PureInsight | December 4, 2016
[PureInsight.org]
Greetings Master!
Greetings fellow practitioners!
My name is Xianglai Liu. I started cultivation when I came to Boston in 2015. Today, I would like to share my cultivation experience.
Clarifying the Truth at Harvard
One day over the summer, I heard that practitioners could help a lot of people quit the CCP in Harvard Square. We also can collect signatures for the petition to “Stop Organ Harvesting”. I decided to see and give it a try.
My mother agreed with me, but she requested that I finish the exercises and study the Fa before I go. That way I can save sentient beings with the power of the Fa. However, I wanted to test whether it was true. I thought to myself: I will not do the exercises nor study the Fa today, but I will do the exercises and study the Fa tomorrow and see which day has better results.
As soon as I got to the bus station, the bus left, and I had to wait a long time. After I arrived at Harvard, I was too timid to distribute truth-clarification materials. Moreover, I saw a practitioner being humiliated by ordinary people. Master said in Zhuan Falun, “When a wise person hears the Tao, this person will practice it diligently. When an average person hears it, this person will practice it on and off. When a foolish person hears it, this person will laugh at it loudly.” I perked up my courage to distribute the flyers. One flyer, two flyers, three flyers… my confidence increased with the number of flyers handed out. Then I wanted to collect signatures, but to no avail. Some people needed to catch a bus, while others understand neither English nor Chinese. I figured it might be because I did not do the exercises or study the Fa that morning.
The next day, I planned to get up early to do the exercises and study the Fa, but I overslept. I was disappointed at myself, so I decide to make up for it by listening to the Fa on the bus. The bus came as soon as we arrived at the station. We listened to the Fa on the bus. The bus was extremely fast, and we arrived in about ten minutes.
When I arrived, I tried to collect a signature from the person I handed a flyer, and that person signed! So I continued doing this. The success rate of collecting signature was 75%, but I also encountered interferences. I sent forth righteous thoughts, and the bad person was scared away. One of the practitioners brought many paper lotus flowers and gave one to whoever signed the petition. My method was to greet people first, and then give a flyer about “Stop Organ Harvesting”. Then I would ask, “Would you like to support us?” If the other person had questions, I would explain the persecution and organ harvesting atrocity towards Dafa practitioners in China. That day, I collected 30 signatures by myself. I was very happy. I thought, “I really had the power of the Fa today. I am grateful for Master’s help. I have to get up early tomorrow morning to study the Fa and do the exercises before I go. The power will be stronger for sure.”
My Dad is Not that Scary
My dad visited us in July. I felt happy but was also scared before he came. I was happy to see him after a one-year separation, but I was scared because he would hit me when he saw me do the exercises in China. What would happen if he found out that I started to practice cultivation genuinely?
On the first day my dad arrived, I got up at 4 AM to do meditation and study the Fa in bed so he would not found out. However, my dad got up early too because of jet lag. Unexpectedly, he did not scold me but instead asked me peacefully, "Do you understand Zhuan Falun?" "Of course!" I replied. My father’s reaction gave me confidence. He was not as scary as I thought he would be. In the afternoon, I showed off my recently learned skill. I cooked some handmade noodles for him, which made him very happy.
Last year when my dad came to visit us, he did not want to read "The Epoch Times" when I showed him. This year, my mom and I came up with a new idea. We brought him with us to tour the state house while distributing EET at the same time. I encouraged him to distribute EET with me. After seeing me knock on office doors, politely greet the people, and give them the EET, he was very proud of me. Eventually, he perked up the courage and distributed with me.
When Friday MIT group Fa study approached, my fear came up again and I asked mom hesitantly, "Shall we skip this week?" My mom shook her head and replied, "No. Your dad needs to know about our true lives. It is not appropriate for him to go to the big group, but he can come to the little disciples’ Fa study." During our Fa study, my dad was sitting in the back and listened to us quietly. We went out to do the exercises on the lawn after study. My dad was afraid of us catching cold in the wind, but we were sitting in a circle and doing the exercise earnestly without any concern. My dad did not try to stop us anymore. He even happily babysat a practitioner’s little sister during the time.
One Sunday, my dad asked me seriously why I wanted to cultivate Falun Dafa. I answered, "I do not get sick anymore since I started practicing!" He asked me again, "What made you practice?" I knew the test came again. Without any fear, I responded to him with righteous thoughts, "I like to practice." My dad did not ask more.
One week passed quickly. My dad returned to China, and I also passed the "test". I felt that as long as I have the Fa and righteous thoughts in mind, then my dad is not that scary.
Improving Xinxing with my Grandfather
This summer, I insisted on going to Chinatown to practice with my grandfather. The weather was very hot sometimes, but I was very happy after practicing each day.
One day, I started to play Legos as soon as I got home after practicing. My Lego pieces were everywhere on the table and floor. Then I started to read Journey to the West without putting the Lego pieces away first. I totally ignored my grandpa’s request to clean up my mess. Grandpa was very hot and tired after cooking and got angry at me for not responding to him. He threw my Legos in the toy box. The Four Wheel Drive car that I spent an hour building crashed into pieces. I was furious. I took the clothes my grandfather had just washed and wiped them around everywhere. A fight broke out, and my lips were bruised. My mom came back at that time. I held my mom and cried aloud. It was FZN time. My mom asked me to calm down and FZN first. I was still mad. I raised my palm and shouted the words loudly on purpose. After FZN, my mom said everything happens for a reason. She asked me to search inwards. I remembered Master said in Zhuan Falun, “As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at--- you must be tolerant. Otherwise, what kind of practitioner will you be...?” My lip was bruised because I spoke badly about my grandfather and created karma. Only doing the exercises but not cultivating Xinxing is not being a Dafa Practitioner. I stopped being angry at that moment.
Searching Internally Amidst a Series of Troubles
My birthday was coming up in two days, and my attachment of zealotry came out. I painstaking publicized it and hoped that everyone would know about it. A practitioner gave me a box of chocolates as a birthday gift. Then we started the exercises. During the meditation, a little practitioner was bending over too much. I told him, “Do your exercises well. I will share my chocolate after!” Unexpectedly, he scratched my nose with a feather during the meditation. During FZN time, he went climbing in the playground. I started to get impatient and wanted to play with him, but I told myself, “I cannot go!” During the whole time of FZN, my main consciousness was thinking about climbing with him while my body was sitting there.
After FZN, I shared my chocolates with the others. However, I did not share any with that little disciple because he did not do the exercises well. He got angry and shouted, “Who wants your chocolates anyway? No one will celebrate your birthday!” His words hurt me, and I cried like a pierced water balloon. The rest of my family members are all in Shanghai. I only have my mom and grandfather here in the States. I used to have the whole family to celebrate my birthday, but this year I turned ten, and there were very few people who could celebrate it with me. Seeing me crying so hard, practitioners asked me to stop the exercises and study the Fa nearby. A paragraph of Master’s Fa in Zhuan Falun came to my mind, “As you know, when a person reaches the Arhat level, in his heart he is not concerned about anything. He does not care at all in his heart for any ordinary human matter, and he will always be smiling and in good spirits. No matter how much loss he suffers, he will still be smiling and in good spirits without any concern. If you can really do this, you have already reached the entry-level Fruition Status of Arhatship.” Master asked us to be smiling and in good spirits without any concern. That is really hard to do.
On the way back home, we went to the supermarket. The watermelons were piled up one by one like a mountain. I am good at picking good watermelons. My mom always asked for my help when choosing a watermelon. I patted and knocked on several watermelons. Finally, I picked a round and big watermelon I liked. I held it up quickly and said, “Mom, this one is good!” Suddenly, the watermelon next to it fell on the ground and broke in half. Before I could react to it, another watermelon felt on the ground and broke in half. Then people turned around and looked at me and the broken watermelons. I was shocked and scared and thought, “I will be punished. I have done wrong.”
My grandfather was just about to scold me when a staff member came and said to me nicely, “Do not worry. You can pick up a good one”. My mom picked up the broken watermelon pieces and said to him, “We will pay for the broken ones.” The staff member responded, “No worries. We can handle it.” However, my mom insisted on paying for the broken watermelons.
On the way back from the supermarket, I complained to my mom as I carried the watermelon with her, “This is really an unlucky day!” My mom asked me think about why all these unpleasant things happened in a day.
At night, I studied the Fa with my mom. When we read in Zhuan Falun, “There is a story about Han Xin, which says that he endured the humiliation of crawling between someone’s legs,” I felt that part of the Fa was directly talking about me. I did not behave like Han Xin with great forbearance. I have the attachment of showing off and looking down upon others. That little disciple’s mom always asked him to look up to me, so I felt I cultivated well and better than the others. I wanted to supervise others but forgot to look inward. Master said in recent article of On the Waves Stirred Up by the Article About Assistant Souls, “The interference by the old forces’ arrangements has been very severe. Master simply does not want to have you mired in the details of the tangled mess, and have it affect your cultivation. Instead, I ask you to treat sentient beings with the broadest mind and utmost compassion. With any interference, do not get stuck in the particular situation and allow yourselves to be disturbed; only then can you make it through and your mighty virtue will be even greater.” I was affected by others very easily. Master also said in Zhuan Falun, “It doesn’t matter what so-called Buddha, what Dao, what Deity, or what demon it is—they can’t sway me.” I was moved to tears reading Master’s words.
Telling the Truth
One day I lied to my mom that I needed an iPad to read Journey to the West, but I actually wanted to play games. My mom unlocked the iPad for me. That afternoon, I wanted to finish my article using the home computer. When I opened the computer, a message appeared saying, “Clean your computer.” I clicked the button as instructed, only to find out that the article I worked so hard on and already reached 600 words was deleted. It was not even in the trash bin. I was so angry that I wanted to smash the computer, but when I thought twice about why it happened, I realized that I was not being truthful. I lied to my mom, but I cannot lie to Master. This was karmic retribution!
These are my cultivation experiences. Please kindly point out any mistakes.
Thank you Master!
Thank you fellow practitioners!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/155042
