(Minghui.org) I live in an outlying village that used to be notorious for its poverty and corruption. Almost everyone was a thief. Although my family were the only exceptions when it came to stealing, I was well known for my crusty temper. I didn’t care about anyone else and had lashed out at almost everyone in the village at one time or another. They all tried to avoid me. The financial stress further aggravated my situation. I thus created a lot of karma and had many health problems.
After taking up Falun Dafa in 1999 at the recommendation of a relative, I learned that my ailments stemmed from my cursing other people. Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa) taught us the principle of “No loss, no gain” (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun). As a result, I no longer badmouthed anyone.
People were curious and asked me why I’d changed. I explained to them the relationship between loss and gain and about the transformation of virtue and karma. “The more we lose, the more we will gain. We accumulate de (virtue), which is a good white substance, by doing good deeds. When I curse someone, I give him de to compensate him for his loss. A person who lacks virtue will not only be poor but also ill,” I said.
I added, “The reason a thief does not get rich is that he steals things from other people and has to repay them with his de. A person who is rich in de finds everything easy and has both health and wealth.”
I explained this principle to everyone in the village. In time, no one stole anymore, and their financial situations improved.
After witnessing the goodness of Dafa through me, everyone in the village came to support the practice. When the Chinese Communist Party started persecuting Dafa practitioners, the villagers protected me and did not take down the Dafa banners that I put up on the power poles. Sometimes the village Party secretary tells me in advance what the police are planning with regard to the persecution so that I can prepare and protect myself.
My Neighbor Wen Jian
One of my neighbors is Mr. Wen Jian. He is very straightforward and rather unsophisticated.
One day, he complained to me that even his own mother looked down on him and doubted if he would ever find a wife. He said he was interested in learning Falun Dafa and asked if I thought he was qualified.
“Everyone can practice, and everyone is welcome to learn,” I said.
He was very sincere. From the start, he could do the meditation with his legs crossed for an hour. When I first started, I could only do it for 30 minutes.
Ten days later, a family from the neighboring village asked if he’d marry their daughter. He did, and they had a son a year later.
My Other Neighbor
My other neighbor, nicknamed “Little Four,” has two children. His mother, who is in her 80s, lives with them. “Little Four” contracted tuberculosis in 2000 when he was in his 40s.
He was a pauper at the time. No one except his mother-in-law would lend him money for fear he would never repay the debt. After he had lung surgery, paid for with the borrowed money, his wife stayed in the hospital to look after him. To save money, she did not ask for a bed and just slept on the floor. She ate her husband’s leftovers.
His elderly mother cooked for the children when his wife was with him in the hospital. With no wood for the fire pit, she picked up leaves in the yard for fuel. I happened to see it and felt sorry for her. From then on, I delivered bales of corn straw to her every day.
After Little Four returned home, his wife told me, “My whole family depends on me now. We are so poor we cannot make ends meet. Our mud house is about to collapse and my health is bad. I’ve lost my hearing and I have three big lumps on my breast. The doctor said that it would cost 1,500 yuan just for an exam, so I decided not to seek treatment. I really don't want to live now.”
I said, “What will your mother-in-law do if you die? What will happen to your daughter and son? You are the beacon of hope in your family. You must be strong! Why don’t you practice Falun Dafa? There’s hope right in front of you.”
I added, “Master Li said, 'As a cultivator, your course of life can be altered. Only through cultivation can your life be altered.' (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun) Your ailments will be cured and you won’t have medical bills. When one person practices, the whole family benefits.
“You can recite 'Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good' at any time. I can give you a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa. Why don’t you give it a try?”
While she was reading the book one day, Little Four saw her. She hid the book in the closet out of fear. When he asked what we were doing, I told him, “Your wife has many serious health problems. I do not have money to help you. But I know practicing Falun Dafa can truly help you, and it doesn't cost anything.”
To our surprise, he was completely supportive of his wife learning Dafa.
A few days later, he told me that his wife's health issue was indeed cured and now he wanted to practice Dafa himself. I gave him another copy of Zhuan Falun.
I brought his mother some dumplings one day. She was surprised to see me so full of energy. When I told her that it was all because I practiced Falun Dafa, she asked if she could learn it.
She said, “Both my son and his wife are healthy now, thanks to Falun Dafa. I really want to practice, too. But I worry that I am too old and illiterate.”
I said, “There is a way. You can sincerely recite these two auspicious phrases every day: ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’”
Three days later, she smiled at me, “My pains are gone. Dafa is so miraculous! I told all the other seniors in the village to recite the two phrases. Who in our destitute village has money? If they all believe in Dafa, how happy they will be!”
A Bumper Harvest
Soybeans are the main crop in my village, but they are prone to pests in the summer. Everyone except Little Four and I sprayed their crops with pesticides. The owners of the land next to ours warned us that the bugs would flee to our rows and eat up all our plants if we did not spray.
In the end, no bugs ate our plants. Our soybeans grew taller than our neighbors', and we had a bumper harvest in the fall.
A few years later, Little Four made a fortune selling his crop. He replaced his mud house with a brick one. He paid off his debts and still has some savings. His whole family was in good spirits.
Sometimes Little Four and I went out to post Dafa flyers and hang banners on power poles. Those poles were erected in the middle of cultivated fields, which had soybean seedlings growing at the time. The power line workers and officials from the township always wondered how those banners were hung up so high even though there were no signs of trampled seedlings or footprints.
Kindness Changes Everything
We had hordes of mice in our village. One day, I checked my eggplants in my garden and decided to pick them the next day. By the next day, however, the mice had eaten them all and left nothing for me.
Instead of getting mad, I had a kind thought: “Mice, we both live in the same world, and you also have to live. You can eat my food as long as you leave some for us.”
When I met Little Four, he told me that the mice had gotten into his shed and destroyed his seedlings and vegetables. He bought some mouse poison and was about to set it out. After I shared my thoughts with him, he agreed with me and gave up the idea of using the poison. No mice ever came back to our gardens after that.
One day Little Four’s neighbor told me that they had planted seedlings three times, but the mice ate them every time. Her husband put out poison to kill them, but his big hen was poisoned instead. He then set up electric nets and killed a lot of mice, but when they wanted to buy seedlings to re-plant, no one was selling seedlings anymore.
She asked me why the mice didn’t attack Little Four's garden or mine. I said that we were kind not only to humans but also to animals and plants. I then told her what we did. She agreed and said she wouldn’t kill the mice from then on.
I gave her all the seedlings that I’d kept, including cucumbers, eggplants, and peppers. Amazingly, the mice did not come back to damage her crops, either! She thanked me and told the story to her family. Her younger sister also started practicing Dafa.
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