Growing Up and Becoming Mature in Dafa

Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I was fortunate to obtain Dafa at a very young age. I started to practice Dafa with my parents since I was twelve years old. Then my grandparents from my mother’s side and my father’s side all become Dafa disciples. I spent my childhood and youth in Dafa, but when I grew up, I was trapped in the human world of fame, self-interest, and sentimentality and not able to cultivate diligently. With Master’s compassionate care, I have been walking through the ups and downs for the past twenty years. I would like to take this opportunity to report to Master my cultivation experience and share with fellow practitioners.

I remember when I was a little girl, I went to the park with my parents to do morning exercises every day, rain or shine. I joined my parents and other practitioners to travel to remote areas to promote Dafa on the weekends. Later on, we established a Fa study site at home for little practitioners and we studied the Fa together every week. Those days become one of the most precious memories of my life. After the persecution began in 1999, my parents and I clarified the truth to the local people. We made the truth-clarification booklets at home. On late evening, we dropped them in the mailboxes of residential areas, and put them on the cars and motor vehicles parked at the roadside.

In 2004, police illegally arrested my mum while she was at work, and broke into my house for illegal search. After mum was illegally arrested, I was deeply worried about mum’s safety all the time. But I had to force myself to focus on my study as I was about to start my year 12. It was the most difficult time for me. But it was Master who looked after me and gave me the powerful righteous thoughts. I tried my best to eliminate the attachment of sentimentality towards my mum and support her with righteous thoughts. I always remember what Master says: “I will leave you with a few words. During the course of your future cultivation, when you find it hard to endure, when you feel that you can no longer bear it, think of these words of mine. What are they? They are: “It’s hard to do, but you can do it; it’s hard to endure, but you can endure it.” (“Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Guangzhou” from The Law of Zhuan Falun Explained) When I was given the permission to visit my mum, we always encouraged each other to cultivate diligently, strengthen our righteous thoughts and completely deny the persecution. Under Master’s protection, mum was released from the Brainwashing Centre and returned home safely a few months later. And I performed very well academically and got admitted into a university of good reputation in China. After I graduated, I came to Australia for my postgraduate study. Words can’t express Master’s boundless grace. I would not have been able to make it without Master’s compassionate care.

After moving to a new country, I lost my cultivation environment at home, and didn’t keep up with Fa study. Gradually, I slacked off in my cultivation in such a relaxing environment, and I didn’t do the three things well. I am a naturally outgoing person and I am always willing to help others, so I am surrounded by a group of friends all the time. But I didn’t realize that they were indeed people with predestined relationships with Dafa. It was Master who arranged them to come to me to learn the truth. Instead I hung out and partied with them. I seemed to have lots of fun every time, however when I had some quiet time alone, I felt very lost and empty. I knew I wasted so much precious time and my cultivation status was far from satisfactory. I wanted to become diligent again with my cultivation but then I gave up after a few days. On one weekend afternoon, I suddenly wanted to go for a run on the beach. I ran past the Glenelg Art Gallery and there was a display board outside the door which said “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance International Art Exhibition”. I was so excited that I rushed into the gallery. I looked at each painting and burst into tears. A reporter from Epoch Times saw me and wanted to interview me as she thought I was one of the visitors. I said in tears, “I am a Dafa disciple too.” From that moment, I found the local practitioners and finally returned to the group. Master had not given up on me and awakened me when I was lost in the maze. That was also the very first time that I saw the exhibition.

After graduation, under Master’s infinite grace, I managed to land my first job in the accounting profession. Having worked as an assistant accountant for a number of years, I am seeking for a change. I happened to find a local symphony orchestra was recruiting an accountant. Without thinking too much, I applied for this position simply because of my interest in classical music. I was told that my application was not successful later on but I took it lightly. I remember what Master told us: “As a practitioner should follow the course of nature. If something is yours, you will not lose it. If something is not yours, you will not have it even if you fight for it. ” (Zhuan Falun. Although I thought that position had already been filled, two months later, the HR manager from the company contacted me again, saying that they hadn’t appointed anyone to the position of accountant and asked me if I was still interested in this role. I was very happy and attended the interview. During my interview, I took the opportunity to introduce Shen Yun to the board members, Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and the HR manager. After a few rounds, I received the letter of employment from the company. I am grateful for Master’s arrangement. I realize it was Master’s merciful arrangement for me to promote Shen Yun to the mainstream society and save more sentient beings. After working in the orchestra for more than two years, I once again experienced Master’s great arrangement. Here I report directly to the COO and provide the Senior Management Team with timely financial reports to assist them in making strategic decisions. Therefore, I am heavily involved in the budgeting and planning process, cost control and profitability analysis of each concert. In the meanwhile, I have learned a lot of knowledge and skills specific to the arts industry from day to day operations. I use these valuable skills learned at work to assist with Shen Yun tours in South Australia. Master says: “It’s precisely to have you put to full use at this crucial time what you’ve learned among everyday people and are good at, to have you validate the Fa using the everyday people’s skills Dafa created for people in this world.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference”) I am so thankful for Master’s arrangement and I really cherish the opportunity. I will follow the path of cultivation arranged by Master.

I feel that the cultivation journey is to remove my attachments layer upon layer. I have been a high achiever at school since I was very little, but had started to feel superior to my peers and had a desire for fame and self-interest. After practicing Dafa, I have improved my xinxing little by little and managed to get rid of a lot of my attachments. I thought I have taken personal gains very lightly now until recently something happened at work. There have been some changes in management within the company where I work. For the entire week, I felt very negative and lacked of motivation at work. I asked myself, “Why is my heart and mind easily swayed? What attachments do I have?” When I truly look inwards, I find that I am not dedicated to my work or hardworking, rather it’s because I am keen to prove myself and get positive attention from my boss. When I look deeper, I have come to realize the root of all these thoughts was selfishness. Master says: “That’s because a cultivator should be a good person wherever he is. It’s not about being a good person for the sake of being a good person. You are a cultivator, and you should be able to handle all of these things well. That’s how it should be.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Conference in New Zealand”). Although it appeared that I am very responsible at work, in fact I didn’t follow Master’s requirements but instead followed my selfish mind. It’s my selfish mentality blocking my cultivation path. I must truly follow Dafa’s requirements and completely remove this fundamental attachment.

After attending the Experience Sharing Conference in Washington D.C this year, I am greatly inspired by the fellow practitioners from America and Canada. They have made substantial progress to clarify the truth to the government officials. I feel ashamed of myself that I haven’t paid much attention to this project as I have the misconception that practitioners like me working from 9 to 5 will have very little time to participate this project. Perhaps Master knows that I want to improve myself and do better, thus two weeks later, I received a notice from the coordinator to attend the National Sharing Meeting on Sonant about how to clarify the truth to MPs. After listening to the sharing, I said to myself, “I must cherish this opportunity that Master gives me and do it with all my heart.” I also looked inside and found that I have the attachments of laziness and relying on western practitioners. Master says: “You have to get personally involved, cultivate, and go and put things into action. Working hard is part of your cultivation. You need to think of ways to find the people that you are meant to save. All of these are things that Dafa disciples should do. ” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching”). I came to realize that it was my attachments that have been stopping me from participating in this project! I am not a little disciple anymore and I should walk my own cultivation path and take on more reasonability to live up to the title of “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciple”. When the coordinator and other fellow practitioners suggested me taking on the coordinating role for this project, I happily accepted. I shared my thoughts with practitioners, “I don’t have any experience in this area, but I am willing to learn and I will work very hard and do my best. I hope everyone can give me a hand and we all work together as a group.” We then formed our local truth-clarification team for government. For every Sonant meeting, I have prepared the agendas and summarized the key notes afterwards and shared them with the team to ensure that we are tracking the progress. We have been working together to draft the plan, gather the contact information of the MPs by regions and allocate practitioners as the point of contact for each region. Although I have participated the project for only a few weeks, I am aware that clarifying the truth to the government is a long-term project which requires persistence and resilience. Plus we don’t have a lot of practitioners in SA, hence it can be quite challenging. However, we all know everything is well arranged by Master, as long as we do it with our hearts, Master will help us.

Twenty years have gone passed so quickly, I have grown up from a little disciple to a young practitioner now. During my cultivation journey, there was time when I slacked off and there have been so many areas that I need to improve. I thank Master for not giving up on me, awakening me again and again and protecting me all the time. I will seize every minute and second to cultivate myself diligently, do well with the three things and follow Master to return home!

Above is my personal understanding. If there is anything inappropriate, please kindly point it out.

Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!