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Franklin
We started practicing last February. From the 60’s to the 80’s we were in the Gurdjieff Work and we sought to experience “I” and awake from sleep as the Great Masters such as Christ endeavored to teach. We never awoke in the way we had hoped so, disappointed, we resigned from that group. The next 20 years we went from this to that searching for answers. Last February there was a small Qigong seminar given at our local health food co-op. At the end when speaking of practice sites the presenter said, “Who would want to be at Lake Ella at 5:30 in the morning and spend 2 hours practicing so you could feel dripping with energy at the end of it?” We looked at each other as if to say, “That sounds good to us!” A few months before Franklin bookmarked the Falun Dafa web site, but had not looked at it. So he went to the web site and looked around. He downloaded Zhuan Falun, third English edition, and we both read on page 5, “One should return to one’s original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human.” Our reaction was, “Oh! This is what we have been looking for!” We found the assistant for Tallahassee. Two days later Liejun Zhong met us at the practice site to teach us the exercises. At the end we were shaking with cold and went home to have our first small tribulation. Expecting a nice warm bath, we found the hot water heater was not working. A few days after learning and practicing the exercises we went to Colorado to take a healing course. On the way Franklin developed the worst headache he had ever experienced. Louise got a very bad toothache. We hadn’t enlightened to principle of purification. So Franklin received a Jin Shin Jyutsu treatment and his headache went away. But Louise’s toothache persisted despite homeopathic, herbal, and JSJ treatment. She could hardly eat anything but soup for four days. The fifth day two people were giving Louise a treatment and the toothache went away despite the fact that the treatment was for something else. Later the toothache came back, but she didn’t take anything and it went away by itself. At that time we had not enlightened to what Master Li said in Zhuan Falun, page 299, “One issue that should be clarified is that average qigong treatments and hospital treatments only defer to the remaining half of life or later those tribulations that are the fundamental cause of illnesses. The karma is not removed at all.” Two months after we started practicing whenever Louise was in the Strengthening Pillar-Shaped Divine Powers position of the fifth exercise with her left arm up, that arm would shake. That continued for several weeks. She was unable to raise that arm when she had Lyme disease 10 years ago. Following her episode of Lyme disease the tip of her left index was numb. After the shaking stopped she noticed the tip of the left index finger was normal again. After practicing for four months Franklin read in the 1997 New York Falun Dafa Conference the following: “Question: Teacher, what is the ultimate effect between single-crossing and double-crossing when practicing the movement.” Master Li responded: “There is a basic mechanism for cultivation, a mechanism on the inside. The double-crossing mechanism of the exercise of ours is just like a machine. The gears of the machine are supposed to be installed this way, yet you insist on installing it that way. Nothing will be produced as a result...You should do your best to catch up.” So Franklin thought he should catch up sooner than later. The next day he began double crossing his legs. In retrospect Franklin was not certain if his karma wished to be eliminated so quickly. A somewhat larger tribulation followed. At the beginning of July the bank which manages a trust from which we receive income said that they had not looked at the account for various reasons, and that we now owed the bank $12,000. Therefore, we would receive no income until the deficit was paid. Further, the subsequent income would be reduced substantially. At that time this was our primary source of income. Louise spoke with a representative of the bank, trying very hard to exercise Ren and find thanks from the very bottom of her heart. It was very surprising to find out that the bank felt the whole problem was really caused by us and they were the victims. That may be true, because as practitioners we needed more tribulations. Master Li said in Zhuan Falun, page 154, “Thus, when you encounter a conflict, I would say that it is to transform your black substance into the white substance, DE.” Later in July we went to the Washington D.C. Experience
Sharing Conference. The Chinese’s dedication was most impressive
and heart warming. They held up banners for hours in front of the
Chinese Consulate. During the first day we were there we exercised
in front of the Lincoln Memorial. At one point the assistant told
us to turn around and face the Sun. Following that Franklin was bright
red on top of his head and face. Back at the hotel he put Calendula
ointment on the burned areas. He spoke with an experienced practitioner
at dinner who pointed out that this was another test. So he took
off as much ointment as possible. Before that he had a very dry,
scaly forehead from using too much soap to correct an oily forehead he
had in his youth. When the sunburn healed his forehead became normal
and precancerous lesions on his face diminished greatly. During the
conference a practitioner related his experience during the fifth exercise.
He had an impression of karma kicking and screaming for him to stop the
exercise. He saw the live, black karma gradually approaching a grate.
The karma went through. On the other side it turned white into de,
initially puzzled with the transformation. Hearing this experience
helped Louise’s attitude toward karma to be more like a strict parent so,
for the first time she could sit double-crossed for the whole hour.
Franklin did likewise at the next practice at Lake Ella. Following
this conference we enlightened to the fact that we are practitioners and
therefore do not need vitamin supplements. We stopped taking all
our vitamins.
As a result of the banking tribulation Franklin worked on an Indian reservation for a month as an allopathic physician. He had not worked as an allopath for many years and was challenged by the quantity of prescriptions he had to write. He was also tested by working under other physicians. It was a good challenge to maintain his xinxing. Meanwhile Louise traveled with Liejun to New York City to participate in experience sharing and a parade to the United Nations to protest Jiang Zemin’s persecution of Falun Dafa. (Jiang Zemin was in New York at the time.) The organization and peacefulness of so many practitioners (who have no organization) gave an impression beyond words. In addition to the above we have marched in the Taiwan Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. carrying the Falun Dafa banner, been polishing articles for Clear Wisdom, and were instrumental in obtaining a Proclamation in Tallahassee recognizing Falun Dafa and Master Li earlier this month. Master Li said in his Lecture at the Great Lakes Conference in North America, “Whether you're in China or outside of China, how you perform is the same; there's just the same difference in whether you step forward or aren't able to step forward, and how much effort you give to this matter of Fa-rectification.” May we continue to do more for Dafa during this time of Fa-Rectification. We both feel a mysterious dropping away of attachments
which seems effortless. Reading Master Li’s works and practicing
the exercises have changed us to the core of our being. We are eternally
grateful to Master Li and his disciples. And to Liejun Zhong for
pushing us when we needed it.
Two Particles of Dafa
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