Self-cultivation
Sometime in l998, my husband came home with a book given to him by somebody in a park. It was China Falun Gong, the English version. I had never heard of Falun Gong at that time. I browsed through the book and told myself, I wanted to learn it. But the book was left unread for almost one year on a bookshelf, until one day, in April 1999, a sudden backache struck me. I thought about Falun Gong and went to attend the 9-day video session, with the hope that Falun Gong would get rid of my back pain. To my amazement, the pain disappeared on the second day of the session.
Thus began my wonderful journey as a Dafa practitioner in May 1999. In the beginning, several life-threatening tests were offered to me in order to get rid of some attachments and also to strengthen my belief in Dafa. I soon became enlightened to the fact that my cultivation path should not be filled with suffering and hardships because Master has taken care of most of my karma. Before I practiced, I had two occasions where I was near death. After I encountered Dafa, I knew that it was Master, who had taken care of me. All these tests are merely to get rid of my attachments. As Master said in Dalian Lecture: "Things that are merely for paying karma are very few, mostly they are there to eliminate your attachments". With the law of "No loss, no gain", the evils can take advantage of any loopholes I have when I am not in harmony with the universal principle of Zhen, Shan, Ren.
Fa-rectification cultivation
When the Chinese government started interfering with Dafa in July 1999, I wanted to practice in private for a while. I realized that this was a selfish attachment. One night in my sleep, Master showed up and told me that I should be diligent. His voice was so loud that it shook me up from my sleep. At that instant, I knew that I should step out to safeguard Dafa. I realized the importance of participating in Dafa activities. Within my time and financial capabilities, I attended most of the Fahui that were being held throughout the nations. I treasure the time given to me by Master to participate in this Fa rectification process in the human world. Later in my cultivation, I got an opportunity to go to Tiananmen Square and validate the Fa.
In November 2001, I was at the square and able to take a group picture of the western practitioners without being noticed. I was grateful to be given such an opportunity. But, somehow after all of them had been rounded up, I must admit that I was scared when I walked away from the square. In the taxi, I emptied my camera by taking blank shots out of the taxi window. After returning to the U.S., I realized that my fear was unnecessary because, in each of the blank shots was a white dome-shape thing clearly captured in the sky. I know that if I had had more faith in Dafa I would not have harbored such fear.
I went to Tiananmen again February 14, this time with very righteous thoughts. There were so many tourists mixed with plain-clothes police, security officers and police vans at the square on that day. Not long after I walked onto the square, I noticed that I had been followed by several plain-clothes police and one of them was staring at me three meters away. I immediately realized that I had a different mission this time. I hid behind a group of tourists and removed my hidden camera equipment. I came here to validate Dafa so I had to do something. On the spur of the moment, my heart was filled with excitement, I wanted to shout out "Falun Dafa Hao", but I realized that it would last less than a minute, and only a handful of people would be able to hear it. I did not want to be detained because Dafa practitioners do not belong inside their detention center. Suddenly an idea came to me: I could let more people in the square hear Falun Dafa Hao without being arrested. I walked to groups of tourists and said to them "Falun Dafa Hao." I went from one group to another. I also helped tourists take their group pictures and when they thanked me, I replied with "Falun Dafa Hao." The tourists were caught by surprise, and most were in awe. This lasted for about half an hour. But as I approached yet another group of tourists, a policeman stopped me and asked:
- "Do you think Falun Gong is good?"
- With a smile, I said: "You are being ridiculous. There are so many people in the square, go and ask them instead because I am not going to give you an answer. Are you suspecting me?"
- "Of course not", he said. He then asked if I knew about Falun Gong.
- I said: "The whole world knows about Falun Gong, so you don't need to ask me this question. You have heard the Caucasian just shout out Falun Dafa Hao, so you know already that Falun Gong is good.
- He then asked me to go with him, but I refused. I showed him my passport. Another elderly policeman joined in and searched my handbag. After that, I asked them to give back my passport, then I shook their hands and thanked them and walked away.
Throughout all this, I was very calm. I knew that I was being protected and the evils simply could not touch me because I was doing the most righteous and noble act in the universe. Before I boarded the airplane the next day, I sat in the airline lounge, meditated for half an hour and sent forth righteous thoughts twice. I thought about the practitioners in China, how much suffering they have to go through, and I thought about all the Chinese people that are hostile to Dafa just because they have been deceived. Upon my return, I reaffirmed my vows to Master that I will continue to validate the Fa.
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A North America Practitioner
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Category: Standing Up for Falun Dafa
