A Young Practitioner in China: Maturing in Falun Gong

I started practising Falun Gong in l998, when I was in second grade. I was quite young and followed my parents to the exercise site. When the grownups read Zhuan Falun, as children we just listened; when they did exercises, we followed along.

Later I learnt to read, but I did not apply the principles as Teacher asked and wasted many years. I started to study seriously when I was in the eighth grade. At the beginning, my understanding of the principles taught in Falun Gong, the Fa, was shallow, therefore I did not clarify the truth to my classmates well, particularly when I went to extremes. After the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party , I talked irrationally and did not properly expose the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and my classmates thought I was emotionally out of balance. One of my classmates who had read the book gave up his wish to cultivate in Falun Dafa because of me. When it was arranged that I was to sit next to him, I knew that was Teacher's compassion to save every one of us. On the one hand, I should wake my classmate up, and on the other, it was encouragement for me to do better.

That is in the past, and my understanding is that whether I did well or not, I should not be attached to it. I should not make any judgement about myself, since there is a cause and effect of everything. Only if we take every opportunity and be a genuine Falun Dafa practitioner have we truly followed what Teacher requested.

1. Establishing a Truth-clarification Materials Production Centre

I bought a computer and started to produce materials that we could distribute to further inform the public with the truth about Falun Gong and the illegal persecution. I learnt a lot because of my attachments. Once I helped someone fix his computer, and I thought, "Why should I risk trouble to myself with my technical skills?" Of course that thought was not righteous, and when I got home my computer was infected with a virus. That was the first time my computer had ever been infected with a virus. I got rid of it, but my loss in time and materials was great.

I was so concerned about it that I cried. After I calmed down and thought about it, I knew that I needed to look within. I took technical skills too seriously. I knew many practitioners who did not have many technical skills except getting on and off the Internet, downloading files, and making copies of them, were doing a fine job of producing truth-clarifying materials. They did not run into problems, and they did not even have a firewall--they had only Teacher's protection. Of course, it is better to have technical protection for our computers in this dimension, however, it is more important to study the Fa and have righteous thoughts. I often ran into problems and could not get on the Internet. After I stopped to study the Fa for a while, everything would go back to normal.

2. Getting Rid of the Mentality of Doing "Work"

I gave up my attachment of considering activities to expose the persecution as work. For a while, my printer would not print. I became very anxious day after day because I could not produce any materials, and I could not afford to buy a new one. Actually the cause was within me: I just wanted to do the work and did not have Dafa in my heart. My motivation for producing truth-clarification materials resulted from my human notions. That truly exposed my omission. Wasn't that a good reason to give up my "work" mentality? Falun Dafa practitioners clarifying the truth to people is not an ordinary thing that people do; it is the most glorious mission. How can it be motivated by our attachments?

3. Superior Elderly Practitioners

I know an elderly practitioner who is over 50, and she sleeps only a few hours a night but is very energetic. When we started to work together, she always had--and maintained--her righteous thoughts, no matter what we said. I did not quite understand and thought that she was going to extremes. Up to the present, we all have elevated our levels, and never had any conflict because of that. I was quite moved, watching her walk up to the fifth floor without stopping, carrying five bags in one hand and a lot of vegetables and a printer in the other. Five bags alone would be plenty for me, and I am a young man. That is righteous thoughts, and she said later that she was not tired because Teacher was helping her. Falun Dafa practitioners are truly superior. A few days ago, she went up to the fifth floor again with a huge paper cutter and a bunch of other stuff; I am ashamed! How come I cannot do the same, and how come I don't have that kind of sacrificing spirit?

4. Treating People with Compassion

Something happened a few days ago that left a profound impression on me. We got hold of a truth-clarifying CD, and I spent a lot of time and finally added video to it. Within a few days, I had made 50 copies. When my mother took out a CD she found that there was no video on it. I had done everything according to the instructions, but nothing worked, and 50 CDs were wasted. What a shame! This really disclosed my mentality of just doing "work," looking for quantity but not quality. If this had happened to other practitioners, I would have complained about it.

In the past I complained about an older practitioner who, whenever she tried to print something, wasted a lot of paper. I talked to her about it repeatably, saying that she should be more careful. When I talked to her, I harboured resentment and could not quite forgive her. Now, I had made a similar mistake and realised how hard it is to be perfect. We are all Falun Dafa practitioners; who wants to make mistakes intentionally?

Teacher said in "To the Chicago Conference:"

"Whatever you experience during your cultivation--whether good or bad--is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating."

This time I remained calm and recognised my problem, and I know that I can correct it.

During the past few years, I hesitated and sometimes I fell behind, but I persisted and finally elevated and became a true Falun Dafa practitioner. I am also more mature. Now I use the Fa to measure everything I do. I know that I am falling short and do not quite meet the requirement of the Fa. I also know for sure that I can do better and become more mature as time goes by.

The above are little things that I wanted to share with fellow practitioners.