(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1995. I’m 71 years old this year, I have gone through ups and downs for the past twenty eight years. Over those years, Dafa transformed me from a being full of karma and relatively strong human attachments into a good person who can think for others. I know how difficult it is for Master to save me.
I Recovered After Reading Zhuan Falun
I endured many hardships in my pursuit of a better life, leading to a body full of illnesses such as gastric ulcer, gynecological diseases, insomnia and thigh neuralgia: Illnesses that hospitals said were hard to cure. In Autumn 1994, I was diagnosed with even more illnesses. The left side of my body was numb, my headaches never went away and I always felt weak. After I got home from work, I had to rest before I could make dinner or do any housework.
An X-ray showed I had cervical spondylosis. The doctor said this condition was incurable and I would be paralyzed or end up in a vegetative state.
A friend told me about Falun Dafa. Zhuan Falun had just been published so it took me a few months to get a copy. Before I even finished reading, I felt Zhuan Falun was amazing. It explained how to be a better person through abiding by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. From the bottom of my heart I decided to practice Falun Dafa.
To my surprise, soon after I began studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, I recovered from my illnesses: The ulcer was gone and I could eat rice again; my insomnia disappeared and I fell asleep as soon as I lay down. All the illnesses that the hospital found it hard to cure or incurable were resolved. For the past twenty eight years, I have not taken any medications or injections. Although I am in my 70s, I’m very strong and healthy.
Not Enticed By Money
Before I began cultivating, my attachment to personal gain was strong. After I began practicing, I understood the relationship between loss and gain and I was able to gradually calm down when I felt I lost out.
Rejecting Kick-Backs
In 1997, I was in charge of buying drawing paper and drawing the blueprints for my company. In the 1990s, collecting rebates became a serious problem. In order to promote their products, merchants resorted to all sorts of methods such as to offer commission, gifts, cash, etc to bribe purchasers.
Purchasing three thousand yuan worth of drawing paper could earn me a commission of a thousand yuan. My company needed to purchase thirty thousand yuan worth of paper every year. In this way, I could get a commission of around ten thousand yuan, which was almost equivalent to my annual salary, and it would not be traced. It was not easy to find such a wonderful deal.
However, as a Dafa cultivator, I must measure myself based on the standards of the Fa. So if I did not earn the money, I could not accept it. I knew that nothing comes for free. If I took the commission, it would bring loss to the company. I told the merchant that I practice Falun Dafa so I cannot accept the kick-back. Instead, I asked them if they could reduce the price. The merchants then said that they could sell the paper based on the market price. The people handling the transactions said they could not believe that someone refused a kick-back.
Paying for Our Train Ticket
My oldest aunt lived outside of our city. In 1998, her son married and she invited my family to attend the wedding. My youngest aunt works for the railway department so she helped to provide free transportation. She arranged for an entire train carriage for the relatives and friends that would take them to and fro for free.
Practitioners are constantly tested. What should I do? For the trip there, I took the night train with my daughter but for the return trip, things would be tricky. After I arrived at the train station, I repaid the train ticket fees for my daughter and I, which cost more than seventy yuan.
Refunding the Exorbitant Interest
Before cultivating, I went into business with my brother’s relative. I supplied the money and he did the work. He used some of the profit to buy equipment but did not consult me. After settling the accounts, he still owed me forty thousand yuan. For the first two years, he paid me interest at a rate of about twenty percent of the principal amount. Later, his business went downhill. My brother came to me and asked me to give up the bank interest. This debt continued for ten years.
Nothing is coincidental for cultivators. I knew this involved my attachment to personal gain and I needed to eliminate it.
My initial thought was that I may have owed him in a previous lifetime so if he did not pay me back, I would just be repaying him what I owed him. If I did not owe him, he would be giving me forty thousand yuan worth of virtue. I felt that this thought was selfish, and I was not abiding by Dafa’s standards when I charge him such high interest. This was not the way a cultivator should behave.
I added up the interest I earned over the past two years and subtracted the bank interest. That left me with fifteen thousand five hundred yuan which I returned to him. I told him that after subtracting the forty thousand yuan, he just needed to give me twenty four thousand five hundred yuan. Soon after, he returned all the money to me.
When my sister, who is not a practitioner, heard what I did, she flew into a rage and said I had become silly after I began practicing Falun Dafa. However, I did not waver.
On the surface, it seemed I lost a lot. However, soon after, my income began increasing.
Fulfilling My Vow
Master gave us a cultivation method never seen before, which is cultivating with no fixed style. The entire human society is our temple where we strive to cultivate ourselves well, save people, and fulfill our missions by doing the three things.
Over the years, I kept doing the three things and clarifying the truth to save people. I read the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. I make truth-clarifying materials and distribute them. I also make recorded phone calls, join in to save fellow practitioners who have been kidnapped, etc. However, I did relatively less of clarifying the truth face-to-face because it is really difficult save Chinese people, especially modern Chinese people who have been poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party’s lies to persecute Falun Dafa and bring people into atheism, through direct face-to-face truth-clarification.
However, as I keep studying the Fa, I gradually learned that clarifying the truth is not just assisting Master to save people, it is also my self cultivation. Master made use of this method to make us become true cultivators. Through this way, he exposed our sentient attachments and notions which are being hidden deep within us.
A. Maintaining Compassion and Calmness While Doing Face-to-face Truth-Clarification
People my age have all been brainwashed by the CCP. Because I do publicity for a business, I am constantly exposed to CCP culture, which advocates fighting and struggle.
Just before Chinese New Year, I clarified the truth to people and distributed a New Year painting which had information about Falun Dafa. When I handed one to a middle-aged man he grabbed my bag, and asked how many I had left. I was not afraid. I told him that Falun Dafa is here to save people, and what I was doing was for his own good. He should not participate in persecuting Falun Dafa. He replied that it was time for me to improve.
When I heard that, I knew that he was a plain clothes police officers who specialized in persecuting practitioners. I said, “Please do not do silly things and harm yourself. He said that he is not afraid of retribution. I started sending forth righteous thoughts.
He called the local police station, but it took a long time to get through. The police were supposed to arrive in five minutes but 20 minutes passed, and no one came. He called again.
Just then, two police officers slowly walked up. The police in plain clothes said that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner and told me to follow them. We soon came to an intersection and I thought this was my chance to escape. I ran down the street but the police did not chase me.
After this incident, I examined myself. I saw I still had a desire to fight from the CCP culture. My tone when I spoke was not compassionate.
I felt that I neglected my cultivation in this aspect. After I adjusted myself, I went out to clarify the truth again and the results were much better. Last summer, an old lady patted my shoulder and said, “Why are you so kind? You must believe in Buddha.” I replied that I believe in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. She said, “Ah, Falun Dafa.” I asked, “Has anyone told you about quitting the CCP and its youth organizations to obtain peace and safety?” She said no. I explained to her why millions of Chinese already quit the CCP and its youth organizations and she happily agreed to quit. Not only had she joined the youth organizations, she also joined the Party. I asked her to remember, Falun Dafa is Good, Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance is Good. She happily agreed.
Letting Go of My Ego
One day in October 2022, the community staff called my sister, and asked me to come to the community office to sign the “transformation paper.” I was helping my niece who lived in another city, so it is very hard for my sister to find me.
However, as practitioners we know that nothing is coincidental, especially when we are members of the same community. So no matter what her intention was, I cannot hide. I must let go of my own self-interest and clarify the truth to her and save her. I used my personal experience and wrote her a long letter, explaining why I believe in Falun Dafa and my physical and psychological changes after I began practicing. I also told her the persecution of Falun Dafa by the CCP was unlawful and the importance of quitting the Party and its youth organizations.
What I did not expect was that when I saw her a month later, she would greet me enthusiastically. When I asked if she received the letter she said she did. She did not mention the transformation letter. I knew she understood the truth.
When I was illegally detained at a police station for three days, I clarified the truth for more than an hour to a police officer. He understood the truth and told me his name. He said that he was a CCP member and asked me to help him quit. He also said practitioners were great because, despite the persecution, they continued to clarify the truth.
During the process of clarifying the truth, I eliminated many attachments and notions such as fear, showing off, a desire to fight with others, treating different people differently, etc. I am still far from the requirements of Falun Dafa—and I still have an attachment to protecting myself. This attachment interferes with my truth clarification efforts, and I've missed many opportunities to save people.
I want to abide by Master’s requirement, fulfill my vows and become a being who lives for others.
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