(Minghui.org) I was a schoolteacher when I started cultivating in Dafa in 1998. I would like to share how Masterhas been protecting me all these years, as well as my experiences of Dafa’s miraculous power.
I was diagnosed with hepatitis B in 1996 when I was in my 40s. I was treated for over a year but with little improvement. At that time, I often traveled between large hospitals in the province and purchased medication in bulk. I knew that there was no cure for hepatitis B, and the treatments were just to keep my condition from getting worse. I was in deep despair, wondering if this was how my life would end.
During this time when I had to spend seven or eight hours a day in bed on IV drips and couldn’t eat much, someone told me about Falun Dafa. I didn’t take it seriously because I’d grown up under the influence of atheism promoted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But out of appreciation for the kindness of others, I thought I might just give it a go, since I had nothing else to do. I began to read the book Zhuan Falun and was greatly inspired by the principles it explained, as I had never heard such things before. Master’s words were easy to understand and touched my heart deeply. They answered many of my questions about life and resolved many doubts.
I came to understand that the root cause of illnesses is the karma that we accumulate life after life and that the real purpose of human life is to return to one’s original, true self. I realized that Falun Dafa is a unique cultivation practice that can enable people to do this.
Cultivation is a sacred, mysterious, and magical word! In the past I had only heard stories about monks and Taoists cultivating in mountains and stories about Buddha Sakyamuni and Bodhidharma, so, to me, the concept of “cultivation” was nothing more than beautiful legends from ancient times. But now I could actually practice cultivation! I felt so happy as if a lost, tiny boat drifting in the vast ocean had finally found a safe harbor.
No words were sufficient to express the happiness and joy I felt at that moment—I thought I was the most fortunate person in the whole world. I made up my mind then that I would cultivate Falun Dafa. Soon afterward, my hepatitis B and years of diarrhea and frequent colds all disappeared, and I no longer needed those bottles of medicine. All I felt in my heart was eternal gratitude to Master.
After that, studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and promoting Dafa became an important part of my life. I behaved strictly according to the principles of Truthfulness Compassion-Forbearance, and deeper meanings of the Fa principles were regularly revealed to me. Each time I read Zhuan Falun, I would gain new insights. I could feel that I was changing rapidly, bathed in Master’s mighty grace.
In July 1999, the CCP launched a nationwide persecution of Falun Dafa, and all the state-owned TV and radio stations, newspapers, and magazines slandered and defamed Falun Dafa and its practitioners. It felt as if the nightmare of the Cultural Revolution had returned in full force. Master was being framed and Dafa was being derided. At that time, even people outside of China were deceived by the CCP’s propaganda.
To help people understand the truth and to be true to my conscience, I went to Beijing with fellow practitioners to appeal for Falun Dafa. I was arrested, escorted home, and fined several thousand yuan. My salary was suspended, and on the so-called “sensitive dates,” I was either detained or harassed. I also faced enormous pressure from my employer, my family, my relatives, and my friends, who all wanted me to give up my faith.
My 80-year-old father was a CCP cadre. He’d been profoundly poisoned by the CCP fallacies, and he always said that the CCP was forever “great, glorious, and correct” and that everyone should follow it. When I didn’t obey, he threatened to disown me and started to beat me. I didn’t move, and he hit me with his walking stick and punched me. My wife and children, relatives, and friends also begged me to give up Falun Dafa, and the unbearable pressure broke my heart. It was really like what Master described in the poem “Tempering the Will:”
“...Abundant troubles rain down together,All to see: Can you pull through?...” (“Tempering the Will,” Hong Yin)
With a shattered heart, I asked myself if I was wrong. “No,” I told myself, “I’m not. There is nothing wrong with trying to be a good person by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”
I also realized that the reason I felt so heartbroken was due to my attachment to human sentiments. If I let myself be dragged down, not only would I be destroyed, but also those who tried to force me to give up Falun Dafa from creating more bad karma for themselves.
In the fall of 2000, a mass arrest took place in our area, and around 15 practitioners were illegally detained, including me. I learned later that I had been reported to the police for clarifying the truth to people. I was detained for over eight months and suffered all kinds of persecution. Thanks to Master’s kind protection, I made my way out later.
While incarcerated, I reminded myself: “No matter how difficult the situation is, I will not commit suicide or go on a hunger strike. I’m not afraid of spending the rest of my life in jail.” Such a thought appeared to be right, but when I reflected on it later, I realized that it was only being “strong and firm” by everyday people’s standards. Because of this, I was detained for over eight months. Master finally woke me up with a hint.
When my wife visited me, she said, “I’ve endured so much for you. Do you expect me to make even more sacrifices for you?” I was shocked to hear her say that, thinking: “That is not her talking, it is a hint from Master who is using her mouth.” Indeed, I shouldn’t stay where I couldn’t validate the Fa or take care of the elderly and the young at home. So, I made up my mind: “I will get out of here alive because there are many things I need to do outside.”
I went on a hunger strike for ten days and suffered all kinds of torture, but I got out of prison alive. I didn’t expect that I would get out so soon. I realized that cultivation is a very serious matter and that one must cultivate solidly to reach the required standard. I also came to understand that “letting go of the fear of death” does not mean that one must die. We are Dafa practitioners helping Master in the Fa-rectification, and we should put saving people first. All the people in the world are to be saved. How can we die? At critical moments, it’s up to us to make the call.
There was a regrettable incident in this regard. A practitioner in the cell next to me said to me a few times, “I’m here to pave the way, and I’m willing to be a stepping stone.” I knew that he meant to say: “For the sake of others, I’m willing to die.” It was a selfless attitude, but it was also accepting the old forces’ arrangments.
I didn’t see the loophole at the time and I didn’t share more with him on the issue. Two weeks after I was released, I heard that he had died as a result of persecution. The fact that someone who hadn’t been tried and sentenced died from torture caused some concern in the local 610 Office. So they released all the remaining, over a dozen practitioners. The perpetrators were still a bit cautious in those days.
I regained my health soon after I was released, so I went back to teach in my school, as I believed that I hadn’t done anything wrong by practicing Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and the authorities had no grounds to punish me.
One day, the district principal said to me, “My superiors have suspended your regular salary. You will only be paid 100 yuan a month for basic living expenses.”
Indeed, I saw in my bank account that I was paid only 100 yuan per month. By 2008, it was reduced again by almost half. I had to leave the school and my students with great reluctance to make a living elsewhere. I looked for a job in the talent market in the provincial capital, applied for a teaching position in a private school in another county, worked in rented fields, contracted wells to irrigate farmland, and worked in private mines.
Over the next few years after I left my school, I went to talk to different agencies many times about how my salary had been suspended. The CCP secretary of our township said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’d better ask in the finance office.”
After someone in the Education Bureau told me that they’d never reduced my salary, I found out that it was the school district that was responsible.
I went to see the district principal and said, “The Education Bureau paid me my full salary every month. You shouldn’t have reduced it without an official notification from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee.”
He retorted, “When the 610 Office says to reduce your salary, that’s what I do. Go talk to Jiang Zemin if you dare to. I will call the 610 Office and have you arrested. You quit working here, and now you’re asking for your back salary.”
I argued that the reason I left the school was because he had withheld my salary, but he wouldn’t listen.
Last year, when it was time for me to retire, I stopped doing odd jobs and spent almost a year running between the school district and the district principal. In fact, it was a battle between justice and evil in other dimensions. When I based myself on the Fa principles and cultivated a heart for the benefit of others, the evil elements in other dimensions were dissolved.
Through Fa study, I came to understand that the evil elements in other dimensions use people who don’t know the truth to commit crimes against the Fa, and if these people continue to do bad things, they will truly lose their opportunity to be saved. Dafa disciples will achieve consummation regardless of the persecution, so in the truest sense, we are not the ones being persecuted, it is those who don’t know the truth and do evil. How pitiful they are!
This thought filled my heart with immense compassion for them, and the traumas I harbored as a result of how I’d been persecuted over the past decade vanished without a trace. The only thought I had was to save more people, to not let the old forces destroy them. It was more than just getting the back salary owed to me. I felt my heart suddenly become clear, and the mental burden I felt in the past was completely gone. The sky even looked brighter.
I went to see the district principal and kindly explained to him why I practice Falun Dafa. I clarified the truth about Dafa and told him about some of the miraculous things that had happened to me. I told him how I conducted myself by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and how our compassionate Master endured enormous pain and suffering to save people. Tears came to my eyes when my heart was touched, and the district principal also seemed emotional as he listened to me.
I said, “There have been different principals over the past ten years, and you are not the one who withheld my salary in the beginning. I don’t blame any of you. I’m not here to ask for all that was withheld from me in the past. It’s just that I’m about to retire, and I would like to get what I deserve when I do—my pension shouldn’t reflect what was unjustly withheld. If you can make right what was wrong, it would mean that you have done a very good thing, and when the truth is finally revealed to the world, you will be very happy that you did the right thing at a critical moment.”
After some time, when I met the district principal again, he said, “You don’t need to come here anymore. I have told the accountants that you are entitled to your full pension. We’ll fix it for you.”
Even though the district principal made the decision, the accountant in charge (the vice principal) still wanted to make things difficult and tried to delay the process with all kinds of excuses.
When I went to see the accountant again, he said, “You need to open an account. We can go to the bank together.” While filling out the paperwork at the bank, I was surprised to discover that I had been given over 2,000 yuan every month for all those years, but the accountant had transferred it all to his own account, leaving me less than 100 yuan each time. So he had been stealing my salary for over 16 years!
I wasn’t angry at the accountant. I realized that Master had helped me learn the truth, maybe after seeing how I improved and let go of my attachments to fame and gain as I sought justice for myself.
Initially, I resented the school leadership for treating me so unfairly. But now I can talk to them calmly, with no feelings of resentment or hatred. I only care that they understand the facts and are saved. When I changed myself, things unexpectedly turned out for the better. I am now receiving the retirement pension I am entitled to, and there have been no further issues.
The above are some of my personal experiences and understandings. Please kindly point out anything not in line with the Fa.