(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2012, but my parents, middle brother, and husband began practicing Dafa before 1999. Influenced by them, I read Falun Dafa books and Master’s articles, and began to understand more about what cultivation is. Perhaps my predestined relationship hadn’t come at that time, as it wasn’t until September 6, 2012, that I began Dafa cultivation, and returned to good health.
I participated in suing former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin, for initiating the persecution of Falun Dafa, during the tide of bringing Jiang to justice, which was launched in 2015. CCP members subsequently began coming to my home to harass me during sensitive dates. They even went to my husband’s company to threaten him. They tried to force him to put pressure on me, so I would sign their document renouncing Falun Gong. My husband already had a strong fear, so the harassment upset him very much. In addition, he had a hard time understanding the fact that my parents passed away due to illness karma. Gradually, his faith in the Fa was shaken, and he stopped cultivating.
Our family, that used to believe in Falun Dafa, with all members of the family being practitioners and living in harmony, was undermined by evil forces. My husband, who used to be gentle and sensible, changed to become a completely different person. He oppressed, abused, and insulted me, and even went as far as beating me. He transferred his fear of the Party onto me, and my stress reached its peak. But I thought that since I had chosen cultivation, I needed to stay with it to the end. I could give up everything among regular people, but not Falun Dafa.
When the CCP came to harass me, my husband knew that I would not compromise, so he asked me to hide for a few days. My in-laws and I have lived together for a long time, and we lived harmoniously with each other. Unlike regular people, there were no conflicts between us. My mother-in-law thought highly of me and always praised me. But when I returned home she was furious with me. She started yelling at me, saying, “You hid away when the police came and scared us a lot. Is it so important for you to practice? For the sake of this family, can you sign [the CCP document]? Do you really have to practice [Falun Dafa]?”
All kinds of accusations were hurled at me. I failed to maintain my xinxing, and talked back to her, “Your son told me to hide. He was scared. It wasn’t me who decided to leave for a while.”
After that, I calmed down and thought it over. How could I help her understand a practitioner’s mindset? One time I talked with her, and said, “Dafa requires me to be a good person, to treat the elderly kindly at home and treat others kindly in society. We cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We haven’t done anything wrong. Why would I sign it?”
She pointed out that she doesn’t practice Falun Dafa, but is also a good person. I responded, “We’ve lived together for many years. What do you think about me? Am I a bad person?” She was silent. She knew deep down that I was much better than her other daughter-in-laws.
I continued, “I know you are a good person, caring about the family, helping me, and taking good care of me. But if someone said that you were bad, did bad things, and asked me to sign a document admitting that you were a bad person, otherwise they’d arrest me, I certainly would not sign it, no matter what. I’d have to stand up for you, and say ‘My mother-in-law is a good person. I can’t falsely accuse her.’ I want to be a person who has a good conscience. I can’t help others to harm you for the sake of leaving myself in peace.”
I added, “If the police claim I’m a bad person, could you do what I’d do for you?”
She replied, “I dare not.”
I said, “This is the standard for how a practitioner behaves. Our Master taught us Dafa, healed our illnesses without charging us a penny, helped us stay fit, and improved our morality, so that we can be kind to our parents, treat everyone nicely, and be better persons. This has brought great benefits to society without causing the slightest harm. But the CCP tries to force us to sign, to slander our Master, defame Dafa, and have us betray our Master. Do you think we can do that?”
She said, “Oh okay. That’s what they asked you to sign. It’s not only just to say that you would stop practicing.” She finally seemed to understand the whole picture and was no longer so angry. She said, “You really can’t sign it.”
She has since no longer been so opposed to me. Whenever I had a chance, I talked to her about the beauty of Dafa and shared practitioners’ cultivation stories. She gradually acknowledged the truth. I brought her a cassette player so she could listen to Master’s recorded lectures. I also played practitioners’ sharing articles for her, and the podcast of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Once she started listening to it, she couldn’t stop. She listened while doing housework and cooking, and sometimes she even giggled. She said, “My daughter-in-law passed the tests very well. No matter how badly others treat her, she didn’t get angry.”
I asked her, “You are also a good person. But how do you compare yourself with our practitioners?”
“Who can compare with them?” she replied, “There is not even one good person like Dafa practitioners among 10,000 people.”
She acknowledged Dafa from the bottom of her heart, and said, “Dafa is truly wonderful, Master is so wonderful. If everyone were to practice Dafa, this society would be much better. The CCP is too evil for persecuting such great people.”
One time, CCP members came to my home to harass me. After they came in, I clarified the facts to them. My mother-in-law stepped out from the kitchen, shouting, “Why are you looking for my daughter-in-law? My daughter-in-law is very nice and filial to us. You mistreat her because she practices Dafa. Do you know Dafa teaches people to be good? Why are you arresting good people?” They were speechless and quickly left.
When it came to the “sensitive dates,” the CCP carried out the so-called “Zero-Out” campaign. I told my mother-in-law, “Please be careful these couple of days. Don’t just open the door. See who it is first. If a police officer comes, you can say this...”
Before I finished, she said, “You don’t have to tell me. I’m not scared of them. If they come, I know how to deal with them. I’ve learned that by listening to the podcast of those sharing articles. Please rest assured.” I was really moved. She truly learned the truth, and knew Dafa is wonderful.
She went out every day to do her grocery shopping, using bills printed with truth clarification messages on them to pay. She could spend up to 1,000 yuan a month and has done so for more than ten years. When a vendor refuses to take the bills, she asks, “What’s wrong? Is this fake money?”
When vendors told her it was not fake money, she replied, “Then it’s okay as long as it’s not fake. If there are words on it, you can read them if you want. If you don’t want to do so, no one will force you.” The vendors had nothing to say, but accept the bills.
My mother-in-law became my helper at home. Every time my husband got angry with me because of CCP harassment, she always stood by me and tried to comfort me, saying, “He is giving you virtue. This is your test. You have to pass it.” When my parents side of the family came, she talked to them about the beauty of Dafa and gave them amulets.
My mother-in-law is 82 years old and in great health. She is quicker than young people at doing grocery shopping at the market, cooking, and cleaning up the house. She was truly blessed by Dafa. I believe she will have a bright future.
Prior to October 2022, when the Party held its national conference, unlawful people went to my husband’s work to threaten him to force me to give up my belief. Otherwise, they would have his company dismiss him and arrest me. They also said that since our daughter was taking the college entrance exam next year, if I didn’t sign, they’d have her fail the political review, so she couldn’t be admitted to a prestigious school.
My husband took their words to heart, came back, and had a fight with me. Seeing that I was very firm, he went to talk to my eldest brother who is not a practitioner. My brother has hinted what he believed to me and my middle brother, who also practices Dafa. “You didn’t get yourself into trouble. You didn’t care about losing your life for the sake of cultivation, nor cared about your children’s future.” He also warned his son not to follow us to practice.
This time, my eldest brother brought his son and came to my home to fight with me. As soon as he entered the door, he said to me angrily, “How difficult was it for you to sign it [the CCP’s document]? Your husband had a hard life, and is the breadwinner of the family. Do you have to destroy the family? Why don’t you think about others? What do you want to do?!
I calmly replied, “My brother, don’t be anxious. First of all, don’t feel embarrassed by being called my family, as we are being persecuted. First, I have never been unfaithful to my husband. Second, I have never been unfilial to my parents. And third, I have never done anything to let down my husband’s family. You can ask my in-laws how I am doing in their family. So don’t feel ashamed. On the contrary, I’ve held myself to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person. It’s the CCP who is persecuting me. What makes this family unsettled is the Party.”
He continued, “You just need to sign it. No one will care if you continue to practice.”
My nephew also said, “Aunt, don’t be silly. Please sign it, it’s better for every one of us.”
I responded, “My brother, you know Dafa is good. I don’t have to repeat it. Our parents practiced Dafa for nearly 20 years, and they never betrayed Master or Dafa. This is the belief they persisted in to the last moment of their lives. Let me ask you, if someone were to ask you to sign now, accusing your parents, saying that they were bad people, criminals, otherwise they would arrest you, would you sign? Anyway, I wouldn’t sign.
“I can’t disobey my parents, and throw dirty water on them after they have passed away. Once a teacher, always a father. By the same token, I will not betray my Master. The CCP wanted me to sign to admit that my Master is a bad person and Dafa is a cult. I can never do that even if I were to die! You also said that you wanted me to sign for my husband and children.
“Brother, I am telling you, if I were to sign this because of your persuasion or for your own good, one day in the future, when Dafa is vindicated, what will you do then? You will have become accomplices of the Party, causing a Dafa practitioner to commit an unforgivable crime. The reason why I did not agree to sign is precisely to prevent you from doing something wrong in aiding the persecution of practitioners. You should know that persecuting Dafa practitioners is a great crime.”
Both of them were silent for a while. Then my brother said, “So that’s how it is!” He left without saying another word. At six o’clock the next morning, my nephew called me and said, “Auntie, I’ve been thinking about it all night and I understand now. I support you. You are amazing. We will never try to force you again. You did the right thing. We almost committed a crime.”
I burst into tears upon hearing that. I knew that the evil behind him had been cleaned up. Master used him to encourage me, to know that clarifying the facts to him helped. Since then, whenever my brother saw me, he no longer repeated those slanderous rumors. When my nephew drank too much or got upset with his wife, my brother would tell him, “You have to follow what Master Li teaches us to do, and check out the Dafa books when you have time.” During the pandemic, he said, “No vaccine or nucleic acid is effective, only Master Li and Dafa can save people.” He also reminded his grandchildren to recite “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” at home.
My elder brother had called my boss at work (who was my father’s good friend) before, and asked him to try to persuade me to stop practicing Dafa. My boss’s wife came to my house and said, “Your husband is such a great person, and you scared him like that. Don’t be so selfish, just sign it.”
She is a Buddhist. I had shared my cultivation stories with her before. I said, “My aunt, we both are cultivators. If one day the CCP forbids you to believe in Buddhism and arrests you if you do, and asks you to sign a document cursing your master and the Buddha, would you sign?”
She replied, “I can’t.” Then she said, “The CCP is evil. You can do whatever you want. I won’t say anything. I’m leaving.”
Master said:
“Whatever you experience during your cultivation—whether good or bad—is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating.” (“To the Chicago Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)
Given these few incidents, I deeply came to feel the true meaning of what Master said. If it wasn’t for my husband’s help, none of these relatives would know the truth. We sometimes fail to clarify the truth thoroughly and fully, especially when it comes to family members. We assume that they all understand without explaining it in depth. We just take it for granted that they understand.
We should talk to them from an angle that they can understand and use language that they can comprehend; talk to them repeatedly, inspire their true thoughts and conscience, and have them understand our situation, so as to help them give up their hostility toward Dafa, and choose a bright future for themselves.
By clarifying the truth according to different people’s concerns, identities, and levels of understanding, the evil will collapse on its own.
Thank you, Master, for your compassionate salvation!