PureInsight | January 13, 2003
[PureInsight.org] Ever since I was very little, I was regarded by grownups as being an intelligent but rebellious child. Though I was smart, I had temper tantrums. I was belligerent and fought with other kids all the time. Naturally, I was not very popular among my peers. I knew that I was smart, so I never studied at all when I was in elementary school. Instead, I crammed the night before my examinations. Nevertheless, I always managed to be one of the top three high scorers on every examination at the elementary school.
During junior high school, I had to start to study a little bit, because the competition was fierce in my classes, especially the gifted ones, which I was in. [Note: In Taiwan, all students in junior high schools are divided into A and B-level classes, as well as a class for the specially gifted children, based their scores in an IQ test at the time of enrollment]. But I still crammed for exams last minute. I was almost addicted to the practice of pushing myself into dangerous territory, where I had no choice but to cram for my exams, and pushing my adrenalin to its limit. When the results came out, my score was always among the top 50 scores for the whole school. Because of it, my arrogance and conceit had gotten the better of me. Nobody liked me due to these flaws. In addition, because I had a terrible temper, no one but my father dared or even wanted to discipline me.
I Broke My Mother's Heart
All these flaws were noted by my teacher, who reported them honestly to my mother during teacher-parent meetings. My mother was so embarrassed talking to my teacher; she felt uncomfortable in front of the parents of other students. After each teacher-parent meeting, she would go home and weep secretly.
When the results of the high school joint entrance examination were released, all of my classmates got into either Kaoshong Boys' High School or Kaoshong Girls' High School, whereas my score was only good enough for Zuo-Yin High School. [Note: In Kaoshong, the second largest city in Taiwan, the best high schools for boys and girls are Kaoshong Boys' High School and Kaoshong Girls' High School, respectively. Zuo-Yin High School was not even one of the top three best high schools in Kaoshong. For a student graduating from the class for especially gifted children, it was a disgrace to be anywhere but the best high school.] I was very discouraged when I met my peers at Zuo-Yin High School. The school itself had an excellent staff, but the students there weren't interested in studying. Well, at least their attitude towards education met the expectation of the slogan of my primary school --- "Come to school happily and return home safely."
Nevertheless, the affairs in my life often exceeded all of my expectations. During my third year in high school, my mother obtained Falun Dafa, which truly changed our entire family!
Before my mother attained the Fa, she was a middle-aged woman plagued with various kinds of illnesses, including high blood pressure, coronary problems, diabetes, nettle rashes, and many other afflictions. When her blood pressure was high, my whole family was in turmoil. Before she attained the Fa, her blood pressure had at one point surged to 200, which almost took her life! After she started to cultivate Falun Dafa, all of her illnesses disappeared without a trace. No one could imagine my mother's sincere gratitude toward Falun Dafa and Teacher unless he has had a close encounter with death himself.
My Deep Regrets After Awakening by Dafa
During my third year in high school, I was under tremendous pressure due to the upcoming joint college entrance examination. I started to think about life and death as I once had during my childhood. Why should I be struggle so desperately to prepare for the entrance examination? What good is it to have good academic credentials? What good is it to be wealthy? One can enjoy wealth for only a few decades. What happens when a person dies? Where will I be going when I die? If the world soon forgets me after I die, wouldn't that be dreadful? I became cynical and could not focus on studying when I started to ask myself these questions repeatedly. I asked everyone I knew for the answers to my questions, but no one was able to give me a satisfactory answer. These questions kept haunting me during my studying.
Then, one of my mother's fellow Dafa practitioners suggested that I read Zhuan Falun. The practitioner promised me that Zhuan Falun would answer all of my questions about life. It was the oddest thing that I should accept her advice immediately. I was at the end of my wits anyway, and I was too troubled to continue with my studying; I might as well read the book as she advised. As soon as I read a few pages, something that I could not describe seemed to hit me in the head. I felt quite at ease, and I stopped feeling agitated and anxious right away. I could not quite make sense of this, but there was an unknown force within me that told me that I was supposed to study diligently! When the result of the joint college entrance examination was announced, I found myself admitted to the Department of Physics at the Sun Yat-San University. For a student graduating from Zuo-Yin High School, this was an almost impossible accomplishment.
After the joint college entrance examination, I began to read Zhuan Falun earnestly; it took me only a day and a half to finish reading the whole book. While I was reading Zhuan Falun, the laws in the book were branded deeply on my heart and soul. I was completely mesmerized by the incomparably pithy Fa principles. When I came across the parts that explained the transformation of de and karma, I began to regret my past wrongdoings. I had been extremely willful, peremptory, unreasonable, and conniving. I would always try to profit at other peoples' expense, and never made any effort to comprise or give in. I always laughed at other peoples' stupidity, and often looked down on others with contempt. I always demanded that others do what I wanted them to. I was unforgiving of others' mistakes, but always overlooked my own. I took pleasure in ridiculing others and spoke ill of others behind their backs. After reading Zhuan Falun, I began to realize that every time I stared at others with malice, or spoke ill of others behind their backs, I was losing de. In that case, I must have lost a ton, or even incalculable amounts of de! Teacher's lecture on the Fa principles made me realize my naivete! Oh, God! Only if I had read Zhuan Falun much earlier!
Pride at My Being Admitted to Graduate School
That is not all that Zhuan Falun has done for me. This book also answered life-long questions that I have had since my childhood, such as, "What do humans come to this world for?" or "Where are we going to after we die?" I felt that my prospects had suddenly brightened. Many mysteries that cannot be solved by science are solved in Zhuan Falun, such as the coming and going of prehistoric civilizations, the structure of the human body, the nature of space and time, and many others. Furthermore, I had been frail and subject to many illnesses when I was little. Since I began to cultivate in Falun Dafa, I become very healthy. The most amazing benefit of cultivating in Falun Dafa is that I am now able to concentrate and keep my thoughts clear for long periods of time. I was able to concentrate on my graduate school entrance examination for nine hours a day without feeling tired. In fact, studying became increasingly easy.
After noticing the transformation of my mother and me, my father and my younger brother also started to cultivate in Falun Dafa. We became a family of Falun Dafa practitioners, a family that everyone envies! Nowadays, when out on social gatherings, my mother, who used to be embarrassed because of me, would declare with pride: "My son is studying at the graduate school of the Ching-Hua University!" [Note: Ching-Hua University is the second best, and a very prestigious university in Taiwan.] Her intention is not to show off my academic performance, but to advertise the mighty power of Falun Dafa, which is capable of transforming a volatile, violent and arrogant child into a model student and son!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/11/10/19141.html
