(Minghui.org) I am 65 years old and have been practicing Falun Dafa since 1996. I would like to tell people about the preciousness and beauty of Falun Dafa in this article.
Recalling a Miserable Childhood and Hopeless Youth
After my father completed military service, he worked as a leader in the village until he retired. My mother worked in a hospital. When I was eight years old we experienced the onset of the Cultural Revolution. My father was persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because he was once a leader. He was labeled a capitalist, forced to wear a high hat, and paraded through the streets daily. He was subjected to torture and humiliation.
We were mistreated by those around us. My teachers did not allow me to participate in any activities at school, and the entire class discriminated against me. Some children often threw stones at me. Growing up in such an environment, I became introverted. I could not find the purpose and meaning of life.
I started developing hope for a better life after I found a job when I was 19 years old. However, I had a car accident three months later. My thigh, sternum, and backbone were fractured in the accident. The doctor told us that I would be a paraplegic.
I was in the hospital for one-and-a-half years. Luckily, I didn’t become a paraplegic. I eventually stood up, but my back hurt after standing or sitting for a long time. There subsequently wasn’t a single day when I didn’t feel pain somewhere in my body. I then suffered from a duodenal ulcer. I took several large packets of Chinese medicine daily, but didn’t get better.
I lived with the torment of illness daily and lost hope in life. I often wondered why fate was so unfair to me. What was the purpose of coming into this world? I couldn’t find the answer. I felt very bitter in my heart and I was never happy.
Purified Physically and Mentally From Practicing Falun Dafa
Qigong became popular in China after the 1980s. Because of my health problems I also tried some qigong exercises, yet my health did not improve after spending a lot of money.
The turning point in my life finally came in 1996. My husband’s company had never sent him on a business trip, but they asked him to travel that year. My husband happened to pass by my cousin’s home and decided to visit them. My relative gave him the book Falun Gong, an introduction to Falun Dafa, and a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa.
My husband read the books on the train. When he returned, he said, “These two books answer all your questions. Read them.”
I was swamped because of having a full-time job, and a one-year-old child, but I still spent an entire day reading the two books. The more I read, the more I loved it. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. I felt like I had turned into a new person. For the first time, I felt that the sky had brightened. For the first time, I felt the wonderfulness of everything in the world.
From that moment on, I resolved to practice Falun Dafa. I was excited to introduce Dafa to all the people around me, and tell them about the beauty of Dafa.
My body and mind changed significantly from studying the Fa and doing the exercises. I once had dark spots on my face because I took a lot of medicine. They all disappeared soon after I began practicing Dafa, along with all my other illnesses. Many people asked me what I did to recover from all my health and skin problems. I told them, “I didn’t use any products, it was all because I practice Falun Gong.” They all said that it was amazing! Many people thus heard about Dafa and began practicing it.
My moral character also improved significantly. I was a department head managing personnel and finances. In the eyes of ordinary people, this was an enviable position.
Employees often came to my home to give me money and gifts, because they were hoping to ask me for favors. As a practitioner, I always told myself that I would follow Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I clearly understood that the power in my hands was not to be used for personal gain, and that I should think of others needs before addressing my own. Thus, I always politely declined the money and gifts and told them that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner, and our Master taught us to be good people. I told people I wouldn’t take anything they gave me and that I would approve their requests according to the rules as long as the requests were legal, compliant, and reasonable.
Some of my staff appreciated me, but others did not understand me. They did not believe there were still people who did not want money nowadays.
Once, two employees wanted their children to take over their positions after they retired. But their managers did not approve their applications. These two employees then thought it was because they had not given me any gifts. Someone who knew me well told them I would not accept gifts from others because I was a good person, but they did not believe it. So these two families purchased costly gifts, left them at my home and ran away.
The next day, I returned the gifts to them and explained that I would discuss their requests with their managers. After many discussions, their requests were approved. The two families said excitedly, “We now believe that there are really good people in the world.” Given this incident, one of the couples began practicing Falun Dafa.
I also introduced Falun Dafa to my father. My father has coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, bronchial asthma, and many other illnesses. My father had practiced other qigong before, but his health did not improve. I told my father, “Dad, you should practice Falun Gong.” My father agreed to come to my home to watch the video of Master’s teachings.
My father smoked two and a half packs of cigarettes every day, and was also addicted to alcohol. After he watched Master’s teachings on smoking, he stopped smoking and drinking the next day. I asked him why he suddenly stopped smoking and drinking. He was embarrassed and said, “Smoking has a strange taste, and the alcohol tasted awful.” After this, my father gave up his decades-long addiction to cigarettes and alcohol.
When Master talked about improving one’s character, he talked about a practitioner who was hit by a car. The first thought the practitioner had was that she was unharmed. She did not ask for money from the driver who hit her. After watching this lecture, my father was hit by a motorcycle on his way home. My father was in his 70s. He got up from the ground, remembering what Master said, and believed he would be fine.
The motorcycle rider asked my father, “How are you? Go to the hospital and get checked out.” My father replied, “I can still walk. I’m fine. How are you?” The man drove my father home. The next day, he brought fruit to my father, which my father told him to take back home. My other family members couldn’t understand and thought my father was stupid. My father said, “If it weren’t for Master’s protection, would I still be alive?” I once again witnessed Master’s compassion and the wonders of Falun Dafa!
Introducing Dafa to the Community
My husband and I decided to tell everyone about such a good practice so that more people could benefit from it. We introduced it to our friends and family, and many people started to cultivate. Our family thus set up the first Fa study group in the area. We went to the park in the morning to do the exercises, and we studied the Fa together at our home in the evenings.
As the number of practitioners grew, we helped fellow practitioners set up several other exercise sites. Although we had a tight budget because of having two children, we still purchased recorders for all the other exercise sites.
We also bought color televisions, motorcycles, VCRs, DVDs, and other equipment needed to introduce Falun Dafa in remote rural areas. We traveled to many villages, and sometimes went as far 100 miles, but we didn’t feel tired. We just thought about how we could let more people know about the preciousness of Falun Dafa.
There were many touching stories. An 8-year-old child in a nearby village had leukemia. The family had spent all their savings, but the hospital could not cure him. The child’s mother wanted to try their luck by practicing Falun Dafa with the child. One day at the exercise site, the child suddenly spat out blood. At that time, everyone was scared because they had just started practicing, and they did not understand that this was cleansing the child’s body. After the child stopped vomiting, he said, “Mother, I’m hungry. I want to eat.” This child hadn’t had an appetite for food since he got sick. From then on, the child’s health improved and he got better every day until he finally recovered. More than 20 years later, this child had grown up, remained healthy, and is married, with children.
Within about three years—from 1996 to April 1999, Falun Dafa was practiced by more and more people in my city and the neighboring villages. Many people who had incurable diseases became healthy. And more people have improved their moral character and began taking reputation and profit lightly. This is why practitioners have persisted in cultivation for over 20 years despite the ongoing persecution.
Clarifying the Truth
After the CCP launched the persecution of Dafa in July 1999, we lost the environment where we could freely practice. Facing unprecedented and overwhelming persecution and slanderous propaganda, I asked myself if anything was wrong with being a better and healthier person. I didn’t understand why the government prohibited people from cultivating. I told myself that since I benefited from Dafa, I would tell people the facts about Falun Dafa.
We purchased computers, printers, and other equipment to print truth clarification materials. We distributed the informational Dafa materials with fellow practitioners. At first, we only dared to distribute a few copies in remote villages. We later distributed the materials to most households in our region.
We also encouraged and helped other practitioners to set up more materials production sites. We were so happy when more and more people in our area quit the CCP and its youth organizations.
When three fellow practitioners and I distributed truth-clarifying materials in a neighboring county in 2007, we were reported to the police. Another practitioner and I were arrested and detained.
There were six people in the cell. We told them about the preciousness of Falun Dafa and how to be a good person. We also suggested that people sit together and recite “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” in their hearts a few times every day.
The head of the cell was an older woman in her 60s, and when we first arrived, she was particularly mean to us. She asked us to clean the cell and kept everyone else from helping. We didn’t argue with her, and cleaned every day. Eventually, our kindness impressed her. One day she said, “Let’s take turns on duty. We can’t keep letting the two of them do it.”
The guards at the detention center asked people in our cell to monitor us and report back. They said, “We won’t do anything unethical. We all say good things about you two.” Later, of the six people, all but one quit the CCP organizations.
New people kept coming in during our 40 days of detention. We told them the truth and suggested they quit the CCP. Usually, people would be released after they did so. They all said they were blessed because they believed in Falun Dafa’s goodness, and wanted to be good people.
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