(Minghui.org) I am a 53-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner. I live in China’s countryside.
Prior to becoming a practitioner in 1998, I was suffering from different kinds of illnesses, including kidney disease, migraines, and also experienced memory loss. No matter where, I always hurt. Due to chronic back and leg pain, I became a hunchback.
Looking for relief, I tried modern and traditional medicine and sought advice from bogus doctors. Not only did they not help, a spirit began to possess my body. I was cold even in the dead heat of summer.
But all of these physical discomforts did not prevent me from being a bully. My father was a secretary in the village communist party office. Using my father’s position as a privilege, I ran around the neighborhood with my big dog. If anyone offended me, I would curse at them with the most vulgar language. People in the village were afraid of me and they would stay away from me.
One time, a villager provoked me. For three days, I cursed at him outside his house. He finally came out to reason. In return, I smeared feces onto his face. I was detained for 15 days because of that.
During the time I was locked up, my wife became a Falun Dafa practitioner. When I was at home, I laughed at her and made it difficult for her to watch Master Li Hongzhi’s Fa teaching lectures.
The day after I was released, my brother hosted Falun Dafa practitioners to watch Master Li’s lectures at my house. Not wanting to go inside, I walked around in the yard with my dog. Suddenly, I heard Master’s Fa:
“When I was talking about the celestial eye, each of you could feel that your forehead was tight; the muscles felt like they were piling up together and drilling inward.” (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun)
Immediately, something put pressure on my forehead. Master Li’s words resonated in my head. What kind of power is that? I thought. How can this person have such great power? I must pay attention to what he says. Thus, I became a Falun Dafa practitioner.
Master cleansed my body. All my illnesses were gone. My back became straight again. Master also purified my heart and elevated my moral standards. I changed into someone who was considerate and willingly put others’ needs first.
Remembering my 20 years of cultivation journey, Master was with me every step of the way.
As a strong believer in Falun Dafa, I went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa, distributed truth clarifying brochures in the villages, and printed Falun Dafa reading materials at home, I would not be able to do any of that without Master by my side.
I was taken to a forced labor camp twice and a detention center three times for refusing to give up my faith. My house was ransacked. I was fined. None of these affected my belief in Master and Dafa.
Country peasants like us are poor. Between the school fee for our two children and basic household needs, money is tight for us. Our lives became even harder with constant harassment and persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) followers. Despite that I wanted to save more people and help them step away from the lies told by the CCP. We ate simple meals, and lived frugally to ensure smooth Dafa reading material production at my house. Everything we did was an essential part of our cultivation.
Traumatized by the sight of police ransacking our home, my eldest grandson was mentally affected. After entering school, he was lagging behind. While his classmates were counting to 100, he was counting to only nine.
The boy was transferred to a better equipped school in town, but he made no progress. “Your grandson has a hard time learning,” the teacher said, “you have to spend more time helping him at home.”
I counted numbers with my grandson. He could only count to nine. I showed him how to write by holding his hand. Three months passed with no improvement.
Frustrated and getting emotional, I spanked him, “You are so slow, if you don’t get it, I will spank you everyday until you get it.”
This extreme method seemed to be working in the beginning. But when we did addition and subtraction, nothing helped.
My grandson said to me, “Grandpa, don’t hit me anymore, I won’t get it even if you kill me.”
As I reflected on myself, it suddenly occurred to me that, as a Dafa practitioner, what was I doing? How could I educate a child this way?
Master said,
“As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at—you must be tolerant. Otherwise, what kind of practitioner will you be? Someone says, “It’s really hard to be tolerant, and I’ve got a bad temper.” If your temper is not good, you should change, for a practitioner must be tolerant. Some people will lose their temper in disciplining children and yell at them, making quite a scene. You should not be that way in disciplining children, and neither should you, yourselves get really upset. You should educate children with reason so that you can really teach them well.”(Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
When thinking of Master’s great compassion, I was ashamed of myself. Tears of regret welled up in my eyes. Holding my grandson with both hands, I said, “Child, grandpa is wrong, grandpa will change.” Wiping away my tears, he said, “Grandpa, I will be Master’s little practitioner and a good student.”
From that day on, when I studied Dafa literature, I read aloud to my two grandsons. I taught them poems from Hong Yin. The two boys are predestined, they memorized a poem in one or two days.
One Sunday, holding his homework, my eldest grandson shouted, “Grandpa, I know how to do my homework, I know how to do my homework!” Looking at this innocent face, I clasped my hands together to thank Master. I am thankful to Master, for he bestowed wisdom to my grandson. As of now, my grandson scores above 90 percent in every test.