Indebted to Falun Dafa and to Master Li (Moscow Fa-Conference 2003)

Greetings Master Li!
Greetings practitioners!

My name is Victor. I live in Michigan, USA. I have been practicing for 2 years

At the end of lecture nine of Zhuan Falun Teacher points out: “…Cultivation practice itself is not difficult, and neither is upgrading one’s level itself difficult. It is because they cannot give up the human mind that they call it difficult. This is because it is very difficult to relinquish something in the face of practical gain. The benefits are right here, so how can you abandon these attachments? It is actually because of this that one will find it difficult”.

After trying to discover the deep meaning of these words, I want to share my experience and understanding of the subject.

For me, the wish to get rid of attachments, stubborn desires for material gain preceded good results in terms of improving my physical and mental health in relation to practicing Falun Dafa. In a single month’s time all of my symptoms that I had due to an enlarged prostate were gone (it was 5 times its normal size previously), which allowed me to stop taking the medications that I had been told I would have to continue taking for the rest of my life. In a month’s time I stopped going to the chiropractor whom I usually saw weekly, because the pains in my leg and back disappeared. After 7 months, my memory and reaction time while driving improved. While eating regularly and decreasing the time I sleep at night to 6 hours, my weight normalized, going from 61 kg to 68 kg, and the increase in weight occurred because of the increase in muscle. People say that I look younger than my age.

I did go through tribulations dealing with disease-karma, which manifested themselves over several days. I continued to practice somewhat, didn’t go to see any doctors, and didn’t take any medication.

The trial of the demon of sex did not pass me by, but I didn’t allow it to sway me from the righteous path. In a dream I saw a young naked woman, who awakened my desires and dirty thoughts… Then I saw her again in a dream in her room, and her husband came in the room…He asked her: “Why did you set up this meeting?” She answered: “Don’t worry, nothing happened between us…” And at that moment I thought: “Nothing will ever happen between us…” and I woke up. It seems to me that at that moment a piece of karma that was related to this attachment broke away from me.

In the first couple of years living in the USA, I worked on fixing bicycles: out of two broken bicycles, I could make one new one and then I would sell it. It’s been about 5 years since I’ve stopped doing that, but the desire to take it up again has resurfaced (the old forces are trying to make us busy…): I couldn’t walk by a broken bicycle without taking it. I took it home that night, and in the morning I realized my mistake and threw it out…

I felt differences in my mental and physical states. Suddenly I felt I knew why I was alive, and there was a constant happiness in my heart. My personality started to change: my personality became more balanced, calm and kind. Constantly studying the Fa and the lectures, as well the changes that took place physically all have strengthened my faith in the Great Law and in Master Li as my Teacher.

The day-to-day environment of cultivation practice for me is communicating with my wife and with practitioners in our group. Those changes that my wife noticed in my lifestyle, she could not just calmly accept them. Conflicts and arguments arose often, especially when I wanted to go to a Dafa conference or to a Dafa event. At times, these conversations would turn into a fight or hostile silence. My wife loves the theatre and has the opportunity to go to concerts often (she goes free because she volunteers as an usher). I was never interested in it in the past, and now this would be very taxing to my time and in practice (the cascade of thoughts after attending a theatre performance would interfere at the time of practice), that is why I never went to these events with her. Taking into account the situation as a whole, my wife once told me: “Spiritually, we are different people, we don’t match…I will be looking for a person that suits me better!” and to prove that she was serious, she stopped paying any attention to me.

The feelings of total calm and confidence filled me, and the notion that I must save her with my righteous thoughts and with my righteous field appeared. But this was easier said than done.

Soon I decided to go to the 2002 Dafa conference in Moscow. I had already made my decision, and I would go no matter what.

Later, the following occurred: on Sunday my wife drove to the store, taking a road that she has been taking for many years. At an intersection she ended up going onto the highway (she is very afraid of driving on the highway and never does it). As soon as she was back on regular city streets, she once again ended up on the highway…she lost her sense of direction and she returned home in the evening, walking in silently.

I was under the impression that Teacher wanted to point something out to her and organized everything in a way that would take away her aggression. The trip to Moscow didn’t work out, my wife’s employer wouldn’t let her go and I had to help her. Later the family environment and atmosphere once again stabilized. How could I not recall Teacher’s words in this instance, that if you only had the wish to cultivate “Everything that’s in other dimensions will be cleaned up for you. And the environment at home will be cleaned up.”

At the end of October of 2002, I discovered an enlarged and inflamed birthmark on the left side of my abdomen (around the waist area). It had a red ring around it and was cracked, with pus draining from the inside, causing pain and constant discomfort. Despite my attempts, I was not able to hide this for long. With the best of intentions in mind, my wife told me that I must go and see the doctor immediately, and when I told her that I wouldn’t, she added: “the whole neighborhood will be in shock when they hear that you are dying from a metastasized cancer because you refused to see the doctor”. Then a period of time followed where she tried to stay away from so that she wouldn’t “catch my disease”. She tried to “save” me by telling everyone (that she thought could help) about my condition.

At first I took this as a manifestation of my disease-karma which I was enduring patiently, but weeks and months were passing by and it wasn’t getting better. With the help of other practitioners, I realized that during the period of Fa Rectification, I should no longer be going through a period where I am still getting rid of my karma. This could only be an evil persecution and interference of the old forces.

During the next 2 weeks I sent forth righteous thoughts frequently, but nothing changed. I was in this situation because I wasn’t searching within myself to uncover and solve my problems, to get rid of bad things in order to raise my Xingxing. The old forces want to use each of our shortcomings to their benefits. If we don’t do what Teacher says, then they will use this as a way to further persecute us.

On the 5th month since the evil started to persecute me, my tooth started to hurt. In the beginning it wasn’t so hard to take, then it hurt more and in the morning my cheek was swollen, I would walk sideways and hide so that my wife wouldn’t see and start to worry. I decided to go to see the doctor, but he could only see me on the following day. I slept poorly and saw a dream (a hint that I should have been more sturdy…). I was sending forth righteous thoughts frequently and in the morning my tooth no longer hurt, but during breakfast a new tribulation, a crown that was relatively new, broke…

The way out of the situation came to me in a rather natural and way: I got a strong urge to practice more diligently.

I didn’t yet know what I would do differently, but my faith in Dafa was strengthened: my future actions will be righteous because that is what Teacher requires of me in accordance with the course of Fa Rectification. I started to dig within myself and tried to fulfill Teacher’s requirements from the 2002 Lecture in Philadelphia, “Of course, each one of our Dafa disciples says that we don’t recognize the old forces’ arrangements, but that’s not something you just say—you have to follow the requirements of Dafa and the Fa-rectification.” Then everything worked out with the greatest of ease. Before this, I was receiving social security payments from the government as a senior citizen, which allowed me to lead a very modest lifestyle, but aside from this I was also working under the table. Without the part time job, my income was two times smaller…

Upon my request, practitioners helped me to take part in the events related to validating the Fa and clarifying the truth, happening from April 10-22 of this year. I met with them in Philadelphia (to share experiences), then they drove me to New Jersey where they provided a place to stay, showering me with care. Every day, for a period of 5 days in the morning after sending forth righteous thoughts, a bus would take me to Manhattan where near the Chinese embassy building we would protest the against the genocide in China in a group of Chinese practitioners from 8:10 to 21:10. We did the exercises, handed out truth-clarifying materials and sent forth righteous thoughts. I was deeply touched by the benevolence displayed by Dafa practitioners when a practitioner took off her rain coat in the midst of a cold, rainy day and gave it to me… In the evening we were handing out newspapers about Falun Dafa in New York City’s Chinatown or near hotels. The conference took place from April 19-20th in New York City. There were so many practitioners that the whole place was packed. I found a spot on the balcony on the very top. Practitioners helped me by doing a simultaneous translation to Russian.

On the second day (the day when Teacher came to speak), someone got me a ticket for the 7th row. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gave up their seat, knowing that I have bad vision and can barely see anything from so far away.

I came home practically healthy, the infection, the pain and the inflammation that had been going on for 6 months were gone. On the way home I got rid of the pain in my tooth with righteous thoughts, and upon my arrival back home I cancelled the two appointments I made to the dentist.

After practicing and speaking to other practitioners, I realized the meaning of Teacher’s words about how the power of the Fa is the manifestation of Dafa disciples as one body.

After I got home, I tried to utilize the reserves of energy I got at the Conference. Starting from May 13th of 2003, I began to do group practice in the park at 8:30 am, I hand out truth clarifying materials in English and in Chinese. We also use any holiday celebrations for spreading the Fa, such as: shows, parades or festivals. Aside from that, we use tourist bus trips to let people know about Falun Dafa, and teach the exercises to those who are interested. As a result of these efforts, a Russian-speaking group was organized in the Detroit suburbs.

I want to finish with the words of our honourable Teacher from the Lecture in Chicago, 2003: “Of course, the evil has become less and less now, and it's as if they're being swept away. But of course, as long as the evil still exists it's going to cause harm. We cannot let our guard down, and we still need to cooperate even better and communicate with each other often. Walk the last leg of the Dafa disciples' journey well!”

Thank you, Master Li!

Thank you, fellow practitioners!