(Minghui.org) I read a sharing article recently which mentioned that some elderly practitioners are gradually developing signs of aging as they get older, such as farsightedness, deafness, tooth loss, and more. I would like to share some personal cultivation experiences in my last 20-odd years on this matter.
My Eyes
I am 75 this year, and I started Falun Dafa cultivation in 1998. Before then, I suffered from various ailments. I was terribly farsighted and needed to wear 200-degree reading glasses. Soon after I began to practice Falun Dafa, all my health problems disappeared, but my presbyopia remained the same.
I was teaching at a university at the time, and I always had my glasses on in case I could not read small symbols clearly or made any mistakes. From time to time, I would lose my glasses (in fact, Master was dropping me a hint), but I never dared to not wear glasses. It wouldn’t be until after I retired that I felt I didn’t need to wear glasses anymore.
Once, I thought I would need my glasses, but I could not find either pair I owned. Yet I found I had no problem reading fine characters, as if I had returned to my younger years. I put my hands together in front of Master’s portrait, thinking: Master, I have been so dumb!
After this, however, there were still a few times where my vision became farsighted again and I found it hard to read books. According to everyday people’s logic it was normal because people become farsighted in old age. However, I’m a Dafa practitioner, and our bodies are supposed to experience rejuvenation. How could we actually be farsighted?
I was fully aware that I grew up under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture and I even served as a Party secretary for many years. As a result, I read many books on CCP ideology. I also promoted the CCP’s ideological propaganda heavily. So, I realized that I must thoroughly clear out all these bad elements in my mind.
At the same time, I dug deeply and found many bad desires and attachments hidden within. One night, I saw myself clearly in a dream. I was like a teenage girl, so beautiful and young, with a very fine complexion.
In retrospect, each time I regained normal vision after I experienced farsightedness was when I looked within according to Master’s teachings and solidly cultivated myself.
I am doing some part-time work at the moment. In my spare time, I also do cross-stitch embroideries, which provides me with good opportunities to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa to people around me. The effect has been quite good.
People often ask me: “You’re in your 70s, but have such good eyesight. Tell us what good stuff you’re eating to be in such good form.” I then tell them how I have benefited from practicing Dafa, and they always listen attentively.
My Ears
In recent years, I experienced deafness a couple of times. One day, I found my right ear had a problem because I could not hear anything when I put my phone to it. But there was no problem with my left ear.
I thought it must be karma cleansing, so I started looking within. However, I could not find the root cause, so the symptoms lasted for quite some time. Later, I found that both my ears had trouble hearing what people were saying to me, and I had to move closer and asked them to repeat themselves a few times before I could hear.
I became really worried that I had become deaf. Then, I thought: I’m a Dafa practitioner and I have Master to look after me. All these arrangements by the old forces should not have any effect on me, and all the evil rotten demons in my body must be completely destroyed.
I started to look within at the same time and found quite a few hidden attachments. For example, when I heard different opinions or things not agreeable with own views, I would feel a bit angry inside even though I didn’t say anything; I always felt I was quite capable and very good at handling things, so I always enjoyed hearing flattering complements and liked to make friends with people who looked up to me. Once, a respected senior professor praised me and called me a “very talented lady.” I always remembered him and what he said. When I won awards for my teaching and research work, I would remember them for the rest of my life.
Even now, the stubborn attachment to fame still tries to affect me from time to time, and each time it tries to interfere with me, I eliminate it, thinking: You’re not me. I don’t want you!
I have firm faith in Master and I am confident that I will be able to completely remove this stubborn attachment to fame through cultivation.
In the xinxing cultivation process, many of my other bad desires and attachments were also eliminated one by one. A few months later, my hearing returned to normal.
My Teeth
It is very convenient for me to access dental care, and my teeth have suffered a number of problems. First, a molar on the right side ached badly, and I had it fixed with a crown like what people would normally do. Not long after, a molar on the left started to hurt, and as usual, I underwent a similar procedure, which took quite some time.
One day, a friend of mine suddenly asked me, “How come your teeth have turned dark brown?” I looked at my teeth in the mirror and was shocked to see that four of my front teeth at the bottom had indeed turned brown.
I realized that I am a Dafa cultivator, and I shouldn’t always fall back to everyday people’s way of doing things. This indicated poor enlightenment quality on my part.
There was one other molar, which was also very painful and became so wobbly that it felt like it could fall out at any time. Dentists all told me to have it removed. But I didn’t want to do so. Every particle of this molar had cultivated with me for 20-odd years in Dafa. I thought, how could I dump it so casually like this?
So I started to talk to the molar: I won’t remove you. I’ll take you with me to walk the entire path arranged by Master.
At the same time, I started searching within for loopholes in my cultivation. I found that I had not paid enough attention to speech cultivation in daily life, and oftentimes, I would say whatever I felt like saying, which often showed my attachment to showing off, my competitive mentality, my jealousy, and so on. I was especially careless when talking to my family members and good friends. In terms of food, I paid much attention to color, flavor, and taste, and was pretty picky as to what I ate.
When I realized these attachments, I began to let go of them according to Master’s teachings. A few months later, the teeth that had turned dark brown returned to normal and the painful molar had also stopped hurting. To date, I haven’t lost any teeth and my dentists could not explain this “impossibility.”
I now feel deeply that as a Dafa practitioner, when we pull through tests, either big or small, we must never fall back to everyday people’s way of doing things, but instead walk the path arranged by Master. As long as we follow the Fa principles in our conduct and always look within and improve our xinxing, we will be able to overcome the hurdles no matter how hard or painful they may be.
It’s just as Master said in Zhuan Falun,
““When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” In fact, that is how it is. Why don’t you give it a try when you return home? When you are overcoming a real hardship or tribulation, you try it. When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find, “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!”” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I don’t feel any signs of aging anymore; I only feel healthy and at peace. I still do things very fast and neatly, and full of energy. Everyone around me says that I have not changed much at all over the years. This is what Falun Dafa has given me, and the result of Master’s protection all these years.
Thank you, Master!
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Category: Improving Oneself
