Traveling with Master Before and After Falun Gong Was Introduced to the Public

Traveling with Master Before and After Falun Gong Was Introduced to the Public

I was born in Beijing, and was interested in qigong ever since I was young. One day in 1990, I came upon some people practicing an unknown qigong in a park. A very special kind of power attracted me, which I could not resist. So I sneaked over to watch, but I was too shy to ask what they were doing, since I was so young.

That night, Master explained the practice of Falun Gong to his students, and I attended the talk. Though Master explained it in very simple words, he eloquently outlined the basis of cultivation practice. I had never heard of such great Fa, and right then I decided to learn Falun Gong. When I awkwardly asked Master to teach me, he looked at me and explained that he could not because he would not stay in Beijing for long. I did not give up hope however, and I followed the practitioners and watched them practice in the woods next to the Military Museum. Four or five days later, I noticed that Master was still there, so I requested once again to learn from him. This time, Master asked me why I wanted to learn. Somewhat confused, I said that I wanted to cultivate. Master said there were three conditions that I needed to understand before he could teach me. He said, "First, I am teaching you a practice that takes you to higher levels, I am not teaching you anything like fortune telling, Fengshui, or curing diseases, and I don't allow you to learn any of these. If you are interested in these, please feel free to find others who teach them [in lieu of practicing Falun Dafa]. Second, let's test each other for a period, I will test you and you can decide whether I am the right Master for you also (Master was very polite when saying this). Third, you are not supposed to tell any one about what I teach you, not even your family members." [Editor's note: This was before Master Li made Falun Gong public.]

I agreed with the three conditions and started to learn the practice of Falun Gong with Master.

In 1991, Master and his mother went to Thailand to visit relatives, and he stopped in Beijing on his way back to Changchun, his hometown. During Master's stay in Beijing, Li Jingchao's older brother Li Jingfeng introduced him to Master and he started to learn from Master. At that time, several other practitioners and I had already followed Master for more than a year. Starting on July 23, 1999, CCTV began broadcasting a program slandering and defaming Master. In the program, Li Jingchao claimed that he created the exercises with Master. Li Jingchao twisted the historical facts and betrayed his own conscience.

As a matter of fact, in early 1992, before Master made Falun Gong public, Master had criticized Li Jingchao because he tried to cure diseases with his Celestial Eye and he collected money for doing so. Back then, Li Jingchao had attachments to his Celestial Eye, and to acquiring money for curing diseases for others. He ignored Master's admonishments and moved further and further from Dafa, finally going against Dafa. This is a serious lesson for us.

Recently there has been a person in Beijing with the last name of Liu, who claims that he followed Master since he was nine years old, and that he could see with his Celestial Eye. Liu has spread his views among practitioners and has confused some practitioners. Liu has even asked for money from practitioners. The fact of the matter is, prior to 1990, Master never taught anyone the practice, and even his family members were not aware of the practice. I had followed Master from 1990 until he went abroad to spread Dafa, and I had never heard of such a person named Liu.

In 1992 when Master started to introduce Falun Gong to the public, it was a period when qigong was really popular in China. There were various different schools of qigong, and among them were also practices that involved spirit and animal possessions. At that time, people recognized a qigong practice by only two standards. One was whether the qigong practice could demonstrate some supernormal power, and the other was whether the practice could heal illnesses. At that time, the Qigong Institute also used these two standards to evaluate a qigong practice.

Master Li maintained a very firm position ever since he came out and started to introduce Falun Gong to the public. He transmitted Falun Gong only to save people, without putting on any performances. Dafa is serious and dignified, and should never be mixed with other types of qigong that are only for healing illnesses or that involve spirit or animal possession. Showing off supernatural powers was never used for attracting people to learn Falun Gong. It is just as Master said, "In being saved, only when you seek righteousness can your attachments be eliminated." ("Further Elimination of Attachments" from Falun Dafa Essentials for Further Advancement)

Therefore, Master chose to adjust people's bodies and to provide qigong consultation in order to help people understand Falun Gong. The earliest public appearance of Falun Gong was in June 1992, in the form of a large-scale qigong consultation. The consultation was in the assembly hall on the fifth floor of the building housing the Bureau of Building Materials, located at Ganjiakou Shopping Center in Beijing. The consultation continued for 10 days, and each day the consultations began in the morning and continued into the afternoon. These consultations achieved a very good effect. Whether it was a tumor or other growth, they all disappeared after the treatment. As verified by medical examination after treatment, endocrine disorders disappeared. A number of other physical problems, including protrusion of the lumbar or cervical vertebrae, were healed right away after the treatment, with x-ray examinations showing the problem completely healed. People with heart disease were very uncomfortable when they first came to be treated, but after the treatment, their pain was gone right away.

A practitioner, Mr. Tang, was at that time the volunteer in charge of the assistance center in Beijing. After Master treated his heart disease, he went to the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University for an x-ray, and the examination showed that his illness was healed. Everybody witnessed how miraculous Falun Gong was, and they all wanted to learn the practice. Then Master held the first Fa lecture class in Beijing. According to the recollections of some veteran practitioners who attended the class, there were about 200 people in the first class. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Mr. Tang was forced to take a stand on TV to defame Dafa, but we, as well as Mr. Tang, all know that it is Falun Dafa that gave him a second life.

3. The first time I ever experienced a teacher paying for his disciples' meals

Before, when I practiced other types of qigong, I had always seen that the disciples provided for their teachers. I had never, however, seen a teacher paying for his disciples' meals.

In 1991, after Master returned from his visit to Thailand, we went to the Jietai Temple in Beijing with Master. At lunchtime, we ate at a small roadside restaurant. We all tried to pay for the meals after we finished eating, but Master told us to stay put and he went to pay for the meals for all of us. This touched us deeply because we all knew that it had always been customary for the disciples to provide for their masters in other qigong practices. This was the first time we had seen a master paying for his disciples' meals. Over a dozen years have passed, but the scene from that moment still clearly leaps before my eyes.

4. During the years of following Master as He traveled spreading the Fa, we ate very frugally

During this early period, I followed Master as he traveled from place to place holding classes. During those years, Master ate only instant noodles when he traveled. When we arrived at the place for the class, Master usually did not eat dinner before teaching the evening class. After the class, when we returned to the boarding house, it was already 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. and the boarding house had stopped providing meals by that time. Master did not go out to eat in a restaurant. He always ate instant noodles and we also ate instant noodles with Master. For those few years, I ate instant noodles so much that I came to a point where I was really sick of eating them. I even felt uncomfortable when I smelled instant noodles. Sometimes we ate instant noodles that we had bought in bulk wholesale, and we would eat that for many days.

Master did not eat a lot and He ate fast. If there was any food left over, Master would pack it up and take it with Him. Master was very thrifty. Later, I found out another detail about Master. When eating with the practitioners accompanying Him, he always finished eating before the others and went to pay for all their meals.

5. In the hot summer, Master traveled on crowded public transportation

In July 1992, Master had just come to Beijing, and I went with Him on some errands. It was a hot day and I was thinking of hiring a taxi for comfort, but Master took a crowded public bus. I had to then quit talking about the taxi. I sweated profusely on the bus, but Master's thriftiness deeply moved me.

Some people have fabricated and spread rumors on television, saying that Master lived luxuriously. I do not know where such rumors came from and I do not know what kind of people they were who slandered and defamed my benevolent Master. I followed Master for many years, starting with Him two years before He introduced Dafa to the public. I now know that there is no limit to cultivation in Falun Dafa. When I think of the hardships Master suffered in those years to introduce Dafa to the people in order to save them, I cannot stop the tears from flowing.

6. "Listening calmly to people until they finish talking shows them respect"

When I first started to follow and assist Master as he taught Falun Gong publicly, I used to interrupt others in a conversation because my xinxing was not well developed and I was young and impulsive. Sometimes I forced my understandings and emotions onto others. On other occasions, because I was arrogant, I pretended to know everything. Master told me that listening calmly to people until they finish talking shows them respect. You also need to pay attention to what people are talking about. Use the Fa to measure it and see whether it agrees with Dafa. After carefully analyzing what they say, you can then patiently voice your opinion. You should try to listen more and speak less. Quietly listening to everything that a person wants to say and not being impulsive is a kind of politeness and self-cultivation.

I was deeply affected by Master's words. Over the past 10 years, I have often used these words to examine myself. When I noticed that fellow practitioners, especially the young male practitioners, were impatient and arbitrary, ignoring manners while contacting or talking with others, I would quietly tell them what Master had said to me. They all felt that it was a great benefit to hear these words.

In the class, except for teaching the Fa, Master rarely said much afterwards.

7. Every time Master saw off a disciple or a visitor, he always waited until he couldn't see the person any longer before returning to his room

Master is very dignified in his daily activities including walking, standing, sitting and laying down. He is easy to get along with and also has a warm and friendly personality. Even after so many years, I have never seen Master cross his legs or lean back when he sits on a sofa or a chair. Master shows great respect when talking with elderly students, and his tone of voice is very respectful. Every time he sees off practitioners or visitors, Master stands at the front door and waits for the visitors to disappear before he turns back to his room. This little detail has been rooted in my mind for so many years.

Master often held sessions for questions and answers during the Fa lectures. Master used the tenth class solely for answering students' questions. Students handed in many question slips every time. Even for questions that had already been answered many times before, there were still students who asked them again. There were always a lot of new students at various locations attending the class. Master said that he didn't want to repeat answers for some questions in order to save time, but students still raised similar questions again. When it happened, Master would patiently address the questions. Especially the newcomers from different places always asked similar and very basic questions. Sometimes the senior students became impatient, but for several years in different locations Master saw so many students, and he always patiently answered their questions as clearly and as detailed as possible.

Sometimes, in certain circumstances, I almost lost my temper. For example, newcomers always wanted me to correct their exercise postures. When the same thing happened again and again, after a while I became rather impatient. But when I remembered Master's patience, my own complaints disappeared immediately. Someone said that you won't learn new things when you meet with new students, so you always want to be with senior students who have cultivated to a higher level. In fact, this is not true. A true cultivator can improve under all circumstances. It is all reflected in the progress of one's cultivation when one interacts with new students and has to show patience, be kind-hearted and reduce one's attachment to self. For example, today as we clarify the truth, validate the Fa and save sentient beings, we have to face the evil's interference when explaining the facts to deeply brainwashed and poisoned people. When we face the misunderstandings people have, the ability to control one's emotions and to be kind and tolerant all manifest when a true cultivator breaks through the self and makes rapid improvements.

Master said,

"Compassion comes from a person's cultivation, and it's not something that's acted out; it comes from deep inside, and it's not something done to show others. It's something that exists eternally, and it doesn't change with the passage of time or changes in circumstances." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference")

Every time I read this paragraph of the Fa, I recall how touched I was by Master's compassion and patience when He was teaching the Fa and guiding disciples in those early years.

In 1993, a person from the Qigong Institute invited Master to his hometown of Liaocheng City in Shandong Province to hold a class. He claimed that he wanted to introduce a good practice to the people in his hometown, but in fact, his real purpose was to make money together with the local qigong association. When the class was over, according to the contract that was the same for the classes Master held in many places, Master only took 30-40%, whereas the local organizer got 60-70% of the fees collected. Master taught his class for a very low price. In fact, at that time Falun Gong charged the least of all the other qigong classes. A ticket was 40 yuan and veteran students got in for half price, 20 yuan, so there were many veteran students every time Master held a new class. Every time a class was held, there was hardly a cent left after paying the auditorium rental, food and hotel fees.

After the class was over, the organizer of the local qigong association in Shandong complained that Master has set the ticket price too low. When one of them took Master to Jinan Train Station in a car, she complained to Master continuously for more than an hour.

I sat in the backseat and listened. At first I tried to keep quiet. Eventually, I could not hold my temper any longer. Because I could no longer tolerate her slandering Master like that, I shouted out, "You shut up. If you keep this up, we don't need you to take us to the station. We will get out of the car and go there by ourselves." Master turned around and glanced at me. He didn't say a word. But I could tell that he had found fault with me and indicated that I should do no more talking and just sit there quietly. The power of Master's appearance of mercy and seriousness immediately calmed my aggravated emotions. That lady seemed to be controlled by this power as well and didn't say anything more after a few more words. After this incident, Master didn't explain anything. During this whole process, Master didn't say a single word. However, all of us who were present, including the organizer, realized our mistakes and shortcomings.

My own understanding is that "going beyond the limits of Forbearance" is taught to the enlightened side of Dafa practitioners in order for them to eliminate the evil and rectify the Fa. It is not meant for us to indulge those attachments that we have not yet removed from our human side. In fact, we need to restrain our human side well and cultivate our xinxing at all times. Our enlightened side will then be able to fully exert supernormal power and not be hindered by the human side. By then, divine power will manifest and participate in the Fa-rectification and eliminate the evil forces.

10. A glance from Master was like a mirror, revealing all my bad thoughts

In 1994, Master held a Falun Dafa lecture in Zhenzhou. The number of attendees was much more than had been expected, and the auditorium rented by the local host was in bad condition. The bricks in the benches were exposed, and there were windows without glass. I was worried, and approached the local host asking to change the meeting site and the sound equipment. During the conversation, I failed to preserve my xinxing and lost my temper.

Master asked me to come over to Him. I had been with Master ever since I had obtained the Fa, and this was the first time that Master talked to me without a smile. Before Master even spoke, my legs were shaking and I felt Master's commanding presence. A glance from Master was like a shining mirror, and all my thoughts were revealed. I began to examine the issues that I hadn't understood in the past. There were no words that could describe Master's might and dignity.

Twenty minutes after I lost my temper with the organizer, I lost my voice. I felt fine when I went to the stage to teach the exercises, but felt awful after I came back down. It lasted for four or five days.

In the summer of 1993, I followed Master to Wuhan, where He gave lectures. During the day Master and I went to visit the Guiyuan Temple in Hankou. With one palm erected in front of his chest, Master stood solemnly in front of the statue of Sakyamuni. I stood behind Master to the right, also with one palm in front of my chest (I should have pressed my palms together in front of my chest in the Heshi gesture). In front of the Buddha statue, my imagination ran away from me, and I thought, "Sakyamuni is only a Tathagata. The higher Buddha looks at a Tathagata like he is an everyday person, and my level is higher." Without noticing it, the hand in front of my chest slid down. While I was giving free rein to my imagination with my eyes closed slightly, Master suddenly turned towards me and stared at my eyes for more than ten seconds without saying a word. I was so frightened that I broke out in a cold sweat and suddenly understood.

I had thought I was a college student after just glancing at a college textbook. My swollen ego had led to demons breeding in my own mind, but I couldn't recognize it at the time. Some veteran practitioners had fallen into this exact same trap and eventually even refused to acknowledge Master. The lesson was grave.

12. The truth about the accusation, "No help is offered in life-threatening situations"

Before each lecture, Master would tell the host from the local qigong association that "persons with critical illnesses" should not be admitted. In the lectures, Master would also say that we were not there to cure diseases. If anyone did come to have his diseases cured, we would return his entry fee even if he had already registered. The host of the local qigong associations often did not honor this request since they wanted to make money.

In 1994, in a lecture with 4,000 participants in Harbin, a few people from Jinzhou carried an overweight man into the stadium. This person was absent minded and had totally lost the ability to move around. His family members carried him in and out before and after each class. He was carried into the class even when he could not raise his head and had to lie down to "listen" to the class. During the classes, Master repeatedly requested that patients in critical condition leave the stadium and made it clear that "the lecture is not to cure diseases." They didn't listen.

One afternoon the man died in his hotel room. His family members carried the body to the outside of the auditorium and requested that Master save him. Master was lecturing at the time. A staff member talked to Master briefly and Master went outside quickly and didn't return for a while. When he came back, Master told us that the man had died a few days before. It would have been possible to save him if he was still alive, but now he was dead.

The man's family members began to accuse Master of not offering to help when a person's life was at stake. A few "practitioners" also blamed Master, and one of them said, "I won't practice anymore," and threw the Falun badge to the ground. Master told him, "You do not meet the standard." Later Master said, "This individual was controlled by something. I would feel sorry if he was a genuine practitioner."

3. 
   
   Каталог: emh -> download -> publications
   publications -> Introduction
   
   
   
   tải về 391.86 Kb.
   
   Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn: