Italy: Growing Under Master’s Compassionate Blessings

Greetings, respected Master!
Greetings, fellow practitioners!

Returning to the Path of Cultivation

During the Chinese New Year in 1996, I finished reading the book Falun Gong ( 2nd edition) at a distant relative’s home. This was my first encounter with a qigong-related book. Later on, I managed to obtain the precious book Zhuan Falun from a small bookstore and found a local practice site. Thus, I embarked on my cultivation journey.

In 1999, the evil persecution began. Under various pressures, I gave up cultivation, stopped reading the books, and ceased practicing. I fell away and became deeply immersed in ordinary human life, pursuing fame and material desires to the extreme. However, the more I pursued, the emptier my life became. Although I was young at the time, my health was far from good, with stomach problems being the most severe.

In pursuit of a better life, I came to Italy in August 2004. Due to economic and work pressures, my stomach problems resurfaced. One day, I saw information about the Nine Commentaries, Quitting the CCP, and the spread of Falun Dafa on New Tang Dynasty Television. I was amazed to learn that many people overseas were practicing Falun Gong. I rekindled my wish to resume cultivating in Dafa. I immediately found fellow practitioners near the Chinese Consulate and obtained the precious book Zhuan Falun once again.

A fellow practitioner lent me all of Master's teachings after 1999. It took me over a month to finish reading them all. I understood all the questions I had and realized that our compassionate Master had never given up on me, a disciple with shortcomings, and had always been taking care of me. There are no words to express my gratitude at this moment. The knowing side of mine could not help but cry,  crying every day, and tears kept flowing whenever I thought of Master. I am grateful to Master for pulling me out of hell.

 My health also unknowingly improved, and my weight increased from 40 kilograms to nearly 50 kilograms. People around me witnessed the wonders of Dafa, and their attitudes towards it changed significantly.

 My profession is a hairdresser. Once, I met a customer from South America. She had full-length hair extensions. My boss had never learned how to properly wash hair, and he made her hair a mess, like a pile of tangled grass on her head.

I knew that this kind of hair was the most challenging to deal with. It took me over twenty minutes to untangle half of her hair. At this time, the customer told me she needed to catch a train in just over 20 minutes, which seemed impossible for me to finish. I started to get anxious. Then I remembered Master's words in the “Teachings at the 2005 Conference in San Francisco": "… work is not cultivation, but your cultivation will be reflected in your work."

Master's words made me realize that I should not be impatient. Impatience is a human attachment, and I needed to be patient. I changed my mindset. In the next few moments, I untangled all of her hair. Everyone was simply amazed. I knew it was Master who helped me.

Promoting Shen Yun on Facebook During the Pandemic

In 2020, just a week before Shen Yun's performance in Milan, the pandemic broke out in Italy. The eight shows were forced to stop. Later, the promotion team decided to promote Shen Yun on Facebook. I chose to participate in the promotion, but new challenges arose. First, I knew nothing about Facebook, and second, I had to work with an Italian page.

With the help of fellow practitioners, I first solved the issues of the account setup. I learned everything from how to check my account, how to view profiles of friends and non-friends, to understanding the information in different groups. For me, it was a significant task. Soon, I encountered a problem. I didn't know how to proceed, as there were many tiny details I had to learn from scratch. Moreover, my Italian was not good, and negative thoughts overwhelmed me. I felt uncomfortable, suffered from a severe headache, and became restless. Even in my dreams, I sought solutions.

This state lasted for several days, and I felt like giving up. I thought I was foolish; even if I learned something, I couldn't remember it. I felt it was too difficult. One morning, while doing the second set of exercises, Master's words entered my mind:

“When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” In fact, that is how it is. Why don’t you give it a try when you return home? When you are overcoming a real hardship or tribulation, you try it. When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find, “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

Master enlightened me. I couldn't give up. When facing difficulties, I must persist without retreat. Every Sunday, fellow practitioners came to my home for Fa study and sharing. They encouraged me, and those skilled in technology patiently taught me. Gradually, my understanding and skills started to improve.

As someone who is used to standing while working, I now had to sit in front of the computer for several hours each day. I was not used to it, but I knew it was cultivating my endurance. Every day, I liked, added friends, looked for suitable groups, sent messages, replied to messages, and used Google Translate to go back and forth between Chinese and Italian.

Unknowingly, about three months had passed. One day, I distinctly felt that I had merged with Facebook. It felt very comfortable, and I was happy inside. The number of people replying to messages increased, and the messages carried strong positive energy. This was great encouragement for me. Even without language and technical skills, I could promote Shen Yun using a computer. It was Master who opened this path for me. From then on, sitting in front of the computer, I felt calm and peaceful. The previous restlessness was gone. With proficiency, everything became much faster. To send more messages, I even created a second account.

Looking back at this process, I saw some of my human notions being cultivated away and positive responses from sentient beings. During the most challenging times, I was able to use Facebook to promote Shen Yun, which felt especially precious and honourable.

Participating in the Catering Service Team for Shen Yun

In 2019, the coordinator called me and said that Shen Yun performances in Italy were increasing each year. To ensure they had good meals, we needed to establish our own kitchen team to take care of the food during the Shen Yun performances. She asked if I could coordinate the kitchen work.

I immediately refused, telling her to find someone else. I had never done coordination work before, and I knew nothing about running a kitchen. It was a significant responsibility, one that I couldn't handle. I wanted to do my own tasks steadily and silently, cooperating with the person in charge to the best of my abilities.

Afterward, my mind was filled with conversations with the coordinator and thoughts about the kitchen. Nothing happens by chance. Therefore, the coordinator approaching me was not accidental. I knew the workload in the kitchen was considerable, and I disliked the smell of cooking oil. I asked myself if my previous vows included doing this task. If they did, then not doing it would be breaking my vows. These thoughts played like a movie in my mind, and my heart was in turmoil.

Master said: “Actually, I think it depends on the person as to whether it is difficult or not. For an everyday person who does not want to practice cultivation, he will find cultivation practice simply too difficult, inconceivable, or impossible. As an everyday person, he does not want to practice cultivation and will find it very difficult.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

Master's Fa awakened me. I understood that I am a cultivator, not an ordinary person. I knew how to make the right choice. I immediately told the coordinator that I could coordinate the kitchen work.

Master's Guanding

The 2020 Shen Yun tour began. I remember on the last day in Napoli, the coordinator called and asked us to add 2-3 more dishes. I said it was not possible. I directly refused to add extra dishes, explaining that there wasn't enough time. I assured her that we could guarantee the meals would be ready on time, and I felt adding more dishes would be an extra burden. I also felt that if the coordinator knew about our difficulties and still wanted to add more dishes, she wasn't really helping us. The coordinator came to the kitchen again to talk about adding dishes. I still said there wasn't enough time. Then the coordinator directly asked the chef if we could add more dishes. The chef said it was possible. I reluctantly said, "Let's try our best." In the end, we successfully added the dishes.

Actually, the coordinator must have a reason for wanting to add more dishes. She didn't need to explain to me why she wanted to do it, and I didn't need to ask. I just needed to try my best to cooperate. However, I didn't do that. At that moment, I completely lacked righteous thoughts, forgot that I was a cultivator, and only focused on doing the job, without realizing that this was an opportunity arranged by Master to improve my cultivation.

The next morning, my state was not right. I woke up crying for no reason, and my mind was filled with negative thoughts like, "You can't cultivate anymore," "All beings in your world are doomed," and other chaotic and negative thoughts. In fact, my true self knows that I must not be disturbed, not fall into the trap of the old forces, but it was difficult to suppress these thoughts, and I couldn't stop my tears.

I begged Master to help me to not acknowledge all of the old forces' arrangements and interference. I wanted to follow Master's arrangements. However, my state didn't change. On the way to the next stop, I remained in this state, feeling physically exhausted and weak, lacking strength. Even cutting vegetables with a knife felt laborious. My physical energy was noticeably reduced compared to previous days. I even accidentally cut my hand, and the cut was quite deep, bleeding profusely. My hand became swollen and inconvenient to use. It was like adding insult to injury.

With an hour left before serving the meal, the gas suddenly ran out. The person delivering the gas hadn't arrived yet. It was our first time using gas cylinders, so we didn't control the gas consumption properly. I had to call the coordinator and tell her the situation, saying that we wouldn't have lunch on time, and she needed to find another solution.

She calmly said, "It's okay, we still have time." At that moment, we had only served one dish and one fried rice. There was still no news about the gas cylinder. I said, "We really don't have enough time." Then she softly called my name and said, "We have time. We have time. He (Master) is here." I repeated her words, saying, "Yes, we have time!" As I finished speaking, a sudden rush of heat surged from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. The heat flowed through every cell in my body, a thick and heavy sensation. Master had given me Guanding! Master is always by my side, always taking care of me. My eyes filled with tears of gratitude.

Shortly after, the gas cylinder was delivered. Excitedly, I told the coordinator that the gas cylinder had arrived. In just one minute, such a significant change occurred. It was incredible. Although the meal was slightly delayed, with the cooperation of fellow practitioners, the overall schedule was not affected.

After Master's Guanding, my state also changed. Those negative thoughts were gone. I felt joy from inside out, and my physical strength recovered. I knew that Master had removed those negative substances for me and had borne my karmic debts. This was a test that compassionate Master helped me pass the test through the coordinator’s words.

Breaking Through Fear of Using the Oven

I had never used an oven before and knew that its temperature was very high, making it seem dangerous. Therefore, I always had fear of using the oven. I understood this was something I needed to cultivate and break through. Because I had to coordinate with the chef's schedule, I needed to use the oven when needed. Even one minute either way could affect the taste and quality of the food.

Once, due to time constraints, a fellow practitioner took the baking tray out of the oven and placed it on the table, asking me to transfer the food from the tray to the serving plate. Because I was in a hurry, I forgot to wear gloves and touched the hot tray directly with my hands. My instinctive reaction was to exclaim, "Ah, it's scalding!" But I immediately looked at my hands and thought, "My hands should be fine. Please empower me, Master. I can't let it affect my work." After examining my hands, I found that there was nothing wrong with them.

The next day, while frying food, a drop of oil splashed onto the back of my hand. It was scalding! I thought it should be okay; such a small drop of oil wouldn't cause a blister. But in the evening, when I looked at my hand again, a blister the size of a soybean had formed. It took several days to fully heal. Although several months have passed since then, there is still a small mark on the back of my hand.

These two incidents had distinctly different outcomes. The consequences brought about by a slight difference in thoughts. This made me more aware of what righteous thoughts are on the critical issue of passing tribulations. During the process, bit by bit, I thoroughly eliminated the fear of using the oven.

During this time, I also heard a rumour that I had to return to China, so I couldn't be the kitchen coordinator. I wondered who spread such rumours and why they would create such falsehoods! What was their purpose? Upon careful consideration, I realized this was interference aimed at the kitchen team, trying to prevent me from assisting Master in saving sentient beings through this project. I knew the significance of the kitchen team during the tour, so I firmly denied this rumour and faced it calmly. I followed Master's arrangements. Later, this rumour disappeared without anyone needing to refute it.

Conclusion

From obtaining the Fa to the present, the journey has been full of stumbling blocks. Each step has never been reached without Master's care and empowerment. Cultivation is like rowing against the current. But with Master by our side, what seemed impossible can become possible. When we comply with the Fa, Master can do anything. It is because of compassionate Master that I have been given opportunities to purify myself during this process, so that I can ultimately return home with Master.

The above is my current level of understanding and realisation of the Fa.

In conclusion, I will end my sharing with a poem from Hong Yin II.

Master-Disciple Grace

Violent evil has raged four years
With a steady helm, bearings are not lost
Fa disciples experience evil’s trials
Heavy pressure does not change their will
Master and disciples have no use for sentiment
Buddha’s grace transforms heaven and earth
Disciples’ righteous thoughts are strong
Master has the power to turn the tide

Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners.

 

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