(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) in October 2016. It was Dafa's miracles, practitioners' firm belief, and Dafa's teachings that opened my mind and led me to finally take up the practice 17 years after I first learned about the practice.
First Encounter
I first heard of Falun Dafa from a colleague in 1999. His hepatitis was gone after practicing Dafa, so he encouraged me to tell my father who had high blood pressure about the practice.
I was a bit hesitant: How could an exercise cure disease?
But before I talked to my father, the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Dafa. My colleague was forced to hide and I lost contact with him.
My Wife's Story
In May 2015, my wife suddenly experienced neck pain, along with numbness in her limbs, nausea, and she was unable to eat. A couple of days later she couldn't even walk. She needed someone to help hold her up, and she felt so dizzy that she did not want to open her eyes.
We went to a good hospital in Beijing. My wife was diagnosed with acute sympathetic cervical spondylosis. She stayed in hospital for two weeks, but there was no improvement. The doctor suggested surgery, but I was worried.
The conservative treatment meant that she needed to stay at home. I had to stay at home too, to take care of her.
My father-in-law, who had practiced Falun Dafa for over ten years, offered to teach my wife the practice. She learned Falun Dafa from him.
On the third day of her practice, she felt like something was being pulled out from her neck. Suddenly, her neck pain was gone. She was no longer dizzy and she could open her eyes. As my wife continued doing the exercises, her other symptoms also disappeared. In addition, her temperament improved greatly and she was always smiling.
My wife joined a Fa study group and gained a deeper understanding of Dafa with veteran practitioners' help.
She started to tell other people about Falun Dafa. I supported her fully. We bought a printer, paper, and cartridges to print materials, then packaged them and distributed the information to people. We also talked to many people on the street about Falun Dafa.
Turning Point
My wife encouraged me to live by Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She would simply ask me to be tolerant whenever I complained about other people to her.
She told me about many Dafa teachings such as,
“What is xinxing? It includes de (a type of matter), tolerance, enlightenment quality, sacrifice, giving up everyday people’s different desires and attachments, being able to suffer hardships, and so on.” (“Why Doesn’t Your Gong Increase with Your Practice?” Lecture One, Zhuan Falun, 2014 Translation)
She asked me to read Zhuan Falun (the main teachings of Falun Dafa) with her. She also gave me an mp3 player with Master's Fa lectures on them and asked me to listen on my way to work or home. Every night I would put my hands together and say, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! Greetings Master!”
Gradually, my face, which used to be very dry, became smooth and radiant. People said that I looked ten years younger.
My wife and I went to San Francisco in October 2016. We were fortunate to attend the Falun Dafa Fa Conference there. I watched the group exercises, parade, and silent protest in front of the Chinese Consulate. I was totally moved by the uniform movement and beautiful music during the group exercise practice.
We also listened to 18 Dafa practitioners share their cultivation stories on October 24, 2016. That helped me to better realize the greatness of Dafa and Master.
On our return to China, I said “It is a pity that we didn't see Master.”
“Don't worry,” my wife responded, “when both of us become good practitioners, we will see Master.”
The next day after we got home, my wife asked me to join her in doing the Dafa exercises.
“Sure!” I answered. Thus, I began my practice of Dafa.
Becoming True Practitioners
The fifth exercise requires sitting in the full lotus position with both legs crossed on top of each other. I started with just one leg on the other. I tried to hold that position but could only do it for a few minutes. A week later, the kidney stone that had bothered me for several years came out. I no longer had back pain, even if I stood or bent my back for a long time.
Over time, I was able to sit with one leg on the other; and then I moved on to both legs crossed. Whenever I felt severe pain in my legs, I kept reciting Master's words:
“To consummate yourself, reaping Buddhahood,Let joy be found in hardship.Physical pains count little as suffering,Indeed, cultivating mind is hardest.Each and every barrier must be broken through,And everywhere does evil lurk.Abundant troubles rain down together,All to see: Can you pull through?The world’s miseries endured,One departs the earth a Buddha.” (“Tempering the Will,” Hong Yin, Translation Version A)
“The mind is the path to cultivating gongHardship is the ferry across the boundless sea of Dafa” (“Chapter III, Cultivation of Character,” Falun Gong (7th Translation Edition, 2016))
I can sit in the full lotus position for 30 minutes now.
My wife and I continued talking to people about the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa. She was arrested in February 2017 while she was talking to people about Dafa. She was released on bail in March.
We left China on April 24, 2017. On April 29, 2017, we stood on Times Square in Manhattan to talk to Chinese visitors about Falun Dafa and advise them to renounce the Chinese Communist Party.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
