(Minghui.org) Before 1999, I was the head nurse at the department of orthopedics at a hospital. There were more than forty beds and twenty doctors and nurses taking care of the patients. We sometimes had to accommodate more patients, which created quite a heavy workload, requiring overtime work.
Before I began cultivating in Falun Dafa I evaluated my work by a declined moral standard. After cultivating in the Fa I realized that "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" is the true standard for measuring good and evil. I changed the way I handled situations, keeping the Falun Dafa principles in mind. I treated my colleagues and patients kindly and worked hard. Before the persecution of Falun Gong began, I was given the outstanding employee award at the hospital and city level.
Corruption was also part of hospital life. We were invited to banquets and received gifts and cash from patients, and given kickbacks from pharmaceutical and equipment suppliers. Many doctors lacked medical professional ethics, so they simply subscribed more medicines because of the kickbacks they received.
As we were a large orthopedic department we had many patients, and the doctors were operating daily. The patients' families would invite the medical personnel for meals after the surgeries, and the director was wined and dined daily. In the afternoon he refused to see anyone. The doctors were complaining and the nurses were troubled by the situation. I refused to attend banquets and gifts. I always followed the hospital rules and regulations. I usually didn't follow oral instructions from doctors, except during an emergency operation. After the surgery I asked the doctor to provide me with written instructions. I tried to do a good job and corrected any mistakes the minute they were discovered. The nurses felt uneasy because the doctors prescribed more medication than necessary because of the kickbacks.
I thought about talking to the medical staff about loss and gain, and help everyone understand the principle of losing out if one takes kickbacks and gifts.
When the president of the hospital heard about the situation in our department he called a meeting, during which the director told the president, “It's lucky that orthopedics has a very responsible head nurse. The doctors are the ones that need to be held in check, but the nurses are keeping order. This ensures the quality of our work and there have been no problems." The president expressed his satisfaction upon listening to the report.
Showing the Selflessness of Practitioners
The hospital put aside an amount for bonuses for each division. The bonus was divided based on position. Two nurses in our department did a better job than some of the nurses-in-charge. If the bonus was divided based on position it would not be fair. I took two percentage points from my bonus, split it, and added it to the monthly bonus of the two nurses. Although the monthly bonus was low, it encouraged both to do a good job. Some nurses said, "Head Nurse, you give your money to others monthly. How much money will you lose? There are not many people like you." I told them, "The Falun Dafa Teacher taught us that money is only something of this world. One cannot bring it along at birth or carry it after death. It's enough to have money for supporting oneself. We must let go of our attachment to personal gain." They all thought that Falun Dafa was very good and wanted to learn. I gave them each the main book of Falun Dafa Zhuan Falun, and seven nurses in our division became practitioners.
At one time, the outpatient department was short of nurses and asked for one from our department. The workload at the outpatient department was relatively lighter and there was no night shift, so everyone was clamoring for a job there. However, the nurse who was asked to transfer resisted, and didn't want to move. She said, "If I can't handle the work in the treatment room I will return to the orthopedics department." The director of the nursing department asked me, "Why are you such a popular head nurse? The nurses from your department are all unwilling to leave and the nurses from other departments all want to be transferred to your department." I said with a smile, "That is because I practice Falun Dafa and treat everyone based on the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."
There was an annual appraisal of the professional staff in our hospital, with three different valuations: outstanding, qualified and disqualified. A secret opinion poll was part of the appraisal, and the entire hospital staff had to vote. Each year I won in the top categories. In 1999, when Falun Dafa was banned, I was demoted. However, I still won the highest award.
Thinking of Others First
In China, the majority of nurses are women. When pregnant, having and nursing a baby creates quite a bit of stress for a nurse. Nurses have to take the night shift at times and sometimes the baby needs the mother's care, such as when it becomes ill. I made sure that each nurse's situation was taken into account when making the weekly roster. The nurses were assured that they could take time off when needed. Sometimes when the on-duty nurse came down with some illness and could not come to work I never complained and just got a replacement. One of the nurses said to me, "Head Nurse, I argued with all the head nurses I had before you. You are the only one I haven't argued with." I asked, "Why?" She said, "It is because you always think of others first, you are not selfish, and you don't benefit at others' expense.”
Naturally, not everything went smoothly and there were some problems. One day a nurse called from the emergency operating theater saying that no one had prepared the skin for the patient who needed an emergency skin graft and asked for one of my nurses. When arranging for a nurse I checked the doctor's order as to who was assigned to the job. It was nurse Wang, who was known to neglect her duties at times. I flew into a rage. I found the nurse and scolded her in front of the doctor. This hurt the self-esteem of the nurse, so she cried. Afterward, I looked within and found that I also carried some responsibility in the matter. I neglected my supervisory role and had not checked her work. Therefore, I apologized to the nurse at the next department meeting and she accepted my apology.
In May 1999, I was transferred to the newly established Scientific Teaching Section to teach and do research. The nurses of my department were reluctant to say goodbye and were all crying at the farewell party. Before leaving I split the money left over from prior month bonuses, and distributed it amongst the nurses. They all said, "Head Nurse, we would never have known if you hadn't given us the money. Others would have embezzled the money. You are very righteous." I said, "This is what our Teacher taught us. Our Teacher asks us to be selfless and altruistic."
Demoted for Practicing Falun Gong
After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, the provincial Public Health Department issued a directive that ordered me to be removed from my position and transferred to the neurosurgery department, where the workload was much heavier than at my previous job. I was thus punished for my persistence in cultivating Falun Gong.
In neurosurgery there were many patients with brain injuries, more patients in critical condition, and more emergency cases. The patient's condition could worsen rapidly and thus create a heavier workload for the nurses. I thought, "No matter what happens, I will steadfastly cultivate in Falun Dafa." In neurosurgery, patients' physical conditions were very complicated, and at times other organs broke down, requiring quick action. More often than not, these patients' were not fully conscious and often they couldn't talk about their condition, which sometimes delayed emergency treatment. This required close observation by the nurses, to address the patient's condition in a timely manner.
I was sincere and responsible in all my actions. I visited the wards in a timely manner, watched the patients' conditions closely, especially when working the night shift. Often the patients averted danger because I immediately noticed any changes in their condition and the problem could be addressed. The director, doctors, head nurse, and fellow nurses praised my work. One head nurse who was about my age said, "The young nurses all said that you should be a head nurse, excellent job." She also said, "You did not lose face among the veteran head nurses when you were demoted from being a head nurse." I said, "Falun Dafa is responsible for my good work ethic and excellent job skills. Falun Dafa taught me how to be a good person at all times."
Doing Well in All Situations
As a nurse I must pick up medications at the hospital pharmacy. The nurse must check the drugs before returning to the department. Sometimes, the pharmacy staff would be careless and either give more or less than the prescription required. I checked and returned excessive portions and asked for any missing portions. After some time they said that I was someone who could be trusted. The problem was that some nurses keep the additional drugs.
In October 2004, some veteran head nurses and I were transferred to the outpatient department. The Nursing Department gave each of us a score, and then we would choose our job according to the score. Since I was removed from my position I didn't have the bonus points. Therefore, when it came to my turn there were only two jobs left. One was the endoscopy room and the other the outpatient operating theater. Since minor surgery was performed in the outpatient operating theater, the workload was quite heavy, especially since the nurse was responsible for preparing the surgical packages. The operating room was quite a distance from the outpatient department and as the temperature could be cold or hot, depending on the season, no one wanted that particular assignment. The last person on the list was already familiar with the endoscopy room, so I decided to take on the operating theater job. She was surprised at my choice. I told her that our Teacher asked us to think of others first in whatever we do. She was very moved. She said, "Seeing and observing your conduct, I know Falun Dafa is good!"
In the outpatient department I met many people from different departments and sections of the hospital. These people were at various xinxing levels. Patients paid less or were not charged an operating fee when accompanied by hospital staff. When someone wanted to pay a lower fee they sometimes secretly tried to give me some money. I said, "No matter how much you give me, I will not take a penny of it but hand it to the cashier." Within some time everyone understood that I didn't accept any bribes. There were many disposable items in the operating theater. I never took any for my personal use. When colleagues and people needed a disposable syringe or gloves I would buy the item from the pharmacy. This was because I learned from practicing Falun Dafa the principle of "no loss, no gain."
Stepping Into the Falun Gong Practice
My mother-in-law passed away in Autumn 1996. My husband was chatting with my uncle, who had come from Jinan, Shandong Province. He asked my husband, "What is it about your health? Do you believe in qigong?” My husband did not believe in qigong. My uncle said, "Do you feel very uncomfortable when you are sick?" My husband said, "Yes, very unconformable." My uncle then introduced Falun Dafa to us, which had been made public by Mr. Li Hongzhi. My husband had suffered from chronic hepatitis B for over ten years. Both Chinese and western medicine failed to cure his disease. Therefore, he was interested in knowing if Falun Dafa could heal his illness. When we heard that one could become healthy from practicing Falun Dafa, I said "Give it a try. It might cure your illness." He said, "Alright, let's learn the exercise together so that we can help each other." I agreed.
At the time there were no Falun Dafa books, so we learned the exercises first and wrote down the formulas for each of the exercises and memorized them. My uncle said he had a set of Teacher's lecture videotapes, but he had lent them to someone in his hometown, and was not sure if the tapes had been returned. My husband decided to drive to my uncle's hometown, which was a trip of about 40 kilometers, that evening to get the tapes. He was lucky, as the tapes had just been returned. At that time we thought it was accidental, but now we know that this was arranged by Teacher.
After returning home he borrowed a DVD player from my sister and began watching Teacher's Fa lectures. My husband was mesmerized while watching the lectures, and not long after he saw Teacher's fashen (law body). At that time we did not know it was Teacher's fashen. My husband asked, “Why is Teacher's hair curly and blue?" My uncle said, "It's Teacher's fashen. It seems that your inborn quality is very good and you have a predestined relationship with Dafa." My sister and I went to bed at around 11:00 p.m. My husband and our uncle watched until the next morning but still had not watched the entire series of tapes. My husband said, "Falun Dafa explained all the questions that were on my mind. This Fa is great and I will certainly learn the exercises."
We asked an acquaintance who worked at the broadcasting and television station to make a copy of the video lectures. One day we watched Lecture 7, "The Issue of Treating Illness." Teacher said,
“Let us talk about the most common illnesses. Somewhere in the body one may have a tumor, infection, osteophytosis, etc. It is because in another dimension there lays a being in that place. That being is in a very deep dimension. An ordinary qigong master or an ordinary supernatural capability is unable to detect it; they can only see the black qi in one’s body. It is correct to say that wherever there is black qi, there is an illness. Yet the black qi is not the fundamental cause of an illness. It is because there is a being in a deeper dimension who generates this field.” (Zhuan Falun)
A few days into the practice, my husband said, "Something was removed from my liver." I said with a smile, "Is this true?" I did not quite believe what he had said. We did not have the exercise tapes then and did not know how long we should do the exercises. We simply did the exercises three times each and half an hour or longer for the fifth set before going to bed.
One evening at 11:00 p.m., my husband felt very uncomfortable and had diarrhea. He had to use the toilet on and off until about 5:00 a.m. He didn't get much sleep and he had excreted about three buckets of dark greenish colored water. However, he did not feel any pain and was in high spirits. He didn't look like someone who was sick with diarrhea. After breakfast he prepared a lot of toilet paper for the day, but nothing happened. However, from 11:00 p.m. that night he had diarrhea until 5:00 a.m. This continued for three consecutive nights and he excreted about six buckets of the dark greenish water. After this he felt very light and energetic. He said, "I have been cured." I asked him, "Is it true? Do you need to go to the hospital to take some tests?" He replied, "No need!" He really experienced for the first time after a long time, being healthy. At that time we didn't know it was Teacher who had purified our bodies. We learned about this after reading Zhuan Falun diligently.
We asked my uncle to buy the book Zhuan Falun. He brought us Falun Dafa books and the exercise tapes. That is when we started to practice Falun Gong.
From 1984 to 1996, for thirteen long years, my husband was sick all the time. He suffered in pain and had to take medications and injections. After he learned Falun Dafa, Teacher purified his body, and all the toxins in his body were discharged. For the past sixteen years, my husband has been healthy. I witnessed the miracles performed by Falun Dafa on my husband. The return to good health also removed a big worry from my heart. This was so miraculous, especially since I worked at a hospital and knew modern medicine was unable to cure his illness. Within just a few days of practicing Falun Dafa, Teacher helped him return to good health. It was unbelievable! Falun Dafa completely shattered my notions of validating Western science and my gratitude to Teacher is beyond the expression of any language.
The doctors at the Department of Infectious Diseases at our hospital knew of my husband's illness. When they learned that he recovered his health by practicing Falun Gong, they were all amazed. They later often told hepatitis B patients that Falun Gong cured my husband's illness and suggested they practice Falun Gong. Some patients wanted to learn the exercises, so they came to my home to enquire about it. We recommended Falun Gong and told them to pursue nothing and gain naturally!
In 1997 we started a practice site. We joined the exercises in the morning and the group Fa study in the evening. We shared and all was harmonious. When recalling the study and exercise environment I deeply yearn for that time.
I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to learn this Falun Dafa, which is not an easy feat. One has to be born and be at the right place when and where Falun Dafa is disseminated. Falun Dafa helps people raise their moral standard, asks them to be good people and live by the principles "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," and think of others first before saying or doing something.
Within 20 years, Falun Dafa has spread to over 100 countries and received more than 3,000 awards and recognitions. By May 2005, the founder of Falun Dafa Mr. Li Hongzhi's main work Zhuan Falun had been translated into 25 languages and was being distributed worldwide. The book Falun Gong, the introductory book to the practice, has been translated into 30 languages and is available worldwide. Translations of Falun Dafa books into other foreign languages are under way.
Please do not be deceived by the lies disseminated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Let go of any prejudice and hatred of Falun Gong. Please come and learn what Falun Gong is really about, and read the main book Zhuan Falun. I am sure you will benefit greatly. Please don't miss this opportunity of a lifetime.
From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa's Introduction
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