(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. In over 20 years of cultivation, Dafa changed me from someone who was narrow-minded and only wanted personal gain and fame to a broad-minded practitioner who considers others first. Words cannot express my gratitude to Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa)!
Master always told disciples to study the Fa. I kept Master’s words in mind and never dared to slack off on studying the Fa. Studying the Fa is my must-do routine every day. I get up at 3:40 a.m. every morning to do the exercises. After sending righteous thoughts at 6 o’clock, when my mind is clear, and the environment is relatively quiet, I read a lecture until eight o’clock. Every night, I recite the Fa from memory, read Master’s Fa teachings and go to bed after sending righteous thoughts at midnight. I have memorized and recited Zhuan Falun seven times. Through memorizing the Fa, I became aware of many of my attachments. Many times, as soon as a bad thought came out, a passage of Master’s Fa appeared in my mind, and then I could recognize my attachments and restrain myself.
My husband had been working in another town for 10 years. He never cared for the family, nor did he give me or our son money. I lost my job due to the persecution when my son was still in school. So I did part-time work to support my son and myself. I often needed to carry heavy items, such as bags of rice and flour to our 6th-floor apartment. I did all this alone, even when my husband was home. He and I became increasingly distanced, and I developed a strong sense of resentment for him. Whenever I met someone who mentioned him, I would say, “If I didn’t practice cultivation, I would have divorced him long ago.”
My husband sometimes came home for a few days during the New Year holiday. I tried to explain the truth about Dafa to him, but he didn’t want to listen. It got to the point that I no longer wanted to talk to him.
A fellow practitioner once remarked, “You are saving everyone except your husband.” I realized right away it was Master who said this through the mouth of this practitioner, and that I must save my husband and let go of my resentment. It was easy to say but hard to do. I told myself that I’m a cultivator and must let go of this attachment. The next time he returned for vacation during the New Year, I tried to be considerate and treated him well. Gradually, the resentment faded away.
My husband later returned home and no longer worked out of town. I was used to being alone, but I knew he came back to hear the truth. I’m a cultivator and have a predestined relationship with him, so I must save him. Through studying the Fa, memorizing the Fa, and going through a lot of suffering, I was able to let go of my resentment. He had been away from home for many years, which was difficult for him, so I tried my best to treat him well.
Our son did not have any feelings for his father and didn’t want to talk to him. I told my son: “Your father has gone through a lot of hardship. It would be a pity if he does not know the truth about Dafa. It’s our duty to save him.”
Nowadays, my family is harmonious. My husband started to care about our family. I am really grateful to Master. If I didn’t practice Dafa, I wouldn’t have been able to let go of my resentment, and our family might not have stayed together.
I know that saving sentient beings is really important for Dafa practitioners. So I have been making materials explaining the truth about the persecution since 2004. With Master’s compassionate protection, I was able to make it through many disturbances and difficulties.
At the end of 2004, a coordinator asked me if I could make materials for our entire area. I had just been released from a detention center, and I was under a lot of pressure because my family was traumatized by the persecution. But as soon as I heard that fellow practitioners didn’t have truth-clarification materials, I felt a sense of responsibility from the bottom of my heart. Maybe that was a prehistoric vow I made.
To avoid more pressure on my family, I rented another house to make the materials. It was very difficult, as very few practitioners had experience with technology, and it was not easy for us to communicate with one other for safety reasons. I was not familiar with computers and printers. The house did not have broadband, so I used a network card to access the Internet, which was slow. Downloading the needed materials became a big problem.
Practitioners came to pick up their materials every Friday. Sometimes, I had trouble getting online and could not download the weekly magazines and other materials; so the practitioners had to wait. It made me very anxious, and I wanted to cry. I begged Master for help, and then I was able to download the files. Master has always been by my side, taking care of his disciple! Whenever I did not know how to do certain things on the computer, I sometimes just kept clicking the mouse randomly, and it would work.
Initially, I could only do simple printing of leaflets and brochures. I can now burn DVDs, make Dafa amulets, print booklets of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, as well as Dafa books. Whatever was needed to save people, I would produce it.
I had a part-time job in the morning and printed the materials in the afternoon. I often had to leave my 10-year-old son alone at home. As we finished lunch one day, he asked: “Are you leaving again, Mom?” I was heartbroken. For the past few years, I have not spent much time with my son, and hadn’t even brought him to a park once! I really felt sorry for him.
However, it seemed my son knew what I was thinking, “Mom, how can you do a good job in saving people if you keep thinking of me?” I understood that Master saw my sentimental attachment and said this through my son.
I wanted to buy a new printer. Since another practitioner also wanted one, we bought two. When they were delivered to my home, I thought: I will take the one that prints better. So I tried both and kept the better one for myself.
The next day, I turned on my older printer, which always worked fine, and found it stopped working. My first thought was to ask a practitioner to repair it. My second thought was that I was selfish the day before, as I kept the better printer for myself. When I realized I was wrong, the old printer worked again. It was amazing!
Another time, the red ink cartridge in my printer broke. I had a reserve cartridge and planned to replace the broken one the next day. A practitioner then came to my home and asked if I had an extra red ink cartridge, since another practitioner’s cartridge broke in the middle of printing. My thought was for the other practitioner: how could that practitioner print without a red ink cartridge? I immediately gave up my reserve cartridge.
The next day, when I was about to start printing, I remembered that my cartridge was broken and wondered how I could print. I turned on the printer without much thought. Surprisingly, my red ink cartridge worked as normal! Master saw that I considered others first and fixed the broken cartridge! I am so grateful to Master!
Another practitioner helped me produce materials for over 10 years. She was older, but she carried heavy reams of paper upstairs like a young person. When the printer had problems, she contacted the technical practitioners for repair. At that time, I mainly made the materials, and she distributed them to other practitioners.
Due to the persecution, this practitioner was illegally sentenced to prison. So I had to do both the producing and distributing of materials. I skipped lunch many times. It was often dark when I got home, and my son was hungry. I hurried to cook, but he did not complain and supported me in what I was doing.
Sometimes, I also helped fellow practitioners purchase supplies and did some simple maintenance on their equipment. When practitioners asked for help, as long as I could do it, I would do it.
I also cooperated with practitioners to go out and hang banners and posters to explain the truth about Dafa’s goodness. Since practitioners are one body, the evil is afraid when we cooperate well.
On one occasion, banners that slandered Dafa appeared in our area. They were everywhere, and all of them were near surveillance cameras. There were also boards that slandered Dafa inside a glass window display near my community.
A few of us discussed the situation. We knew we could not let sentient beings be poisoned, and that we must safeguard Dafa. We went out at night and asked Master for help and protection. In a few days, all the banners were taken down. The local practitioners cooperated very well. Even elderly practitioners in their 80s came out to help by sending righteous thoughts. No one was attached to themselves, and we only had one thought: Save sentient beings and safeguard Dafa.
Soon afterward, all of the practitioners in our area came out and looked to see if there were any slanderous banners near where they lived. If there were any, they removed them. In a short time, all the banners hanging around the city were removed. I heard that a practitioner took down eight banners by himself.
Looking back at the ups and downs of the past years, although I was swamped and tired at times, I was very happy and fulfilled.
A fellow practitioner said, “Your generation has spent all your youth here!”
Yes, I was 30 when I obtained the Fa, and now I’m in my 50s. I have never traveled, watched TV or movies, hardly ever went to shopping malls or parks, and had no entertainment as regular people do. I have been doing the three things asked of practitioners every day. But I have no complaints or regrets. It is such an honor to be chosen by Master to become a Dafa practitioner, which all divine beings in the universe envy. No matter how long the road ahead is, I will be steadfast in my cultivation, complete my mission, and return to my true home with Master.
My environment has improved a lot, so I moved the printing site to my home. The Internet here is fast, and it is very convenient to download materials. More fellow practitioners are now making Dafa materials, and I’m not as busy as before. My financial situation has also improved, as I have a pension and my son started working. Dafa has given me so much! Master has given me so much!