(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in August 1998. Prior to the persecution, I had cultivated for less than one year. In that short time, I had already witnessed and experienced many miraculous and extraordinary things, which made me feel extremely fortunate and happy. However, within that short period of time, I had not yet gained a solid understanding of the Fa.
Jiang Zemin’s regime launched its persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999. Given that my cultivation foundation wasn’t solid, I experienced many tribulations on my path of validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. However, these tribulations couldn’t deter me. Under the timely guidance and safeguarding of Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa), I came to understand that no matter what kind of difficulties we face, we can overcome them and witness the miraculous and extraordinary nature of Dafa. As long as we have faith in Master and Dafa and follow Dafa’s principles to maintain righteous thoughts and actions, we can transform our notions fundamentally and elevate ourselves.
Getting Out of the Devil’s Den After Changing My Notions
A few years ago, three practitioners and I went to a market in the countryside to clarify the facts to people face to face. We were reported by people who didn’t know the truth about Dafa and, as a result, we were arrested by the police and illegally detained at a detention center for 15 days.
An officer asked me if this was the first time I was arrested. I didn’t answer him, yet I thought to myself, “This isn’t the first time I’ve been persecuted, whereas for the other three practitioners, it is their first time. I’m different from them.” At that time, I didn’t think about using my righteous thoughts to negate that thought. After we were taken to the detention center, a guard said to us, “Take it easy; as long as this is your first time here, you’ll be released after 15 days.” Because of what he said, my thought of, “I’m different from the other three practitioners” was strengthened.
I also didn’t think of using righteous thoughts based on the Fa to negate the interference from those foreign messages. Additionally, I had a deeply-rooted notion, which was that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) never respected the law when it came to how they treated practitioners. If they did, we wouldn’t have been arrested. Moreover, my prior arrests made my situation more serious compared to the other practitioners.
These thoughts were too strong. I couldn’t repel, nor suppress them. During those 15 days, while harboring the human notion that it was a situation of humans persecuting other humans, I recited the Fa, sent forth righteous thoughts, and looked inward. On the 14th day of detention, the police wanted me to admit that I had filed a criminal complaint against the former CCP leader, Jiang Zemin. From a human viewpoint, they were trying to compile evidence for the sake of finding an excuse to continue persecuting me. They extended my detention for another 10 days.
From a cultivation viewpoint, this happened because my state wasn’t on the Fa during the first 15 days of detention, nor did I treat myself as a practitioner, which requires that I use supernormal means to resolve the issue. I didn’t meet the standards of the Fa. Therefore, my loopholes were taken advantage of, and I was held for another 10 days.
After I organized my thoughts, I began to think about how to negate the persecution by using my righteous thoughts. After thinking it over, I finally made a decision to have my thoughts completely align with the Fa. I only recited the Fa, sent forth righteous thoughts, and negated the interference from any foreign messages.
Later on, I started hearing a voice whispering in my ears: “Your situation is not good.” However, I didn’t allow those messages to stay in my thoughts at all. I didn’t think about anything except reciting the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and reciting the phrases, “Falun Dafa is wonderful!” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is wonderful!” This was to keep all human notions or negative messages from getting into my mind. However, this was easier said than done. But after I kept aligning myself with the Fa for quite a few days, I felt better, yet I still didn’t feel secure.
At noontime on the 9th day of the extended detention, I heard a few inmates suddenly shouting out, “Look! A large yellow bird is flying out.” The inmates were all in front of the windows. Sure enough, there was a large yellow bird, double the size of a parrot, flying over the high wall and out of the detention center. Even now, I don’t know what kind of bird it was, but it was very beautiful.
While I was thinking about that scene, they shouted out again, “Wow, there is a red bird dying over there!” I went up to the window and looked out. Indeed, a red bird the size of a sparrow was dying on the ground and was being eaten by ants. In fact, I’ve never seen a red sparrow. At that moment, my heart suddenly became clear. I felt I’d passed the trial and was uplifted. Although those 10 days were difficult, I was on the right path. I packed my things and was 100% sure I’d be home the next day.
I came to enlighten that I should not let negative messages occupy my mind, such as the evil will take action against me, or wondering who has confessed under duress and given my name. When I receive these kinds of messages, I should negate them all. Of course, this is only one aspect of negating the persecution. Fundamentally, doing the three things well is the best way to negate the evil.
Maintaining Righteous Thoughts Amidst Sickness-Karma Tribulations
I observed another situation during those years: Many practitioners were interfered with by foreign messages during their illness karma tribulations. It was because they lacked faith in Dafa and Master, and their minds weren’t stable. For instance, when an older practitioner was experiencing a sickness-karma tribulation, she saw in a dream that she had died, and her family was busy arranging her funeral. She also saw a scene where her son and grandson burned paper and kowtowed in front of an altar and other horrible scenes. Because she couldn’t negate her fear with righteous thoughts, she passed away not long afterward.
Another older practitioner had a similar experience. When she was going through a sickness-karma tribulation, a few of us sent forth righteous thoughts with her at night. After she finished, she heard a voice whispering to her, “You’ll have to buy a casket this time.” She was terrified and passed away the next morning. Facing this kind of situation, I also wasn’t clear about what to do based on the Fa’s principles. So I didn’t share my concerns with other practitioners in a timely manner.
One practitioner who was close to me was suffering from insomnia. She also had other symptoms that were identical to her family’s medical history, and she quickly became emaciated. She also heard a voice saying to her, “Your life is about to end.” She was so worried. After hearing about her situation, I went to talk to her about how I passed a similar trial. She said, “After hearing what you said, I became relieved right away.” When I saw that she was relieved, I happily returned home. When I saw her again, she was back to normal.
My similar experience took place when I was about to get up to do the exercises one morning in April 2022. I suddenly felt dizzy and couldn’t move my head. At the time, I murmured, “I can’t get up this time, not anymore.” As soon as I said that, I became alert and said to Master, “Master, I didn’t say that. I will not acknowledge it.” Meanwhile, my heart felt painfully strangled by a mesh-like thing, and I was drenched in sweat.
Right then, I had to use the restroom, so I called my husband twice. But he didn’t hear me. I then had another thought: It’s okay if he didn’t hear; otherwise, it’d be too much hassle for him. I thought to myself: “I must stand up. Having Master and Dafa here, what am I afraid of? I must stand up by myself. Let’s see what could mess with me!” So I walked to the bathroom by leaning against the wall.
My mind was very clear; I knew I must have had some loopholes in my cultivation. With this one thought, I almost felt like I became an observer. I saw that I behaved as an ordinary person on many occasions, which caught me off guard. I lagged behind so much in my cultivation, although I felt pretty good about myself in my day-to-day life. I didn’t know that I only looked inward when I got stuck in a tribulation. Right then, I made up my mind to cultivate solidly.
When a person faces death, he will learn that fame, self-interest, and sentimentality are meaningless. At that time, there is nothing hard to let go of. Then why would I be afraid of death? While thinking about Master’s lecture in this respect, I felt there was nothing to be afraid of.
After I came out of the bathroom, I sat in bed to send forth righteous thoughts. While doing so, I saw a scene after I passed away. I said to a person next to me, “Can you bring my urn to show me?” In the following days, I saw many scary scenes in my dreams, when sending forth righteous thoughts and doing the sitting meditation. I also saw many relatives and practitioners who had passed away. But I knew it was the evil trying to use this as means to have me develop fear, so as to have me acknowledge that I was critically ill and dying. As long as I acknowledged those scenes, the evil could kill me and take me away.
I thought this was very peculiar: “No matter how long I’ve cultivated, I only believe in Dafa. How could I not see through your sinister purpose? I leave my cultivation path up to my Master. I only acknowledge Master’s arrangements and none of the evil’s arrangements; so what could you do to me?”
After a few days of this battle between good and evil, the sudden sickness-karma tribulation was finally dismantled. From this experience, I gained much more than I lost. I truly appreciated Master’s wake-up call. I wanted to share these experiences with fellow practitioners, but since I am not good at writing, I didn’t write this until now. I hope others can learn from my experience by eliminating any losses and elevating collectively.
Please kindly point out anything inappropriate in my sharing.
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Category: Improving Oneself
