(Minghui.org) I am a new Falun Dafa practitioner. Through practicing Falun Dafa, my mind and body have changed greatly. I thank Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, for renewing me and giving me hope when I was tormented by the pain of illness. Through practicing Falun Dafa, I now have the courage and confidence to face everything in the future.
I am in my 60s and have a more than 30-year history of thyroid nodules and edema of my lower limbs. This kind of illness requires close medical monitoring and the patient must take medication for life. I lived like that for many years. In February 2018, my eye became a bit swollen and my lower limbs swelled badly, making me feel weak. Thus, I went to the local hospital to have a check-up. My lab test results were quite elevated and I was told to continue taking medication. However, a few months passed but things did not improve. When I returned to the hospital in August, the test results were still high and the doctor asked me to continue to take my medications.
My younger sister, who was living in Shanghai was worried about me so she asked my older sister to accompany me to Shanghai to have my illness evaluated. I stayed there for two weeks. One morning when I woke up, my eyes did not feel good. I went to the bathroom to take a look and saw that both my eyes were swollen like light bulbs and they protruded a lot. This scared both of my sisters and we immediately went to the Shanghai General Hospital to make an appointment with a specialist. The check-up revealed abnormally high thyroid test results indicating that swelling of the eyes was due to a defect in the function of my thyroid gland. Therefore, the doctor told me to stop taking the medication and return for a follow-up in two weeks.
I also had an MRI and the results showed protrusion of both eyes, conjunctival edema, and hyperthyroidism. An ultrasound revealed toxic diffuse goiter, where the blood flow is high and the lymph nodes of my neck enlarged. The doctor asked me to check into the hospital for three months to undergo a treatment called hormone flooding. This was an optimum time for the treatment of a medical problem that is typically hard to cure. I did not want to go for hormone flooding treatment, as I felt that it would be harmful to the body. Therefore, I returned back to my home instead.
After that, my family accompanied me to a large hospital in Shenyang City, as well as the Liaoning Traditional Chinese Medicine Center. Under the advice of the physicians, I went to and fro between my home and Shenyang for more than two months. However, there was still no improvement. Instead, my body grew thinner, my face looked sick and I was in very bad spirits. At night, I would often dream or not sleep well and I did not dare to turn on the lights as my eyes could not tolerate the light. I had to wear a cap to shade them from the light.
After falling ill, my former Buddhist friends saw me like that and asked me to listen to some Buddhist teachings. In the end, once night fell, all I could think about was my deceased parents and my whole mind was filled with people who had passed away. If anyone talked about someone who had passed away, I would feel as though they were standing right by my side. No matter how hard I tried to get rid of these feelings, they still kept coming, tormenting me greatly.
Everything in the house depended on my husband’s management and my daughter also applied for leave from her work. In this way, I brought great pain and stress to the whole family. That period of time was really the darkest time in my life. I was immersed in extreme hardship and every day felt like a year!
In 2009 a neighbor called Er Ge had clarified the truth about Falun Dafa to me. He also gave me the books Zhuan Falun and The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection. At that time, I had a business in lighting appliances and I often saw people putting some truth-clarifying materials at my store. I felt Falun Dafa was very good so I practiced the exercises, but I did not study the Fa. I thought that having a good body was enough for me, and I did not realize what cultivation is all about.
Later, a Buddhist friend pulled me over into Buddhism and organized many tours to visit famous temples. I felt that this was also cultivating in Buddhism and in addition, there was no issue of persecution as with Falun Dafa. I felt this would be adequate for me, as long as I was happy. Thus, gradually, I fell away from Dafa.
One day in October 2019, Er Ge heard about my condition and came to visit me. When he saw my state, he was very shocked. He asked me, “Can you still practice Dafa? Let go of everything. As long as you are determined to cultivate, this condition can improve. You learned all sorts of other things and landed yourself in this state today.” At that time, I just listened without answering him, so he was very anxious. Er Ge said, “We grew up in the same neighborhood and we work in the same company. Why would I harm you? Do you still have the Dafa books that I gave you?” I said, “I do.”
At that time, I thought about what I should do with all those Buddhist books. Er Ge said, “Believe me, it is best to give them all away. Cultivating is a very serious matter and one can only cultivate in one way.” I saw that Er Ge was really worried about me and thus I agreed to let him give away all my Buddhist books.
That night, I read Zhuan Falun till very late. The feeling that I had was very hard to describe. Tears kept falling uncontrollably just like a long-lost child has finally found her home. Me, who had been suffering from insomnia all these days, fell asleep just like that while I read the book and cried. That night, I slept soundly and when I woke up the next morning, I felt that my spirits improved quite a lot.
I also thanked Master Li for his benevolent arrangement to let me make friends with a neighbor who practices Falun Dafa. In October 2019, I formally started on my cultivation path in Dafa.
However, as my family was brainwashed deeply by the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for so many years, they did not allow me to cultivate in Falun Dafa and kept asking me to go to the hospital. I said, “Give me two months. If there is still no improvement, then I will go to the hospital.” Just like that, I harbored very strong thoughts of wanting to treat my illness and spent a large amount of time studying the Fa and practicing the exercises.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed. My husband said, “It has already been a month and I don’t see that you have changed much.” I said, “You only see that my surface did not change much, but actually I did not dare to tell you everything for fear that you would worry. Do you know how I lived in the past? The reason why I could not turn on the lights every night and why I was so scared was because every night, the deceased people would come and torture me causing me to lose sleep. You saw how thin I was one month ago? My face was pale yellow. I looked quite frightening, right? Now, I am in such good spirits, my color has improved and I gained weight too. Isn’t that good? There is a process for achieving something and it has not been two months yet!”
Later, I looked within and felt that although I studied the Fa a lot during those days, I only went through the motions. I did not let the Fa sink in when I studied. Therefore, I started to memorize the Fa.
Master said,
“I do not talk about healing illness here, and neither will we heal illness. As a genuine practitioner, however, you cannot practice cultivation with an ill body. I will purify your body. The body purification will be done only for those who come to truly learn the practice and the Fa. We emphasize one point: If you cannot relinquish the attachment or concern for illness, we cannot do anything and will be unable to help you.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I understand now. The Fa is here to save people and help them to elevate their physical and mental states. It is not here to treat illnesses. Thus, I thought that I must cherish this affinity and cultivate diligently. I must not lose this opportunity again.
Now, I study and memorize Zhuan Falun and I have also read nearly 27 of Master’s over 40 books of lectures. I can also go out to clarify the truth with fellow practitioners. In the past, it took a lot of effort for me to walk, but now I can climb upstairs to distribute truth-clarifying materials. I hope all people will be like me and quickly come and learn Falun Dafa! Dafa is so great!
Through cultivating in Falun Dafa, I really benefited greatly. Now, not only have my eyes generally returned back to normal, my body no longer feels weak and I also gained weight. The illness symptoms that have been troubling me for over 30 years have all left me. My former healthy glow and smile have returned.
I really regret wasting so much precious time. I must put in extra effort to make up for the time I lost! I will do the three things well, save more people and return home with Master!
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