(Clearwisdom.net) I am a woman who turned 46 years old this year. I have experienced many toils, turmoils, and tribulations in this life, and have suffered so much. I was tormented with one ailment after another for as long as I can remember. It seems I always had the worst runs of luck because bad things always sought me out. I felt it was unfair that I should be cursed with such a terrible fate!
When I attended school, I suffered from inflamed connective tissue, stomach disease, constipation, and terrible tension headaches, that when acting up, made me feel I would be better off dead. Later I developed rheumatoid arthritis and organ adhesion to the uterus. Each menstrual period would last for about two weeks. In addition, the pain from inflammation of the muscles and tendons in my back made it almost impossible for me to turn over in my sleep. It was difficult even reaching out for a broom. In the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis, I didn't have any symptoms. But over time I started to feel numb on the right side of my body. Later I lost the feeling on my right side, and the joints of my right arm and leg became enlarged and deformed. Then the numbness extended to the left side of my body. To treat the rheumatoid arthritis, I took traditional herb wine for several decades. In addition, I developed an unknown disease that caused my body to swell. I tried Western and Chinese medicine, as well as folk remedies. I took more medication than a truck can carry, but nothing helped. Being a very proud person, I thought often about the best way to end my life because there was no point in living if I could not live in dignity. I wanted to end the torture of living with illness! Then, by chance, I heard about Falun Gong.
It was late 2001 when a childhood friend of my husband called on us with a newspaper with articles slandering Falun Gong and Mr. Li Hongzhi. I asked him who Mr. Li Hongzhi was and what Falun Gong was about. (Due to my eye disease, I did not watch TV or read newspapers for many years.) He admitted that he knew nothing about Falun Gong or Mr. Li Hongzhi except that Mr. Li had written the book Zhuan Falun. He added that more than 100 million people in China were practicing Falun Gong, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned the practice, claiming that Falun Gong taught its practitioners to set themselves on fire and to kill people. My husband said that Falun Gong must be bad if the CCP had decided to ban it. I was upset when I heard my husband's ignorant comment. I questioned, "Have you read Zhuan Falun? Have you tried practicing Falun Gong? A wise man should not jump to a conclusion about anything until he has a good understanding." The conversation aroused my curiosity in Falun Gong, and I was interested in obtaining a copy of Zhuan Falun and reading it myself.
My husband and I were both laid-off factory workers. We opened a small business to make a living. An elderly man came to use the telephone often and caught my attention. My instinct told me that he practiced Falun Gong, so I asked to borrow a copy of Zhuan Falun from him. He said he could not lend me the book because he had only one copy, but he promised to find someone to transcribe the book for me. I was shocked to hear the offer. To this I said, "My goodness, how much time will it take to transcribe a book? Besides, I might not even be able to read this person's handwriting if he does not write legibly." I politely declined his kind offer.
It just so happened that another childhood friend of my husband's told us that a man he knew had been thrown into a detention center for practicing Falun Gong. I knew the man he referred to and I also knew that he was a very nice person. After this man was released, he came to our city one day to deposit his bicycle. I took the opportunity to borrow Zhuan Falun from him. Two days later, he delivered the book to me and strongly encouraged me to read the book from cover to cover without stopping, at least once. I did.
After reading Zhuan Falun, I concluded that it was a very good book and I felt at the time that it was very much in line with the principles by which I conducted myself. (This was my very low-level understanding as a novice practitioner.) It struck me as unbelievable that the CCP would suppress people who wanted to follow the principles of Falun Gong to become better people. At the time I had not made up my mind to practice Falun Gong. (I decided I must quit drinking before I started practicing Falun Gong.)
When I went to return the book to the man, he told me to keep reading it. "The more you read it, the better!" After that, I naturally forgot about drinking regardless of the occasion. Perhaps due to my mentality of non-pursuit and my belief in Falun Gong, I suddenly realized that I no longer suffered from inflamed connective tissue, stomach disease, constipation, terrible tension headaches, or inflammation of the muscles and tendons in my back, all in less than six months!
On the evening of June 1, 2002, while I was watching TV at home, I was suddenly attacked by an intense pain in my lower abdomen and lower back. I rolled in pain on the sofa. At the time my husband was not at home, so I stayed on the sofa all night. The next day I asked someone to notify my husband. When he returned home, he said I must go to the hospital for a checkup. I thought, "I will receive medical treatment if the hospital can identify the cause. If not, it must be Teacher cleansing my body." (I had not learned the Falun Gong exercises yet, but I often experienced unusual symptoms. A fellow practitioner often reminded me that they were signs that Teacher was looking after me.) I went to see a specialist, who examined me twice and declared that I was perfectly fine and that there wasn't even any inflammation anywhere in my body! When I told the doctor that I used to have organ adhesion to the uterus, he examined me for the third time. This time he said that my uterus was fine, except there seemed to be a scar on my uterus. I thought, "Since Teacher is looking after me, I will never need to go to the hospital again unless I am visiting a patient!" It took me a few days to realize that the scar must be a sign that Teacher had detached my uterus from other organs. It was then that I realized that cultivation practice is very serious and decided to become a Falun Gong practitioner.
In mid-June 2002, I officially started practicing Falun Gong. On September 13, I faced a test of life and death. That evening after dinner, I suddenly felt an intense pain in my chest and back as though someone was trying to tear me apart. A large lump about 10 inches in diameter developed on the right side of my abdomen. I retched and had diarrhea. I was humped over at a 90-degree angle, and I couldn't walk and I could hardly talk. I felt cold laying in bed, even with two thick blankets over me. I spent seven days in agony. On the morning of the eighth day, my husband was overcome with worry and started to reproach me before I even got up. He told me that I must go to the hospital. Unmoved, I struggled to get up and told him solemnly, "First, I will not die. Teacher is cleansing my body. As long as I follow Teacher's teaching, I will never be bothered with any illness again. This is but an interim state that shall soon pass. Second, if I should die, I will never blame you. My parents will not blame you or look for any trouble. Third, you know that we don't have any savings. We have only debts to be paid off. If you insist on taking me to the hospital, you must borrow a few thousand yuan first!" My husband stopped protesting.
A fellow practitioner was very worried for me when she saw my condition. She feared that I might not be able to guard my xinxing and that my friends and relatives might not understand why I didn't seek medical treatment. While I was bedridden, my family, friends, and old schoolmates who visited me accused me of risking my own life. To this I replied, "Please don't worry. I will be perfectly well in a few days!" They scorned me and said that pride goes before a fall. "This is not pride," I explained. "I have faith in my Teacher and Falun Gong!" Another fellow practitioner suggested that I keep Teacher's photograph in front of my bed to help reinforce my righteous thoughts. I took her advice. Sure enough I became better each day. On the 14th day, I was completely well, except that I still had a sickly complexion and I had lost a lot of weight.
In the following months, I studied the Fa in tranquility and tried my best to conduct myself according to the Fa. Judging from my appearance, I have become a different person. I look refreshed. I have a rosy and radiant complexion and I look younger. Besides, I have a slender body that even young women would envy.
I know that my lifespan has been extended because I practice Falun Gong. It's Teacher and Falun Gong that gave me a new lease on life. Since I began Falun Gong practice, I have been sharing with other people about my personal experiences in practicing Falun Gong to validate that it is wonderful and miraculous. Many of them have accepted the truth that Falun Gong is good.
I know that I have done scarcely enough in my cultivation practice. I shall do my utmost to keep up with Teacher's Fa-rectification. With my steadfast faith in Teacher and the Fa, I am certain that I will overcome all kinds of obstacles and enable more and more people to know that Falun Gong is good.
This is my limited understanding of the Fa. Please kindly correct anything erroneous.