(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Gong in 1995. During the past 17 years, I have followed Master closely and made efforts to do the three things well. With Master's care, my path has been relatively smooth.
Before I became a Falun Dafa practitioner, I was a catering manager in a hotel at a military base. This hotel was actually a public place for ordinary people to go dining, wining, whoring, and gambling. What I saw every day was corruption, degeneration, pornography, and barbarity. Although I despised those things, I started to swim with the tide and went after money. I had many acquaintances in the hotel and realized there were so many ways to make money, that I should do anything necessary to make more money. I still thought I was better than others and was not greedy. I worked only in one hotel. If I had worked in several hotels, I could have earned even more—about 100,000 yuan monthly.
Once a customer found me and asked if I would sell a modified alcohol he was selling that was very profitable. I refused at first, saying, "It must be fake. I won't do it." He said, "It is different from those harmful fake wines. It is just a low grade wine with spice added, which makes it taste just like good wine. Which hotel does not sell fake wine now?" I had second thoughts. I thought it was not harmful after all and agreed. I could earn more than 10,000 yuan a month. I made more than 100,000 yuan in eight months.
It wasn't that I was poor. My husband was a company president and earned a lot. But this did not remedy my pains. He went to dine and drink and whore every day, which hurt me greatly. I hated him, and I hated the society that made him bad. I made a resolution that I would make more money and then take my daughter to the mountains and enter a religious order. I was just 36 then, but I was already hopelessly apathetic.
At that time, an acquaintance introduced me to Falun Gong. After I finished reading Zhuan Falun, I understood the relationship between loss and gain, karma and retribution, the reasons for all pains, and that the true meaning of life was to find a way back to one's true self. Dafa removed my hatred. I felt a road had opened up suddenly before me, and I felt a great bliss.
I usually thought I was better than others. I was actually using a degraded moral standard. After I started to cultivate, I followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to rectify myself. I would never sell fake wine. That salesman found me again and said, "If you do not want to do it, I can do it and give you commission." I told him, "I could not do anything that might harm others. You should not do it either. It is not good for you, and you will lose virtue." Later on, I took the money I earned from selling fake wine and used it to do good things. In order to help more people obtain the Fa and do the exercises, I bought many Dafa books and recordings and gave them to villagers and people in remote mountain areas for free. When others have difficulties, I try my best to help.
In 1998, Wuhan suffered a great flood. A Wuhan TV station set up several donation sites in Hankou. I donated 5,000 yuan at the Wuhan Mall site. At that time, a staff member wanted to give me a signature book as a souvenir. I did not accept it and did not sign my name either. Master asked us not to pursue fame and self-interest and to be a good person in society.
I did not like my mother-in-law before I became a cultivator. She did not like me because I gave birth to a girl. I was unhappy. Afterwards, I took these things lightly and treated her as my own mother. When she got sick, I would go to the hospital to take care of her. Once my mother-in-law had surgery, I helped to wash her wounds and stayed with her day and night. An employee asked her if I was her daughter. She said, "This is my daughter-in-law." The other person said, "I thought she was your own daughter." She said, "My daughter-in-law is better than my own daughter."
I am the eldest daughter-in-law: there are another two younger daughters-in-law and a sister-in-law. The other two daughters-in-law frequently quarreled with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. I tried to enlighten them with compassion, and asked them to respect our mother-in-law and be considerate of each other.
I never mentioned my husband's affairs in my mother-in-law's home. Once my younger brother had an affair, and he and his wife fought fiercely. His wife took poison to commit suicide. I went to the hospital while she was being treated. She got drug seizures and was moved to the floor from the bed. I held her myself alone. She became unconscious and seized me and bit me. I tried hard to calm her down. I took care of her for two days and nights in the hospital. I use Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to untie her knots, and helped her to give up the idea of suicide.
After that, I told my husband that his affairs really hurt me, yet I had to go to console someone else when her husband was having an affair. If I did not practice Falun Gong, I would not have been able to do that and would not have had such great tolerance. My husband lowered his head.
Now all the members of my parents-in-law's family get along well with each other. My mother-in-law told others that I am very good. My brothers and sisters-in-law always say I am compassionate and a very good person. They like to tell me their troubles, and they respect me very much.
Since I have been cultivating, I treat others with compassion, and consider others always. I respect my parents, and they see me as a model child. Since I was tolerant of my husband, he changed a lot, too, and is very supportive of my cultivating Dafa. There were always practitioners coming to our home to study the Fa. He then cleaned out the conference room in his office building, to let us study Fa there on weekends for free. Practitioners came from all over Wuhan to study the Fa and watch Master's videos. Sometimes there were hundreds of people. This lasted from 1996 until the persecution began on July 20, 1999, and helped to spread Fa locally.
Falun Dafa changed me and brought benefits to our family. I do not know how to fully express my appreciation for Dafa. From my own experience and things I know, Falun Dafa is good for all.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Improving Oneself