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Transformative Changes After Cultivating

Oct. 9, 2024 |   By Xia Lan, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Liaoning Province

(Minghui.org) I obtained the precious book, Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa, in April 1997. From then on my life began to undergo transformative changes.

Before I started cultivating, I was a very vindictive person. If anyone made me unhappy, I would use various ways to get even. After I started practicing Falun Dafa, I used the Fa principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to discipline myself at every moment. Whether it was at home or work, whenever issues came up, I would first look inward. I would be considerate when issues arose.

One day, I met with the family member of a retired official. I was yelled at by her for two hours. However, I was not moved at all. During the Cultural Revolution, that retired official was persecuted, became depressed and came down with a mental illness. His family member came to seek reimbursement of medical expenses several times already. Based on the policy, medical expenses should be fully reimbursed. However, because our company was not doing well financially, he was not given full reimbursement. Every time the family member came to see us she would make a scene for a long time. That day, when managers saw her, they all found excuses to leave. I was the only person left to meet with her.

When she realized that the managers had all left, she vented all her anger on me. She yelled and swore at me loudly. It was really offensive. Other employees observed the scene as onlookers either on the spot or from the second-floor balcony. I was really humiliated. However, I remembered that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner and should not argue with her. I then kept silently saying “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance” in my mind, and no longer heard what she was yelling.

After more than two hours passed, I heard the woman crying and slapping herself in the mouth while saying: “Why do I behave so bad? The managers left already and ignored me. She is receiving me, but I’m yelling at her. I’m really bad!” I think it was Master who helped me get over this tribulation after seeing that my xinxing had improved.

After the woman left, other employees surrounded me and asked: “What happened to you today? She swore at you, but you didn’t say a word in return. You behaved completely different from how you used to.”

I said to them, “I am practicing Falun Dafa and have to follow the principles Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.”

A young section chief asked me to dinner that night. The chief said, “Let me also feel the power of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.”

Helping a Prisoner Decide Against Suicide

I was illegally incarcerated in the Shenyang City No. 2 Women’s Prison in 2020. One morning, when I just arrived at the workshop to do forced labor, a criminal inmate held my hand and said, “I will remember you forever. You are the best person!” After she finished, she let my hand go and was about to leave. At that moment, I suddenly sensed that she was planning to commit suicide.

I then grabbed her hand and said, “Don’t leave. If there’s anything you cannot get over, talk to me about it.” She said, “I cannot get you in trouble. The guard on duty is watching us.”

At the prison, inmates are not allowed to hold hands, especially with Falun Gong practitioners. The guards would seriously punish Falun Gong practitioners. I thought that saving life was most important. I said to her, “Life is precious. Suicide is a big sin. There is a saying, ‘It is difficult to obtain a human body; it is hard to be born in China; it is difficult to listen to the Dharma.’ Only with a human body can you obtain the Fa. All humans in the world are here to obtain Dafa. You came down to the human world alone for your sentient beings. If you cannot return, the sentient beings in your heavenly kingdom will all be ruined. No matter what ordeals you encounter, you can get over them as time goes by. Look at Falun Dafa practitioners: they are suffering such great injustice, but they are still able to live every day peacefully. If there’s anything that you cannot figure out, talk to me about it and see if I can help you resolve it.”

In fact, it was because she was frequently beaten and yelled at by the team lead for not completing tasks. She was also not allowed to buy additional food. The meal given in prison was not enough, so inmates would all buy some food themselves. The food she bought before was all confiscated by the prison guards. She was sentenced to 12 years due to fraud. Because she was not meeting her assigned quota, she had not had a sentence reduction in 2 years. She was 63 years old and had 10 more years to go in the prison. She thought that she did not know if she could survive this environment for 10 more years, so why not just end it for all.

I held her hand and chatted with her for over two hours loudly. The team lead and guards on duty were all watching, but did not stop me from talking. Many inmates in the workshop saw us, too. Later she said: “Thank you for saving my life.”

She said that she did not sleep the night before, as she planned to get scissors at the workshop in the morning and then use it to pierce through her heart to commit suicide. However, when she saw me in the morning, a force made her stop where I was. I said, “Isn’t this the Master watching over and saving you?!” She said, “Don’t worry, I will definitely practice Falun Gong after I get out.” We thanked Master’s grand benevolence together! Later, a lot of inmates said to me, “Besides you Falun Gong, who cares about the lives of inmates?!”

Having cultivated for over 20 years, I can feel that Master is beside me every moment, looking after me, reminding me, enduring tribulations for me, and eliminating karma for me, although I haven’t seen Master in person. Dafa purified my heart, gave me a healthy body, and let me know about the purpose of human life. It’s hard to repay Master’s grace.

Thank you, Master, and fellow practitioners!