(Minghui.org) At a young age, my son developed severe asthma and allergies. He often woke up in the middle of the night coughing. I brought him to almost every hospital in our city, but none of them had much effect after all the time and money we spent. He was not doing well. Compared to other kids his age, he looked scrawny.
Some friends suggested we try Chinese medicine, and some encouraged me to go to a temple to pray. I desperately tried every one of their suggestions. Several years went by and we had yet to find a solution.
It was an afternoon in the summer of 1997, a day I would never forget. On my way back from taking my son to the hospital for an injection, we passed by a colleague's home. She invited me in and we chatted for a while. She told me that her family had learned Falun Dafa in the Spring and they experienced significant health improvement, with many of their health problems cured. She suggested we give it a try and lent me a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa teachings.
“Is it really that amazing? Let me take a look first and then I will decide.”
My son went to bed after dinner. As usual, I put the medicine by his bed and planned to have him take it at 8 p.m. I sat down and began reading Zhuan Falun. I was instantly captivated and I couldn't stop reading. When I lifted my head and looked at the clock, “Oh my word! It was 1 a.m.!”
I ran to his bedroom. If he didn't take the medicine, he would get an asthma attack.
To my surprise, he was sleeping soundly. He had a rosy complexion and a smile on his face. That was the first time I saw him sleeping so deeply. I put my ear on his chest, and I didn't hear the wheezing that I normally would. I realized that the energy from the practice had already begun to help him. I was overjoyed and couldn't sleep that night.
The next morning, I rushed to my colleague's home. She was doing the Falun Dafa exercises with her mom. “I want to learn the exercises! Teach me!” I told them what happened the night before.
I started to do the exercises with my son, and both of us experienced dramatic changes. His asthma and allergies completely disappeared. Within a year of doing the exercises, my ailing son had grown into a tall, handsome young man.
I used to suffer from vertigo and insomnia. At my job as a high school teacher I often felt ill and had to sit while lecturing.
As soon as I started doing Falun Dafa exercises, my body began to undergo the purification process described in Zhuan Falun. I had severe diarrhea and the substance I discharged had a strong odor of medicine. All of my health problems went away. I even had fewer wrinkles. I felt refreshed and my body felt very light. Now in my 50s, some people say I look like I'm in my 30s.
While I was reading Zhuan Falun, I resonated with Falun Dafa' core principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. With materialism prevailing in China nowadays, it is important to maintain one's integrity and not drift along in the big dye vat.
I strived to follow these principles in my daily life. At home, I became a better wife, mother and daughter-in-law. At school, I became a better teacher. I began to treat the students as my own children. Seeing the positive changes in me, my mother and mother-in-law both started practicing Falun Dafa.
Several students in my class often went to Internet bars after school to play computer games. They didn't return home until very late at night. Their parents were very worried. I tried to talk to one of them, but he didn't listen.
I didn't give up. Instead of going back home after school, I began to look for my students at nearby Internet bars, sometimes until midnight. Once I found them, I compassionately explained why this was not good for them, and why they should go home and not make their parents worry. Eventually I got through to them, and they stopped. Their parents were also very touched.
One of the parents said to me: “You are so kind! No other teacher treats the students like you do.” I told him that Falun Dafa had changed me. He said with sincere admiration, “Falun Dafa is truly amazing!”
From then on, the students in my class changed for the better. They all knew I practiced Falun Dafa and they too started to follow the principles.
After the persecution began in 1999, I was arrested three times and sentenced to four years in a forced labor camp for refusing to renounce Falun Dafa. My husband, a government official, was under a lot of pressure from his boss and peers for being married to a Falun Dafa practitioner. While I was detained in the labor camp, I received a divorce letter from him.
The moment I opened the letter, my heart broke. Memories of our twenty years of happy marriage flashed before my eyes.
As if Teacher were right beside me, I suddenly recalled the passage:
“One’s Buddha-nature is Shan, and it manifests itself as compassion, thinking of others before acting, and the ability to endure suffering.” (“Buddha-Nature and Demon-Nature”, Essentials for Further Advancement)
I realized that I should look at the matter from a different perspective, not just focusing on how much I would lose. I should be compassionate and considerate of others, even if that meant suffering myself.
I felt a deep sense of peace. I sincerely wished him happiness.
After I was released, I visited him and his new wife. He was very touched. “Don't you hate me?” he asked.
With a smile, I said, “Teacher taught us to think of others first. I'd rather bear the suffering myself than bear any hatred for you.”
“You are a true Falun Dafa practitioner,” he said. “You are so lucky to have found such a great teacher! I admire you!”