(Minghui.org) My father gave me to my uncle’s family when I was 9 years old, because they did not have any children. My uncle and aunt spoiled me. I was never spanked even when I was deliberately mischievous.
No one taught me how to behave or anything about traditional values. Instead, because the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) ideology was prevalent in China, I only knew about atheism. No one told me there were repercussions for behaving immorally and I did not believe in divine beings. I only did things to satisfy myself; I never cared about others' feelings. If anyone offended me I made sure to retaliate.
When I was 18, I joined the army and I caused a lot of trouble. When I came back I was assigned to work in the local energy company and I still frequently got involved in fights. I did many bad things. The factory I worked at was close to a farmer's field and I often went with co-workers to steal his vegetables. When my family was building a house and needed metal radiators, I just stole some from a nearby factory at night.
Sometimes I got so angry, it was as though I lost my mind. I constantly fought, both at my workplace and in society. At home I beat my wife and my dad and yelled at my mom. Everyone who knew me thought that I was a terrible person. Sometimes I felt slightly guilty. I couldn’t do anything about my behavior because I just could not control myself when I got angry.
When I was around 30, I was diagnosed with hyperostosis in the lower three segments of my spine. I also had severe migraine headaches. I could never get a good sleep. I became depressed and felt there was nothing to live for. In order to fall asleep, I began to drink alcohol, and soon I was drinking a quart of liquor every day. One quart wasn't enough and I would have drunk more if my family didn’t control it. My behavior was even worse when I got drunk and my family did not dare to offend me. I would curse at them and smash things whenever something didn’t go my way. They had to be very careful to not upset me and the atmosphere in my home was always tense.
In those years all I thought about was gaining and I never thought about giving or helping anyone. I was never satisfied. No one ever associated me with words like “kindness” or “forgiveness.” No one dared to mess with me. Even though I always got my way, I was not happy. I was like a fly without a head and I just randomly bumped around. I did not know what I was fighting for or living for.
Falun Dafa Is Amazing
My mother-in-law suffered from cerebral arteriosclerosis and severe bone hyperplasia. Every joint in her spine had bone spurs. She couldn’t lay flat otherwise she was in agony. She tried all kinds of western and Chinese treatments - even qigong, but nothing helped.
She started to practice Falun Dafa in 1996. The first time she listened to Master’s lectures, she sat for over an hour and didn’t move until she finished listening to the entire lecture. When it was over, she suddenly realized, “How come it didn’t hurt at all when I sat for so long?” It turned out that while she listened, the spurs in her spine disappeared.
She often told me and my wife how great Falun Dafa was and she also gave us a book Zhuan Falun, Falun Dafa’s main text. Even though my wife and I thought her experience was amazing we didn’t feel motivated to read. One day my mother-in-law came and told us that the video recordings of Master’s lectures would be played and she invited us to come and watch them. This time we didn’t refuse. I did not realize that I was about to experience many amazing things!
The first couple of days that I watched the lectures I still drank alcohol. In fact, I had wanted to quit drinking but I was too addicted and could not do it. While we watched the seventh lecture, we learned that cultivators should not drink or smoke.
When we got home my wife reminded me, “We are now practicing and should not drink or smoke.” I felt Falun Dafa was really good and thought, “If I shouldn't drink or smoke, then I'll just quit.” With just that one thought, I stopped drinking and smoking, after having tried to quit but failed for many years. From that day on, I had no urge to drink alcohol or smoke. My family and I thought it was astonishing. My severe migraines and hyperostosis also disappeared without my even realizing it. I truly experienced how amazing Falun Dafa is!
Not long after I began to practice Dafa, one early morning I went to the exercise site to do the exercises. The sky was still somewhat dark. But I saw red light in front of my eyes. I was confused about where the light came from. Then, it became a very bright light, so dazzling that I couldn’t open my eyes. But even with my eyes closed I still saw the bright light. From Master’s Fa I later understood that my celestial eye had opened.
Several days later while I did the exercises, I felt a big eyeball roll into my head. It was a real feeling. Since then I did not see the bright lights anymore and I was able to see things. The scenes I saw were very clear, just like watching a movie. I saw big Faluns as well as many wonderful sights in other dimensions.
Master said,
“After one’s celestial eye is opened, a situation will occur: One’s eyes will be severely dazzled by light and feel irritated. It is actually not irritating your eyes. Instead, it is your pineal body that is irritated, though you feel as if your eyes are irritated. That is because you have not yet acquired this eye. After you are supplied with this eye, your physical eyes are no longer irritated. A number of our cultivators will be able to feel or see this eye.” (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun)
The process of opening the celestial eye that I experienced was exactly the same as what Master described.
Dafa Taught Me to Be a Good Person
Before I practiced Dafa, I had a terrible reputation and no one wanted to deal with me. I had a bad temper and easily got angry. After I began practicing, not only did I become healthy, but I also understood how to be a good person.
I understood the principle of loss and gain and I no longer tried to steal electricity. The person who went around to collect energy charges was my co-worker and he always just took a little money from us, far from the real amount. But after my wife and I started to practice Dafa, we always paid the full amount. He was very surprised and said Falun Dafa practitioners were indeed very different.
I also understood that in the past, I had lost a lot of virtue and made a lot of karma when I got mad, cursed at people, and beat people. I was determined to cultivate according to the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and change all my bad habits.
At work, whenever managers assigned me a task, in the past I would argue to try to avoid it. But now even if it shouldn’t have been assigned it, I always did it without complaint. I was also able to control myself more and more and treated co-workers kindly. The whole factory saw that I was like a completely different person.
Unmoved When Wronged
Several years ago my father was sick and we went back home to take care of him. While we were eating, my younger cousin said that when we built a house over 20 years ago, he lent us 3,000 yuan. He asked us to pay him back.
Back then, my monthly salary was only 100 yuan and 3,000 yuan was not a small amount. So if that really happened, there was no way we would not remember it. Also, my cousin lived in a rural area with many children, and his family was very poor. They definitely did not have 3,000 yuan to lend us.
If I were not a practitioner, I would for certain not go along with such nonsense and would not give him a penny. But my wife and I knew that nothing was coincidental for practitioners. Perhaps we owed him money in a previous lifetime. So we decided to give him the money.
Not long after we mailed the money to him, we went back again to take care of my father. My cousin said to me, “You've really become a good person. You are not that same angry man you used to be.” Since he and I played when we were children, he was well aware of how bad I was. If I didn’t practice Dafa, I would definitely go after him for wanting to cheat me out of all that money. But as a Falun Dafa practitioner, I must do things according to Master’s teaching of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance”.
Falun Dafa changed me. Everyone around me says that I’m now a kind and considerate person.
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Category: Improving Oneself
