(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Revered Teacher! Greetings, Fellow Practitioners!

I obtained the Fa in 1994 and am 63 years old. During my cultivation in the past dozen years, from the personal cultivation period through the Fa-rectification period, I have learned that our environments can change if we study the Fa well and do well ourselves in our cultivation. Now I'd like to share my understanding with every one of my fellow practitioners.

Teacher said,

"A person who truly cultivates will gain things naturally without pursuing them. All of the Gong and Fa lie in the book, and one will naturally obtain them by reading Dafa. Those who learn it will change automatically" (Essentials for Further Advancement - "Seeking Discipleship with Teacher")

I have learned quite a lot from this teaching. Shortly after I started studying the Fa, I got rid of my glasses ¡V wearing glasses was hereditary in my family. Then after I studied Dafa more, all of my illnesses were gone. After more study, my character changed without notice. That was a real change deep in my soul. I was amazed by the miraculousness of Dafa and felt extremely lucky that I have obtained the most precious thing in life. I had only unparalleled happiness and no pain or worries.

I understand the preciousness of Dafa. Therefore, in the past dozen years, in hot summer or cold winter, I would never skip a single day of Fa study and exercise. Whatever Teacher said, I would just follow it, regardless of whether I had enlightened to or understood it. Teacher told us to spend more time on Fa study, so I keep studying the Fa. I read Zhuan Falun seven or eight hundred times before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecuted Falun Gong. Now I have read Zhuan Falun over one thousand times. I copied the book eight times. I can recite the book from the First Lecture to the Eighth Lecture (to avoid forgetting it, I keep reciting the previous lecture when remembering the next lecture). I can also recite all Teacher's articles. The wonderfulness of melting into the Fa and changes in physical body and soul after reading and reciting the books cannot be described by any words. Now looking back, because in any circumstance I always firmly believe in Teacher and Dafa, I am able to smoothly walk out from the CCP's overwhelming lies and persecution, reject the old force arrangements and obtain a relatively free cultivation environment. I rarely face interference and can quickly overcome it when it arises. All of these are coming from Dafa. To this day, I still recite the book and study the Fa every day.

Before I obtained the Fa, I was a government official and took an early retirement due to my illnesses. I was impetuous, competitive and had a strong attachment to fame and money. I felt that I was superior to others, including my husband, so I did not get along well with others. After I obtained the Fa, I focused on studying the Fa well and cultivating myself, trying to treat people and things around me with compassion. My surroundings changed gradually. My daughter-in-law tells everyone, "My mother-in-law changed completely after she began to practice Falun Gong." My ex-son-in-law, who divorced my daughter many years ago, often tells others proudly, "I have a mother-in-law who practices Falun Gong. Whoever bad-mouthes Falun Gong is telling a lie. She is living testimony to the wonderfulness of Falun Gong." Relatives, friends and colleagues all say that I have changed in my body, in my character and in my soul. My husband is a direct beneficiary. I was previously controlling at home, but now I listen to him, so he keeps telling other people "Falun Dafa is good."

All these are the harmonization I obtained after following Teacher's lectures. They are the result of the mighty power of Dafa because "only the energy field from cultivating a true teaching can have this effect." (Zhuan Falun) My significant change after I studied the Fa validates the wonderfulness and miraculousness of Dafa. I use my words and actions to plant the wonderfulness of Dafa in other people's hearts. Therefore, from the time before the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong began to the time after, people around me don't say bad words about Dafa. Instead, they understand, support and help me in my cultivation and Fa validation. Once police tried to abduct me. My neighbors who lived above and below us saved my computer equipment and Dafa materials and passed messages for me. The people assigned to monitor Falun Gong practitioners in our residential complex give me advice, speak for me to my employer and get back my withheld salaries. When it is a "sensitive date," they remind me to watch out for my safety.

During the most evil days, several of my relatives not only helped me save many Dafa truth-clarification materials, but they also gave materials to their friends and colleagues to help them understand the truth. My husband, daughter and sister did not cooperate with the police when they disturbed me. They even exposed the police's evildoing in front of them.

Having understood the truth, most of my relatives clarify the truth to the people around them. Not only did they quit the CCP and its associated organizations, but they also helped others to quit. Once my daughter-in-law brought me a list of a dozen people who had quit the CCP.

I realized that this was the effect of the righteous energy field of Dafa practitioners when they are assisting Teacher to rectify the Fa in the human world. Here are some examples:

My changes along the path of my cultivation bring the biggest changes and benefits to my husband. Our children often say that my husband and I were very fortunate in our old age and that they have benefited as well. My husband's severe illness that had bothered him for over forty years disappeared without medical treatment after I began practicing Dafa. He was able to get rid of his bad habits of gambling, fishing and smoking, which I failed to force him to give up previously. From then on, he told everyone about the changes in me and the benefits that came to him after I started practicing Falun Dafa.

On the most evil days, managers of his company asked him to persuade me to write statements promising not to practice Falun Gong any more and threatened to deprive him of his salary. He answered, "I can only tell you the truth, that is Falun Dafa is good. My entire family benefits from it." He said the same thing when facing police.

Because I often purposely give him or read truth-clarification materials and Minghui Weekly to him, gradually he started to clarify the truth to other people. Now he has obtained the Fa for a year. Not only did he quit the CCP, but he also helped a lot of other people quit the CCP.

During the most evil days, he often helped and protected the practitioners who were forced to leave their homes by offering our home for them to stay. He helped me to pass out Dafa materials. To protect me, he bought many legal and regulation books. He said, "You are studying the Buddha Fa and I am studying the human law. Preparedness averts peril. It might be useful sometime."

In the beginning of 2001, I was abducted to a brainwashing center. He gathered the families of my son and daughter and our relatives to go to the brainwashing center to demand my release, taking my medical diagnosis paper before I obtained the Fa. They kept telling the people at the brainwashing center the benefits our family experienced after I studied the Fa. When police asked him to cooperate, he said, "Why did you law-enforcers take the five hundred yuan and a watch from my wife's purse and did not issue us a receipt? You must give me an explanation. Asking me to cooperate with you is like asking me to assist you in committing a crime." Then he used his legal knowledge to question the police item by item.

The head of the 610 Office pounded the table to threaten him. My husband said justly and forcefully, "Since you sit here to represent our nation, you need to watch out for your image. I am your guest, not a criminal. You should treat me politely. I came here to visit my wife, reveal the truth of her circumstances and express my wishes. Is there anything wrong with my feelings, in reasoning or by the law? If you government officials are this rude and violent to me, I can imagine how you are going to treat my wife. My relatives and children told me not to worry because the TV program claimed that the government treated Falun Gong practitioners 'benevolently.' It must be lies. I must take my wife out so that her illnesses cured by practicing Falun Gong will not come back to her. Otherwise that's bad for our family and I will never let it happen." The police were not able to say a word back to him. A dozen days later, under Teacher's protection, my husband, children and relatives were able to rescue me out of the brainwashing center. My being able to do the three things well and validate the Fa without much interference is largely contributed to my husband's understanding and full support. His behavior is contributed to my changes after studying the Fa.

My daughter-in-law was born into a family with a high-ranking official. The superior family situation made her arrogant. I did not like her much and seldom talked to her. But after I practiced Dafa, I tried to think of her and treat her sincerely. My heart changed and she changed too. She often told others about the changes in me. When the persecution started, she worried that my cultivation might caste a shadow onto her father and her children. She complained about me (but not about Dafa). When I heard it, I did not argue or talk to her. Instead, I gave her booklets and CDs containing truth-clarification materials. I kept giving her new ones when I got them. Gradually she changed. She was no longer afraid of my practicing, and she also shared the materials with her relatives, friends, neighbors and business partners. She told her father to never become involved in persecuting Falun Gong. As a result, her father once stopped police from arresting a Dafa practitioner in his company. Sometimes my daughter-in-law let her daughter practice Falun Gong and read Hong Yin with me. She helped me pack truth-clarification materials and assemble booklets. Every time she comes to my home, she burns incense and kowtows to Teacher. She told me happily, "The daycare teachers all say that our daughter behaves well and that she is never sick. I know that's because she learns Dafa with you." Her father retired last year. One day when my granddaughter talked to him over the phone, "Not seeking a name, life is carefree and content," (Hong Yin) just came out of her mouth. He laughed heartily and told everyone that he had a wonderful granddaughter.

Teacher said, "In every situation we should be good to others and be kind to people" (Zhuan Falun). After my son-in-law separated from my daughter for two years due to his love affair, I still showed him the same amount of kindness as before. Once he lost both his bank deposit book and all the money at his home. When I heard it, I rode a long-distance bus for 30 miles to visit him and brought him 500 yuan for the emergency. When he needed money to start an advertising company, he asked for my help. I thought that even though he was no longer my son-in-law, his coming to me for help meant that he thought I was different from others. He realized the wonderfulness of Dafa. Teacher told us that we should always think about others and be selfless. Whoever was in trouble, I should help out. So I gave him twenty thousand yuan without hesitation. Holding the money in his hand, he said emotionally, "Mother, Falun Dafa is good! I will ask my mother to learn the Fa with you. And I will learn the Fa someday too."

When the persecution started, I was put into a detention center. He wrote me a letter encouraging me, "I will always stand by you!" And he signed "Your son, in tears." In recent years, he often tells other people the truth about Dafa and the staged "Tiananmen Self-Immolation." His advertising company has many contacts with media, editors and company executives. Many of them understand the truth. When he officially divorced his wife and remarried, I told my grandson, "You must respect your step-mother." I told my daughter, "Even though he and you are no longer husband and wife, but you can't be enemies to each other. Being nice to others is to be nice to yourself." Under my influence, my daughter and his family has a very good relationship. The step-mother is very kind to my grandson, so he has a happy and healthy environment in which to grow up. This special harmonious relationship inspired my grandson's middle school intern teachers from a normal university to start a special research project on psychology and write a paper about it. Nowadays relationships are very intense. Their harmonious relationship was widely talked about among their colleagues, friends, relatives and even relatives' relatives. Many people admire them. Whenever talking about this, my ex-son-in-law would say, "You can't match our family, because I have a mother-in-law who practices Falun Gong."

Once I sat down at the same table with my ex-son-in-law and his relatives, who came from far away, and his guests for dinner. We were like the same family and my ex-son-in-law kept calling me "mother." The guests all saw that. After the dinner, one guest came to me in great emotion, "Ma'am, I have heard that you practice Falun Gong and live by 'Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance.' Today I really see it. I really admire you. You can sit down with them for dinner and let him call you 'mother.' If that were me, I would hate them to death, especially his new wife. She broke your daughter's marriage apart! You don't hate them at all?" I answered, "I don't hate them at all. My Teacher told us that cultivators should be nice to everyone. We cultivators do not have enemies. Also speaking of marriage, we believe in karmic relationship. My daughter's separation from him might be their predestined relationship." Later when I called my ex-son-in-law about quitting the CCP, he said with no hesitation, "Mother, I believe you. Please post the announcement of quitting the CCP for me and my wife." This really let me see the meaning of " Buddha's light shines everywhere, propriety and righteousness harmonize everything."

In the Fa validation environment, when facing the evil persecution, I also realize that my own energy field is disintegrating every unrighteous factor. Teacher said,

"When people who have bad thoughts think about wrong things, under the strong effect of your field they might change their thinking, they might stop having bad thoughts for the time being." (Zhuan Falun)

I had been imprisoned at different detention centers for going to Beijing to validate the Fa several times. Wherever I was imprisoned, I did not hate the guards or inmates. Instead, I only felt sorry for them. I often sent out a thought to let them be good and not conduct wrongdoing. I don't know whether it is because of these thoughts or my own dimensional field's effect, but rarely did anyone do bad things to me in detention centers. So those lives did not commit crimes to Dafa for torturing a Dafa practitioner.

In three different detention centers, two directors and one doctor spoke for me, helping me avoid forced labor and get an earlier release. Once I was arrested when going to Beijing to validate the Fa. I did not tell police my name and was imprisoned at the Chaoyang District Detention Center in Beijing. The police and inmates behaved like demons when treating Dafa practitioners. They applied brutal torture instruments against Dafa practitioners who did not tell their names. We were interrogated one by one. But when it was my turn, they only asked a few questions. Then the detention center doctor who was merciless to other practitioners said that I had illnesses and took me for a check up. The exam result showed no illness. But she still said that I had an illness and released me a few days later. Wherever I go I always take Zhuan Falun with me, because I can't stop learning the Fa for even a single day. In detention centers, there were two inmates making personal guarantees to the guards that I did not have any materials when they were tipped off and wanted to search me for my book and Teacher's articles.

Several times in detention centers, I worked with other practitioners to validate the Fa, do the exercises, study the Fa and shout "Falun Dafa is Good!" I wrote letters to the directors to clarify the truth to them and requested an absolute discharge for us. Every time I held a benevolent and kind heart and thought of saving sentient beings, instead of fighting against them. Therefore, the directors did not increase the torture against me but rather released me quickly.

In 2001, I was arrested and sent to a brainwashing center. I kept reciting the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth there. When I saw "transformed" former practitioners, I recited Teacher's articles to them and tried to persuade them. I was in tears. They were in tears, too. Then they did not bother to "transform" me. They only talked to me twice briefly and that's all. Some of them also spoke for me saying that I had illnesses. As the result, after a dozen days, under Teacher's protection and help, my husband, children and relatives were able to rescue me and I was given an absolute discharge. I feel that's exactly the meaning of these words: "Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in spring. Righteous thoughts can save the people in this world" (Hong Yin Volume II - "The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos"). Countless things helped me to understand the deep meaning of Teacher's words.

During the seven years that Dafa was persecuted, I gradually became the coordinator in our area. Even during the most evil days, I still had a relatively free environment. People came in and out of my home freely. I also organized several Fa Conferences (with fewer than a dozen practitioners for the largest meeting). Dafa materials and supplies were carried in and out of my home. I often thought, "As long as I do well the three things and always keep righteous thoughts and take righteous actions, under Teacher's protection and help, the evil does not dare to touch me at all." So I am able to have a relatively smooth cultivation path. That's the result of my continuously studying, reciting and assimilating to the Fa every day.

From this I realized that as a Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification period, only having a firm belief in the Fa and giving up the attachment to life and death is not enough. This is because we are not cultivating for our own Consummation. We have the great responsibility to save sentient beings. Therefore, we have to show a cultivator's mind nature in any environment at any time. That's to validate the Fa by using ourselves as the most convincing evidence to others. Then we will be able to help more people understand the truth about Dafa and quit the CCP. Teacher said,

"Many students understand only that doing the exercises and studying the Fa are cultivation. Yes, with those you directly engage the Fa. But as you go about truly cultivating yourself in your day-to-day life, the society that you come into contact with is your cultivation environment. The work and family environments that you spend time in are both settings in which you are to cultivate yourselves, are part of the path you must walk, are what you must handle, and handle correctly at that. None of these should be glossed over." ("Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006")

In summary, to do everything well in cultivation, we must study the Fa and assimilate to the Fa as much as we can. The righteous energy field surrounding us will automatically harmonize everything and disintegrate every unrighteous factor. The environment around us will become better and better. The hardships set up by the evil will be fewer and fewer. All of this will happen naturally as, "One should gain things naturally without pursuing them." That is a manifestation of the Fa that, "Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master."

Above is my understanding based on a dozen years of cultivation experience in changing our environment through studying the Fa well and doing well ourselves in cultivation.

My understanding is limited by my level. I hope that fellow practitioners benevolently point out my gaps.

(From the Third Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China

October 28, 2006