(Minghui.org) I am a farmer in Northeastern China. I was fortunate to begin practicing Falun Dafa in 1995. During my 17 years of practice, Master Li has helped me purify my body, and I no longer suffer from such diseases as rheumatism, intractable colitis, urticaria, gastritis, angina, and high blood pressure. I now feel how really light my body is without any disease.
Through the study of Falun Dafa, I learned how to live a good life. My moral character is gradually elevating all the time. I have changed from being a selfish and narrow-minded person who fights for fame, to a person who always thinks about others first, even when my own benefits are threatened. Ever since the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party and Jiang’s political group began, I have treated everyone and every situation with the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. People who come in contact with me can feel the difference between me and others because of my demeanor. Practitioners strive to maintain pure and righteous thoughts and not become influenced by the evils of the world. From us, everyday people learn about the beauty of Falun Dafa and recite aloud “Falun Dafa is good!” I have so many wonderful experiences and stories from my 17 years’ of practicing Falun Dafa. I will only share two of them here due to the limitation of space.
Putting Others First During a Disaster
In 2010, the worst flood ever occurred in the area where I lived. On July 31, 2010 the Fengman Dam at the upper stream of the Songhua River was at capacity and the gates were opened to release the water. The downstream cities hurried to prepare for the coming flood, and the price of supplies soared. That day I was picking vegetables on my farm and preparing for the next day’s sales. Some friends who took refuge from downstream told me that the price of vegetables had risen many times. After hearing this, I said to my husband (who is also a practitioner) that we could not raise our prices the next day at the morning market, that we should sell them at the same price as usual. We were practitioners of Falun Dafa and we could not profit from this crisis. He agreed with me and we both thought that what we should do was to validate Dafa.
The next day, we went to the morning market at dawn. In the past, few people came to the market at this time of day, but when we arrived, we were surrounded by dozens of customers who had been waiting there for a long time. I told them not to hurry and that everyone would get their share. After only a short time our full cart of vegetables was sold out. I weighed the vegetables for each person and told them that we kept the prices as usual—one yuan per 500g. They were surprised and one of the ladies whispered to me, “Other sellers sold string beans for five yuan per 500g, and cucumbers and eggplants for three yuan per 500g. You will lose a lot of money if you sell your vegetables that way.”
I told them, “I am aware of what other farmers are doing with pricing. I am a practitioner of Falun Dafa, however, and I follow the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I cannot make a profit off people during a disaster. Even though the Chinese Communist Party and Jiang’s group are still persecuting practitioners of Falun Dafa, as practitioners, we continue to live by the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We are kind to all we meet. I am conducting myself as I know I should and thinking of others. My Teacher taught me all these principles.
After hearing this, everyone started talking to each other, “Who said Falun Dafa practitioners are not patriotic and not good? What we have been told is all wrong! We witnessed this today. This person did do things according to the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We admire you!” Some even said, “Falun Dafa is really good! I see it. If everyone practiced it, there would be hope for China!” Many of the people who were present looked at me with admiration. They all quit the evil Chinese Communist organizations after I told them the facts. They had chosen a brighter future for themselves.
In mainland China, morality is declining rapidly nowadays. People become enemies and cheat each other for profits. They don’t care about shame or dignity or even their families. If I charged high prices, people would pay for our farm fresh vegetables. However, I could not do that, as I am a Dafa practitioner. I should do everything with the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. This is what each practitioner should do. We do it from the bottom of our hearts and think about others first and refrain from fighting for our own interests.
The Story of Rice Fields and the Dirt Road
By 1998, I had been practicing Falun Dafa for 3 years. That year, the assigned fields in our area were restructured. The fields that had been ours were the big rectangular ones. After revision, our fields were re-assigned to others. What we were given was a small, second class, uncultivated rice field. Within 2 mu (1 mu = 667 square meters) there were more than 50 little ponds. We could not use the tractor to cultivate at all. I rented a bulldozer and bulldozed for a whole day. I changed the 50 little ponds into a dozen larger ponds, which made cultivation easier. However, just after I did this, some farmers from the south of Xiaohegou built a road beside our largest pond near the river without our permission.
My father learned of my situation with the new road. He was very angry and about to go argue with those farmers. He said to me, “It is true that you practice Falun Dafa, but can't you say something when other people take advantages of you? I must go to see the village office staff.” I persuaded my father to calm down. After awhile, I went to my fields and saw those people building the road. They saw me and felt embarrassed to say anything to me. They knew they were doing wrong to build a new road on my place without letting me know about it first. I realized this was to be a test of my moral character, so I waved at them with a smile. An old man in our village said to me, “We built this road without your permission. What do you think? What do we owe you? Would you like the grain or the fields?” I replied, “We can share. I don’t want either one. It is better for us to approach from the shorter road.”
Everyone was very grateful. I told them, “You all have my Teacher and Falun Dafa to thank. If I didn’t practice Falun Dafa, I would never have conceded part of our fields to you to make the road. Who else could do this? Only the people who practice Falun Dafa. Practitioners can let go of self-interest with calm. This Dafa teaches people to be kind and good people who always find their own mistakes when dealing with others. Please come to learn Falun Dafa.”
As Master Li said in his book, “You will never lose it if it belongs to you.”(Zhuan Falun, Lecture Seven). In 1998, our rice in the second class rice field grew rapidly after spring planting. Many people in our village came to visit our field. When autumn came, our field of dense rice looked like a golden carpet. After calculation, there were 1,200 kg of rice per mu, which was a very high yield. This production continued in the following years. All the people in the village were surprised. Using the same cultivation methods and the same input, our production was much higher than others. All this was due to the power of Dafa. Everyday people were allowed to see what can occur after we raise the level of our moral character and assimilate to Dafa. It was a way for people to get to know about Falun Dafa. This road still exists today.
After the persecution began in 1999, the 610 Office, the Politics and Legal Committee, and the Public Security bureau made up several accusations against me in order to “justify” holding me at the detention center. They went to each house in my hometown to investigate, but the folks and the office staff in my village all verified that I became a very good person after practicing Falun Dafa. They gave the authorities many examples, including the one regarding the building of the dirt road. The authorities came back and told me, “You did change a lot after you practiced Falun Dafa. Everybody in your village said you are a great person. We reported this to our leaders as well. You can practice it after you get home. We admire you for your behavior toward others and admire your master even more that he can teach someone to be such a loyal practitioner like you. The Communist Party cannot defeat Falun Gong. You will be exonerated sooner or later.”
I am a common, ordinary farmer doing things with the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my everyday life. I am strict with myself and forgiving towards others. I treat everything and everybody as a practitioner should. I handle all situations with other people with tolerance. I can do this not just because I myself am a good person, but because Dafa changed me. I am just one of the millions of practitioners in the world. If the Chinese Communist Party and Jiang’s group hadn't begun this ridiculous persecution, there would be billions of people learning Falun Dafa in China. In that case, the whole society would be honest, kind, and prosperous.
(From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa's Introduction)
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Category: Improving Oneself
