PureInsight | February 25, 2018
[PureInsight.org]
Greetings Teacher,
Greetings fellow practitioners.
I was born in March 1999, and I am now 18.
I obtained and accepted Dafa progressively. I had heard about it through my mother who was then learning the exercises with a female practitioner in the park of the château of Méry-sur-Oise. That park is very green and is a pleasant spot to start such a practice. My mother had known Dafa through a friend of hers, and she was very curious about it. When she read Zhuan Falun she was fascinated by what it said, and she found answers to many of her questions. She even seemed happier. One day she suggested I join them there. I was feeling a little hesitant at first because it was unknown to me, but since a friend of mine was willing to join us I accepted, and we all went. That was in 2014.
We went to the park, and I started practicing, but I did not feel anything in particular. However, the lady teaching us showed great benevolence. It took me a whole year to finish reading Zhuan Falun. Prior to reading the book, I did not believe in anything – I just had a vague hope that gods existed. Traditional religions did not appeal to me. When I finished reading I tried to force myself into believing that everything it said was true. I was not quite convinced but strangely enough I wanted to make myself believe in it. I thought I needed some time to digest all these and that it would take me some time to accept everything, but still I was pleased to have a new outlook on life.
Another year went by, and it was 2016. One day I heard about “Fa rectification”. I did not really know what it was, so I checked on the Minghui website, and I was blown away. I realized that other beings were dependent on us and that a practitioner should clarify the truth and do the three things in order to save sentient beings. That came as a shock. What was going on? I felt like I had learned too much, not only about the world’s situation, but also about the celestial situation! I did not know whether I should believe in all these. I said to myself, “Think for a minute. If all these are true and you did nothing, wouldn’t you feel terrible about yourself?”
Teacher said in What is a Dafa Disciple, “Each life, each person, is not simple. Behind them is a massive group of beings in the cosmos that they represent. When one person gains salvation, that represents all of the beings behind him gaining salvation in the future. [I say this] because the vast majority of the people on this earth, of today’s people, are heavenly kings who descended to earth, who incarnated here as human beings.”
It was at that point, two years after obtaining the Fa, which I decided to do the three things diligently and to eradicate my attachments.
Personally, the best way for me to clarify the truth was to leave flyers in mailboxes. I felt as if all the people living nearby had a strong affinity with me, as if maybe they had been family members in another life. Almost every weekend and during school breaks, I would get up at dawn and leave flyers in people’s mailboxes. At first, I did not want people to see me, which is why I would get up so early, sometimes before 5 a.m. when it was still pitch dark. My parents were fine with that. I was walking under the light of the lampposts only, but walking alone at night did not scare me. I have ten years of karate behind me and, anyway, it was extremely pleasant to be surrounded by the calmness of the night with only the starry sky watching me. I enjoyed it, but I felt that it was not enough: I had to let go of my fear of being seen.
I started handing out flyers to people in the street. That was quite tough at first. I did not want people to talk to me or ask questions because I was not ready yet. I did not know much about the situation in China then, and to converse about what the flyers said was beyond my skills. All I wanted was to save people, and I knew that the flyers could do that, but speaking was too hard at the time. Anyway, no one ever bothered me during my truth clarification effort, and I think that the big smile on my face really helped.
I tried to clarify the truth to my 11th grade class with a short presentation, and I tried to clarify the truth to my teachers too. I would leave flyers in their mailboxes more often than not, but I sometimes handed them out myself. When I was in 12th grade, I left a pile of flyers at the school library for everyone to see, hoping they would take a look at it. I could not bring myself to hand them the flyers directly. My schedule that year was the best schedule among all the students; I did not have many classes, and I believe that it was arranged by Teacher so that I could have time to go out and distribute flyers in mailboxes in between classes.
I participated in the French Minghui Summer Camp 2017, and I met great people there. It helped me feel less isolated because, prior to that, I did not know how many practitioners there were in France. We clarified the truth at a market place for the first time, and I was able to hold a discussion on the subject and answer the questions I was asked.
I would like to finish with a fun anecdote. I was trying to memorize “On Dafa (Lunyu)” and had gone for a walk at some point. I looked up at the sky as the sun was starting to go down, and I saw a cloud in the form of a thumbs-up. I took it as a personal encouragement. That made me laugh.
Thank you Teacher, thank you to all practitioners.
Chinese version: https://www.zhengjian.org/node/239979
