The Cultivation Story of a Russian Family

This cultivation experience paper was written before May 13th 2006, the World Falun Dafa Day and Master's birthday. Although we feel Master is with us all the time, we still want to express our congratulations to our deeply respected Master with our cultivation experience. May 13th is not an ordinary date. It is the fourteenth anniversary of Master publicly spreading the Fa. As Master's disciples, we feel the sacred and solemn nature of this day from the bottom of our hearts. We are fortunately able to cultivate Falun Dafa, and we have become lives that exist for the Fa; we feel incomparably happy. We know that we should treasure this eternal predestined opportunity, diligently advance, and firmly walk well on the path of going back to our original true self that Master has shown us clearly.

--Andley Soldachenk

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Our family has cultivated Falun Dafa for nine years. This cultivation family includes my wife and I, our daughter, granddaughter, grandson, and my wife's sisters and their husbands. In this nine-year cultivating process, every step is due to Master's benevolent protection, and is validating the miraculous and wonderful nature of Falun Dafa.

Seeking a Path of Return

In order to find a cultivation way, we read many cultivation books and tried many qigong practices before we obtained the Fa. We had our highs and lows, and we felt that we were in such a long seeking period, but we did not find any satisfactory answers or have any fundamental changes. All of them were superficial or had omissions, which could not enable us to fundamentally change and ascend. To truly upgrade, we had to find our true school and true Master.

In the spring of 1997, I saw the China Falun Gong book in a book store. I flipped through the book, thought it was another ordinary qigong book, and put it back, so I lost my first chance.

In September 1997, my wife and I saw advertising of the Falun Gong video teaching class at a subway entrance and we soon joined the class.

We were surprised to see that so many people came to the class, both young and old. We saw Master on the TV screen in a stadium. He was different than all other "qigong masters" that we saw before, because they were always very weak, but Master Li was emitting huge energy all over his body. Master's teaching is very profound, but easy to understand. We felt very close to Master, and it seemed like we had heard him before. We finished the nine talks very seriously.

One night, I had a crystal clear dream. I saw that Master nodded his head while facing me, and called me to enter a hall. At that moment, two forces were vigorously fighting. One force enabled me step in the hall with very strong energy; the other force was trying with all its might to tie up my body, like it was trying to destroy me. When I had a thought that I wanted to enter the hall, I was stepping in the hall with incredible power. I woke up then and felt that something extraordinary had happened, that my whole life had changed. My doubt, fear, and hesitation were gone, and I joined the Falun Dafa cultivation way from that moment on.

I brought my daughter to the second talk, and we spent nine uncommon days together. We were immersed in the Fa; finally, we had found the pure, radiant universal truth - Falun Dafa.

Another thing that gave us a deep impression were those Chinese practitioners who came to spread the Fa. They taught us the movements very seriously after each talk. Their kind and patient inner peace manifested on the old and young, including a middle-aged couple. The lady who taught me was very energetic. I could not believe that she was over 70 years old.

All of them had travelled from the Far East at their own expense to spread Falun Dafa. Beside the interpreter, none of us know their names. They used hand gestures and smiles to teach us the whole set of exercises. They were all ordinary practitioners, and many of them we cannot remember any more.

After the nine-lecture class, we established a group practice site, where we gathered a few times per week for exercises or sharing insights. We read China Falun Gong together. The Russian version of Zhuan Falun was published six months later. We were reading Zhuan Falun eagerly, and that was a turning point for us, because each of us had a copy of Zhuan Falun, and we studied it often so it solved many questions we had. It has greatly helped us solidly cultivate diligently.

The Miracles of Cultivation

I want to tell everyone the true but miraculous stories that happened in our family. Before we were cultivating Falun Dafa, my wife and daughter both had learned other qigong practices. When we were cultivating Falun Dafa, all of the things in the past became useless burdens, and even interfered with our cultivation. Master said, "We need to straighten all this out for you. We'll keep what's good, get rid of what's bad, and make sure you can cultivate from this point on. But you really have to be here to learn the Great Law." (Zhuan Falun, First Talk). These kinds of changes were truly happening to us. We gradually cultivated away those bad things and became genuine Falun Dafa practitioners.

In November 1997, I had a traffic accident, where my car was damaged beyond repair. I am an experienced driver, and it was hard to imagine that anyone could have survived that wreck. I remember climbing out of that twisted car. I was very calm, and the first thought was that Master had saved me. My skin was only a little bit scratched. I felt loosened up and like I dropped off the feeling of a heavy burden after the accident. I did not know why, but I understood by studying the Fa that I was paying back my debt as a cultivator, and my life wasn't in danger.

My daughter was very sick before cultivating Falun Dafa, and that made my whole family worry about her constantly. It has been nine years since we first listened to Master's nine lectures. I am a doctor, and I remember being surprised that my daughter would feel pain somewhere each day of the nine-day lecture, and those pains would be gone after each lecture finished. She went to get a check up in the hospital recently, and all of her old diseases were miraculously gone.

After my wife cultivated Falun Dafa for three years, many of her sicknesses had disappeared as well. Her recovery is a validation of Falun Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts. When she is wracked with pain, she thinks in her mind, "I am a Falun Dafa disciple, I want to eliminate this pain with solid righteous thoughts, I will not allow them to continue." She constantly listens to Master's teaching tapes except when she sleeps. Several days later, her pains would be miraculously gone, and she has not been bothered with that pain for a long time now. My wife not only got rid off her sicknesses, but also changed to another person in terms of her personality and temperament. She is very nice to others, she doesn't fight anymore with others, and she can be tolerant and understanding towards others better now.

My granddaughter did not pay attention to our cultivation at first, but she went to the group practice site together with us without us asking her. She watched us at first on the side, imitated our movements behind us later, and finally she could do the whole set of the exercises. She became our young disciple in the group quietly.

Something happened to my granddaughter soon after and it has affected all of us. One morning, she told me, she suddenly woke up and saw a grown person fly to her wearing yellow clothes. She was a little scared, but his kind eyes made her very calm. She could feel that the pair of eyes was talking to her. Suddenly in that second, many stars flew from that shining person to her. Her legs formed the double lotus position, her hands were in the heshi position, and she was sitting meditating face to face with that person with a robe like a disciple faces her Master. She had such dreams continuously for three nights. Later she saw Master's photo on the book and shouted out, "This is that person that was sitting meditating with me! He is our Master!" My granddaughter is graduating from high school, and her thesis title is Falun Dafa around the World.

We also have seen a young toddler accept the Fa in our cultivating family. Our grandson is only two years old. Whenever he walks by Master's photo, he always opens his eyes big to watch Master, and imitates the Falun turning in front of his chest using his hands. My daughter always plays Master's teaching tapes to him before he goes to sleep. He is a naughty boy, but he can immediately quiet down and listen to the tapes carefully. Once I showed him a painting from the Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance Art Exhibit. He pointed to a vicious policeman who was torturing Falun Dafa practitioners and said, "He is a bad guy!" Falun Dafa has given birth a new view of the world in this young heart, enabled him to distinguish good from bad, and developed his good nature.

Spread the Fa and Ascend

The second year after obtaining the Fa, my wife and daughter went to the city of Pyachigorck in southern Russia to spread the Fa. They established a group practice site and assistance centre. That place has become a central assistance centre in southern Russia. My wife's sisters and their husbands have all become Falun Dafa practitioners. My father-in-law is 92 years old and has difficulty doing the exercises, but he reads the book and supports his daughters' practising. He is often in front of the Master's photo saying, "Thank you, Master! You changed our whole family's fates."

We live in St. Petersburg, and we went to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to spread the Fa. We established a large group practice site there. My wife and I also went to northern Russia to Atelas City in the Arhangersk Province to spread Falun Dafa; there is an assistance center that has become a central assistance center of northern Russia.

Every time we go out to spread the Fa, it is an upgrading and ascending process for us. Seeing so many predestined people obtaining the Fa, we are not only happy in our hearts, but we also feel how precious Falun Dafa is! Lives can only be saved through Falun Dafa, and how hard it is for a being to obtain the Fa! We have two examples.

One practitioner from Pyachigorck told us how he obtained the Fa. His relative in St. Petersburg mailed him a watch as a birthday gift, which was wrapped by a newspaper - A Falun Dafa Newsletter! His relative had accepted this newsletter from a Falun Dafa practitioner at a subway entrance. Normally, no one would pay attention to a wrapping newspaper and tend to throw it away. But he was reading the paper with great interest. His heart was shaken after he finished the introduction of Falun Gong, "This is what I have been seeking all my life!" He found a contact phone number printed at the corner of the newsletter, called immediately, and walked into cultivation.

The second example is a young man that lives in the remote countryside of the northern Arhangersk Province. He went to the province capital city of Atelas to learn Eastern martial arts, qigong, and eastern philosophy in 1994. He learned the Falun Gong movements from a Chinese teacher, who told him he had learned Falun Gong from Master Li Hongzhi and was one of the first group of students.

After ten years, this young man did not know Falun Gong had spread to Russia since 1997, but he has been doing the exercises diligently without ever reading the books. We went to his small village to spread the Fa in 2004, and he came with our flyer to listen to the nine lectures. We were so surprised to see this "new student" doing the whole set of exercises fluently and accurately. This predestined young man actively joined the assistance centre activities, finally melting into the one body of Falun Dafa after ten years!

Our upgraded "xinxing" has also manifested in our daily lives. One day, a young couple moved in to be our new neighbour and disturbed our peaceful environment. They would play loud music at night, and none of the neighbours could sleep. At first our human attachments were aroused, and we shouted at them angrily and called the police to stop them. All of this didn't have any effect. My wife and I realized that we are cultivators, so we must maintain our xinxing and treat them with compassion. Hence, I went to talk with them calmly and tried to help find goodness in them. I told them that they were keeping young kids and senior citizens from resting. We live together, so we need to take care of each other, and people need to emphasize their own virtue, etc.

At first I could tell that they were listening to me, but they did not understand what I said. Nonetheless their good sides were awakening. The young man apologised to me, said that we were good people, and that he respects us very much. My wife and I were very happy after returning home. But the next day, the noise was still on. We realised that this was a test of our compassion and tolerance, and we needed to get rid of the mentality of competing and zealotry. We need to maintain calmness and put down our attachments. We would go to their home whenever we have time to talk with them calmly and hope they become better. Under the energy field of our patience and kindness, they began to discipline their behaviour, and gradually they stopped their noise and were friendly with the neighbours.

Our cultivating family is a small assistance centre. All of our attachments as individuals are known by our family members and fellow practitioners. In this small assistance centre, you cannot hide your human attachments like among ordinary people. We serve as mirrors to fellow practitioners and to each other. Most fellows have such opportunities a few time per week, while in our small assistance centre, we can compare and look inwards 24 hours per day.

Cultivating in this family gives us a great power to resist the big dye vat of current human society. We form a harmonising energy field so that generations can trust and help each other, diligently advancing on our cultivation path.