My humble experience on the path of cultivation

Greetings respectful Master, greetings fellow practitioners!

At the beginning I was not confident in writing an experience sharing article because I felt that I still need a lot of improvement in cultivation and I was not good enough to write a paper. Yet thinking the other way round, writing my experience is a huge cultivation opportunity that I should cherish and is a place where I can find genuine improvement in my cultivation. Therefore I decide to submit my paper and share with fellow practitioners.

Looking back at nearly two years of cultivation, I find there are still a lot of negative thoughts in my mind although I’ve been trying my best to do the Three Things well. I became less diligent in the endeavour to offer sentient beings salvation and I did not let go of my pursuit of comfort. Under the influence of these, the main things that were on my mind were making money and family pressure.
In the first lecture of Zhuan Falun Master said: ‘We will straighten out all these matters and, by preserving the good part and removing the bad part, ensure that you are able to practice cultivation later. However, you must be here to genuinely study this Dafa. If you hold various attachments and come to gain supernormal abilities, have illnesses cured, listen to some theories, or come with some ill intentions, that will not work at all.’ Upon reading these words, I realized that only when I let go all kinds of attachments and keep up with genuine Dafa practice can Master help me straighten out all these matters and, by preserving the good part remove the bad part.
The followings are a few points I would like to share.

1. “The Divine calls me to save those who dwell here” (Hong Yin III - Compassion)
At the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong, I heard colleagues’ talk. Once I heard the words Falun Gong, my heart vibrated. Once I heard Master’s name, I felt very cordial and familiar with, I think this is what predestined relationship means. Also when I went to the city of Leeds it felt like a long-awaited reunion.

Leeds is the largest city in Yorkshire. I came to the UK more than 17 years ago, but all my work, life and practice are around this city. In the summer of 2003, I remembered the first time I went to the morning practice site in Leeds. It was clouded over, and the sky seemed to be pressed down. Master gave me a hint of sending righteous thoughts. I was driving in the rain and arrived at the practice site. In half an hour, the rain stopped. When we were doing the fifth exercise, the sun came out. I listened to the soft music with no distractions, I felt very peaceful and comfortable.

After finishing the meditation, a fellow practitioner told us that she was late today, and on her way she could see the field in which we were sitting in meditation. It was enveloped in red light, the whole thing was red. On this day, I had witnessed the magic of Dafa twice, which gave me more firm confidence in my cultivation practice. Thereafter during the period of validating the Fa, I often reminded myself to pay attention to sending forth righteous thoughts and believe in the power of Dafa. My understanding of what Master said is that our every activity, regardless of the size, is a battle between good and evil in another dimension. Master is pushing me forwards, letting me be a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple and letting me save those who dwell here.

2. Distributing the Epoch Times newspapers
The second time I went to the Leeds practice site, a local practitioner who was in charge of distribution of the Epoch Times newspapers asked me help with delivery of the newspaper. I agreed to do so. At the beginning, the circulation was 300 copies, mainly to two supermarkets and a casino. But as far as I could see it, with so many Chinese in Leeds including many Chinese students, the demand should be larger. A practitioner told me, in fact, there is another Chinese supermarket we did not put the newspapers into as the space is too small. So many things are piled up there so the boss won’t let us put newspapers. I went to there to have a look, it was indeed no place to put the newspaper there. But a lot of people go there.

It seemed I can do nothing about it. I was thinking the business is so good; it would be nice if the shop space can be bigger. The only thing to do is to send forth righteous thoughts and ask for Master’s help. I sent forth righteous thoughts every time when I was passing-by. Over a period of time, it was really a turning point. That supermarket boss had hired a small shop next to the previous one for frozen foods; I quickly took 50 newspapers and intended to go there to see if I had a chance. But my mind was not very steady. I did not know what their the attitude would be. I walked around in the area and returned into my car to send forth righteous thoughts for a while and ask Masters’ help, then I went to the door with the newspapers in my hands. I was still wondering what I should say when a staff member came out, took the newspapers and said thank you very much.

After another period of time, the boss opened an even bigger Chinese supermarket opposite the old shop. Next to the entrance there was a specially designed space for newspapers. All of a sudden, the circulation of the Epoch Times newspapers increased by several hundred, attracting many overseas Chinese and Chinese students. I realized that, if we want to save more sentient beings, our desire of this salvation is really important in the process of validating the Fa. Of course, we have to do more and not be afraid of enduring hardship. Normally I would regularly go to the distribution sites to check the flow of our newspapers and tidy up the newspaper boxes. After a period of efforts, the circulation of the Epoch Times newspapers in Leeds is stabled at around 1000 copies. Later, Leeds local practitioners can handle the delivery of the newspapers, so I turned my focus to distribute newspapers in Manchester city. In fact, I live in a small town in South Yorkshire, about 30 minutes drive to Leeds but more than one hour driving to Manchester city. The whole journey of distributing the newspapers takes me about 5 hours, and then I still need to work at a Chinese Takeaway in the evening.

In the last two years, the Chinese Epoch Times has become a daily newspaper, but this is mainly distributed in London. I don't want to disadvantage the sentient beings in Manchester. I requested 800 copies of the daily newspapers per week. In order to facilitate the distribution, I need to spend about 2 hours to insert the 800 copies into the weekly newspapers. Sometimes I felt this was difficult to handle due to the increase of the work load as I still need to work in the evening. However I think it is good for sentient beings so I should do my best, otherwise the sentient beings will blame me.

The circulation of Epoch Times in Manchester City increased from hundreds to two thousand copies, plus the 800 daily newspapers. Some distribution sites cannot accommodate so many papers in one-go, so I decided to deliver the papers twice a week. I can also tidy up the papers being messed up by people. In fact, every copy of the newspaper is the result of many practitioners’ joint efforts, I must do the final step well to ensure the papers are received by sentient beings.

During the past 9 years of delivery of the newspapers, I also encountered some difficulties, such as the car breaking down which may cost me a lot of money to get it repaired, or bad weather conditions such as blizzards, heavy rain or fog. The most difficult time was when I was not in a good cultivation state, very sleepy with no time to rest, but I had to continue to drive. Once I delivered the newspapers, then I had to go to work immediately. I felt exhausted and depressed, but still had to work for another 8 or 9 hours. I had no time to study the Fa. I had not done the exercises for a few days already. I was lying on my car seat, my heart was crying: “Master, your disciple is disappointing you.” Then I set the alarm clock for 15 minutes, and went to sleep. After waking up, I felt refreshed but my mood was still very depressed. I felt something when I was staring blankly from my car screen. When I take a closer look, I saw a big Falun rapidly rotating. This was an encouragement to me from compassionate Master, I immediately put my hands together in heshi: Thank you, Master. Master takes care of his disciples at every single moment, I will do better afterwards, thank you Master!

3. To do Hongfa more and to save more sentient beings
Since the end of 2003, we did a lot of HongFa in Yorkshire and the surrounding areas, which played an important role in saving sentient beings. Later on, some practitioners moved to London and the Hongfa activities in Yorkshire became less stable. If we have enough manpower, we do Hongfa activities. Otherwise we go to Chinatown in Manchester City or the Chinese supermarkets in Leeds to do quitting the CCP activities. We try to do one or two events a week. As we all know, as long as we do more activities, more people can be saved.

I was very cold in the winter when doing outdoor activities, sometimes not many practitioners participated, sometimes it was only me staying there, and occasionally I can not help but think of the generals who were guarding the frontier in ancient China and staying there for many years. I was inevitably feeling a bit of lonely. However thinking of it from another angle, I am not alone at all with Master and the Fa here, as well as the eight types of Heavenly Law-Guardians protecting us. The Gods are watching us, we are the hope of sentient beings who dwell here. As long as we consistently do well, I believe that the situation will certainly become better and better.

Before and after July of this year, practitioners in Leeds actively clarified the truth to local government officials, held a Falun Gong exercise class at the City Centre Library and organised the Zhen Shan Ren arts exhibition with the help from many practitioners outside Leeds. During the Olympic Games, many Chinese athletes were training in Leeds. Our series of activities had attracted the attention of local media and the public. Not long ago the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to stop the Dalai Lama's visit to Leeds had already raised many local people’s dissatisfaction. I think these are good opportunities for clarifying the truth. With the cooperation between practitioners, we did Hongfa activities in Leeds city centre several times, and also put big efforts to promote the Zhen Shan Ren arts exhibition. This process had a very good impact.

Finally, I’d like to share my understanding of enduring hardship. My understanding of Master’s teachings is that the level you are at in cultivation depends on your patience and your ability to endure hardship. The last two sentences in Hong Yin “Tempering the Will” say: “Abundant troubles rain down together, all to see: Can you pull through? The world’s miseries endured, one departs the earth a Buddha.”

Some students said that the attachment to comfort is the most difficult to get rid of. I have found my own endurance and ability to bear hardship very limited, but I am always willing to endure hardship. Enduring hardship may be difficult but it is very difficult to improve without suffering. So when the tribulations come, I usually don’t worry about the hardships and am happy to be tempered by them. Master said in his article Stirred by reflection: “One’s purity is seen, After the adamantine will is fully tempered.”

For the sake of ourselves and all sentient beings, let’s suffer more ordeals, improve together and fulfill our prehistoric vows!

Thank you, Master!

Thank you, everyone!