My Spiritual Journey to "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance"

My spiritual journey began back in 1973 in Australia after leaving an upper middle class private school education system the previous year and feeling quite disillusioned with life. My girlfriend at the time took me to the only vegetarian restaurant in Sydney. I ended up working there and my life took a dramatic change for the better. The owner of the restaurant introduced me to the I-Ching (Book of Changes) and I instantly had a rapport with the ancient Chinese text and used the book for decades. I also studied under an Indian Yogi and did several years of intense yoga.

In 1974 I went overseas with a pair of chopsticks to Israel and met my Japanese wife-to-be and we had four beautiful children back in Australia. In 1975 I studied Tai-Chi Chuan and after ten years began to teach. Many years went by, and one day a few years ago I met a practitioner of Falun Dafa and I knew immediately there was something very special about this person. Instantly we became friends. He gave me a book to read: Zhuan Falun by Master Li Hongzhi. I told him I would give it my undivided attention but I was reading other books and so I did not look at it for a while.

A few months later he invited me to a practice site. I accepted, and we did the four Falun Dafa standing exercises and the fifth, the sitting exercise. During the practice I could not believe what was going on inside my body. Everything I had previously learned spiritually was like having been attending kindergarten compared to this incredibly simple yet extremely powerful set of five exercises created by Master Li Hongzhi. The practitioner asked me when I would like to practise again. I said "tomorrow."

I could not wait to get home and start reading the book that was so patiently waiting for me. When I started reading Zhuan Falun I could not believe that everything I had ever thought about or questioned was here in this very special book. Straight away I stopped my Yoga and teaching Tai-Chi and diligently practised Falun Dafa every day. I noticed that past injuries which I had sustained over the years had disappeared, and I felt a peaceful benevolence that I had not experienced to this degree before.

After practising for a few months I rang my eldest son overseas and told him about Master Li's great practice, and he said that made sense and started practising. A year later my second son died and I had to dig deep within myself and bear this hardship but I was fortunate to have my cultivation practice. Now my daughter and other son practise and I am forever grateful to Master Li, who led me to return to where my life originally began by living according to the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."