My Cultivation Experiences

Isabella - Netanya, Israel

By a western practitioner
Shared at the Israeli Fa-Conference

Hello everybody,

I’ll divide my experience during the process of receiving Falun Dafa into two major periods in my life: before personal cultivation, and after personal cultivation

I came across Falun Dafa for the first time five years ago when my husband received the book entitled, “Falun Gong” from abroad. My husband has found a great interest in meditation practices all his life and when he received the “Falun Gong” book he quickly discovered that this was a very special book indeed, and that it was a much different meditation practice from all that he had learned in the past. My husband read the book for 10 hours continuously and suddenly everything changed.

For 11 years my husband smoked a box of cigarettes per day, but no matter how much his parents and I tried to persuade him to stop, nothing helped. But two weeks after he read the book he had completely stopped smoking. I was happier than ever. Finally he was weaned off cigarettes. I didn’t understand how much our life path had changed and will continue to change. I saw my husband going through significant changes in front of my eyes and I couldn’t even comprehend for a minute how powerful Falun Dafa is but I knew that Falun Dafa would become a part of our life.

I was never interested in meditation practice. My family wasn’t religious but we always kept traditions. I didn’t really believe that there was a single God but I did believe that there was some kind of supreme power or some kind of mechanism, which controlled and supervised our small lives in this huge universe and that we definitely aren’t the only living beings. Falun Dafa gave me a detailed answer.

I always asked myself why have I been born to my family and passed so many hardships, had I had been born in a different family I would have lived a life of money and wealth. I asked myself this question from a young age, but never have I received an answer until I began to practice Falun Gong. The answer is that through hardships, bitterness and weeping I have paid of some of my karmic debts.

I believe in destiny and when I first laid my eyes on my husband I knew at that instant that this will be the man I’d marry. I immediately felt I was the pot which has found its exact cover. Now I understand that everything was planned ahead of time and that my way and his way were supposed to cross and through him I would receive the Fa [Law and Principles of Falun Gong].

In September 1998 we flew to a Falun Dafa conference in Geneva, Switzerland. At that time I thought everything that happened was a coincidence but now I understand that everything was planned beforehand. We went to Switzerland for a week, when the first 4 days were scheduled as recreation all over the country and the last 3 days were scheduled for the conference. The first night we stayed at Geneva and by coincidence we spent the night in the City University of Geneva’s student dormitory, later we discovered that it was the exact place the coordinators booked for the practitioners for the conference. We looked for a hostel and we met two girls, who escorted us to the students’ dormitory of the above-mentioned university. We arrived late at night, at 10:00PM, with silence covering the area; we knocked on the door for 10 minutes and nearly gave up trying when suddenly a girl who was on her night shift arrived. At first she was very skeptical and told us that only the next day can we register because everything was closed including the cashier. We insisted! We practically begged her to let us a lodge there because it was late at night and we had nowhere else to go, we explained we just arrived to Switzerland from Israel. We discovered she had a special sympathy for Israel and she wanted to know from where we were originally. I told her I was Romanian and my husband is Chinese. Upon learning that I was Romanian she started to jump from joy and told us she too was Romanian. Within 5 minutes we became best friends. In the end she gave us a key to a room and said she trusted us, and that the next morning when we return the key we can pay for the room. We thanked her from the bottom of our hearts.

During the whole conference I felt sleepy, my head was terribly heavy and I was endlessly crying. To be truthful I couldn’t comprehend anything that Teacher was saying. I felt this was a waste of time and that I joined only because my husband wanted to come. In the break some practitioners came to me and told me how lucky I was to see Teacher and I was thinking: what are they talking about? It’s all very simple, we wanted to come and we did! I didn’t understand the deeper meaning of the things that were said.

The exercise the following morning had a special atmosphere, a rainy day with heavy clouds, and hundreds practicing in a field and Teacher’s voice guiding everybody. I didn’t know the exercises so well so I decided I’d sit down and watch everyone practice and make some photos for my husband. Suddenly great sadness fell down on me and I started crying till the end of the practice.

At every meeting with Teacher I would run close to him (why I don’t know, I just felt I wanted to do so). My husband wanted to ask a question but felt uncomfortable, I insisted he needed to ask and actually forced him to ask his question.

At the end of the conference when the practitioners went up on the stage to be photographed with Teacher. I told my husband that we should go up there too. My husband started to explain that the stage was already full but I just took his hand and ran towards the stage, on the way I passed our photo camera to a person seated on the first row and asked him to kindly take our picture, and then with some sort of a huge urge I jumped on the stage and my husband followed me.

I felt sheer happiness but I couldn’t explain why because I wasn’t a practitioner, I didn’t understand the practice system, and during the whole time I felt I didn’t wanted to be there. Now I feel that I understand.

I had read many experience sharing articles on various issues of conflicts among spouses after I started my personal cultivation. When one is a cultivator and the other isn’t, in fact, we played all the acts, without missing even one. We came to the point where my husband gave me an ultimatum and only then did I understand that during that four year period I stubbornly tried to persuade my husband to walk my path.

I always believed I was a good person, but by what standards did I define myself by? According to Truth, Compassion and Forbearance? Of course not! I have never asked myself this question!

The ultimatum made me deeply reflect, to look inside and to finally comprehend that Falun Dafa is good. Falun Dafa teaches people to be better and that my way wasn’t necessarily the right way and that my stubbornness was definitely unjust.

At last I received Dafa in my heart, it took me 4 years, the endless forbearance of my husband until the ultimatum so as to realize that Falun Dafa was our way. When I enlightened to it, I instantly became a truly happy person. I have no doubt that during that entire period I helped my husband to improve his Xinxing (heart nature).

Nowadays we go together to practice and spread Dafa and I am really happy. Most of our conversations are about Dafa, in the past this bothered me these days I initiate these conversations.

My present understanding is that we have commitments towards our non-practitioner friends and family members and spending some time with them, doesn’t betray the Dafa.

My understanding is that reading the book, practicing the exercises, Fa Zheng Nian [sending righteous thoughts. This can be understood as a type of meditation.] and spreading the Fa is very important but equally important is having Dafa in our heart and so we need to implement what we study and constantly improve our Xinxing.

When we hand out flyers, when we are at our practice sites or whilst spreading the Fa it is easy to see who has a predestined relationship and who doesn’t, who needs to receive the Fa and who doesn’t. One who needs to receive the Fa clings to us like a magnet and it’s very difficult for him or her to be separated from us. It’s just amazing to see how powerful Dafa is!

I’d like to mention the issue of Xinxing because I’m quite frustrated with it. So I’d like to quote the question of a practitioner and Teacher’s answer from the book. “Falun Gong”, The Cultivation Principles and Exercises (2) page 143:

“Q: In daily life, I sometimes feel bitter regret for having done something wrong, but later I would do it again. Is it because my Xinxing is too low?

A: Your confession proves that your Xinxing has been improved, because you realized your fault. An ordinary person does not realize it when he is doing something wrong. So you are no longer an ordinary person. It is not surprising should you fail to guard your Xinxing and do something wrong for the first time. When you meet with the problem again, you will know how to improve yourself.”

I’m aware of my attachments, and I try to get rid of them. I must admit that it is very, very hard but I’m trying my best and I’m advancing step by step. I’m frustrated that every time I have a test that checks my Xinxing, although I know that it is a test, I can’t pass it (except for one that I’ll shortly describe). It is very hard! Cultivation isn’t easy! My understanding is that’s why we need to continually read the books again and again to guide us.

A test that I passed:

..Once when I was showing the exercises to people, during the second exercise (The Falun Standing Stance) I thought: “How would I react if someone would come and push my hands down?” After 10 minutes an elderly woman came and pushed my hands down and with an umbrella she was holding she hit me on my legs twice. I was in shock; I forgot that it was me who thought about it in the first place. It seemed as if I had influence her to do it! I didn’t feel embarrassed, even though people started to laugh. My heart was peaceful.

While writing my experience sharing I cried, I cried and I wrote, I wrote and I cried. I felt an enormous compassion covering me. I’m fortunate to study the Great Law and I can’t see myself acting differently.

I wish you all, from the bottom of my heart, success in your cultivation.

I would like to thank Teacher Li for giving us Dafa and I thank my dear husband for his forbearance and I thank you for listening to me.

Thank you!