(Minghui.org) I had been in poor health since childhood, so when qigong became popular in my teens, I was very interested in it. I did the exercises every morning before going to work.
While I was doing my own exercises on the morning of March 4, 1995, the sound of very pleasant music caught my attention. I followed the melody up a hill and saw a group of people meditating on a flat clearing. I watched them quietly, as the scene was solemn, and the music melodious. I took up that practice—Falun Dafa. I was 30 years old at the time.
For the past 25 years, Dafa has helped me tremendously, and I now truly understand the meaning of life—where we are from, where we're going, and what we came to this world for.
I have a fulfilling and happy life, which has been bestowed upon me by compassionate Master. He has taught me to be a good person, and I assimilate to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance by cultivating myself diligently and continually improving my xinxing.
I am very grateful for Master's salvation and would like to share my experience of following the teachings to be a good person.
Cultivating Within the Family
I got married in 1993, but my wife and I lived and worked in different cities. My relatives and friends tried to persuade me to get her transferred to the university where I worked by bribing people to help. I was initially reluctant to do it but soon changed my mind.
After spending a lot of money, however, our living together didn't turn out too well. My wife always complained about me and even slapped me in the face. Every time I went to my mother-in-law’s home, her family criticized me for not being capable of handling my wife’s job issues. I was a man who cared deeply about saving face. I tolerated the humiliation, but I was very offended deep down inside.
When I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1995, I realized that bribing people to help my wife transfer between universities was wrong. But the whole experience allowed me to see many of my attachments, such as saving face, vanity, selfishness, and the pursuit of fame.
I suffered a lot because of these attachments, but I became very calm when I managed to let go of them. After I changed my mentality, my wife's attitude also changed. She even praised me and said that I had become more tolerant after practicing Falun Dafa.
However, I found the conflicts with my son very difficult to handle. I loved him very much and tried my best to help him, but he was often cold toward me and argumentative. I sometimes couldn't bear it and yelled at him or even beat him. This made him become even colder toward me.
I knew that my behavior was not in-line with the Fa. When I recited the section titled “Transformation of Karma” in Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun, I knew that the conflicts between us were really karma transformation, which also exposed my attachments. My son was actually helping me to improve my xinxing, and I should have truly thanked him for that instead of having resentment toward him.
I apologized to my son and focused on getting rid of the attachments to resentment, unfairness, jealousy, and wanting respect. After I rectified myself, my son also changed his attitude toward me. He told me that I had become a better person.
My wife has had schizophrenia for over ten years. She often scolded me and spoke gibberish. However, I took care of her and didn't argue with her at all. Acquaintances often suggested that I get a divorce and start a new family. But I was married and could never leave my wife.
At Work
Besides teaching at the medical university, I am also a doctor in a hospital. I consider both to be noble professions, but currently in China, it has become a well-known secret that teachers sell stuff to their students and take bribes from their parents, and doctors extort money from their patients. These noble professions have become corrupt, as the moral standard of human society has fallen into ruin.
After I started to practice Falun Dafa, I followed Dafa’s principles to be a good person at work and to maintain a high moral standard. I treated my patients and students with kindness and always put their needs first.
A female patient once quietly gave me a big red envelope as a gift to thank me for curing her illness. I politely declined the gift and told her that it was my duty to treat patients the best way I can. She was very touched, “You're the best doctor I've ever met. You're not only good at your profession, but you're also a noble and respectful person!”
In class at the university, I teach students with patience, attention to detail, and treat each of them with kindness. After I was illegally arrested for practicing Falun Dafa, the local 610 Office investigated me and questioned my students in an attempt to find an excuse to sentence me.
All of my students told the officials that I not only taught the class well but also taught them to be good people on a daily basis. The students requested that I be released, and allowed to get back to teaching the class. I led by example and won the students’ respect. It was not because I was capable, but because Master taught me to be a good person and made me who I am.
In Society
There are many beautiful women around me, and I was often tempted with lust and having affairs. Since starting to cultivate Falun Dafa, I have been tested many times with lust. However, I strictly followed Master's Fa to be a good person and stayed away from these temptations.
One day a beautiful woman, who used to be my patient, came to my office and invited me to dinner. I politely declined. However, she didn't leave and wanted to wait until I got off work. I thought it must be that I still had the attachment of lust and that this was a test to see whether I could let go of it. When I corrected my thoughts, the woman left.
The community where I lived usually collected all the utility fees through the management company. Residents used all kinds of excuses not to pay the fees on time, or at all. The management was very frustrated about this. After I started to practice Falun Dafa, I paid all the fees on time. They knew that I was a practitioner, appreciated my efforts to make their job easier, and said that we practitioners are really good people. I told them that Falun Dafa is good and that Master Li taught us to think of others first.
The director of the labor union invited me to his office to collect 2,000 yuan as compensation for my mistreatment in being persecuted for my faith and fired from work. He told me that it would be recorded and played on the local TV channel.
After being told this, I refused to accept the money. I was in a difficult financial situation, and I also had to pay for the treatment of my wife’s illness. All of this was a result of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution.
They basically wanted me to go on TV to promote their agenda. After I refused to accept the 2,000 yuan and go on TV, my colleagues praised me for being a truly good person with a strong moral standing.
In the Dark Den
Since the CCP started to persecute Falun Dafa in July 1999, I have been detained in police stations, detention centers, forced labor camps, drug rehabilitation centers, prisons, and brainwashing centers many times, and I suffered greatly. But even in such evil environments, I strictly followed Master’s teachings to be a good person, and always thought of others first.
For example, when I was being held in a detention center, the detainee head named Luo, who was a prisoner, got sick every winter and needed treatment. I cared about him and wanted to help him. I told him classical Chinese stories about being a good person, and how I had benefited from practicing Falun Dafa.
The detainees in my cell once came down with the flu one after another, except me. When the flu erupted again, the same thing happened, and again skipped me. Luo was very surprised, started to think about what I told him, and gradually believed what I said. He wanted to learn Falun Dafa. I told him about the book Zhuan Falun and taught him the Dafa exercises.
Luo asked me to write down “On Dafa.” He liked to read it a lot. He also did the exercises together with me whenever we got a chance. Gradually, his hot temper subsided, and he no longer beat the new detainees nor extorted money from them.
Many other detainees also learned the exercises. Our cell became harmonious. Luo didn't get sick again when winter came around. By the end of the year, the cell I was held in was awarded the title of “civil detention room.”
When I was eventually tried in court, I shouted out “Falun Dafa is good!” I was then beaten by the court officers in front of everyone, and my mouth bled and became swollen. When I was taken back to the detention center after the trial, the detainees asked me what happened. They were all very angry after I told them. One of them said, “It seems that the CCP really is going to end. They even beat good people like you so badly.”
Clarifying the Truth to People Who Have Persecuted Me
I was imprisoned partially because the local Domestic Security Team leader participated in the arrest. After being released, I still thought about him since he had committed a crime against Dafa and was in great danger if he did not correct his wrongdoings.
My mother and I went to see him in the police department to clarify the truth to him. I didn't hate him for arresting me, and just wanted to save him. He listened to us sincerely. He later understood the truth about Dafa and voluntarily left his position.
He showed up in the hospital one day, for a physical. I examined him and told him that everything was okay with his health. He pressed his hands together in front of his chest (a gesture of respect) and thanked me.
I knew that the head of the local 610 Office and a few other officials who participated in persecuting Dafa practitioners had died. He was very scared that he might be next and came to the hospital for reassurance. He was very grateful to me for telling him the truth about Falun Dafa. I said to him, “Master is the one you should thank. Master told me to be a good person and think of others first.”
The Standards of Being a Good Person
What is a good person?
Master said,
“As a human being, you are a good person only if you can follow this universe’s characteristic of Zhen-Shan-Ren. A person who deviates from this characteristic is truly a bad person.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I understand this is the golden standard to tell good people from bad people. Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance have very profound meaning. My understanding is that “Truthfulness” means to speak the truth, not to lie, and daring to admit to one's mistakes; “Compassion” means being kind to others, doing good deeds, and thinking of others first; “Forbearance” means having a strong will while being treated unfairly, being open-minded, and not holding onto resentment. If we can truly achieve these attributes, then we are good people.
For the past 25 years, I have always followed Dafa’s principles to be a good person, and I’ve come to understand the many meanings of the Fa at different levels. I am very grateful to Master.
When I understood that my every thought and action was being recorded by Gods and that I will receive virtue for doing good things and gain karma for doing bad things, I dared not knowingly do bad things any longer.
If everyone can behave like this, then the social order and moral standard of society will be greatly improved. I feel very fortunate to cultivate in Falun Dafa and that I have Master. I truly wish more and more people can cultivate and benefit from the practice.
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