(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa at the end of 1998 when my mother introduced me to the practice. By the time I entered college in the early 90s, I had read a lot of books on Eastern and Western philosophy, as I wanted to understand the purpose of life. I had also read theoretical books about Zen Buddhism, and sometimes I felt as if I understood some things, but more often, I did not understand what I read. I just became more confused. When I studied the Dafa of Master Li [the founder of Falun Dafa], I felt that a door was opened. No one had ever explained to me the true purpose of life, and now I finally understood it and had a clear direction. I knew that this was the truth I had been searching for.
Recalling the past, I believe that in order to encourage me, Master arranged for another Dafa practitioner who understood Dafa more deeply to talk to me. He told me that when he read about the “maoyou heavenly circuit” in Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, he truly felt the energy circulating within him. I was amazed: it turned out that what was written in Zhuan Falun was true! In addition, my mother told me about other remarkable things that happened to fellow practitioners. Hearing about these things gradually broke through the atheist notions that I had been indoctrinated with since I was young.
I loved playing sports since I was a child, especially football. As a result, my legs were very stiff. So I suffered a lot when trying to sit in the full lotus position when meditating. My mother told me that some practitioners tied their legs with ropes in order to sit longer. Once, I asked my mother to help me tie my legs up when I was sitting in the full lotus position. I did not give up no matter how painful it became, and soon it was so painful that I burst into tears. When I was about to reach my limit and couldn’t bear it any longer, I suddenly felt that something was removed from my heart, and my legs no longer bothered me. At that time, I had a feeling that I could overcome anything I encountered, no matter how difficult. It was such an amazing feeling.
I participated in the group exercises in the morning. The winter in Northeast China was very cold, so I usually wore gloves when doing the exercises outside. Once, I saw a fellow practitioner who didn’t wear gloves. I was surprised and wondered how he did it. One day I also tried it. When I got to the second exercise, I felt a sharp pain in my hands because of the freezing temperature. However, I endured. Just as I was about to reach my limit and give up, I felt heat circulating through my entire body. It was incredibly comfortable! These experiences greatly helped improve my confidence in doing the exercises.
My xinxing was improving as well. I have one younger brother who did not attend college. He worked as a driver for a manager at his workplace. I was working in a state-owned enterprise. My father was a director in a factory, and he was given two apartments by the factory. The four of us lived in one apartment, and the other one was vacant. My parents said that the vacant one would be given to me after I got married. When I was engaged, I told my fiancee’s family that we would have a separate apartment to live in.
But, not long before I married my father told me, “Your brother’s work isn’t as good as yours, and I’m afraid that he won’t be able to afford an apartment in the future. You have a good job and should be capable of buying an apartment for yourself. So let’s give the vacant apartment to your brother.”
I had just read Zhuan Falun at the time and knew that it was a test for me, so I agreed without hesitating. But, my fiancee and her family didn’t like the idea. One of them said, “It was all agreed upon that you would have a separate apartment. How could it be taken away just like that? Even if you want to leave it for your brother, why can’t you live in it now and move out when your brother gets married?” My heart wasn’t moved and it took a lot to convince them. I promised that I would buy my own apartment with all new furniture in the future. We got married and stayed with my parents. My parents asked us to move into the master bedroom, but I insisted on staying in the smaller bedroom, and my brother stayed in the living room. A few years later, we had a child, and I fulfilled my promise and moved into my own apartment.
Another amazing incident happened soon after I finished reading Zhuan Falun. At the time, I was transferred to work in the headquarters office and was quite busy. It happened to be the time of the year for title promotions. I was an assistant engineer at the time, and an exam was required to be promoted and get the title of engineer. Because the titles were linked to salary, everyone valued this promotion a lot and were all taking the training class to prepare for the exam. Since I was busy at the new position, I didn’t have time to attend the training class. With just a few days before the exam, I thought that I should go listen to what was being taught in the training class. There I met a colleague from my previous position, and I asked her how to do a certain problem. She said, “This is such a simple one. How will you be able to take the exam if you don’t even know this?” I told her that I’d just started to attend the class and I really didn’t know. I sat in on the last couple of days of the class and then took the exam.
Amazingly, I knew how to answer all the questions on the exam, and I finished it very quickly. I didn’t want to be the first to turn in the exam, so I just sat there and waited. After the results came out, I got over 90 out of 100 points, and 60 was required to pass. The colleague I'd asked to help me in the training class actually failed the exam. She then told a lot of people that I didn’t even know how to answer a simple question a few days prior to the exam and had consulted her. She said that there was no way I passed the exam, and I must have some kind of connection with upper management. Many of my colleagues believed her, and they all found me and asked me to help them get promoted using my connections. They wouldn’t believe me no matter how hard I tried to explain it. Even after many years, there were still people asking me for help with my “connections.”
When I thought about it later on, I realized that it was Master who helped me. During the exam, it felt like my mind had opened up, and I was able to recall everything I’d learned in school. All the exam questions happened to be what I was familiar with, and so I easily got a high score. Without Master’s help, there was no way I would have done so well.
When I first graduated from college and began to work, all the new graduates were asked to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When I was selected and transferred to work in the headquarters office in 1995, all staff members were required to join the CCP, so I was also forced to join. After the persecution of Falun Dafa started, I regretted joining. When the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published in 2004, I learned about the Communist Party’s murderous history and understood its evil nature. I then used my real name to withdraw from the CCP and its youth organizations on The Epoch Times website.
For many years, the dues for being a CCP member were directly deducted from my salary and I couldn’t do much about it. The situation changed in 2017. The CCP dues were no longer deducted from the salary. A co-worker was assigned to ask all the CCP members to pay their Party dues. I decided to take that opportunity and not pay the Party dues any longer. The person who collected the dues asked me why. I said, “According to the rules, if one doesn’t pay the membership dues for six months, he will automatically be considered as having withdrawn from it.” He said, “You want to withdraw?” I said yes. He then talked to me many times and repeatedly asked me not to give him a hard time. I told him, “I have my faith. This has nothing to do with you. You can just report it as required.” He still approached me many more times and said that it would look bad for our workplace and for the director. This went on and on for several months. He gave up eventually and reported it to the upper management.
The director of my workplace then talked to me. We knew each other from our past work and had a decent relationship. He said that I was really giving him a hard time. He tried everything he could, including inviting me to dinner and finding people who were close to me to try to persuade me. But I was unmoved, and I just clarified the truth to him. Then he began to threaten that if I insisted, I would be fired. He also had all levels of CCP personnel try to persuade me and threatened that it would affect the future of my family and my child.
I strengthened my Fa study and I listened to fellow practitioners’ sharing articles on Minghui Radio while driving. When I heard that fellow practitioners were doing such a great job validating Dafa even in prison, I thought that there was no reason why I couldn’t do well. Listening to these sharing articles really gave me a lot of encouragement and confidence.
Once, when I was reciting a poem from Hong Yin IV, there was a sentence that read, “Good and evil clash in a soul-stirring fight.” (“Life’s True Purpose”) I felt that Master inserted this sentence into the microcosm of my life. I understood that withdrawing from the CCP is a clash between good and evil in the universe, and I must stand on the side of goodness.
I clarified the truth to every level of personnel, and I could clearly feel that Master was helping me. I was no longer afraid, and I had a lot of wisdom when clarifying the truth. As soon as the other person spoke, I would know where his misunderstanding was, and I could then help him understand Falun Dafa. I told people about the great spread of Dafa throughout the world, the staged “Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident,” and the CCP’s organ harvesting from living Falun Dafa practitioners. I also showed them on the website about the Press and Publication Administration of China lifting the bans on Falun Dafa publications. They saw that they couldn’t convince me, so they temporarily put aside the matter and stopped talking about it. I continued not to pay the dues, and no one asked me about it.
My son had always wanted to study abroad. Before this incident happened in 2017, I was very hesitant about it and my wife didn’t agree with it either. But after this incident, I was determined to send our son to study abroad. We didn’t have much time to prepare, but as my son’s foundation was solid and he was going to a well-known high school, he was successfully admitted to a university in the United States. In 2017, I went with my son to the school in the United States to take a look at his new study environment. It was very nice. There were not a lot of people, and there was a lot of greenery surrounded by a lake.
At that time, I also considered staying in the United States. I could apply for asylum, as I had publicly withdrawn from the CCP, and I could also assist my son with his studies. If my asylum was approved, then my son would have also been able to stay in the United States, as he was only 19. But eventually I decided to go back to China, because there were still so many predestined people in China who had not been saved, and my mission there had not been completed. I spent a week in the United States, and after helping my son get settled in, I returned to China and continued to fulfill my vow of saving people.
My workplace suddenly agreed to my application to withdraw from the CCP in 2018, but I had to go through a process. First, I had to read my application in front of the CCP committee at my workplace, and then everyone there had to vote to agree, and finally it needed to be reported to the upper CCP committees. There were more than a dozen people that participated in the CCP committee meeting. When reading my application, I started from the fact that human beings did not evolve from apes, but were created by divine beings. In the end, I talked about my beliefs. Everyone was silent the whole time. They were all stunned because no one had experienced anything like that in the past. In the end, my withdrawal from the CCP was unanimously approved. It was the only successful case of publicly withdrawing from the CCP in our large state-owned enterprise.
I knew that I only had this wish, but Master helped me realize it. Thank you, Master!