(Minghui.org) The practitioners in our Fa study group all appear to be very ordinary, yet they all have had extraordinary experiences on their cultivation paths and are very special.
I. A Home for Cultivation
In 2002, I was sentenced to nine years in prison for not giving up my belief in Falun Dafa. My husband divorced me in 2008. I was released in May 2011, and I had no money and nowhere to go. I asked Master Li for help: “Master, I want a home. The size doesn’t matter. It’s fine as long as it is a place where I can cultivate.” I soon found a home.
I knew Master arranged it and that it was not for me to live an ordinary life but for me to cultivate. We set up a Fa study group, and I made a key for every practitioner who joined us. That way, if I was away, the group could carry on as usual. I also gave a key to practitioners who often needed to get in touch with me, so they didn’t have to call or knock on the door. It was safer and more convenient for everyone.
The ages of the practitioners in our group range from 51 to 71. Every morning, we go out and clarify the truth. In the afternoon, we study Zhuan Falun, and in the evening, we study Master's other lectures. We do not take days off and have not stopped despite the weather and other situations.
We started to go outside to make phone calls to clarify the truth to people in 2014. There were a lot of mosquitoes that summer. To deal with them, I tried something I learned from an experience sharing article. I wrote a “Notice to the Mosquitoes:” “Mosquitoes, it is our predestined relationship that you came to me. I do not want to hurt you, and you don’t want to interfere with my saving sentient beings. Please remember, ‘Falun Dafa is good!’ You can go now!” After that, I got very few mosquito bites.
In the winter, it was so cold that our fingers became numb, and it was difficult to dial the phone numbers. But we stuck with it. We felt quite happy and encouraged every time we helped someone quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
In 2015 and 2016, we went door to door in nearby rural areas to reach out to people and explain why it was important for them to quit the CCP and its organizations.
On one occasion, three of us were arrested and taken to a detention center. We thought it was because we didn’t clarify the truth well enough to the police, so they didn’t understand the situation.
We did not want these officers to continue to commit crimes against Dafa, and we truly wanted to save them. So we decided to write letters to them with the wisdom of our compassion.
The director of that police station had participated in arresting Dafa practitioners many times in the past and was quite ruthless. But we still treated him with compassion. In our letter, we greeted him and called him a brother. We then pointed out his bad deeds and told him about the terrible consequences he would face if he continued to participate in the persecution.
We also wrote to his wife and explained the concept of karmic retribution. We mailed her a gift box with the letter and included booklets and DVDs that we carefully selected.
The results were positive. Soon afterward, the three fellow practitioners were released. From then on, whenever someone reported practitioners to that station, the police always had reasons for not sending officers, and they would notify us to be careful.
One day, we saw a woman selling gourds and asked her if she had heard about quitting the CCP. She told us that she used to practice Falun Dafa, so we encouraged her to join us. She said, “Let me finish selling all my gourds. I’ll join you after the Dragon Boat Festival.” I asked her where she lived, and it turned out that we were in the same community. So I gave her my home address and invited her to come.
She indeed came after the Dragon Boat Festival, and she has been studying with us ever since. We were very happy that she returned to Dafa cultivation!
II. Selfless Dafa Disciples
Ms. Wang is very quiet but firm in her belief. She was arrested in 2007 for making Dafa truth-clarification materials and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Soon after she was released in 2015, she began to go out with us to the rural areas to clarify the truth.
In December 2018, a couple who had been badly persecuted for practicing Dafa came to our area looking for a temporary place to stay. I thought of Ms. Wang because she was just about to travel to her daughter’s home in the provincial capital for the Chinese New Year. So I asked her, and she agreed without hesitation.
But after only a couple of days, the husband was arrested by officers from their local police department who’d followed them. At that time, no one knew what the real situation was, and we were all fearful. A lot of the practitioners involved left to avoid persecution.
I felt quite sorry for Ms. Wang, because the others could go elsewhere to hide, but there was no way for her to hide in her own home. What if the police began to monitor her? I regretted getting her involved, but Ms. Wang said calmly, “You don’t need to feel sorry. You didn’t do this for yourself. When we see fellow practitioners who need help, everyone would do the same.”
Even though it was something simple to say, it truly reflected her xinxing level.
After Ms. Wang returned home, she discovered that some important documents were missing, including her bank cards. We were very nervous for her and thought the police had taken them, but she later found a small note in a very secret spot.
It was from the wife: “My husband was arrested a couple of days ago, but they did not take me. I waited here for two days for you, but I have to leave now. I have hidden some important documents for you.” We were very touched by the selflessness of this disciple. We are beings forged by Dafa. At critical times, we are thinking about others, not ourselves.
III. Ms. Zhang Apologizes to Her Daughter-in-law
Ms. Zhang was a schoolteacher. She always makes sure people completely understand the persecution situation. Her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson all support her practicing Dafa.
Back when practitioners were suing former CCP leader Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution, the situation was very dangerous. The police had arrested more than 10 practitioners, and Ms. Zhang was thinking about temporarily leaving home for her safety. Her son said, “If you believe that your master is a divine being, then you should not hide.”
Ms. Zhang thought, “Yes, that’s true. Master is omnipotent, and I am his disciple. How can I be afraid of ordinary people?” So she didn’t go anywhere and just faced the situation, and everything was just fine.
Ms. Zhang is a very straightforward person and always says what’s truly on her mind. Below is her sharing:
“I always had a bad temper and a very strong personality. Before practicing Dafa, I never wanted anyone to criticize me and I never wanted to suffer any losses. I also had a strong competitive streak, thought I was capable of anything, and would never admit it if others were better than me.
“When I was in school, I was a good student and a good athlete. I was in the first class of college students after China resumed the college entrance exam. After I became a teacher, I was honored many times as the city’s outstanding teacher.
“My husband was also a teacher, but he is very laid back. Because I was so strong-willed, he let me take care of everything. So I was always in charge. At work, I also had the final say on most things.
“My son got married in 2001, and my grandson was born in 2002. My son’s family moved out of our home in 2006, but because my daughter-in-law had to work, my grandson stayed with me. It has been 14 years, and I’ve spent over 200,000 yuan on him and devoted a lot of my time and energy as a surrogate parent. Everyone said how lucky my daughter-in-law was to have such a nice mother-in-law to take care of her child.
“However, she and my son fought a lot because my son abused alcohol. She often threatened to divorce him.
“They recently had another fight, and she went back to her parents’ home and convinced her older brother and sister-in-law to come with her to talk to me. They blamed me for everything because I didn’t discipline my own son, and she asked for a divorce.
Unfortunately, I was not able to maintain my xinxing and behaved just like Master described in ‘Expounding on the Fa,’
“Whenever a tribulation comes, you do not see it with the side of your original nature but view it completely with your human side.” (Essentials For Further Advancement).
“I thought: ‘I have given you so much. Not only are you not thankful, but you are blaming me for everything. What did I do wrong? If I didn’t cultivate, I would have hit you and kicked you out of my home. Don’t threaten me with divorce. Can’t my son find another wife? You are the one who will end up suffering after a divorce. You won’t be able to find another nice home like ours.’ So I said, ‘Whatever you want. If you want a divorce, then do it quickly so we won’t all be suffering.’
“Then I turned around and left. I later thought: ‘Master told us to look inside when we encounter conflicts, and if something is unrelated to you, then it definitely will not happen.’ But I could not see that I’d done anything wrong.
“When I went to the Fa study group and told my fellow practitioners about this, they said, ‘It is still your fault.’ I felt so mistreated, but they reminded me: ‘You are overbearing and self-centered. You also have too much sentimentality for your son. You must put yourself even lower, at the very bottom.’ I suppressed the upset in my heart to look inside, and I studied Master’s Fa:
‘He who regards notordinary sorrows and joysA cultivator is heHe who has not attachmentto worldly loss and gainAn Arhat is he’(“Breaking Free of the Three Realms,” Hong Yin, Translation Version A)
“And:
‘A wicked person is born of jealousy.Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself.A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.An enlightened person has no attachments at all.He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.’(“Realms,” Essentials For Further Advancement)
“Through studying the Fa and sharing with practitioners, I found my shortcomings. I should not have treated my daughter-in-law with that attitude. I was very stubborn to think that I was correct. I had a strong desire to save face. I wanted others to appreciate me and respect me. I also had a lot of sentimentality for my son.
“Once I realized these shortcomings, I was determined to eliminate them. So I went and apologized to my daughter-in-law. In fact, she didn’t really want a divorce, either. She just wanted to scare my son. Knowing my personality, she was very touched that I would apologize. So the incident was over, and our conflicts were resolved.
“From this experience, I understood that all relationships are predestined. The reason I am giving them a lot in this lifetime is probably because I owed them from a previous life. As a cultivator, I should not care about losses and gains. I also saw how important group Fa study is. If we study the Fa more, we will be able to look inside when we encounter things and pass any tribulation.”
IV. A Diligent Fellow Practitioner
Ms. Han is in her 70s. She is very kind and always tries her best when doing things related to Dafa. She spends almost all her days going out to do the three things asked of practitioners.
Her husband is not a practitioner, so she takes care of the household chores early in the morning and late at night. At first, her husband laughed at her and said, “You get up early in the morning and don't go to sleep till late just to do these chores. What do you do during the day?” She would just smile.
After a while, her husband saw that she was as healthy as a young person, even though she was over 70. So he really admired that and often told people, “My wife is really healthy. She does almost all the housework.” He also helps to remind her when it’s time for group Fa study. If she is still washing clothes, he will say, “It’s time for your group Fa study. Just leave the clothes—I’ll wash them. Don’t be late.”
For some time their son was on the verge of a divorce, and Ms. Han was very worried. She began to have symptoms of nephritis, which she had before practicing Dafa. Ms. Han thought, “Dafa practitioners do not get sick. This is not an illness; it’s just due to my attachment. It’s because I’m not letting go of my sentimentality, so the evil factors are taking advantage of it. I must negate them and not think about it. All lives have their own arrangement, and I cannot be attached to it. I should continue to do what I normally do.” She recovered within a day.
Another time, just before going to bed, she had a severe pain in her back and couldn’t move. She asked her grandson to help her and told him to not tell Grandpa.
The next morning the pain was even worse, and it took a lot of effort just to sit up. But she couldn’t stand. Then she suddenly remembered, “I’m a Dafa disciple and we are not supposed to get ill. This is not an illness. I must stand up. I must go out to save sentient beings.” She pushed against her legs and, little by little, she stood up. But she still could not take a step.
Ms. Han thought, “I’ll do the exercises if I can’t walk.” But as soon as she raised her arms, the pain was so severe she could not stand it. She put down her arms and tried to raise them again. She persisted, and after several tries, she did the exercise.
The pain eased a bit, and after doing more of the exercises, she could take a small step. After the third attempt, she was able to walk out of the room as if nothing had happened. Because she always did the exercises at that time, her husband didn’t notice anything different. After breakfast, she went out to clarify the truth as usual.
V. A Practitioner Avoids Persecution Twice
Ms. Li has a compassionate heart and always has a smile on her face. But she also has strong righteous thoughts and is always in the forefront when we go out to clarify the truth.
We once went to a nearby county to clarify the truth, and she was arrested. She sent forth righteous thoughts continuously while clarifying the truth to the police. She was taken to a detention center twice, but both times she was denied admittance. In the end, even the officers no longer had any ill will. The director held the refusal document from the detention center and said, “Falun Dafa is good! Let’s not put her in the detention center. Let her go home.”
Prior to practicing Falun Dafa, she had cirrhosis. She recently had symptoms of it again. Her face looked dark, and her abdomen was getting very big, as if she was pregnant. She didn’t pay any attention to it, but her husband and her son forced her to go to the hospital.
The doctor complained to her family that they’d brought her in too late. The patients in the same ward also secretly told her family, “People who have cirrhosis usually don’t recover. A number of patients recently passed away because of it.” The doctor drew a lot of pus from her stomach, but she was not moved.
She continued to study the Fa teachings and do the exercises, as well as clarify the truth. She also asked Master for help: “Master, this is not where I’m supposed to be. Please help me get out. I need to go out to save sentient beings.”
After about 10 days, she was due for another exam. She pleaded to Master, “Please help me. Please have all my results be normal. I must get out.” The results showed that all the indexes were normal, so the doctor agreed to release her.
VI. Other Touching Stories
Ms. Yang lives several miles away from the county’s urban area, and she has a small field where she grows grain. She spends most of her days studying and memorizing the Fa and going out to clarify the truth, so she doesn’t spend much time taking care of her crops. However, every year her field always yields the best harvest.
All the farmers near her couldn’t believe that she was able to harvest so much from so little land. They thought she had a much larger farm. When they found out the true situation, they all admired her, “It is a Dafa practitioner’s farm!”
Her family of four are all diligent practitioners. Her husband repairs electrical appliances, and he always charges the least. Sometimes, he only charges for the cost of the parts. When he makes repairs for poor families, he doesn’t even charge that.
In 2007, he was arrested for putting up a banner. When the other villagers heard about it, over 200 people signed a petition for his release. Ms. Yang's family truly validates the Fa with their actions. Everyone in their village and neighboring villages knows about them.
Another practitioner, Xiao Hong, appears to be passive, but she has a strong will to cultivate Dafa. She started to practice in 1998 and, since then, has endured a lot of tribulations with her husband. He tried all kinds of ways to stop her from practicing. He cursed her, beat her, and even begged her not to practice Dafa. But she was not moved and continued to be firm in her belief.
When the persecution of Falun Dafa started in 1999, Xiao went without any hesitation to the provincial capital to appeal for Dafa. She also owns a restaurant and always takes every opportunity to clarify the truth to her customers.
Another practitioner, Xiao Li, used to have a very good job. Then she got arrested for clarifying the truth and had to choose between Dafa and her job. She picked Dafa. She let go of her self-interests and now takes temporary jobs, such as a cashier or dishwasher. Yet she always wears a smile because what she has gained in cultivation cannot be bought with any amount of money.
An older male practitioner recently joined our Fa study group. He has two younger sisters who were both arrested for practicing and sentenced to eight and nine years in prison. His wife is incapacitated due to a stroke and needs his care. Dragged down by all these burdens, he couldn’t study the Fa and do the exercises regularly and gradually strayed from his cultivation path.
Several days ago, we heard that he was having symptoms of a stroke and was hospitalized. We found him and suggested that he join our Fa study group, and he agreed.
Even though he had not done the exercises for many years, he stayed in the lotus position during meditation until the end. For the second exercise, he insisted on completing the one-hour version. We all encouraged and praised him, and he tearfully said, “Master has paved the road for us. How could I not endure a little pain like this?”
He saw that we were preparing this article and asked us to include him. When we burned incense for Master, he said from his heart, “Master, I’m back. I’ll catch up and return home with you.”
These are the Dafa disciples in our Fa study group. We all have different backgrounds and experiences, but we all share diligently walking on our sacred paths!
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Category: Improving Oneself
