(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Gong in 2008. My experience of starting the practice is rather special, so I wanted to write an article to share about it.
Difficulty Suffering Pain and Groundlessly Detained
Prior to cultivating, I suffered from congenital heart disease. Due to the medications I had to take all the time, I developed stomach cramps. The stomach pains were so severe that my face turned blue, and I broke out in a cold sweat. As a result, my lips were purple for a long time.
I was arrested in 2006, having been unjustly implicated, and held in a detention center. When my symptoms occurred, I lost consciousness. This scared the guards, so I got special care. I was allowed to sleep in better conditions. However, I still frequently had outbreaks of symptoms. The guards were afraid that I might die in the ward.
In the detention center I suffered repeated attacks of pain. After the officers who were in charge of my case confirmed it, they asked me to pay them a large amount of cash. They said they were arranging bail for me. I made a lot of calls to friends to borrow money. Despite my best efforts, I was still unable to obtain enough for the bail.
I Obtained the Fa in the Detention Center and Experienced Great Changes Physically and Mentally
A 60-year-old woman caught my attention. I will call her A. I noticed that A's eyes were pretty—bright and shining—so I began to observe her carefully. There were a variety of people in the ward, and conflicts often occurred. Each time conflicts occurred, A acted with humility and was considerate of others. I asked A why she was detained.
A is 62 years old this year. When she was 47, she developed breast cancer and needed to have surgery. One time when she went to a hospital for treatment, she saw a group of people doing exercises on the lawn at the hospital. She approached them and learned that they were Falun Gong practitioners. They said that they gathered every morning at the same time to do the exercises. Anyone who wanted to practice Falun Gong was welcome to join at any time without charge. A was scheduled for surgery ten days later, so she took the time every day to watch these people do the exercises, and she sometimes did the exercises along with them. She felt the pain lessening day by day, and that the lumps on her chest had even disappeared. Her doctors could not explain these extraordinary occurrences and only kept saying, "Falun Gong is so miraculous!" At that point, A started practicing Falun Gong.
After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, the guards tried to force A to give a false testimony to cast Falun Gong in a bad light; otherwise they would put her in jail. She refused to cooperate and so was arrested and detained at the detention center.
I was in admiration of A's great Master. She told me that Dafa disciples conducted themselves and corrected themselves by following Master's requirements, so they improved both physically and mentally. She asked me if I wanted to practice Falun Gong with her, and I nodded in agreement. She recited Master's recent articles to me. Although I had not yet realized the connotations of Dafa, Dafa's Master had impressed me deeply.
That evening when I recited Master's recent articles, I suddenly had a headache. (I got nervous because this was what I experienced before my heart symptoms came on.) I didn't understand the meaning of eliminating karma, so, out of habit, I picked up my pills and took them, but immediately afterwards I vomited. I vomited six or seven times, which made me see stars and pass out. At this time, A came to me, calling my name. I couldn't speak, but my consciousness was clear. A said, “Master is near. Do you believe in Master?" She repeated this sentence in my ear over and over again. I heard it and understood it. I firmly believed in the Master of Dafa. I said, “I will not die—I will break through it!” I woke up for a while and then fainted again. I eventually regained consciousness. I touched my head, and noticed that it no longer hurt. This occurred between 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., so just eight hours had passed. In the past, because of the serious negative side effects of the drug, I would be in bed for three or four days and had no strength. However, this time my hands and feet felt strong, and I was very clear-minded, as if nothing had happened. I just wanted to shout, “Falun Dafa is true.” I was in tears of joy. It was a happiness that could be felt but could not be explained in words. I had Master! I had simply recited some of Master's recent articles, and Master had begun to watch over me! This was the first time I experienced how extraordinary Dafa is.
The next morning A taught me to do the exercises. I did the the first exercise very gently, but my clothing was soaked with sweat. I felt relaxed and comfortable, however, and kept feeling as though I was going to rise up from the ground. The whole day, I could feel there was a rotating stream going back and forth in my body, and I felt there was something obviously rotating in my whole body. One week after I began practicing, clusters of small blisters appeared in three places on my body, and then they festered and rotted. It was extremely painful. I said to myself, "I am a Dafa disciple, and I have no sickness!" But people in the ward were all worried about becoming infected, so they forced me to register for treatment. I remembered that Master had taught us to be considerate of others when encountering something, so I said to the wound, “Get well quickly. I know that I have a debt to pay, but it should not cause misunderstandings.” The next day, the three places started healing over. Everyone in the ward was amazed and asked how I recovered without any treatment. I told them the truth. So they began to spread the word: "Falun Gong is amazing, and it seems that the government propaganda is false!"
The blisters began to heal, but then the bones near the wound started to hurt. At 8:00 p.m. that day, I started to feel cold, from deep inside my body. It made my teeth chatter. Finally, I was unable to hold myself up and fainted. I woke up in bursts of heat and was getting hotter and hotter. My body was like a cake in an oven, expanding as the temperature seemed to rise. When I felt that my body could no longer tolerate this expansion and heat, my body suddenly became cold again. This time I didn't faint, and I bore its ferocity with a clear conscience.
In this process of oscillating between heat and cold, I suddenly understood what cultivation was. That night, I withstood the alternating cold and heat until morning. The next day the chills and fever were gone. Although I hadn't slept, I was nonetheless full of energy. However, the three blistered areas were now more painful. In the past, my illness had tortured me to to the edge of death, but this time I could not even describe the pain. It seemed that it didn't belong to this dimension, but it was real pain in my body. During the day, I was full of energy and did everything that I should do. At night I was unable to sleep, waiting for dawn in the confusion of pain.
Ten days later, this all disappeared. Everything returned to normal, and I felt no pain in the affected areas. People in the ward told me that my skin looked healthy, my lips were rosy, and my eyes had become clear. I was in good spirits. The three areas started peeling. Suddenly someone in the ward shouted, "Why do you have patterns on your wounds?" They crowded around me to look. I was just like a rare species, as they took turns carefully viewing the pattern on the inside of my right arm. I was also shocked by what I saw. Lines in patterns clearly appeared on my skin. They said, "Wow, the Buddha really exists!" A didn't miss the chance to clarify the truth to them. Everyone in the ward quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. One used her nail to engrave on the wall, "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” She said she hoped people who did not understand the truth would see it.
Upon witnessing the miracles of Falun Gong, they all wanted to learn the practice. Thus, during the daytime, we sat in neat rows and followed along with A to recite the Fa. We had time allocated to do gymnastics twice a day, and we used this time to do the exercises together. The ward was transformed. In the past, they quarreled every day and even fought. After practicing Falun Gong they became considerate of each other, and humble and spontaneously became good people in accordance with Master's teachings. In the past when the doctor appeared at the small window, everyone in the ward crowded around and tried to be first. After practicing Falun Gong they changed completely. They thought positively and knew that disease was caused by “karma,” so they no longer reported it. One day the doctor rudely opened the small window as usual, but there was no one there. The doctor shouted, "Who is reporting sickness?" "No one," everyone in the ward answered without prior consultation. The doctor looked puzzled and gently closed the small window and left. Everyone smiled.
The doctor told the guard that no one in the ward had reported any illness. The recent situation of no noise and no trouble in the ward and of everyone being orderly and disciplined puzzled the guard. This, combined with the doctor's comment, made the guard nervous. She immediately viewed the surveillance video. When she discovered that these criminals made such great changes because they started practicing Falun Gong, she called them out, one by one, to talk. She threatened, "The government is suppressing Falun Gong, and you dare to disobey? Do you want to court death?" People in the ward respectfully stressed the benefits they gained from Dafa and that Falun Gong was good.
When it was my turn to talk to her, the guard said, "I know that what is happening in the ward is because of you. I know your case. If you don't listen to my advice, we will sort through the surveillance video and submit it to the Procuratorate as evidence. With this evidence, they will sentence you to at least ten years." I said, “When I was simply in custody, you wanted nothing to do with me, and I repeatedly stated that I have heart disease, but the investigators still used 12 individuals to take turns interrogating me. They tormented me non-stop for four days and nights. During the past two years, I fainted many times. Now, luckily I have learned Falun Dafa, and my pain has disappeared. I am changing in a good direction, so why don't you feel happy for me instead of suppressing me? If you don't like a good person, then what kind of person do you like?” The guard remained silent. The next few days, female guards took turns demeaning me, attempting to make me give up my belief. I told them about the great change in me after practicing Falun Gong. After hearing these things, they had nothing to say.
A few days later, we were neatly sitting to recite the Fa. Suddenly, there was the noisy sound of chains outside the big iron door. The guards kicked open the gates. I had never seen such a ruckus during my time in custody (more than two years). The head guard broke into the ward, followed by three rows of female guards. In the hallway, there were male guards and armed police holding electric batons and chains. The head guard yelled my name, saying, "We talked to you already. Today, explain your attitude in front of everyone if you still practice Falun Gong.” The atmosphere was tense and quiet.
I replied, "I do not intend to make things difficult for you, but the detention center is just a place to restrict the human body. It can never control my thoughts. After learning Dafa, my congenital heart disease disappeared. I have personally witnessed how extraordinary Dafa is. I feel good! I received a blessing from my misfortune. That is, I started practicing Falun Dafa after I was held in the detention center. Since then my body and mind have become good. However, you order me not to practice Falun Gong. Aren't you forcing me to die?" I then looked at the head guard calmly. The head guard also looked at me and then turned and walked out the door without a word. The other guards followed him in retreat.
A week later, I regained my freedom. After leaving the detention center, I immediately got all of Master's recent articles, and I cherished reading them. I said to myself, "I started practicing later than others, but I will certainly be able to catch up!" Now, whenever I let up in studying the Fa and doing the exercises, I ask myself, “In such a difficult environment as the detention center, I did not give up. Now, in a relaxed environment, I have no reason not to be diligent.”
Today the Chinese regime is still persecuting Falun Gong. I sincerely hope that the world's people can understand the truth and have a bright future.
From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa's Introduction
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