I practice the spiritual practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa. For the past 12 years, I have learnt to understand the importance of being a decent human being & what it means to be hard working, honest, kind & tolerant.
The emphasis of Dafa for me, is to improve ones heart & mind. To look at how one is in respect to behaviour & how you treat others. Falun Gong has 3 guiding principles, zhen, shan, ren or truthfulness, benevolence & forbearance . These 3 characters give me something by which to measure, by way of interacting with others. If I mistreat someone or get a little hot under the collar, I can either restrain myself or perhaps a little later, realise I was not holding myself to higher standards, to zhen Shan ren. So for me & others, it is a constant realising & improving ones character. The teachings of Dafa have given me insight into life. The teachings I feel are better suited to my character.
I’ve read other spiritual books but I always only got so far with them, I felt I always needed more. For many years in my life, I wondered what life was really about. I went down many paths, some wrong turns also along the way. Yet I look back & can, with full honesty, see there was a pattern to each happening along the way. Each step was a stepping stone bringing me up in understanding, opening my mind. So when I finally found the book of Dafa , Zhuan Falun (Turning the Law Wheel) I knew this was for me.
Within the teachings it reveals many insights & all the connections one has been through up to this day. It really understands the person reading it, reassuring you you are on the right path & all that you have been through has reason, my life started right then.
Falun Gong is regarded as a cultivation practice for both mind & body. The cultivation part is the teachings, placing emphasis upon the heart & mind. Placing self restraint upon our actions through the cosmic qualities of zhen Shan ren.
The practice side is of the body, with 5 gentle & easy going exercises, including meditation. At first glance they look a little like tai chi. So combined together, it becomes a cultivation & practice for mind & body.
The ancient people of China, believed the health of the body was dictated by the health of the mind. They saw life to be very inter connected to each living thing. They believed life had a cause & effect or for every action a reaction. So doing good meant good returns & doing evil meant some form of retribution. Dafa also teaches such principles. From my own experiences, once a person realises he truly does reap what he sows, one starts to change their perspective on life within themselves & their surroundings, you could say we learn to govern ourselves.
In China alone, 100 million were said to be practicing Dafa. Morality was on the upsurge. People were saving the government money in medical bills as their health was improving. Students were becoming grade A level in class & people helped improve the financial situation at their place of work, because people began to work harder, did not steal nor compete or fight with others. Dafa was improving China no end.
Unfortunately the Chinese Communist Party could not contain their envy at one such group being more popular than their communist regime. So in 1999 a suppression & crackdown occurred whereby the practice became banned & enemy no. 1 of the state. For 15 years practitioners have been intimidated, illegally imprisoned, tortured, murdered & organs harvested whilst in prison. It is truly sad that their own government decided to make Dafa their enemy. Below are 3 links. They will help to introduce you to the beauty of Falun Gong. The classes are all taught free of charge & all reading material is free to download. Also a site about the persecution & another, a petition to help end organ harvesting to prisoners of conscience.
www.falundaf.org (the teachings)
www.faluninfo.net ( the persecution)
www.dafoh.org ( the petition )
Author: Tony Langstone
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