(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2007 after the persecution had already started. As a Falun Dafa practitioner, cultivation practice saved me from my self-destructive habits and guided me to become a better person.
Soon after we married my husband acquired some bad habits, like drinking and gambling. Not much of his wages were brought home. I was very upset in the beginning, but I gradually lost hope and indulged in the same habits.
I gambled hard and lost a lot of money playing mahjong (Chinese gambling). The more I lost the more I played, attempting to win back my losses. One day, three other players and I were arrested and locked in a police station for the night. We were released after pulling strings with various contacts, and we avoided a heavy fine.
Besides playing mahjong, I often put on heavy makeup and fashionable clothing to go ballroom dancing. I dance very well so many people learned from me and called me “teacher.” I often ran into my dance students on the street and was proud of being called "teacher."
After dancing, some students of mine would often invite me to a restaurant and we would lose ourselves in drinking.
In the end, I contracted many illnesses. The most severe one was trigeminal neuralgia that caused pain in my face and around my eyes, as well as dizziness and vomiting. I couldn't open my eyes. In the end, it developed into frequent vertigo that medicine couldn't suppress.
To cure my illness I practiced many kinds of qigong and learned Tai Chi, but nothing helped. I visited many temples and converted to Buddhism twice, but that still didn't help.
I then tried worshiping low-level spirits, one after another. However, the vertigo that had made my life miserable was still very frequent.
A colleague introduced Falun Dafa to me in 2007. After practicing the exercises, I realized my wrongdoings in the past and regretted that I had acquired so much bad karma over the years.
Falun Dafa taught me how to live my life, the heavenly principle of “what goes around, comes around,” and how a person can destroy oneself by lowering her moral values.
I quickly abandoned the bad habits and became a better person. Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa) cleaned my body and all my illnesses disappeared. I regained my health and felt much younger.
My grandparents raised me, so I felt little connection with my parents. They also treated me poorly compared to their other children: my elder sister, younger sister, and younger brother.
After I divorced, I took my son and went to live with my parents for a period of time. They were not willing to give us food or a place to live. I felt angry and that it was unfair.
Though my other siblings had better incomes, my parents still treated them better than me. I resented the unfairness. The relationship with my parents fell to a low point. I no longer visited them during holidays and avoided meeting my siblings.
For about 20 years my life was hard, without a husband and with no support from my parents or siblings.
After I obtained Falun Dafa, the main book Zhuan Falun gave me direction in life. From it, I learned the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the characteristics of the universe.
I understood that there are predestined relationships between people. My parents treated me poorly because I had treated them badly in a previous life.
I understood that one has to pay back the karma one created, and I was paying back the karma I created in this life and previous lives.
Falun Dafa removed the resentment in my heart. I visited my parents with a present on major holidays and got along with my sisters and my brother better. As time passed, our relationship grew stronger and better.
I told them that Falun Dafa had changed me and returned my loving heart. I told them that Master Li taught us to be kind to everyone, not to mention to our own family members.
They saw the changes in me with their own eyes. This cleared up the misconceptions they had about Falun Dafa, and they no longer believed the propaganda the communist party broadcasts that defames Dafa, so they began to respect me.
After my mother passed away my father remarried, but my siblings couldn't accept it. My younger brother opposed the marriage the most and refused to visit our father and stepmother.
My father was sad and wept in front of me, saying that his other children were not respectful. I said, “Dad, it is Falun Dafa that changed me into a better person.”
Father was deeply moved. He thanked Falun Dafa and thanked Master Li. He also quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. My other family members also did the same.
My ex-husband had custody of our 13-year-old son when we divorced, but he didn't take care of him. I filed a lawsuit to get custody two years later.
From that time onward, I took care of our son. I supported him when he got married and bought his first apartment. After he and his wife had a child, they bought a bigger apartment and I gave him all of my savings, 10,000 yuan (~US$1500), for the down payment. I still live in a rented apartment.
I did so much for him, but he didn't show any appreciation. For a period of time, he didn't call me or visit me.
However, since I was already a Falun Dafa practitioner at the time, I didn't resent him and I often visited them. If I saw they had run out of something, whether it was flour, rice, cooking oil, or vegetables, I would buy it for them.
I regarded myself as a practitioner so I treated them with compassion. My son and daughter-in-law were moved and they greeted me on New Year's Day and bought me a gift on my birthday.
After 10 years on the path of cultivation, I have become a better person. I look younger and have more energy. Falun Dafa gave me a new life.