flipped open the panel beneath the trunk before. How did I know about it?

In early May, I participated in a truth clarification activity about forced organ harvesting in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. After the event, I offered to give a few German practitioners a ride to get their car. While in the parking lot, a homeless person suddenly appeared, claiming that his companion had fallen and needed a bandage, which he believed I had in my car. I started rummaging through the trunk and flipped open the panel underneath it, where I had previously found the strong adhesive tape. However, he said that it was not what he needed and insisted on a medical bandage. So, I continued searching and, surprisingly, I found the medical bandage he was looking for. We also gave him a Dafa leaflet. This small incident during the journey to watch Shen Yun allowed me to stay calm and composed. I used the adhesive tape to securely wrap the shoes and continued on my path.

If I didn't go to a truth-clarification activity that day; if I didn't help that homeless man that day, how would I know where the tape was? I deeply understand that for practitioners, nothing is incidental, all is intentional. “Good or evil comes from a person´s spontaneous thought” (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 4), every step and every thought has to be upright, and only then can we walk the path smoothly.

Getting rid of fundamental attachments, assisting Master in Fa rectification, and fulfilling our prehistoric vows

I majored in science and engineering, and through my studies and work I have developed logical thinking under a scientific framework over a long period of time. When I was studying the Bible, it was this way of thinking that made me think of many questions, and when I asked other believers, I found that they couldn’t explain it clearly. They told me to just “believe”, thinking that I was not pious enough and was questioning Jesus Christ. When I read Zhuan Falun, I was constantly amazed by the comprehensiveness of Dafa's principles, which fit my own scientific way of thinking.

After I started practicing, fellow practitioners suggested that I read more “Towards Consummation” (The Essentials of Diligent Progress II), which was published on June 16, 2000 and was the second scripture after the persecution began. It reminded me to hastily find my fundamental attachments, so that I can better assist Master in Fa-rectification. Master said in the scripture:

“Some people thought that Dafa is in keeping with their own conception of science; some people thought that it agreed with their own code of conduct; some people thought that it spoke to their dissatisfaction with politics; some people thought that Dafa could salvage humankind’s degenerate morals; some people thought that Dafa could heal their sickness; some people thought that Dafa and Master have integrity, and so on and so forth." "You may start on the path of Dafa with those thoughts, yet over the course of cultivation you need to regard yourself as a cultivator. During the course of cultivation, through reading the books, studying the Fa, and diligently making progress, you should manage to clearly recognize what your thoughts were when you first came to Dafa. After cultivating for a period of time, are your thoughts still the same? Are you continuing on the path because of those human attachments? If so, you cannot be counted as my disciple. It means that you have not discarded your fundamental attachments and have failed to understand the Fa from the Fa.”

I realized that Master allows us to enter Dafa while carrying all kinds of notions. But in cultivation, we must realize that these things will also become obstacles for improving our cultivation level. These are the fundamental attachments of human beings, and it is human selfishness. Master said in “Teachings at the Conference in Switzerland”:

“Actually, you don’t yet know that this selfishness reaches all the way up to very high levels. As a matter of fact, for cultivators in the past to say, “I’m doing such and such,” “I want to do such and such,” “I want to obtain such and such,” “I’m cultivating,” “I want to become a Buddha,” or “I wish to attain such and such,” none of that was outside of selfishness. But what I want you to do is to truly, purely, and unselfishly Consummate with the real righteous Fa and righteous Enlightenment—only then can you achieve eternal non-extinction.”

This is because cultivating Dafa in accordance with one’s own notions is still selfish when seen from a high level, not a state of selflessness.

Conclusion

Having obtained the Fa for two years, I am filled with gratitude. I deeply admire those veteran practitioners who started their cultivation journey right after Master first taught the Fa. It was not easy for me to obtain the Fa; I entered when I had no other way. I cherish this final period of the Fa-rectification, knowing that I must diligently cultivate myself during this time. I won't let the hardships and tribulations I endured through countless lifetimes go to waste. I won't disappoint the expectations of the sentient beings waiting to be saved, and I won't let down Master's compassionate salvation.

The above is my little bit of cultivation experience over the past two years. Please kindly point out any deficiencies in my understanding.

Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!

 

(Selected article for the European Fa-conference 2023 in Paris)