Be a Qualified Falun Dafa Practitioner

By a UK practitioner.

Editor: Throughout this experience sharing, the word “Fa” is used. The literal translation of this word is “Law” or “Principles”. However, the author uses it to describe the principles of Falun Dafa [Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance], Falun Gong books and the practice of Falun Dafa.

I work for a biochemistry company in Cambridge. In 1997, I obtained the in Beijing. I remembered that I had a dream when I was seven or eight. I dreamed that I was dying, my soul flying in the boundless space, all kinds of planets were passing by me just like small dots. In my dream, I had just one thought: I was dead and I would no longer exist in this world. I would disappear from this world forever. And I felt so sad that I wet my pillow with tears. From then on, I had been looking for a way of obtaining immortality by learning all kinds of qigong [a traditional form of Chinese exercise to cultivate the body. Tai Chi is the most well known form of qigong.]. Moreover, I had been a lay Buddhist and I had even thought of becoming a nun. However, I could not free myself from my “worldly attachments” and so I didn’t become a nun. The first time when I finished reading Zhuan Falun [The main text of Falun Gong], I clearly remembered one sentence, “One should return to one’s original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human.” After reading Zhuan Falun, I knew that I finally found what I had been looking for.

From the beginning of my cultivation, I had basically just stayed in personal cultivation. Though I spent almost half the day practicing the exercises and reading the Fa [Law and Principles of Falun Gong], I still felt there was an invisible wall between the Fa and me. I felt that I was being refrained from assimilating to Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, no matter how hard I had tried to. I felt so sad about this. It was a kind of pain that I felt in the bottom of my heart. Supposing my life was meant to assimilate to these principles and I could not, how bitterly sad it would be.

In the May of 2001, I traveled to Belgium to participate in the Falun Dafa activities there. When marching in the procession, seeing all the other practitioners around me devoting all of their effort to safeguarding the Fa when it is being slandered and persecuted in China, I felt the wall between the Fa and me collapsing. Walking in the procession, I was moved to tears. This was the first time in my life that I had felt the great power of Dafa. Reflecting over this, I came to understand that perhaps the powerful and righteous energy field of all the practitioners tore down the wall between the Fa and me. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Teacher wants us to join in the activities together. It is just like to have our Celestial Eye opened. It is very hard to have our Celestial Eye opened by ourselves, but it will be relatively easier and faster with an external force. From then on, I had really experienced the beautiful feeling of being like a particle of the Fa.

In the July of 1999, all of our family members went back to Beijing to have our visas extended. On July 20th of 1999, I visited the Appeal Bureau to make an appeal for an end to the persecution against Falun Dafa. At that time, there was no obstacle to my understanding of the Fa. In the early morning, I left a message for my still soundly sleeping husband, “I will visit the Appeal Bureau to make an appeal. Please take good care of our children.” Then, I went directly to the National Appeal Bureau. After I came back from Shijinshan stadium and the police office at night, my husband angrily questioned me, “Which one is your top priority? Your children or Dafa?” Unhesitatingly, I replied in a right and self-confident manner, “I put Dafa as my top priority.” Then, my husband’s furious fists descended on me just like raindrops. At that time, I told myself, “I am not a qualified practitioner if I could not stand firmly on the fundamental point.” Seeing red, my husband grabbed my book from me, tearing the pages. After the fight, whenever I went out to take part in the Dafa activities, there would be another domestic storm. Sometimes, there would just be some scolding from my husband. Other times, there would be fists and he would tear my book. Before my cultivation, my husband paid respect to my opinions and he used to be a decent person with a gentle and tolerant personality.

However, we should view a conflict from the viewpoints of practitioners instead of from those of everyday people. Compared with those fellow practitioners who were not dragged behind by domestic affairs, we should not excuse ourselves or retreat and escape. If we were really blocked by our family affairs, we might lose some precious opportunities. Seeing that my belief in cultivation and Dafa would never be swayed by his fists and our arguments, my husband allowed me to practice cultivation at home. As long as I could cultivate at home, everything would be alright. However, I understood that what distinguished us from gods was that we were endowed with human bodies and exist with Teacher during this period. The greatness of Dafa practitioners lies in the fact that we can take part in. Through our Hongfa [rough translation - introducing the Fa to others] activities and our personal conduct Dafa can be seen. If we seldom took part in Hongfa activities, we could at most cultivate ourselves and help those around us who are being poisoned by deceitful lies and are blind to the truth of the persecution. Whenever I think of the tragic consequences and the tremendous contribution made by the practitioners in China, my tears would just flow down. No matter how harshly my husband scolded or beat me, I would not compromise with him. I am determined to walk my path righteously, without complaint or regret.

As a spouse and a mother, I have to be responsible for my family. However, faced with the confrontation of my husband, what came to my mind was just unyielding resistance, instead of compassionate forbearance. But this kind of forbearance did not mean to be tolerant of his speaking evilly towards Dafa. On the contrary, forbearance is not to be swayed away in whatever conditions. I hold Teacher Li and Dafa in high esteem.

In the past few years, the relationship between my husband and me has not improved much. Not until half a year ago had our confrontation become less violent. In Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston, Teacher Li tells us that our behaviour is extremely important. I felt that Teacher was saying for me. Yes, my husband had often complained, “How come I can not feel that you are becoming a better person?” What he resented most was my tendency to be arrogantly opinionated. Not until now do I come to understand that this tribulation resulting from my family was arranged for me to improve. Recently after I changed my perspective, I felt that my husband has changed. He no longer interferes with my Dafa activities.

Along my path, I often feel that there are two selves of mine. One is the reasonable self with the understanding of Dafa, while the other self is opinionated and bad natured. Seriously speaking, the bad side is demonstrated in restlessness, arrogance, being self-opinionated, competitive mentality, showing off, and bad temper. In my previous studying of the Fa, I just looked outward for some means to resolve my problem instead of working hard on upgrading my Xinxing [Heart nature; mind nature]. I used to be impatient and restless, eager to see the final outcome. If a practitioner were unable to make himself peaceful and calm, it would be like an everyday person doing the jobs of Dafa. The busier we are, the more peaceful and calm we should be. As Dafa practitioners, we should maintain the mental state of purity and peacefulness.

My English is not so good, so I contributed articles to Dafa websites in Chinese. Every two or three days, one of my articles was published on the web site. I majored in chemistry, so I often felt that it was hard to write some articles about cultivation. But I realized that the fear of writing articles was just one attachment that I had to remove. Therefore, I forced myself to learn to write articles. Every day, I made use of the break in my busy schedule in the lab to write articles. Or the articles were finished in the midst of noise of my children. No matter how tight my schedule is, I just hold on to one thought: As long as my work benefits others, I will try my best.

Last year, I was conducting some scientific research in Anglia University. I only went home at the weekend and my husband took care of our children. During that year, besides finishing my scientific research, I still made some experiments to prove the scientific nature of Dafa. In addition, I provided the Cambridge Technology Assembly with a thesis on chemistry. Before that, I had not done research on chemistry for eight years. It is not common to finish four theses in one year! This itself shows the power of the Fa.

Looking back at my path of cultivation in the past few years, I cannot help but cry when thinking of my gratitude towards Teacher for his spreading this Fa. Only with hard work will we not miss this unprecedented opportunity.

Translated from
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200209/12000.html