Falun Dafa was first introduced to the public in May 1992, in Changchun City, Jilin Province. The principles of the universe had revealed itself to the human world enabling those who wish to cultivate to become Falun Dafa practitioners. Thinking back to the days when Teacher taught the Fa [law and principles of Falun Gong] and exercises in Changchun, they were the happiest days of my life. Teacher said,
"I think that those who can listen to my lectures in person, I would say, honestly... you will realize in the future that this period of time is extremely precious." (Zhuan Falun)
I would like to share my experiences with everyone.
I Had Looked for Teacher Everywhere and Here Teacher Was, in My Hometown
I met Teacher in the golden fall season of 1992, and since then I have felt that I have stepped on the path that leads home.
My life experiences had made me tired both mentally and physically. I felt I was too miserable to continue living. In order to escape the tribulations, I chose to cultivate and often went to temples to borrow some Buddhist books to read. To become healthy and fit, I attended all kinds of qigong classes. At the time I thought I had to find a famous teacher to teach me how to practice, and hence I started my life-long search for famous teachers. In the subsequent few years I went to Putuo Temple, Shaolin Temple, Baima Temple, Lingyin Temple, and Famen Temple etc. I even went to Emei Mountain, Leshan Mountain, and Qingcheng Mountains. However, I did not find a teacher.
In the fall of 1992, my neighbor taught me the Falun Gong exercises and said, "The teacher you were looking for could be Teacher Li. When he gets back to Changchun, we will go and meet him." One day four of us went to Teacher's home. Many people were there and so was Teacher. I knew Teacher immediately. I pressed my hands together and bowed to show genuine respect. I greeted Teacher and thought, "Teacher, finally I have found you." Tears were in my eyes. Teacher smiled and shook my hand. I was very excited and emotional, like a lost child that finally found his home. Those who had gone with me told Teacher my situation and Teacher was very happy. I asked to go to Beijing with Teacher to attend the Fa lectures. Teacher suggested I could wait until he held classes in Changchun.
While Teacher was talking to others, I looked around his apartment. It was a two-room apartment. The inner room was only large enough to hold a double bed. We were in the outer room, which was bigger, and contained a long sofa, a table, and two stools. At that time, whenever Teacher was home, his apartment would be filled with people. There were a few paintings of Buddhas that Teacher had painted himself. The Buddhas were all sitting on layers of lotus petals. There was also a clay Buddha statue that Teacher had made. Early tapes of Teacher's lectures showed the Buddha statue from Teacher's home.
For many years I went everywhere by train, by boat, and by airplane looking for a master. I never thought I would find Teacher that day, just walking up to meet him. There was only one bus stop between where I lived and Teacher's home. Teacher said,
"There are many people in the community of cultivators who have always attempted to practice toward high levels. They have traveled everywhere and spent a lot of money. They have not found the well-known masters after having been all over the country. Being well-known does not necessarily mean that one really knows things well. In the end, these people have traveled back and forth, spending much money and effort for nothing. Today we have made public to you this great practice. I have already delivered it to your doorstep." (Zhuan Falun)
That day I felt like I must have been dreaming to have really met Teacher. Right then I swore that I would follow Teacher and practice all the way until I reach consummation and return to my true home.
Attending Teacher's Lectures and Exercise Teaching Classes
Teacher came back to Changchun in July 1993 and held the fifth session of Fa lectures and exercise classes in the Provincial Commission Hall. Many people attended. Shortly after that, Teacher held the sixth session at Jilin University. In May 1994, Teacher held the seventh and eighth sessions at Jilin University. I attended all four of these sessions. Later, I went to another session in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. In a place filled with more than one thousand people, it was absolutely quiet. When Teacher taught the Fa, he asked all staff members to stop working and concentrate on listening to the Fa lectures.
In all of the fifty classes I went to, Teacher was always there before the classes began and he would stand by the podium to watch the students coming into the hall. I took the opportunity to ask Teacher to have his picture taken with my family. In the picture, you can see that Teacher is holding a small piece of paper with a few sentences that no one else would understand. That was all Teacher used when he taught the Fa. Teacher had no script, and no plan. He spoke to us from his heart. Whenever I sat in the hall, which could be described as "the Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities," I would have my legs double crossed and my hands conjoined. I looked at Teacher's bright image and listened to the sound of his voice describing the universal principles, and telling us about the characteristic of the universe. Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is the Buddha Fa, and the true meaning of life is to return to one's true self. He told us to be selfless and to always think of others first.
In the sixth session of the Fa lecture and exercise classes, the Fa that Teacher taught was a little higher in level. When talking about the celestial eye, Teacher mentioned the issue of other dimensions. In other dimensions that exist at the same time and same place as this one, everything has its own form of existence. Teacher saw that we could not comprehend what he was saying, so he picked up the cup on the table and put it on his right hand. He asked everyone to watch closely, whether their celestial eye was open or not. Teacher used the thumb and index finger of his left hand to slowly pull another small cup from the original cup. The small cup looked exactly the same as the original one but was ¼ of the size. Teacher asked, "Did you all see it clearly'" Everyone answered with excitement, "Yes we did." Then Teacher slowly put the small cup back into the original cup. We could clearly see the small cup gradually merge into the original cup. Teacher let us see something that truly existed in another dimension, which cannot be explained by scientific means. Hence Teacher said,
"People ask how big the universe is. Let me tell you that this universe also has its boundary. Even at the level of Tathagata, however, one will regard it as boundless and infinitely immense. Yet the human body's inside is as big as this universe, from molecules to microscopic particles at the microscopic level. This may sound very inconceivable. When a human being or a life is created, his unique life elements and essential quality are already composed at the extremely microscopic level. Thus, in studying this subject, our modern science lags far behind. In comparison with those lives of higher wisdom on the planets throughout the entire universe, our human race's scientific level is quite low. We cannot even reach other dimensions that exist simultaneously in the same place, while flying saucers from other planets can travel directly in other dimensions. The concept of that time-space is completely different. Thus, they can come and go at will and at a speed so fast that the human mind cannot accept it." (Zhuan Falun)
Teacher Removed My Attachments
Teacher said,
"Let me also tell you that the content of this book has combined the Fa that I have taught in several classes. Everything was taught by me, and every sentence was spoken by me. Every word was pulled from the tape recordings and transcribed word for word. My disciples and practitioners helped me transcribe everything from the tape recordings. I then revised it over and over again. It is all my Fa, and what I have taught is only this Fa." (Zhuan Falun)
I was lucky enough to be part of the team transcribing the recordings of Teacher's lectures. In the classes of the seventh session, Teacher taught very high-level Fa. After the session was over, Teacher had us transcribe what he taught from the recordings of that session. The requirements were very strict; we had to write down every single word exactly as it was in the recording, and in a very short time. I was very excited the minute I got the tape. I felt that Teacher trusted me. I also thought this is not a difficult task; it was just copying something down, very simple and easy. Zealotry hence emerged. Teacher said,
"In other matters and in the course of cultivation practice, one should be sure to not develop the attachment of zealotry--this mentality can be very easily taken advantage of by demons." (Zhuan Falun)
When I was copying down words from the recording, I had a hard time accomplishing what I wanted to do. My memory was bad and my speed of writing was slow. For almost every phrase, I had to stop the tape player once or twice. I kept on stopping and rewinding. I felt I was going too slow and started to feel anxious. At the same time an attachment of fear emerged. I feared that I was falling behind, and I feared how other practitioners would look at me if I could not finish the work on time. Then, the tape player stopped working and I had to get a new one. In the end, I was far behind and needed help from other practitioners. I was the last one to finish the work. At that time we knew Teacher was going to turn the lectures into a book we would use to study the Fa. We did not know this precious book would be named Zhuan Falun.
In September 1994, Teacher held a small conference and answered questions from practitioners about cultivation issues. There were many questions and Teacher answered every one of them in detail. By the time the conference ended, lunchtime had passed. We asked Teacher to go to lunch with us. My attachments emerged again. I rushed home to get my camera and put in a new roll of film. I started to take pictures of Teacher for I knew that Teacher would soon leave the country to spread the Fa and teach the exercises overseas. The opportunities to meet with Teacher would be fewer and I wanted to have pictures of our time with him. I was busy taking pictures here and there. I took a picture of each person there with Teacher. I still thought it was not enough and kept taking pictures of Teacher. My husband, who was sitting beside Teacher, kept on passing me signals trying to make me stop. I thought that since Teacher did not say anything and he was smiling at me, it should be fine. I ignored my husband's signals and finished the whole roll of film. I took the film in to be developed right after the meal. The next day I looked at the negatives and saw that something unexpected had happened. The negatives were all black and had no images. I immediately enlightened that Teacher was helping me get rid of my attachments by giving me a direct hint. For showing his immense Buddha's grace, I could think of no word to express my appreciation and respect for Teacher. Even now, every time I realize I have attachments, I see Teacher's smiling face and the way he looked at me. I feel very ashamed that I do not meet Teacher's expectations, and then I try very hard to get rid of the attachments.
Under Teacher's compassionate care, I am able to be where I am today. I deeply feel that as long as we firmly believe in Teacher and the Fa, take the Fa as the Teacher, look inward, lose attachments without being moved, follow Teacher's Fa, don't go to extremes, and do our best to save sentient beings, we will be qualified to be called Dafa practitioners.
We ask Teacher not to worry. Practitioners from Changchun will take on the responsibilities of Fa-rectification practitioners and make sure we do the three things well. We will catch up with the progress of the Fa rectification and will not disappoint Teacher's compassionate salvation.
Teacher, practitioners from hometown miss you! We wish Teacher a Happy Birthday.
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