(Minghui.org) Before practicing Falun Dafa, I was a hooligan. Dafa awakened my conscience and changed my heart. During the past 16 years, I have been blessed by Dafa. With Master's great mercy, I have been able to cultivate with righteous thoughts and actions, without experiencing much interference. Comparing my own experience with the experiences of many practitioners who have been persecuted, I suddenly understood how strong Dafa practitioners' faith in Dafa is and how much evil Dafa practitioners are able to eliminate. If you pay too much attention to the destruction of evil, have doubts about Dafa, or are afraid of the evil, the evil will try to take advantage of your loopholes. If you keep a righteous mind and righteous behavior, you will be able to walk on an incomparably bright and spectacular path arranged by Dafa.
Dafa Changed a Good-for-Nothing
My hometown is located in a poor, remote, rural area. I was born when my father was 47 years old. My parents were overjoyed. Since I am the youngest child in the family and the only son, and since sons are sometimes viewed better than daughters in the countryside, I was spoiled as a child. As a result, I became selfish and rude and had an unreasonably bad temper. When I was in elementary school, my father lost the ability to work due to an accident, which made it even worse for our not-so-well-off family. In order to support me to stay in school, my three sisters had to leave school to work away from home. However, I did not cherish this hard-won learning opportunity. In high school, I not only skipped classes, but also hung out with kids from better backgrounds and started to smoke, drink, and even fight. I became reckless.
In 1995, I failed a national college entrance exam. I went out every day and sometimes did not come home for several days. The only reason I went home was to ask for money from my parents. If they did not give me any, I would take things from home to sell. My mother was in tears all the time, but I completely ignored it.
My sister, who worked at a university cafeteria in the north, wrote home that she had found a job for me in the cafeteria and asked me to come. I was not eager to work after I got there and went out to walk the streets. One afternoon while I was strolling on campus, I was attracted to beautiful music. I had never heard such wonderful music. Following the music, I came to the stadium where people were practicing the Falun Dafa exercises. I was stunned by what I saw: Several hundred people of all ages were practicing gentle exercises accompanied by melodious music. I was touched by the sacredness and peacefulness of it. I usually did not like to follow rules, but I was deeply attracted by the tranquility of what I witnessed. I felt a mysterious force pull me closer to the practitioners, and I went to the edge of the crowd and sat cross-legged, imitating them. I gently closed my eyes and immediately felt like I was sitting in the clouds, gently floating up, surrounded by a lotus flower in full bloom. The beautiful music echoed between heaven and earth. I felt that my dirty thoughts were cleaned up.
I did not know when the music stopped. I opened my eyes and saw a middle-aged woman standing in front of me, smiling. She saw me open my eyes and took my hand in a friendly way. She handed me the book Zhuan Falun and told me in detail about the magic and beauty of Falun Dafa. Now I understand that not every ordinary person could have had this opportunity. On the surface, I had come there from far away to work, but, in fact, Falun Dafa had called me to come.
I cherished this opportunity very much. Every day I looked forward to going to the practice site to study the Fa and do the exercises. Awakened by Dafa, I suddenly realized the true meaning of life. Recalling my previous behavior, I realized that I had completely deviated from Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and had reached the brink of danger. I was really ashamed. At this critical juncture, Master pulled me back from the path toward hell. I had to follow Master’s Fa principles to correct and save myself and get on the path toward returning to my true self.
After half a month of practice, I returned home with Master's articles and lectures. The first thing I did was to kneel in front of my parents and ask for forgiveness. My mother was stunned. After listening to my experience after obtaining the Fa, my parents were touched. They immediately put both hands together and knelt on the ground to thank Master.
The Miraculous Power of Dafa Astonished Others
In September of that year, I went back to high school for refresher classes. I went to school during the day and studied the Fa and did the exercises at home at night. I often did not go to sleep until midnight, but the next day I would be in good spirits. In July 1996, I went to take the national college entrance exam for the second time. I felt exceptionally relaxed, not panicked or afraid at all.
Before the exam paper was handed out, I asked for Master’s blessing to give me wisdom. Right after I filled out my name on the exam paper, I suddenly felt an amazing energy spring up from my head, penetrating from far away. My mind was very clear and active. I calmed down and continued to read the exam questions. All of the questions seemed so familiar to me, and it seemed like I had already finished answering them. Several important questions appeared exactly the same as in my dream several days before. Occasionally I encountered an unfamiliar question, but then the answer would come to my mind. During the English exam, I could not remember a few English words. As I was hesitating, my hand suddenly wrote them down; it felt like someone was holding my hand. The magical feeling was simply wonderful! I easily completed the two-day national college entrance exam. The results showed that I scored 644 of 750 possible points, which once again showed the manifestation of the miraculous power of Dafa.
The stories about my experiences that displayed Dafa's miraculous nature spread throughout the school and stunned many people. Master's mercy let our family experience Dafa's infinite grace. I could have chosen a better university, but I was not attached to fame and fortune with respect to gain and loss, and I did not hesitate to choose the university where I had obtained the Fa. Recalling the entire process, I deeply understand that everything has been arranged by Master. In order to let me obtain the Fa, Master constantly corrected me. Thinking of this brings tears to my eyes. I thank Master from the bottom of my heart!
After entering the university, I always kept Dafa in mind. I joined the practice site where I had obtained the Fa. I was very diligent and improved very quickly. My academic studies were not hindered, either. In order to have enough time to study the Fa and finish my academic studies, I used my time well, while others played and chatted. In order to have the time to study the Fa, I never took a nap in the afternoon. At night, while others slept, I did the meditation or studied in the corridor. I also got up early to memorize the Fa. Although I did not have much time to rest, with Master's blessing I had plenty of energy and had a very good memory, so I got very good grades and got scholarships three years in a row. I also easily passed the English exam for the sixth level. These incredible things that appeared impossible for others happened to me.
I Found a Job by Clarifying the Truth about Falun Dafa
After April 25,1999, our Fa study group at the university was destroyed. The university focused on practitioners, warning us not to participate in group exercises or Fa study. They arranged personnel to monitor the practice site and threatened us that we would not be given a graduation diploma if we did not stop practicing. Under increasing pressure from the university, several of the practitioners at the university who firmly safeguarded Dafa, including me, were locked up in an abandoned conference room.
When I finally graduated from the university, I did not return home but stayed in that city. I was busy trying to find a job. Three months passed and I had a dozen interviews but still did not get a job. Just when I was very frustrated, I ran into my university professor who had practiced at the same practice site as I did. I briefly explained my situation to him, and he helped me by recommending me to a foreign company.
I walked into the interview with strong righteous thoughts and respectfully handed over my resume, along with Falun Dafa truth-clarification materials. The interviewer, who was from Taiwan, read the truth-clarification materials carefully and put my resume aside. He gently asked me whether I was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member. I confidently replied that I was not a Party member but a true Falun Dafa practitioner. He then asked me have a seat and smiled, saying, "You are very honest. Now the Communist Party is looking for Falun Dafa practitioners everywhere, yet you dare to promote Falun Dafa to me. Aren’t you afraid that I will not hire you?" I replied, “It's a Dafa disciple’s duty to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to everyone." I then proceeded to tell him about how Falun Dafa teaches people to cultivate virtue and become good people, following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and how the CCP defames Falun Dafa.
The interviewer held my hand excitedly and said, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa practitioners are great! Honesty, kindness, and reliability are good. We need employees like you, and our company needs the spirit of Falun Dafa practitioners, not of those Party members, who play games and use their power for corruption." I was hired by this company because I had clarified the truth about Falun Dafa.
I worked very hard. With the mighty power of Dafa, I regarded myself as a practitioner, following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, being a good person and doing good deeds. I looked inward when I encountered any conflict and corrected my thoughts and behavior. I measured everything using Dafa’s standard and cultivated myself to be selfless, always considering other first. As a result, I won the admiration of colleagues and bosses. Managers often talked with me and asked about Falun Dafa. They also asked me to influence colleagues around me with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Such a relatively relaxed environment provided me with a good foundation for my future practice at the workplace. Although I do not have much time to go out to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa due to work, I have been downloading some of the truth-clarification materials from the Internet and making booklets to distribute to colleagues and friends in my spare time. They all like them. At the beginning of last year, I was promoted to be a business manager. Every time I meet clients, I naturally handed them truth-clarification materials as a gift, and they all express their gratitude. Afterward, the business discussions go smoothly.
Above is my own experience and understanding. I hope it will help more practitioners who are being persecuted to cultivate with righteous thoughts and actions, and not be taken advantage of by the evil. I welcome fellow practitioners to point out anything that is improper.