(Minghui.org) Currently, Chinese society is in chaos. News reports across the nation are full of dramatic events, accounts of extreme and violent behavior, and natural disasters. The overall moral standard and the ecology have collapsed and the economy is in crisis. Chinese society is filled with despair. The hottest post found on Chinese blogs sends the message: “Each news report is like an advertisement for immigration to others countries.”
People are all thinking about the root cause of the crises and looking for solutions. Maybe the following story about a respected community committee director can give people some enlightenment.
Walking Out of Impasse
Aunt Zhou is from a small ancient city in southwest China, on the east side of Erlang Mountain, next to Qingyi River. That ancient city was very beautiful and full of legends. Based on ancient legend, when goddess Nu Wa repaired the sky, she missed a colored stone and did not repair the sky in that area. The constant rain there throughout the year became famous as “elegant rain.” The area's gentle and elegant women had an excellent reputation as well, but Aunt Zhou's life did not feel so elegant when she reached her 50s.
During the 1990s, Aunt Zhou's family life was stable. She worked at marketing and sales. Her husband was the Education Bureau official. Their sons ran businesses and their daughter worked in a coastal city. Her husband was very considerate and her children were very filial. But Aunt Zhou developed many health problems.
Severe Meniere's disease, tuberculosis, ulcers, lumbar disc herniation, and neurasthenia headed the list, amongst others. Her condition continued to deteriorate and she often lost consciousness. This even happened while she was cooking. One time she woke up to find that the rice she was preparing to add to boiling water was all over the floor. Sometimes she was unconscious for even longer periods of time. Once, she was unconscious for so long that the water in the pot dried up and the meat burned.
Aunt Zhou looked around for medical treatment and even practiced various kinds of qigong. However, none of it worked. Her friends persuaded her to play mahjong and dance to relax, but that did not work either. Her poor health made her angry and she felt like she was in a vicious cycle.
In the early summer of 1997, Aunt Zhou lost a lot of money playing mahjong. She was very depressed and walked toward home with a heavy step. When she passed a billiard room, she suddenly heard some very beautiful music she had never heard before. She looked up and saw her good friend Xiu Ming practicing a beautiful exercise. The two women had often gone together to learn different kinds of qigong to cope with their illnesses.
Aunt Zhou immediately followed along to do the exercises. Although she only arrived in time to try the last one, she felt very relaxed and comfortable. Afterwards, Aunt Zhou asked Xiu Ming what the practice this was and where she could learn it.
Xiu Ming told her, “This is Falun Gong. You can talk to the volunteer coordinator, Aunt Zhang. This practice is different from all the others. Falun Gong teaches people to cultivate their xinxing and to be good people. We also have the precious book Zhuan Falun to guide our cultivation.” Xiu Ming also shared with Aunt Zhang her experiences and understandings about Falun Gong.
Aunt Zhang, 80, was reading Zhuan Falun when Aunt Zhou arrived. Although there was only a very limited amount of books, Aunt Zhang still lent her book to Aunt Zhou to read.
That evening, Aunt Zhou quietly sat in her room and started to read Zhuan Falun. A dozen years later, she still clearly remembers how her heart was moved when she first read it.
“This book is so great! The inner meanings the book talks about are very profound and supernatural. For the first time in my life, I understand 'one standard alone determines if someone is good or bad: whether he is able to be True, Good, and Endure' (Zhuan Falun). I understand that the root cause for all the sickness and pain is because people did bad things and created karma. The more I read Zhuan Falun, the more I want to continue reading. I could not put the book down.
“My husband woke up and saw that I was still reading. He was very surprised and asked me why I hadn't gone to sleep. I told him I was reading the book from heaven. I was so excited that I was not sleepy at all. I finished reading it at 4 a.m. My view of life completely changed. I now knew why people need to be good and how to be a good person.”
From Hell to Heaven
Less than a month after Aunt Zhou started to practice Falun Gong, all her health problems disappeared. She walked very lightly and fast. She used to weigh just over 40 kilograms and looked like a thin old woman. After practicing Falun Gong, her weight was more like when she was younger, and her skin became fine and healthy. People all said she looked more than ten years younger.
Aunt Zhou used to work in the countryside as an official. Later she worked for a corporation in sales and public relations. She could drink a whole bottle of Chinese wine without becoming drunk. After she started to cultivate Falun Gong, she no longer drank any alcohol at all. She also stopped playing Mahjong and gambling.
Before she started practicing Falun Gong, Aunt Zhou was unapproachable. At home, no one challenged her decisions. Outside the home, if someone said something negative about her, she would berate that person until the other side apologized. After she started practicing Falun Gong, she became tolerant of others and never struck back when attacked, or talked back when insulted. No matter how others treated her, she was always truly good to them.
“Tolerance” was the biggest challenge for Aunt Zhou. She said, “My nephew is a good person, but his wife fell in love with another man and divorced him. One day when my friends talked about this, I did not maintain my xinxing and made a few comments. Later the man heard about this. He stopped me in the middle of the street and cursed me using really bad words. If it was before, I would have argued with him. But that day, I kept apologizing to him. I told myself in my heart that I cultivate Falun Dafa and should not criticize other people, right or wrong.”
The people on the street all commented, “Aunt Zhou was not like this before. Now when someone scolds her in public, instead of fighting back, she smiles.” Someone said, “You don't know. She started practicing Falun Gong now. Falun Gong teaches people that, as a practitioner, you shouldn’t hit back when attacked or talk back when insulted.'” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun) Some said, “We know Falun Gong is good just by looking at how Aunt Zhou changed. She looks like a completely new person physically and mentally.”
Witnessing Dafa's Mighty Virtue
The local leaders saw how Aunt Zhou improved after practicing Falun Gong and asked her to be the Community Committee director. Aunt Zhou already took fame and personal interests lightly, so initially she declined. One night when she opened Essentials for Further Advancement to study the Fa, she immediately read,
“In fact, Dafa’s content is profound. Abandoning ordinary human attachments does not mean giving up an everyday person’s job. Giving up fame and self-interest is not to distance yourself from the society of everyday people.”(“Cultivation and Work, ” Essentials for Further Advancement)
“...if all leadership positions in the society of everyday people were filled by people like us who can let go of the concern for their own reputation and self-interest, what great benefits would it bring to people? And what would be brought to society if greedy people were to assume power? If all business people were cultivators of Dafa, what would society’s morality be like?”(“Cultivation and Work, ” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Aunt Zhou enlightened to a proper understanding and accepted the new job. She used Dafa as the guide in her work to serve the neighbors and community diligently, without any complaint.
There was a married couple who often fought with each other in public. Even with police intervention, the problem continued. During a subsequent episode, the police called Aunt Zhou, “Could you please help handle this? The man got drunk and started to fight with his wife again.”
Aunt Zhou talked to the couple from the point of view of Falun Dafa's principles and told them about the predestined relationship of husband and wife. She also told them how her temper improved after practicing Falun Dafa and she persuaded them to read Dafa books, too. Later, the couple learned about the greatness of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They became humble and got along well.
Aunt Zhou often encouraged vendors to run their businesses with integrity and trade fairly. She also told the police, “The people who run businesses are like your children. You should protect them.” She also advised the city officials for the business administration, “The vendors left their homes to live in the city. It is really not easy. Think about this way, if you or someone in your family were treated unjustly, how would you feel about it? Try putting yourself in their place.”
As a Dafa practitioner, Aunt Zhou's words and actions gained the neighbors' and community's respect and praise. Through her, they saw that Falun Gong practitioners were righteous, selfless, and truly kind.
Falun Dafa practitioners like Aunt Zhou are living examples of the value of Dafa. By word of mouth, many people in the small city started practicing Falun Gong. During that period, people in the city all got along well.
Saving Sentient Beings
However, the evil communist regime ruined the lives of its own citizens and the good fortune that Falun Gong brought to them. In July 1999, the former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader, Jiang Zemin, started the brutal persecution against one hundred million Falun Dafa practitioners, just because of his jealousy. He used lies and violence to destroy the foundation of society and social stability, and brought huge disasters to Chinese society.
After the persecution began and the government-run media spread lies and slander about Falun Gong, many practitioners clarified the truth to the public and helped them to avoid the trap of the CCP's lies regardless of their own personal safety. Aunt Zhou also used her position in the community to tell people about the greatness of Falun Dafa, how she benefited from it, and how the CCP brutally persecuted Dafa practitioners. She helped people distinguish right from wrong and avoid assisting the regime in doing bad things.
Once, a cadre from the local National People's Congress asked Aunt Zhou with concern, "Are you still practicing Falun Gong?"
Aunt Zhou replied, “You know my situation. I used to have many illnesses that the hospitals could not cure. After I practiced Falun Gong, all my illnesses disappeared. I also followed Dafa's standards to do my work for the community selflessly. It's such a great cultivation—how could I stop practicing?”
“But why did practitioners go to Tiananmen Square and self-immolate? How do you explain the 1400 deaths?”
"It's all lies. There are so many practitioners in our county. Have you ever seen anyone commit self-immolation? Have you seen anyone develop problems or die?"
The cadre thought it over and said, “You are right. No such thing has happened in our county. On the contrary, the Communist Party has always lied.”
One event especially allowed the local people to see how the CCP framed Falun Gong. The local area was rich with natural resources, so many companies mined the area and ruined the environment. Some of the owners did not pay the workers their wages, and the workers had no place to appeal because the companies were backed by the government. In 2002, the Jiang Zemin visited the community, so hundreds of workers arrived with their petitions for lost wages. They were incorrectly labelled by the media and government as "Falun Gong practitioners," and were arrested and persecuted very badly. So the people here know that the CCP framed and persecuted practitioners with complete disregard for the law.
Due to practitioners' tireless efforts clarifying the truth, the people in the small town understand and acknowledge Dafa. Many have said, “We all know Falun Gong can improve people's moral standard and health. Many practitioners who used to have cancer or were paralyzed due to a stroke were cured after practicing. We know in our hearts who is good and who is bad.” Some leaders and police officers also said that they wouldn't betray their conscience to persecute their neighbors in order to get a promotion. Many of them also resisted the persecution and protected Dafa practitioners.
Once, officers from the provincial National Security Bureau came over and wanted to arrest Aunt Zhou. The local police chief stopped them from taking her away. He said, “No one is allowed to take her away. For many years, she has done a lot of good things for our town. She helped us solve many difficult situations which even our police department could not settle. We know how to handle her and our local things.”
The local people's kindness and support of Dafa were rewarded. In 2008, during the great earthquake in Wenchuan, this small town was near the center of the earthquake. The cities and counties around it all sustained huge losses, but the houses in this town were miraculously almost intact. There were no major losses to life and property.
The most amazing evidence was right at the center of the earthquake in Wenchuan. The homes of those people who often recited “Falun Dafa is good,” and withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, still stood amongst the ruins and ashes.
The Road of Hope
In 2006, Aunt Zhou left the CCP's monitoring behind and moved to Toronto, Canada. Although she lives in a land of freedom, she gets tearful when she hears the terrible news from China. The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners still continues. Organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners, the worst crime that the CCP perpetrates, continues to this day. Additional disasters continue to intensify in the land she loves so deeply.
Aunt Zhou cited Master Li Hongzhi's words,
“When people do not have virtue, natural calamities and man-made disasters will abound. When the earth does not have virtue, everything will wither and fall. When heaven deviates from the Dao, the ground will crack, the sky will collapse, and the whole universe will be empty. When the Fa is right, the universe will be right. Life will flourish, heaven and earth will be stable, and the Fa will exist forever.” (“When the Fa is Right,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
She said, “To immediately stop persecuting Falun Dafa and restore the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in China is the only hope and way out for China from this desperate situation.” The CCP persecutes this righteous belief, and that is asking to be eliminated by heaven. Aunt Zhou sincerely hopes that the Chinese people can withdraw from the CCP as early as possible and choose a great future for themselves and their future generations.
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