PureInsight | June 27, 2005
[PureInsight.org] May 13 is the birthday of our beloved Teacher. On this day this year, my family and I attended a local activity to celebrate Teacher's birthday. After we returned home, my daughter Cindy checked her email and told me excitedly, "A western boy has decided to start Falun Gong cultivation practice!"
The boy is named Jon. He is 15 years old and a 10th grade high school student. There is a very interesting story behind how he became a practitioner. I am sure that you will agree that Jon must have a predestined relationship with Falun Gong after you read this.
1. Cindy's Influence on Her Peers at School
To tell you the complete story about Jon, I will have to start with my daughter Cindy. Cindy is in the 9th grade this year. After she completed the "Pedals of Peace" bike tour to raise the public's awareness of China's persecution of young Falun Gong practitioners, Cindy decided to practice Falun Gong. Since then, she has been following Falun Gong's cultivation principles of "Truth, Compassion and Forbearance." Because Cindy has always been a popular student at school, her speech and behavior have a lot of influence over her peers. Moreover, she is the coordinator of an art group at school, so she has to resolve disputes between the members of the art group from time to time.
One day, a child reprimanded her in front of everyone with no valid reason, but Cindy did not refute him. She even listened with a smile on her face. Her friends asked her, "Why are you so easy to bully? You should've given him a rebuttal." Cindy answered with a smile, "You know something? He was giving me his virtue. Why do I want to refuse to accept the virtue from him? In fact, I should thank him for giving me virtue." They did not quite understand what she meant, so they told Cindy, "Are you out of your mind?" Then Cindy started explaining to them about the karmic relationship, the principle of "you reap what you sow" and what our Teacher has taught us on the subject of conflicts. Gradually Cindy has become the anchor for many of her peers. They enjoy sharing their thoughts and feelings with her and listening to her opinions. Although Cindy is among the youngest students at school, junior or even senior students enjoy coming to her for advice on their problems.
One day a girl in the 10th grade named Kayleigh came to Cindy and told her that she was infatuated with a boy named Jon from another school. She was too shy to approach him, so she asked Cindy to check him out for her. Cindy was very obliging. She got Jon's email address from Kayleigh and soon started chatting with Jon online.
2. "I Am a Buddhist."
Just a few minutes after they started chatting online, Jon wrote, "I am a Buddhist." Cindy was astonished and wondered, "How could a western boy possibly be a Buddhist?" This is what she found out:
There are three boys in Jon's family. Jon is the middle child. Because of problems in the relationship between their parents, Jon's brothers started smoking at a tender age. Later they pushed Jon into smoking with them. Jon has repeatedly tried to quit smoking in vain. His mother often brought Jon's two brothers to the church with her, but strangely she has never asked him to attend the church with them. She even told Jon once, "I have always felt that there is something special about you. You are free to choose your own religion. You are free to do whatever you are interested in." Since then, Jon often goes to the library alone and looks for books about his interests. Surprisingly, Jon developed an interest in books about Buddhism on his own. This is why Jon believes that he is a Buddhist.
3. Zhuan Falun Has an Immediate Appeal for Jon.
At the beginning of their online chats, Jon was enthusiastic in sharing his understanding of the traditional Buddhist theories. Then Cindy shared her understanding of Teacher's words in Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong's main study text. Afterwards, Jon became very anxious to get a copy of Zhuan Falun, so Cindy gave him a link where he could download the entire book for free.
On the following day, Jon told Cindy excitedly, "I stayed up all night reading this book of treasure!" According to Jon, he felt so comfortable while reading Zhuan Falun, as if he was floating in the air. He was so focused and did not have any impure thoughts. As soon as he started reading, he sat still for over two hours, as if he had turned into stone.
4. Our Compassionate Teacher Cleansed Jon's Body and Reinforced His Faith
When Jon finally retired to his bed that day, he had a wonderful dream. At first he was practicing the sitting meditation in a dark, small room. All the sudden he found himself sitting on a vast, open prairie with colorful flower blossoms around him. He had never seen those types of flowers before, which were more beautiful than any flower he had seen. Next the entire prairie started spinning and soaring into the sky. Jon was very excited. He even tried to reach the stars with his hands.
Then Jon told Cindy about his concerns. He told her that he had thrown up a lot of stuff after he woke up. Cindy explained to Jon that it was a sign that Teacher was cleansing his body. On the next day, Jon told Cindy that he had quit smoking.
Because Jon was very anxious to learn the Falun Gong exercises, he traveled for 45 minutes by bus after school to come to our house in order to learn the Falun Gong exercises from Cindy. That was the first time Cindy had met this young boy with a predestined relationship with Falun Gong in person.
As for the rest of Jon's stories of cultivation practice, I am sure that he will eventually share them with everyone.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/6/1/32584.html
