(Clearwisdom.net) Four generations of my family have been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). My parents were categorized as “Right Wing” and persecuted when I was very young. Growing up in this kind of environment, I became introverted and felt inferior to others. I was later married to a man who was addicted to gambling. Having to raise three children by myself and doing all the housework eventually took its toll on my health—I suffered from many diseases by the age of 37. As a result, I retired early in 1995 and received only about 100 yuan per month. I tried many schools of qigong to try to cure my diseases, but the more I practiced, the worse my health became.
I. Practicing Dafa
One day in April 1999, a neighbor who was also my classmate told me, “Come practice Falun Gong. It is for cultivating Buddhahood or the Tao. You may practice more when you have time and practice less when you are busy. It's very convenient.” Soon after, I learned the five sets of Falun Gong exercises and read Zhuan Falun. I also went to the practice site to study the Fa and do the exercises with other practitioners.
After I began my path of cultivation, my body felt lighter and I had fewer troubles. Gradually, all my illnesses disappeared. Furthermore, my family also benefited from my practicing Falun Gong. Soon after I began my path of cultivation, my second son no longer suffered from proctitis. Although he didn't practice Falun Gong, he was very supportive of me.
My eldest son also learned how to do the exercises after he witnessed the positive changes in me. He suffered from epilepsy when he was in middle school. When he had an epileptic episode, he would clench his teeth tightly, spit out white foam from his mouth, and curl up on the ground in great pain. He had thoughts of committing suicide several times. After three months of practicing Falun Gong, his epilepsy disappeared. He is now a father and has a lovely child.
II. Returning to Dafa
Less than three months after I started practicing Falun Gong, the CCP began its persecution of the practice. As a result, I lost the group Fa-study and practice environment. I then did the exercises by myself in the fruit field and stopped studying the Fa. In February 2000, my tape player was stolen, so I stopped doing the exercises altogether and lived an everyday life. Gradually, all my illnesses returned. Instead of resuming the practice, I went everywhere to try to cure my diseases. The continued until 2005.
Compassionate Teacher hadn't given up on me even though I failed to live up to Dafa's expectations. Teacher arranged for the practitioner who introduced me to Dafa to contact me. She said, “You should read Zhuan Falun again when you have time. You also need to do the exercises!” I was lost at that time and had veered so far away from Dafa. I couldn't even remember the contents of Lunyu, which I had memorized several years prior. I also forgot how to do the five sets of exercises. I went to the same practitioner's home and learned the exercises. Soon after, Teacher opened my memory. I started doing the exercises and I was able to memorize Lunyu again. I had to do the exercises without the music, so I counted the times of movements in my heart. From time to time, a practitioner brought me copies of Teacher's new articles.
In 2006, I moved to my second son's home in Kunming City. One day, I went to a relative's home and asked him if he knew any practitioners in the city. He said he did and took me to the practitioner's home.
I was very excited to meet the practitioner, who greeted me warm-heartedly. I saw an mp3 player for the first time at his home. He helped me record Teacher's lectures and exercise music. From then on, I often went to his home and listened to his experience sharing. One day, he told me that they were going to have an experience sharing conference and suggested that I attend. On that day, I went to the bus station as scheduled and met several practitioners. They were very affectionate towards me when they found out that I was from town X. They also introduced me to a practitioner who was from my hometown. From then on, I often went to that practitioner's home to study the Fa. I genuinely returned to Dafa.
III. Being Diligent
I was like a fish in the sea after joining group study. I was aware that I should make the most of my time to cultivate diligently and compensate for the years that I had stopped practicing.
I went with another practitioner to her relative's hometown to spread the Fa in March 2008. On our way there, we clarified the truth to people, persuaded them to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and distributed the book, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Immediately after we finished dinner at her relative's home, the local police arrived and illegally arrested us. At the police station, they interrogated me about where I got the truth-clarification materials, but I didn't give them the information they wanted. That same night, we were taken to a detention center and detained in separate cells. My mind was very righteous. At the detention center, I didn't cooperate with the guards and told the inmates the truth about Falun Gong. It was the first time they had ever heard of the practice. I also told them about the self-immolation incident staged by the CCP on Tiananmen Square, and the wide spread of Falun Dafa around the world. I recited Lunyu and poems from Hong Yin for them. I also wrote down Teacher's poem, “An Upright Person” so they could memorize it. The environment in the cell was rectified. I could do the meditation exercise peacefully and I did whatever I could for them.
I was later sentenced to three years in prison, with a five-year-probation period. I had been detained in the detention center for five months before my son took me home in August 2008.
Not long after I was released, I lost my “salary” card. After I got a new card, I went to the bank to withdraw some money and found that the teller had made a mistake. She accidentally put 15,000 yuan into my account. After I left the bank, I realized that the name on the bank deposit book was not mine. I immediately went back to the bank to return the money and told the teller about the mistake. I wrote down on a piece of paper, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner and follow the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, so I am returning the money. Fifteen thousand yuan is equivalent to several years of my total salary, which is only several hundred yuan. If I didn't practice Falun Gong, I would not treat it this way. Please keep in mind that 'Falun Dafa is good' and 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good'.” Everyone there was moved by my action.
My current monthly retirement salary finally increased to a little more than 1,000 yuan. Sometimes when my sons give me money, I donate it to our local materials production sites. Practitioners in the countryside live very frugally and the road from Kunming to Town X is not convenient to travel on. When the production sites need more materials or practitioners need mp3 players, I usually take care of it. When a piece of equipment is broken and needs repair, I also take care of it and send it back when it is fixed. I travel between Town X and Kunming several times a year. I go to Town X whenever necessary, at least four to five times a month. I am in charge of distributing truth-clarification materials to fellow practitioners there. I also distribute materials to each production site.
I have recently read articles from the Seventh Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China and was deeply impressed. Here I would also like to share my own cultivation experience from the past several years in hopes that we can encourage each other and improve together. Let's walk well every step, accomplish our mission, and honor our prehistoric vows.