(Minghui.org) My wife began to practice Falun Dafa in May 1995 and suggested that I do, too. I had just started a small business and was only concerned about making money. I wanted to climb to the top and become famous by working hard. After I saw the changes in my wife because of practicing Dafa, I was motivated to read Zhuan Falun in my spare time.
Master said,
“Someone may say, "I’ll earn some more money to settle my family down well so I won’t have to worry about anything. Afterwards, I’ll practice cultivation." I would say that this is your wishful thinking. You are unable to interfere with the lives of others, and neither can you control others’ fates, including those of your wife, sons, daughters, parents, or brothers. Can you decide those things? Furthermore, how will you practice cultivation if you do not have any worries or troubles? How can you do the exercises comfortably and restfully? How can there be such a thing? That is what you think, from the perspective of everyday people.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I felt that this paragraph exactly targeted the thoughts that kept me from practicing Dafa. I made up my mind to begin cultivating in Dafa. That was in August 1995.
After that, I quit all my bad habits, such as drinking, smoking, and playing Mahjong. Then I recovered from all my ailments. The joy of being illness-free was beyond words. I bought a TV and DVD player and played Master Li's lectures, which I shared with others in our neighborhood. If anyone wanted to learn, we’d play Master’s lectures on DVD, and teach them the exercises. We set up a few practice sites in nearby villages, and many people joined us.
My home was a practice site. We studied the Fa teachings and did the exercises early in the morning. We were improving our xinxing very fast.
Validating Dafa Amidst the Persecution
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has persecuted Falun Dafa since July 20, 1999. Because my home was an exercise site, they saw me as a key person, a “leader,” in their words. On the evening of July 23, 1999, the police showed up and ordered me to go to the village residential office with them. The police chief asked me if I was going to continue to practice Falun Dafa. I explained to him that we practice by following Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to become better people, which would benefit all of society. I said I would not give it up.
After that, they took me to the police station, where the village cadres took turns talking to me, trying to convince me to give up my practice. They thought it would be easier to get the others to stop practicing Falun Dafa if I did. After a few days, they still couldn’t get me to write the guarantee statement, so they took me to the county detention center on July 27 and held me for 15 days. Three days after I was released, they arrested me again and detained me for another 15 days.
A dozen practitioners were watching Master’s Fa lectures on DVD on September 3, 1999, around 8 p.m. when the police barged in and took us to the police station. They also confiscated our TV, DVD player, and DVDs.
At the police station, they deprived us of sleep and made us stand in the scorching sun all day every day. I was held for 15 days. Because at that time Master had pushed our xinxing level all the way up, we were extremely steadfast and did not succumb to the pressure to “transform.” Starting in late October, I was illegally detained om a forced labor camp for three years.
Because I refused to be “transformed” or cooperate, my term was extended by four months, and I was transferred to another forced labor camp. The guards deprived us of sleep to try to force us to give up our belief. They tried to “transform” us one by one, and I was the last one.
I was deprived of sleep for three days and nights. A guard asked me why I still wouldn’t give up when others had been “transformed.” I replied, “It’s impossible. Even if I was the last person to continue practicing in this world, I would not be 'transformed.'” They stopped trying to “transform” me after that.
In early 2003, I suddenly lost the ability to walk. That first day, I could walk with the support of two people. By the next day, I couldn’t walk even with two people supporting me. I wondered why this was happening. Then I enlightened that, since the evil couldn’t “transform” me, they wanted to say that they had to release me because I was ill. I thought to myself that I should never be released for such a reason. I wanted to go home in an upright manner. After that, my legs returned to normal the next day.
At the end of 2003, due to the rescue efforts of other practitioners, I was released from the forced labor camp. After driving 300 miles to my home, my courtyard was full of people. People also lined up along the curb. I saw practitioners, relatives, and others, a few hundred altogether. The fellow practitioners lit fireworks to greet me. It was truly touching.
Creating a Fa-Study Group
I came across an experience sharing article on the Minghui website about setting up a home-based material production site in the fall of 2006. I decided to set one up, so I could reduce other practitioners’ workload. Out of concern for safety, some practitioners didn’t quite agree with me, saying that my home would be under surveillance.
My thinking was that we cultivate and improve ourselves in the process of what we do. Fundamentally, it’s Master who does the work for us. I told them that only by believing in Master and Dafa would we be secure. So, with other practitioners' help, I see up a home-based material production site. It has been running smoothly ever since.
Master said:
“It was only yesterday that I told those in charge of the Changchun assistance centers: “Your most important task is to create for our students a stable cultivation environment that’s free of disturbances. This is your greatest responsibility.” (Teaching the Fa at the Assistants’ Fa Conference in Changchun)
That made me wonder how I could create such an environment for practitioners. I got lost on a highway in 2008. I thought: “Master must ben giving me a hint about losing direction in my cultivation.” Back home, I talked to my wife about setting up a Fa-study group. When I approached other nearby practitioners, they all agreed, and we set up our Fa-study group.
Practice sites and Fa conferences are the cultivation environment that Master has established for us. So I wanted to set up a Fa study and experience sharing with the practitioners who had been coming to pick up the weekly journals. After seeking their opinion, I suggested that we also invite whoever else would like to come. They all agreed, and we chose the home of a practitioner who lived a bit far from the main roads. We held it twice a month.
The practitioner whose house we held that Fa study at was later arrested when he was clarifying the truth. So the Fa study was moved to my home, and we met only once a month. One of the days on which we were planning to study the Fa, the director of our village security office was going to hold a wedding. A practitioner asked me if they should still come for Fa study since my home is on the main road. I said that it’s normal to have visitors come to one's home, and group Fa-study is the format Master has left for us. Our Fa-study wasn’t disturbed that day.
Another time, after our group Fa-study, I was struggling a bit with myself about whether to continue our Fa study. A few days earlier, my wife and two practitioners went to clarify the truth in a nearby village and were reported by some villagers. The two practitioners were arrested and taken to a detention center and held for 15 days. Authorities also demanded that the families pay 1,000 yuan each.
One of their family members came to ask me if he should pay them; if not, he could also be arrested. I suggested that he should not give them a penny. If they got money that easily, then they would want to arrest more of us. And I thought they didn’t dare to arrest us.
We also heard a rumor that three people were reported but only two were arrested. I thought: “If I were to cancel our ongoing Fa study, the old forces would say that we didn’t dare to study anymore.” So I knew that it had to continue.
The director of the Domestic Security Department went to the detention center to demand the fines from the detained practitioners after 15 days. They not only refused to pay but they also clarified a lot of truth to him. In the end, one practitioner said, “I don’t even have enough money to get home.” The director then had his subordinate give the practitioner 50 yuan for his fare to get home.
Ever since 2009, we have held our group Fa-study and sharing. Under Master’s empowerment and protection, and with the overall cooperation of fellow practitioners, our Fa-study group has been going smoothly.
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