(Minghui.org) Continued from Part 1.
Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), said:
“Throughout the entire course of my lectures on the Fa and cultivation practice, I have been responsible to society and practitioners. The results we have received have been good, and their impact upon the entire society has also been quite good.” (Zhuan Falun)
As Falun Gong has spread across the world, Mr. Li’s teachings have been instrumental for every true practitioner in achieving good health and a positive, considerate outlook on life. Practicing Falun Gong harmonizes family relationships and benefits society as a whole.
We continue our profiles of people in China, from a variety of walks of life, who experienced positive changes on many levels after taking up the practice of Falun Gong.
Sadly, many of these practitioners have faced persecution as a result of the ongoing suppression of Falun Gong by the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Ye Qionghua is a retired doctor and a deputy chief at a university hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. By the age of 50, she suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, a hyperactive thyroid, stomach ulcer, irregular heart rate, and Meniere's disease, among other illnesses. She consulted the best doctors and experts she could find and was many times hospitalized. Nonetheless, nothing helped. Although a doctor herself, she was helpless in the face of illness.
In 1996, when close to losing hope, Dr. Ye was introduced to Falun Gong. Soon after taking up this mind-body cultivation practice, all her ailments disappeared. Her husband, a scientist, could not believe what he witnessed and insisted that she be checked out in a well-known hospital.
One of the doctors that Ms. Ye consulted was an arthritis specialist. He asked who she'd consulted for her illness, as she looked great considering her medical history. After learning that she had not been taking any medicine, her doctor refused to believe her, as her illness required lifetime medical treatment. The test results showed that she had indeed completely recovered – highlighting the extraordinary power of Falun Gong
Mr. Zhou Changsen and Ms. Zhao Shifang, a married couple, operated a hair salon together. Ms. Zhao treated her customers well, as she followed the teachings of Falun Gong. Thus, her skills and services were highly appreciated by her customers. When they praised her, she attributed her abilities and kindness to Falun Gong, She said, “The practice helps me be a patient person.”
Mr. Zhou was hospitalized several times for stomach hemorrhaging. He was referred to as “the old man” at the age of 40, because of his pale and sickly look. The suffering and heavy financial burden from medical treatments eventually led him to practice Falun Gong. Not long after he took up the practice, his pain disappeared and his back straightened up. He looked young and energetic.
The couple never hesitated to tell their customers about the physical and mental benefits of the practice and shared cultivation stories with them.
For a great number of years they have helped many of their customers selflessly because of living by Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
A beggar once told Ms. Zhao that he didn’t have money but needed a haircut. She was kind to him, cut his hair and gave him money. She also asked him to remember that Falun Gong is good.
One one occasion, a customer fainted while getting a haircut. Ms. Zhao took care of her, bought some food and let her rest in the shop.
Another customers shared with Ms. Zhao that her husband had been paralyzed for 13 years and they had used all their savings for medical treatments. The customer sounded exhausted, hopeless, and stressed out. Ms. Zhao introduced Falun Gong to her and gave her a CD with information about the practice and the persecution, hoping that it would help her husband. After a while the customer came back to thank her. She said, “My husband couldn’t stop watching it for two weeks. Later he could eat on his own and walk with support.”
Ms. Zhao helped an elderly man, who later told people how she saved his life. He recounted, “I suffered from end-stage intestinal cancer and the doctors could no longer help me. My family had prepared for my funeral. Being in excruciating pain I longed for the end of my life. Ms. Zhao, after she heard about my illness, visited me and told me about Falun Gong’s healing power and the persecution. She told me to recite ‘Falun Gong is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ Shortly after, my pain lessened and I was able to eat and walk.”
Mr. Zhu Jingyun was a manager at an appliance store in Jilin Province. He became a Falun Gong practitioner after witnessing the media’s round-the-clock propaganda, smearing Falun Gong, at the onset of the persecution.
Mr. Zhu returned home after work in July 1999, and as usual turned the television on to watch his favorite program. He switched from channel to channel and they were all reporting news about Falun Gong having been banned. Every channel reported negatively about Falun Gong and slandered the practice. Mr. Zhu found out from watching the media that many of the practitioners were professors, intellectuals, and government officials.
After thinking about this issue, Mr. Zhu doubted the media’s propaganda. This media onslaught reminded him of stories from the Cultural Revolution. Liu Shaoqi, the then Chairman and leader of China, was branded a rebel, a traitor, and was permanently disbarred from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).
Based on his knowledge of the CCP, Mr. Zhu believed that Falun Gong was wrongfully maligned. He knew that the practice was made public in May 1992 and by the time the persecution began in July 1999, it was very popular in China and worldwide. There were more than 100 million practitioners. This showed that the practice was welcomed by the general public.
He checked into the practice and was deeply attracted to the profound philosophy. Mr. Zhu became a practitioner himself. He was known to suffer from many hereditary diseases such as heart and liver diseases, cervical problems, and lumbar disc herniation. His ailments disappeared after he started to practice Falun Gong..
Mr. Wu Zixiang used to be director of the Xiangcheng City Farm Equipment Bureau in Henan Province, and was an army veteran.
He was diagnosed with late-stage cirrhosis in 1996 and given at most three months to live. However, he recovered soon after he started practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Wu's pursuit of health was disrupted after the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. As a government official, he faced tremendous pressure to follow the dictates of the communist regime. To avoid implicating his family, he wrote a promissory note that he would renounce his faith. However, he continued to practice Falun Gong in secret. A subordinate found out and reported him to police.
More than a dozen agents descended on his home one winter night in 2001. They scaled the fence of his courtyard and pried open the door.
Mr. Wu was not in. The police yanked his wife, children, and a 1-year-old grandson out of their beds. The young and old, only wearing pajamas, were ordered to stand by the door.
Officer Ma Zhefeng brandished his gun and demanded to know where Mr. Wu was. His wife was terrified and revealed that her husband was in his hometown caring for his mother.
The police went to his mother’s home to arrest him, ignoring the elderly woman’s plea to not take her son away.
Mr. Wu was held in a local hotel for more than half a month. His wife saw him handcuffed to a chair when she went to deliver food to him. He said he had been interrogated by torture.
Mr. Wu was unkempt and weak when he was released. He was able to keep his post as bureau director, but he was so traumatized that he stopped practicing Falun Gong.
He came down again with his former illness after a few years. When medical treatments failed, he began to practice Falun Gong and recovered again. He also resigned from his post to avoid facing further pressure.
His mother had gallstone surgery in 2009 and needed care around the clock. Mr. Wu and his three brothers took turns taking care of their mother. He did all-night shifts until she passed away in 2013 at the age of 92. Many locals commented that she was lucky to have such a filial son. They spoke of him as a role model when educating their children.
Mr. Wu Zixiang was arrested on September 21, 2017 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong and later sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
Upon learning of Mr. Wu’s latest arrest and sentencing, many locals were baffled as to why such a good person had to pay such a heavy price for simply trying to improve his mind and body by practicing Falun Gong.
(To be continued)