(Minghui.org) I am a rural woman whose life was full of suffering. From the time I was a child, I’d had to cope with many ailments, such as chronic enteritis, emphysema, rheumatoid arthritis, and so on. The most serious was a heart disorder that caused palpitations, leaving me unsteady on my feet and interfering with my ability to eat and sleep properly. As a result, I was always in a bad mood. I also had a bad temper. I often hit my husband, leaving scratches on his face from my nails. My parents-in-law dared not complain about me, and our child was also affected. We were all really unhappy.
Becoming a Practitioner Changed My Life
I started to practice Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, before July 20, 1999. After I began to cultivate, I totally changed. All of my health problems disappeared in only two weeks. Instead of treating my parents-in-law badly as before, I began to take good care of them and was nice to them.
My mother-in-law lost her eyesight and became paralyzed. I helped her put on her clothes, fed her, and cleaned her up if she didn't make it to the toilet on time. Once, she misplaced 1500 yuan. She kept saying that I took it. I explained to her patiently that I did not and finally helped her find it.
One day my father-in-law was in a bad mood, and he tried to hit me in the head with a shovel. I avoided his first swing. The shovel hit my arm on his second swing, bruising it. I didn't get angry and cooked for them as usual. My father-in-law complimented me all the time, saying, “Our daughter-in-law has become such a good person after practicing Dafa!” When my husband left our village to do odd jobs, although he has many sisters, it was I who took care of their parents until they died.
Seeing how I changed, many fellow villagers came to me to learn Falun Dafa. Most of them were older and poor health, but after they started practicing, they all became healthy and improved their moral standards. Even a villager who used to curse at people on street stopped after taking up the practice. Many of the villagers said, “This Fa must be real! It is so miraculous that it can even change a person like that!”
Then the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. All its official media slandered Falun Gong. All over China, practitioners were searched and arrested. The practitioners in our village that had happily practiced for only two or three months, became targets of suppression. We all cried.
Torture Couldn't Shake My Determination
At the end of 2000, on my way to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and speak out against the persecution, I was arrested by police and taken to a local detention center. I remembered what Master said,
“Moreover, Gods are not like humans. For example, some students were arrested and imprisoned. When they couldn’t endure the severe torture, they wrote repentance statements. But in their minds they were thinking: “This is to fool them. I’ll still practice after I get out. I’ll still go out to validate the Fa and I’ll still go to Tiananmen.” But this is unacceptable. It’s because this kind of notion is something developed in the human world after humans have become degenerate. But Gods aren’t like that. They don’t have thoughts like these. Once they’ve decided on a certain path they’ll definitely stick with it.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America” in Guiding the Voyage)
I didn't write a repentance statement while in detention and got out by maintaining righteous thoughts.
I went to Beijing to appeal again in 2002 and was arrested after I held up a banner that said, “Falun Dafa is a Righteous Fa.” I was taken to Dongcheng Detention Center, where they tortured me and tried to force me to sign a repentance statement. On the 70th day I asked them to give me a pen and paper, saying that I wanted to sign. But what I signed read: “I will be a dignified disciple of Master Li Hongzhi forever!” Then they sent me to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp for three years.
In Masanjia, I was put through all sorts of intense physical and mental torture. I became paralyzed from the waist down due to the severe torture, but I miraculously recovered after only one night. I knew Master had borne the tribulation for me. I went on a hunger strike and the authorities, fearing that I would die there, sent me home eight days later.
Joining the Magnificent Fa-rectification
Teturning home, I immediately began to distribute truth-clarification materials. Late one night I went to a village to distribute materials. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything. A dog was barking, so I said in my mind, “Someone is coming to save sentient beings, all devious things must make way!” The dog really stopped barking, and I distributed the materials to many homes without another problem.
One day I was clarifying the truth to people at a market. A vendor stood up and said, “Stop talking about this. Days ago another person talking about this was arrested.” I said to him, “It seems that you do not know the truth.” I told him the facts about Falun Gong, about the persecution, and about quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliates. Before I finished, a young man beside us stepped forward and said, “Ma’am, help me quit!” He told me his real name and said that he had joined the CCP. Then he happily took my materials and left.
Another time I met a young lady at a market and asked her if she had heard about the persecution of Falun Gong. She said she hadn’t, so I told her. After she understood everything, she raised her right fist and swore to the sky, “I withdraw from the Youth League!” I praised her, saying that what she was doing the right thing and wished her all the best.
Cultivating My Xinxing at Work
A relative of mine who worked at a hospital called me and told me that the hospital needed a cook. I met the director and he told me the job requirements. I didn't tell him I was a Falun Gong practitioner, but I did say that I would do everything strictly in line with high standards and the hospital rules. He was still not fully assured, so I told him that I could work for a week, and he could observe me and then decide. He agreed to hire me and raised my salary by an additional 200 yuan per month.
On my third day at work, the director came to the kitchen to check on me. He was satisfied and said, “Much better!”
On the fourth day, due to a lack of Fa-study and not doing the exercises, I was too exhausted to do all my work. While the doctors were eating, I was sweating profusely and couldn't help saying that I was really unable to assist; I was on the verge of crying. The doctors said, “We'll finish soon, and after we finish, we will help you clean up.”
After I got used to the job, I encountered another test. My relative who worked there always scolded me and found every chance to criticize me. Things became so bad that even the doctors could not stand it anymore. My mood also became very bad around her, thinking that she was just trying to bully Dafa practitioners who would not fight back.
One time she told me to buy goose eggs for her. Early the next morning I went to the market and bought the eggs for her, but she said that they were too expensive and no longer wanted them. I had to go back to the market and sell them at a lower price. I lost time, energy, and money; my resentment towards her started to grow.
But after I calmed down and looked inward, I began to reflect on whether I might owe her some debts from previous lives and whether Master was using the conflict to remind me to improve and eliminate karma.
I thought of the Fa,
“You encounter those things on account of your karmic debts, though we have reduced the debts for you greatly. The few that do remain are allotted to different stages of your practice and will take the form of ordeals. These are meant to develop your character, strengthen your will, and break the attachments you have. They are ordeals fashioned just for you, and we make use of them to perfect your character. And we can help you to overcome them. All of them can be overcome as long as you elevate your mind. You should be able to pull through unless you are not determined to.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
After I improved myself based on the Fa and changed the way I thought about it, I could then handle myself around her and keep smiling no matter what she said.
In this last phase of Fa-rectification, Dafa disciples should remain vigilant against being polluted by this corrupt world and remind ourselves to be more diligent in our cultivation and the salvation of sentient beings. Thanks to Master for His merciful salvation, thanks to fellow practitioners for their support, and special thanks to the fellow practitioners who helped me write this experience-sharing article!
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