(Minghui.org) When my 88-year-old father was hospitalized in January 1998, he told me that a friend visited him and urged him to practice Falun Dafa. This was the first time I had heard about Falun Dafa. I knew nothing about it.
I assumed that Falun Dafa must be some kind of qigong practice. I asked him if he practiced it and wondered why I had not heard of it. To my surprise, my father replied that he had been a Dafa practitioner since 1996.
I had tried many kinds of qigong exercises for medical reasons, but none of them provided any significant benefits. I therefore gave up on them and believed in none of them.
Out of curiosity, I asked what he thought about Falun Dafa and was told that it was a good cultivation practice. My father admitted that he had stopped cultivating because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that Party members were not allowed to practice Falun Dafa.
“The Party controls everything,” I said. “And it even controls qigong! Please keep practicing it if you like it, and don't mind them. You are in charge of your own health!” He thus resumed doing the Falun Dafa exercises after being discharged from the hospital.
I went to visit my father the week after he returned home. He looked to be in glowing health and told me that he felt great.
It was quite a miracle for someone his age to regain his health so quickly after being hospitalized. I was happy for him but did not think much of it.
A month later, my father's blood pressure went up again, and his doctor told him to go to the hospital. However, my father did not feel any discomfort. I had a very bad feeling about the situation, and I believed that my father would never be released if he were admitted this time.
I asked him how he could practice Falun Dafa if he was in the hospital. He told me that he was worried about that, too.
I said, “Next week is a week-long national holiday, and very few people will be working in the hospital, so why don't you rest at home and go to the hospital after the holiday?” My father agreed and asked me to cancel the hospital reservation.
My father called me at nine that evening from home and informed me that his blood pressure was back to normal.
I was amazed at the speed of his recovery, which was truly unbelievable. I went to check on him the next morning. He was glowing and looked very happy.
After seeing all of this, I became very curious about Falun Dafa and wanted to borrow his copy of the book Zhuan Falun. But my usually generous father refused to give it to me. He said, however, that I could read it in his home. Nothing I said made him change his mind. He said, “You only can read it here; you cannot take it with you!” He told me that he read it every day.
I went looking for Zhuan Falun in bookstores. I visited every bookstore I knew of and could not find a single copy. My husband murmured, “How strange. I was certain I saw Zhuan Falun in bookstores just a few days ago.”
A bookstore owner asked us what kind of book we were looking for. When we told her we were looking for Zhuan Falun, she held her index finger to her lips to hush us. She whispered, “That book is banned.” She did not know why, only that it was an order from upper-level officials. She whispered that she had a few copies hidden away.
We were so happy that we finally got our hands on Zhuan Falun. I stayed up all night reading the book and finished it in one go. I thought, “There is so much in this book.” I felt wiser and found answers to many things I did not understand before.”
The next day my husband asked if it was a good book, and I said, “Yes.” But I told him that I could not explain why I felt it was good.
My husband started reading Zhuan Falun. Halfway through it, he said, “This book is indeed very good, as it teaches people to cultivate xinxing, which is very important. However, I am sure the communist party will not tolerate this book.”
He went on to say, “The Party is atheist, and Zhuan Falun talks about Buddhism.” My reply was simple, “I don't care whether the Party allows it or not. I am practicing Falun Dafa.”
A few days later, my husband showed me some news articles denigrating Falun Dafa, but I did not change my mind.
I thought, “Regardless of how good a person or thing is, there will always be someone to make negative comments about it. I think Falun Dafa is good, and nothing can change my mind.” My husband and I started to practice Falun Dafa.
Twenty years have passed, but those few days are still fresh in my mind, like they had just happened yesterday. Our faith and belief in Falun Dafa and Master Li Hongzhi helped us get through the worst times after the Chinese Communist Party started to persecute Falun Dafa in 1999.
We are, and always will be, diligent Falun Dafa practitioners.