(Clearwisdom.net)
I often say that this is the happiest time in my life. That is because I am very fortunate to be a Falun Dafa practitioner. Over the past few years, I have continuously improved in Dafa.
Family members changed from fearful to supportive
I first heard about Falun Dafa in July of 1998, when my sister asked me to practice with her. I refused, since I believed in nothing except money. Later my employer asked many employees, including me, to take an early retirement. It wasn't until then that I thought to practice Falun Dafa. Because I still had not changed and did not want to spend money, at the beginning I borrowed the book Zhuan Falun from other people. Through studying the Fa, I came to understand the purpose of life. I bought the book and decided to continue to practice. After I started to act according to the principles defined in the books, my physical health improved greatly. I no longer get tired, and I feel as though my character has also improved.
Before beginning the practice, I did not get along well with my two daughters-in-law. After I started to practice, I finally began to realize how to do it. Just like Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
"We need to always have a compassionate heart and calm mind. Then when you suddenly run into some problem you'll be able to handle it well. If your mind is always that peaceful and compassionate, when problems suddenly come up, you'll usually have a buffer and room to think it over. But if your mind is always thinking about disagreeing with other people, fighting over this, over that, then I'd say once you run into a problem you'll start fighting. I guarantee it."
When I encountered my daughters-in-law again, I was very kind to them. No matter what attitudes they had, I was always considerate to them and acted on everything with compassion. When they needed help, I tried my best to help. One day, two days, three days passed, where I cultivated myself using Dafa's requirements. In Zhuan Falun, Teacher said,
"When you have a run-in with somebody, or have a lot of friction with someone, it could even be worse than that pain. I'd say that bodily pain is the easiest to bear--you just grit your teeth and it's over. But when people are scheming against each other, that's when it's hardest to control your mind."
My sons run a restaurant and sometimes asked me to help them. Although I tried my best to improve and help all of my sons and daughters-in-law, still they were sometimes unsatisfied for no reason. After returning home, I studied the Fa and found, just like Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
"In cultivation, when you're really having trouble with somebody, or when other people treat you badly, it could be one of two scenarios. One is that you might have mistreated them in your previous life. You feel wronged, 'Why are they treating me like that?' Well, why did you treat them like that before? You say, 'I don't know anything about back then. This lifetime has nothing to do with that lifetime.' But it doesn't work like that. There's another scenario. When you're clashing with somebody, there's the issue of transforming karma involved, so when we're handling each of them we should be very forgiving, and we shouldn't act like ordinary people. At work there's interaction with other people, and the same goes for other environments where you do work or if you're self-employed."
In this way, during these conflicts I continued to cultivate myself according to Dafa's requirements.
When I did better and better, the relationship between my daughters-in-law and me improved. My son said that, from the changes in me, he could tell that Falun Dafa is good. They never interfere when I clarify the truth to the restaurant customers. A poster with the words "Falun Dafa is good" was also placed on the giant mirror in the restaurant. Through my cultivation, my whole family became peaceful and happy. When I introduced Dafa to other people, I also told them that when one person cultivated, the entire family would benefit. Through my righteous thoughts and righteous actions, my family members started to change, from being fearful to being supportive.
Take the opportunities to clarify the truth
In 2002, I once found 50 yuan in the shopping market, so I called aloud, "Anyone lost any money?" Just then someone answered that the person who lost it may have already left and suggested that I keep the money. I said, "No, I will not do that. I am a Falun Gong practitioner." Another person said, "The government does not allow it. How do you dare still practice?" I said, "Falun Dafa teaches people to become better persons and not greedy; isn't this good? My Teacher tells us to be a good person with high moral standards and be considerate of others. How can this not be good?" There were many people in the market listening to our conversation. Later, someone came back to look for the money she had lost. When I found and returned the money to her, someone who had heard our conversation mentioned to her, "You should also practice Falun Dafa as I can see it is very good and those who practice it have a noticeably high moral standard."
Teacher is always by my side
After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, I thought that it was my responsibility as a practitioner to speak out on behalf of Teacher's innocence and the innocence of Falun Dafa. So I planned to go to Beijing to appeal, but all the channels used to get to appeal were blocked. Eight practitioners from different provinces, including myself, decided to validate the Fa at Tiananmen Square. Before going I said, "We will go there open and aboveboard, and we will return open and aboveboard." From different directions, we arrived at Tiananmen Square and gathered at the place where the flag was raised. We did the second exercise together and held the Law Wheel. After being arrested, I was able to escape using wisdom and righteous thoughts. I realized that Teacher is always by our side. As long as we have righteous thoughts and righteous actions, Teacher can do anything for us.
Another time we planned to prepare some banners during the daytime and hang them up at night. When it was time to hang them up, the other practitioner who was supposed to do this with me failed to show up. So I left a note for him by my door. Right after I left, my husband came home, although normally he would not come home during working hours. Right after he took down the note that I had left--the one with the practitioner's name on it--a group of policemen showed up to arrest me. All this happened within a few minutes. As a result, neither that practitioner nor myself ended up in trouble. Afterwards we continued to hang up banners all along the major roads and small streets.
There have been many other situations like that. Over the past several years during my cultivation in Dafa and under Teacher's care, I have let go of many attachments. I have changed from a selfish person to a selfless practitioner. It didn't matter if it was windy, raining, or snowing, or if the nights were dark and shadowy, we distributed truth-clarification materials everywhere as we recited Teacher's poems in Hong Yin.
As a practitioner explains to the Political Director, they are both in tears
In March 2002 (a so-called "sensitive period" because the National People's Congress was in session at that time), the Political Director of a local police station arrested a fellow practitioner and me as we were distributing truth-clarification materials during the daytime. The fellow practitioner was not afraid and mentioned that I should leave before the police came. I thought to myself that I could not just leave my fellow practitioner stranded there. Furthermore, aren't two practitioners more powerful than one? So we stayed to clarify the truth to him. The other practitioner said, "We are already very old, and we can enjoy a happy life at home. Why do we take such risks to distribute these flyers? Isn't it for your own good?"
As the discussion continued, the other practitioner was in tears and the Political Director was also in tears. He said, "We also know you are good people, but I can do nothing about it. I am responsible for this area. Normally there are two officers on patrol together. This would have been a little difficult to handle if that officer was also here today. Please be careful. You are free now."
As I look back over these past several years, there are many things to write down from my cultivation experiences. Considering the difficulties that practitioners with access to the Internet encounter, I only wrote down some of the major ones.