Dafa Has Elevated Me

Experience Sharing at the 2011 European Fa Conference

[PureInsight.org] My name is Diana Manni. I am a new practitioner from Italy. I came in contact with Dafa about three years ago, but didn’t become a genuine Dafa practitioner until earlier this year.

Seven months ago, I began to study the Fa as a true Dafa practitioner. In everyday life, whenever I encountered different situations whether at work or at home, the sentences from Zhuan Falun rang in my ears. They led me to have a correct understanding of the Fa principles and to better handle relationships with others. They also reminded me to remain rational.

Master teaches me to see clearly the reasons behind the things I went through and reminds me not to get lost in delusion. The more I study the Fa, the better I understand how important the Fa is for our improvement in cultivation, and the more clearly I see how the formation of our way of thinking in ordinary society has an impact upon us. I have become more aware of tricky phenomena such as declining moral values and the reversal of good and evil.

I have always been very interested in cultivation practice. I tried many different ways of cultivation based on oriental philosophy. It is only now, by studying the Fa, that I realize how wrong, limited, and one-sided the opinions I formed before were. As Master explained many times, other cultivation methods are only focused on healing and fitness, rather than higher levels. They only enable individuals to realize their aspirations on a human level. Nowadays it is generally believed that something that does not satisfy one’s own desires is not good. And all these desires are linked directly with one’s pursuit of fame, fortune, and sentiment. Hence I found this was the biggest obstacle I encountered at the beginning of my Fa practice.

It was quite hard to change my way of thinking because I had grown used to it whilst previously practicing low-level cultivation methods. My previous experience accumulated into huge manifestations of thought karma. It was constantly interfering with me. I realized that the only way to disintegrate this thought karma was firm determination in studying the Fa and doing the three things well. In particular, I found myself much more rational in thinking about and judging things by keeping the Fa in mind.

In the other cultivation methods I previously practiced I felt some energy mechanisms and learned some principles. Yet they only served to satisfy my desires. And indeed they also helped me achieve some of my pursuits. Dafa has elevated me to new levels. Before I came across Dafa, I had had a really good and comfortable life with most of my dreams coming true. But in the bottom of my heart, I felt uneasy and confused a lot of the time.

It seemed those accomplished wishes did not bring me true happiness. I felt my mind and heart wanted to be open to awareness of a higher realm. It had not been smooth sailing for me to take Dafa as my life guidance when I first came across the practice. As a result, my conventional concepts had been profoundly impacted, and my life had changed dramatically. I left my boyfriend, with whom I had lived for 15 years. I saw my evil factors. I also saw the hidden side of mine, which had never been shown before. I saw the karma I had made in the pursuit of my personal desires. I was exposed completely, as if all my golden masks had been broken into pieces so as to let me find the dirt behind them. In short, all the rotten stuff floated to the surface, just like the waste hidden in a soul for years. I became aware of how much harm I had done to others in the pursuit of my personal accomplishments and goals. I realized I had previously ignored the feelings of others. I also found how insignificant it was to pursue the accomplishments I valued so much before.

Through continuous cultivation practice, I realized that the exposure of these dark and dirty substances gave me the opportunity to face them, clean them up, eradicate them, and transform them, as well as to compensate for them or give them up under different circumstances. I keep seeing clearly my own attachments leading to the dirt. It is in the process of Fa study and doing the exercises that most of my attachments are found.

I realized that the time was shortening from being aware of my attachments to getting rid of them. It is the start of letting go of attachments when you look inward. It seems to me that finding the attachment is a part of the process to remove it. I have personally experienced what Master said, cultivating in Dafa one will improve very quickly.

In just a few months, I changed every aspect of my life. I not only stopped smoking and biting my nails, but also changed my eating habits and relationship with others. In the continuous cultivation process, I returned to my family and became more concerned about others. I am aware that the people around me are all related to me. I am increasingly aware that if my thoughts change, the situation around me will change too, and so will my relationship with others. By studying the Fa I became more aware of my responsibilities for other people and the things around me. I was indeed conscious of this before but never knew how to handle it. It is through cultivation practice and Fa study that I know exactly what to do.

In many cases I have verified that my thoughts impact things around me. It is important for me to send forth righteous thoughts to clear myself up and eliminate the interference. I found many key issues I encountered in everyday life had been solved successfully whenever I was able to study the Fa diligently, send righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth with an unshakable mind. If I do not stand firm in my faith, everything around me will get worse and worse.

Dafa has really elevated me. It helped me to get rid of the interference of ordinary people’s attachments and notions. It is getting much easier for me to give up the sentiments everyday people have. I am increasingly aware that those sentiments are in fact one’s physical and spiritual shackles. They make people “excited” and “obsessed.” They become the happy mirage pursued by people in ordinary society. In addition to the illusion aroused by sentiment, I saw more and more other realms where people could survive.

Sometimes I could feel true happiness in the journey back to my real home, which is so pure that you can’t find any contamination. Sometimes I find myself back at the state of childhood. Cultivation practice has purified my life physically and mentally, constantly cleaning up the accumulated dirt and karma. I feel it is much easier for me to deal with a heavy workload and my health is getting better and better. Not only am I full of energy but I have also become younger.

As Dafa manifests its power and breadth to me every day, I keep urging myself to work more diligently and do the three things well. In the past few months I took part in local activities to clarify the truth, organized by local Dafa practitioners. In these activities, I learned the truth of the severe persecution happening to Dafa practitioners in China, which aroused my stronger desire to participate in these activities.

To be honest, I did not have this feeling at the very beginning. But as I was involved in more of the activities, I saw their necessity and urgency. I feel that there is a close connection between me and the Dafa practitioners in Mainland China. I want to tell the whole world about the severe persecution they are undergoing.

I do some translation work for the Italian Clear Harmony website. This gives me the opportunity to experience the situation in China as those articles are detailed records of recent happenings. Through these activities, I feel I have become part of the whole body. It makes me stand more firmly when I clarify the truth to people.

I sincerely hope I can meet the requirement of a true Dafa disciple as soon as possible. I’ll put much more effort in. Master has given me so much that I can’t describe with words. I hope I can prove in the near future that I am qualified to obtain all I have been given. I will do my best to do what Master wants and help him validate the Fa.

Thank you!