(Minghui.org) I was born in the 1980s in a mountain village. Because of our family’s impoverished circumstances, I only attended school for three years. I left home at 14 and worked in the restaurant industry and also sold clothing. I became so homesick that I moved back to our county. I got married at 23 and started my own family.
At the time, I did not know anything about Buddhas, Gods or spiritual cultivation. When I first met my husband, I knew that he had no bad habits such as smoking or drinking and how genuinely kind and honest he was. When I asked him, he told me he practiced Falun Dafa - a spiritual belief. I was rather surprised that someone so young dared to defy the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“Don’t you believe what the Party says?” I asked. He explained, “Do you think the CCP can help someone with cancer which can’t be cured by doctors? Suppose someone like that believes in Dafa, puts into practice the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and elevates his moral character, and as a result, recovers from his illness. Who do you think this person should believe in, the Party or Dafa?” As I got to know him better, it became apparent that he was someone I could trust and someone I wanted to share my life with.
I married him and moved in with his family. His family was delightful – they were easy-going, good-natured and generous. Everyone is equal in this loving family, it's a most pleasant environment to live in.
Both of my husband’s parents practice Falun Dafa and their stories are extraordinary. My father-in-law is a teacher. He was afflicted with a peculiar ailment in the prime of his life. The skin all over his body became unbearably itchy. His skin bled at the slightest scratch and caused him excruciating pain. Sometimes his condition became so bad, he could not wear clothing and had to stay home.
The hospital diagnosed his skin condition as a symptom of leukemia which had no effective treatment. He was told to stay at the hospital for further examination at a cost of 30,000 yuan. That was out of the question as they did not even have 3,000 yuan. His supervisor at the school was sympathetic and allowed him to stay home on sick leave.
While my father-in-law was sick, my mother-in-law had to step up to shoulder all the responsibilities. She had my father-in-law and his mother to care for as well as an intellectually disabled sister-in-law to look after. She had to tend their farm to feed the family, find the money for her two children's schooling and pay for her husband’s medical expenses. She resorted to getting up in the middle of the night to grind soybeans to make bean curd, which she went around selling on her tricycle early in the morning. At midday, she returned home to work on the land and then do more household chores. The years of hard physical labor and overwork, on top of serious malnutrition had taken a heavy toll on her mentally and physically, and health issues started to plague her.
At that time my husband attended a technical high school. He heard about a qigong practice that was extraordinarily effective – many people had recovered from terminal diseases after practicing it. He urged his father to give it a try but my father-in-law had long given up any hope of getting better. He had already tried everything anyone recommended to him to no avail. He just did not want to go through it all again. He had even written his will and was waiting to die.
My father-in-law told my husband to look after the family. He was to return to school and finish his schooling because he needed to have a job in order to support the family. My husband dared not disobey his father so he reluctantly went back. His heart was not on his school work, though. He had a lot of anxiety expecting bad news about his father.
A Ray of Hope
The agonizing wait came to a happy end when my husband received good news. Falun Dafa had been introduced to the area and my father-in-law began practicing. Within months, he regained his health and went back to his teaching post. He hasn’t taken a sick day since. My mother-in-law, having witnessed the extraordinary power of Dafa, promptly started practicing herself. She also quickly regained her good health and everyone in the family was happy.
After he graduated, my husband did not move to another town for work. Instead, he went back home to pursue his career there. My father-in-law did not object to his decision because he had already become a Dafa practitioner and his attitude about many things had changed.
After we married, I moved into my husband’s family home. The house is spacious and close to public transportation. Three generations all live happily together under one roof. I feel very fortunate to be part of this family where everyone practices Falun Dafa. My husband opened a small shop.
Defending Dafa
We were busy in our shop one afternoon in 2007 when my grandmother-in-law accompanied by my sister-in-law came in. They told us my father-in-law had been taken away by the police that morning and had not returned home. It was because of the newly installed New Tang Dynasty TV satellite on our roof. My husband immediately dropped everything and we all went to the police station. My grandmother-in-law told the police that her son had been terminally ill, and while the doctors could not save him, his illness was resolved by practicing Falun Dafa. A policeman named Liu ordered her to stop talking.
My husband said he was the one who had installed the satellite dish and it had nothing to do with the rest of the family. My father-in-law said he did it. Without any hesitation, I said I did it. “So you are all fighting to take responsibility!”, Liu huffed in annoyance. He pointed at my husband and yelled, “Take him to the detention center!” A gang of people took my husband away.
My grandmother-in-law was very upset that her grandson was locked up along with her son. The police were worried that she might be over emotional and cause trouble so they told my sister-in-law to take her home. As they walked out, my sister-in-law turned her head and stared at Liu. It was too much for him and he yelled, “Don't move!”
I ran over to him, grabbed his collar and said, “ You’re a policeman who is supposed to be serving us. Why are you yelling at and intimidating an elderly lady? What are you doing?” Startled, he flicked my hand away and his police badge fell off. He was furious and two policemen pounced on me and twisted my arms backward. In my panic, I yelled out, “Master!” They immediately let go of me. I think it may have been the first time they had met with such a strong response. Liu toned down a bit and said, “Don’t you know that your husband did something very serious?” I was not at all intimidated and replied, “I know my husband has done nothing wrong. Let me tell you, everyone in my family - with the oldest at near 90 and the youngest at two – we all practice Falun Dafa. What are you going to do about it?”
Liu said we could talk about it another day. I told him I would be back and look for him. He asked, “Why are you picking on me?” I said, “Because you came to my house to kidnap my father-in-law.” He said, “Kidnap? We were carrying out orders.” Liu hurried away.
Remaining Steadfast
That night, I reflected on the day’s events. I knew in my heart that I did what I had to with no fear because I truly believed that Master Li (the founder) always watches and protects every one of his disciples.
I had to look after the shop. There was no one to do the actual work to fill our orders. I had to seek outside help to finish one urgent tombstone order for a customer. Soon other customers wanted their orders filled. Even though I apologized profusely, they were very angry and accused us of reneging on our promise. In the end, I had to tell them the real reason for the delay was that my husband had been detained for installing a satellite dish and there was no way of knowing when he’d be released. I’d return their deposits in full. They were sympathetic.
Two weeks later, the police phoned me and said I could visit my husband. Everyone in the family wanted to go when I told them about it. We were waiting at the detention center when Liu arrived. He was angry and said, “You were told to come alone. Why did you bring so many people?” I said, “They are his family. It’s only natural that they want to see him.” He said, “Alright! You go in and let them wait outside.”
My husband appeared to be holding up. I reminded him that he should not be there. The police decided to let his family see him. My son was playing outside. When he saw the adults going in, he also hurried in saying as he walked, “The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the evil is completely eliminated.” He said it twice, every word was very clear. Several policemen heard it too and they looked at each other. I was amused by the serious look on my son’s face and in truth, no one taught him those words. I realized later that we were supposed to hear them as encouragement.
Finally, my husband left the detention center a month later. At that time, I began to genuinely practice Falun Dafa and embarked on my cultivation journey under Master's guidance.
Throughout my cultivation journey over the last decade, I’ve experienced good times and bad but we have come through it all under Master’s watchful eye. As long as we have faith in Master and the Fa, I believe nothing can stop us in the time to come.
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