PureInsight | April 26, 2004
[PureInsight.org] I attained the Fa just over a month ago, yet the miracle of Dafa has really amazed me! I was encouraged to share my little experiences in cultivation and your comments are cordially welcome.
It has been 49 years since I came to the United States from Taiwan, at the age of 16. My wife worked for the Social Security Administration of the federal government for 22 years, and I have been in the taxi business for 22 years after leaving the restaurant business. So, our family has a sizable income. Though we do not have any children, our life has been quite comfortable. When I was young, I acquired lots of bad habits, except for drug use. I have been gambling since I was quite young. I gambled all the time even after I grew old. I tried countless times to quit, but I have never been successful even though I knew it was bad for me. Some days I would go out the door in the morning and spend the whole day gambling, and then I would lie to my wife when she asked. I never told her the truth. I would give her a lot of excuses, and never give in during our fighting. I am 65 years old now. From gambling, I have lost two houses that we once owned and our entire savings.
Actually, I was not that bad a person. Thirty years ago, I learned a lot of things and read a lot of books, in seeking the ways of Buddhist and Taoist cultivation. Naturally, these ways are mostly "minor powers and petty magic arts." I also understood the concept of karmic retribution, but it was just so hard for me to give up my bad habits. This made my wife and family lose their confidence in me. Someone even tried to teach me how to use the "minor powers and petty magic arts" to win money. I knew that this would not be good and would result in retribution; therefore I did not learn it. I spent most of my life like this, in total muddle-headedness. I lost our house in gambling, and I planned to take my wife back to Taiwan to retire. We were about ready to go but got delayed, and I had to find a place for us to stay within a day. I had to take care of my wife who is in a wheelchair, and deal with over 50 cases of miscellaneous household stuff and furniture. I am old, with no children to help me, and had to rely on myself to do everything. So I really felt sad and depressed.
It could be said that it was a coincidence that on the first day I found an apartment to rent and I met a Falun Dafa practitioner who lived downstairs. I met her again the third day. I felt the goodness of a Dafa disciple after talking to her twice. I asked her why she is so good. She said it is because she studies Falun Dafa. That left a deep impression on me. I figured if students are that good, the Master must be very good. On the fourth day, she lent the book, Zhuan Falun to my wife and me. We read through it in its entirety, and returned it to her. She told us to read it again. After we got home, my wife and I had a discussion. We realized Dafa is not involved in politics, and was just the opposite of what the Chinese government propaganda had claimed. That propaganda had made me so scared; thus I rejected all those free materials from Falun Gong practitioners every time I passed by the library. Now that I have learned the truth, I thought about it for three days and decided to give up those Daoist "minor powers and petty magic arts" that I have cherished for over 30 years. In addition, my wife decided to give up her kowtowing and burning of incense that she has been doing for decades. We decided to concentrate on cultivating in Falun Gong and, thus pursue the truth together.
Less than a week after I attained the Fa, I actually quit smoking, which I had tried to do for decades, but in vain. My chronic illnesses of over 10 years that could not be cured no matter where I went, along with the fatigue I experience all over my body were all gone once I started studying the Fa and doing the exercises. When I was studying the other disciplines, no one would answer my questions. I bought lots of books in an attempt to find the real teachings in Buddhism and Daoism, but they were all mystical and hard to understand. Even those so-called masters and senior disciples could not explain clearly what they were talking about. I do not think that they really understood it. Master elucidates the cosmic secrets using very methodical, yet simple and clear ways, and solves the puzzles that have bothered me for my whole life. I have really found the truth that I have been looking for my whole life.
Before we learned the Dafa, my wife and I used to use a Japanese medical treatment apparatus we bought from Taiwan, four to five times a day, one hour every time, to stimulate blood circulation. Ever since I started the practice, I stopped using it, because I thought exercises were more effective. My wife has reduced her usage from four to five times a day to once a day.
I have always been a shy person. I would never dare to distribute anything on the street and have never hollered like a street vendor. But in order to distribute Dafa truth materials, I become brave and thicker-skinned, and I can now yell "Free newspaper" in Mandarin Chinese at the entrance to the subway station where there are lots of people. I can also say in Cantonese "Free newspaper, take a look." When people take the paper, I happily say "Thank you!" I am very pleased once I finish distributing these papers. I also find time every day to write letters and mail truth materials to Mainland China. Sometimes, I help with whatever I can in the community, and this enriches my life as well.
The mighty power of Dafa made me quit gambling right away, and led me to a new life. After I started the practice, I met a gambler I knew and he asked me how I quit gambling. He wants to quit too. I was busy distributing papers and he was hurrying to work; therefore we did not have a chance to talk. But one day I will tell him it is Dafa that has changed my perspective about life, and made me quit gambling. Now when I pass by OTB [Off Track Betting] and other gambling places, I do not set foot in there.
On my wife's behalf, let me tell you about my wife and her changes since she started practicing. Eight years ago, she worked for the Social Security Administration, and one day she suddenly lost her balance. The doctor diagnosed her as having "cerebellar atrophy," and no medicine was able to help her. We went back to Taiwan four times to seek treatment from various kinds of Buddhist and Daoist medication. None of them worked, either and her situation worsened. In recent years, she became so ill that she had to be in a wheelchair. She dared not answer the phone since she could not speak intellegibly, and she could not control or move her arms and legs as she wished. She once almost burned the house down when she was kowtowing to a Buddha statue and burning incense.
Nowadays my wife also is studying Dafa. Even though she is not quite clear about the exercise movements and does not understand the Fa very deeply, her physical condition is improving daily. She no longer has those nightmares that made me unable to go to sleep. She can answer the phone now and speaks much more clearly. When I put down everything, including my male chauvinism, she no longer fights with me, and no longer gets as angry as before.
It is Dafa that has saved us, and we are lucky to have caught the last train of our Master. Even though we have just obtained the Fa, we will try our best as Dafa disciples to validate Dafa, participate in Fa rectification and openly and righteously practice our cultivation. Let me conclude by sharing one of Master's poems (From Hong Yin) with fellow practitioners:
"Predestined to Return to the Sacred Fruit Status"
Looking for the teacher for many years,
One day the chance to meet appears;
Obtain the Fa and return through cultivation,
Achieve Consummation and follow the teacher home.
