Every morning except on weekends I ride my bike to work for the 15-minute journey to my job near where I live. Since there is no direct bus or train connection to the workplace, I am dependent on my bike and on rare occasions on my car. I get up at 5am and begin work at 6am. If I am pressed, I will take my car, but that has not often been necessary. One morning something drew me to the car. But I thought right away: “No, I will ride my bike”. It is more cost-effective and I did indeed ride my bike. I have become more in-tuned to things since the practice of Falun Dafa and often make the correct decision intuitively. Sometimes I experience an omen. I never paid much attention to those things before and did not heed them. The voice of my heart has become louder.
The next morning I went to the cellar as usual to fetch my bike upstairs. Just as I was about to ride off I noticed that one of the tyres was flat. I pondered how that could have happened, since I had no trouble with the bike the previous day and had arrived home safely and the cellar is locked at night. It’s a racing bike with very narrow tyres. The tiniest puncture can flatten the tyre. I ran upstairs to get my husband’s bike key and attempted to ride his bike. Since I was already delayed, I called a colleague to inform her of my lateness. I went back to the cellar and realized that I would not ride my husband’s bike, because the seat had been adjusted to his height, which was way too high for me.
The only remaining transport to work was the car. I drove off and arrived at work ten minutes later, even found a parking spot right away. At the very moment I wanted to park the car in that spot, a mini bus wanted to drive off. To allow that vehicle more space to get out, I backed up a few feet and heard a big “bang.” It was still so dark and I had not noticed a small, seemingly unoccupied black car behind me. My heart stood still for a moment. Did I cause an accident? One of my worst nightmares! Additional unnecessary problems. What should I do? A slew of improper, unrighteous thoughts seemed to crowd into my head. Even the thought to flee the scene! I pushed them aside, calmed down, parked the car and forced myself to become clearheaded. I recalled: As a Falun Gong practitioner, you must always act in accordance with Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and at all times be a good person. I realized that this problem came my way to test my sincere belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and that this was a chance for me to repay some karma. As it says in Zhuan Falun [the main book of Falun Gong]: “Every time you run into problems, think first if it can hurt others. You will then not run into problems. Therefore, as a practitioner, you should always conduct yourself according higher levels. Often, people don’t realize … he prays to the Buddha ‘won’t you help me solve this problem? Why don’t you help me!’ Of course the Buddha won’t solve the problem, because he has arranged this difficulty for you to improve your xinxing (heart/mind nature). If the Buddha would solve the problem, how could you raise your level? The deciding factor is to let your cultivation energy grow. Looked at from the great enlightened beings it is not the goal to be human; the goal of a human life is to return to its origin.”
I got out of my car and surveyed the damage. Our car showed no damage. The other car sustained a few small dents. I called my husband and then placed a note with my telephone number on the black car. I could not wait. I had to go to work, where I arrived half an hour late. My mind processed all kinds of thoughts about this incident during the workday. When I searched for the origin of my improper thoughts I discovered attachments.
It was fear. This fear stemmed from the time I received my driver’s licence. During that time my father often lost his temper when he was in the car with me, drawing gruesome mental pictures of accidents for me, so that I ended up to dislike driving a car and did not drive again. Only seven years later, after I had begun to practise Falun Dafa did my confidence and self-assuredness grew in several areas, including driving a car. I lost all these inhibitions and have driven without problems.
After I discovered the reason for my improper thoughts I realized what a great chance this was to rid myself of the attachment of fear and to approach this situation rationally. A genuine cultivation opportunity!
I had a strong desire to take care of this matter cleanly. I told myself, “If this is really inherited karma from my former life, then I will gladly absolve it. I can endure without hatred and pressure, because that is the image of a good person and true cultivator. Foremost I don’t want the other driver to suffer any damage and get angry”.
With a light heart I returned to my car, to see whether the other car was still there. The black car was still there, and in it sat a pregnant woman. The note I had left was still on the windshield. I immediately went to her and told her what had happened. She was surprised at my story, since she had not noticed anything amiss with her car. She was friendly and open and said that something like this had also happened to her once, and for me not to worry. We waited for her husband. I was relieved and knew that I had chosen the proper way of dealing with this. When her husband arrived everything proceeded rapidly.” What do you mean, you hit us where?” He was surprised as well. When I showed him the place on his car he only said” oh, that; that is an old dent. Someone else had hit us. Except that person was not as honest and nice as you are and simply drove off without a trace.”
Somehow I had a premonition that this whole thing would turn out well. I thanked him for his honesty. Had I had not been a practitioner I would have acted differently. I would have simply driven off and then endured my guilty conscience, as I did as a child when I had done something bad, telling myself that it was o.k. These days, everyone seems to justify things in this way. To be honest, the only thing I could think of that I want to continue to practise Falun Gong and as a practitioner I must have the courage and strength to lead and honest life and to believe in virtue. The Law of the Cosmos [Dafa] really does have the power to change a person to voluntarily turn toward the good. I can only urge the readers to decide in favor of righteousness. Once done so, miracles do happen. They only happen, however, if we integrate into the natural law of things in life around us. The police may not have observed what happened and we got off easy. But the gods and the enlightened beings in the cosmos see all. They have followed our life’s paths and will reward good with good and evil with evil.
A woman practitioner from Germany
October 24, 2001
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