(Minghui.org) Someone asked me, “You are an old lady from a rural area, and the persecution of Falun Dafa started just a few months after you started to practice it. How have you fared during the last 20 years?”
We will always face tests, from the beginning to the end of our cultivation. As long as we follow Master’s teachings when faced with obstacles and tribulations, without slacking off or deviating, we will be able to reach consummation.
News of My Amazing Recovery Spread Widely
I am from the mountainous region of Sichuan Province. Before I started to practice Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, I was bedridden with uterine cancer. There was a Fa lecture class in my home in early 1999. Practitioners set up a television and video player in my living room and invited others in the village to watch. They helped me get out of bed and carried me to the living room.
On the TV I saw the image of a Buddha in the meditation position slowly descending and then becoming the image of a regular person. I called out in surprise, “ Look! A Buddha is coming!” A practitioner told me that it was our master, Master Li Hongzhi. We listened attentively to the lecture. Master told us to let go of our attachments and to put down the thought of being cured and even the thought of being sick. I understood what Master said and thought it was really good.
I didn’t attend school much because my family was poor, so I could read only a little, as I had forgotten most of what I had learned. After watching the lecture videos, I asked my youngest son to read Zhuan Falun to me. I also listened to Master’s lecture audiotapes. In the evening, I would study the book word by word.
Less than a week after I started to practice Falun Dafa, I could get up and there was no more bleeding from my vagina. The pain in my lower abdomen was gone, as well as the persistent headache. I was able to stand up to do the exercises and was filled with energy.
It is hard to imagine recovering from such an illness without medical intervention. My recovery amazed the people in my village and the surrounding towns. Many people from nearby villages and towns came to my home to confirm that what they had heard was true.
The area in front of my house became an exercise site, with sometimes more than 100 people attending. Some came to watch and some came to learn the exercises.
At that time, we had three groups doing the exercises every 10 days and one group study the teachings every week. They were open to the public. At our group study, we read Zhuan Falun slowly, paragraph by paragraph.
Attending an Experience-Sharing Conference
I was asked to attend a group Fa study and experience-sharing conference in the city shortly after I had recovered. Practitioners from neighboring villages and I took a seven-hour bus ride on the winding mountain road to the city. Practitioners held a sign at the bus station to welcome us.
They were so friendly—no one was stuck up or condescending. As someone from the mountains and uneducated who had never been to a county-level town, I was really touched. I thought that Falun Gong practitioners were extraordinary.
We studied the Fa, did the exercises, and shared experiences. We watched Master’s lecture video and watched the video of a large experience-sharing conference held in a stadium in Wuhan. That meeting with other practitioners and their touching cultivation stories left an unforgettable impression on me. I went back to my hometown and shared my experience with local practitioners. Everyone was inspired.
Falun Gong Will Defeat the Evil
Around 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on April 25, 1999. After the April 25 Appeal, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime began to interfere with Falun Gong. In our area, we were not allowed to attend group Fa-study or do the exercises together. On July 20, 1999, the evil CCP began the persecution of Falun Gong. I was listed as the key figure. I was arrested and detained. I was pressured to give up my belief. What should I do?
Master said:
“Isn’t any form of pressure a test to see whether your faith in the Buddha Fa is fundamentally strong? If you still are not fundamentally resolute in the Fa, everything else is out of the question.” (“For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I realized that this persecution was a big test for us. I made up my mind. Falun Dafa is so good. Master is so good. Falun Gong practitioners are so noble. No matter how the government slandered Falun Gong, nothing could change the truth in my mind. I knew who was right and who was evil. I would go with Master. I firmly believe that evil cannot overcome righteousness, and Falun Gong will eventually defeat evil.
In that difficult situation, Master's Fa gave me tremendous strength and strengthened my determination and confidence. I shared my understanding with fellow practitioners and said, “There is nothing to be afraid of.”
The police harassed me and confiscated my MP3 player. I was considered to be a leader of Falun Gong. I was arrested and held in detention centers and brainwashing centers several times, from several days to several months each time. I refused to write a guarantee statement and kept telling them how I was saved from near death by practicing Falun Gong.
Just a few days before the 2001 Chinese New Year, several people from the county police department, township government, village office, and local police came to my home. They gathered all my family members—three generations—together and pressured me not to practice Falun Gong.
They tried to make me tell them where I had distributed Dafa truth-clarifying materials, what stickers I’d posted, and how I got the materials. They warned me that I could stay at home to spend a happy holiday with the whole family if I cooperated with them. If not, the time in the prison would not be pleasant. They thought I would easily give in to their threat since I was just a rural woman and had practiced Falun Gong for a short time. But they were wrong. They underestimated the mighty power of Dafa.
Some people advised me, “You see, there are a lot of people quitting the practice. Why can’t you do the same? They keep coming to arrest and detain you. Your family, from old to young, all worry about you.”
It’s true that my family members suffered the intense pressure of the persecution as well. My grandchildren were told that they would not be allowed to join the military or take the civil service exam to become a civil servant. I faced arrests and detention again and again. My family often wasn’t allowed to visit me. Once, my daughter-in-law was even going to sell the house to bail me out. Those who persecute us are the bad people, just like thieves and other criminals. We are good people who cultivate Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. I’m determined to follow Master and to cultivate Dafa.
No matter how long and difficult and dangerous the road to the future, guided by Dafa and blessed by Master, I made the best choice and passed the most important test. I took a critical step and stepped into Fa-rectification cultivation.
Awakening People’s Consciences
I was able to read Dafa books, study the Fa, and read the Minghui Weekly. I understood what a Fa-rectification Dafa practitioner is and why we should clarify the truth about Dafa. Master has taught us many heavenly secrets, and we just have to work hard to do what we should do. For example, we prepared stacks of stickers exposing the persecutions and distributed them. We first made a plan, then posted them from the most distant places to the closer locations at night.
There have been tests to improve our xinxing and we have had to face all kinds of obstacles and overcome them—such as the test of sentimentally. After all, we are overcoming danger in the persecution to awaken people’s consciences. My husband always worried whenever he saw me leaving with my backpack. He would be frightened and restless until I returned home.
Each time the police came to arrest me, they ransacked our home. Even the beds were turned upside down. After I was taken away, it would take my husband most of the day to put the room in order. He was worried and humiliated. My sons and daughters-in-law often asked me not to practice anymore. They worried that I might affect the future of their children.
I realized it’s wrong not to face the problem directly when encountering conflicts. So, I followed Master’s teachings and patiently clarified the truth again and again to my sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren. I told them, “None of you could save me when I was near death. I didn’t have money for medical care. Even if I had, I was far too ill. It is Dafa and Master Li who helped me recover. You witnessed that. Now I am in good health. I cook for this large family and take care of my grandchildren.
“I feed the pigs and the cattle and haven’t spent a penny on medical expenses since then. That has relieved you all of a great burden. You should be grateful to Dafa and Master Li. When it comes to my grandchildren’s future, just follow the course of nature. Their future is up to Master. Dafa disciples are clarifying the truth to awaken people’s consciences. I have done nothing wrong. You’ve endured some hardships because of me. Master said: ‘Let joy be found in hardship.’ (“Tempering Your Will,” Hong Yin, Translation Version A). You have supported Dafa and a practitioner, and you will be blessed in the future.”
My grandchildren all have a positive attitude towards Dafa. Once on the way to school, my grandson ran into police officers who were going to make an arrest. He quickly returned home, hid my copy of Zhuan Falun in his schoolbag, and left. One of my other grandchildren said to me, “Grandma, I can certainly pass the civil service exam. But before you take it, you have to fill in a form and state that no family member practices Falun Gong. I won’t take the exam. I will find another job. I don’t want to put pressure on you.”
My grandchildren have now all graduated from college and have good jobs. The grandson who didn’t take the civil service exam works in a big company and earns 10,000 yuan a month. These are all Master’s blessings. As long as we follow Master’s teachings and cultivate in accordance with the Fa, our family members will be blessed.
The Closer to the End, the More Diligent We Should Be
When the CCP coronavirus broke out in early 2020, we all realized that we were at the final stage to awaken people’s consciences. However, I suddenly had symptoms of serious sickness karma. In mid-March 2020, after I finished doing the exercises, I felt cold all over. Then I had a high fever that lasted a long time. My face was swollen and full of blisters. I felt a burning pain on the skin of my abdomen. I could only eat a little soup. My sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren saw this and repeatedly advised me to go to the hospital. They said that money was not a problem. If I died at home, the impact would not be good. It seemed that I could die of exhaustion at any moment.
Because Master does not acknowledge that the old forces persecute Dafa practitioners in the form of sickness karma, I had to completely deny the old forces’ arrangements. Master teaches us to always look inward when we encounter tribulations. I had to look inward to see which of my attachments were taken advantage of. I remembered that two days before the symptoms of the sickness karma appeared, my exercise music player suddenly stopped. The next day it was fine. Did Master give me a hint?
I realized that, since the CCP coronavirus broke out, the Minghui website had published a lot of new truth-clarifying materials, including leaflets, pamphlets, audio, video, stickers, and so on. In recent years, because of my fear of surveillance cameras, I had been afraid to distribute such materials. Because of that fear mentality, I didn’t realize how urgent the situation was. In the past, I would walk 50 km at night to distribute those materials. I realized that I should improve my xinxing and change my state.
I looked inward for my attachments and I also told my family members not to be afraid since I was a practitioner and Master protects me. It might appear that I was ill like an ordinary person, but I was fundamentally different.
In the current situation, it would have been very easy to go to the hospital. Facing the test of life and death and tempted by family love, if I had lacked righteous thoughts in believing in Master and the Fa, I would have been forced to go to the hospital. I knew that the evil beings in other dimensions were watching me, wishing that I would be like an ordinary person and go to the hospital so that they would really have me die. I endured and insisted on studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and sending righteous thoughts.
Several days later, the swelling in my face went down, the blisters turned into scabs, and the high fever was gone. My family once again witnessed the power of Dafa. I passed the test of life and death and withstood the fundamental test of believing in Master and the Fa at the final stage.
Other practitioners have also encountered tests in this final stage, including sickness karma, slacking off, complacency, resistance due to family affection, and so on. These difficulties we encounter in the final stage are all tests. As long as we follow Master’s Dafa, we will be able to overcome all obstacles.
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.
