(Minghui.org) I am a 66-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner living in a rural farming village. I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 22 years, and with help from fellow practitioners, have compiled some of my experiences while cultivating Dafa.
Personally Taught by Master Before Knowing the Existence of Dafa
I was born in a mountain village. I lost my mother when I was four and my father when I was nine. I grew up under the care of my uncle’s family. I shared an acrimonious relationship with my uncle’s wife, who hit and scolded me for the smallest things. Once, after a severe beating from her, I grabbed a length of hemp, climbed out of a window, and ran to a tree on the hillside, intending to hang myself. I cried while rubbing the length of hemp, “Dad, come and take me away! I refuse to live anymore!” I cried and fainted.
In my unconscious state, I saw a colorful cloud approaching me from the west. The cloud soon manifested itself as a huge dragon, which circled me three times with its mouth open. I felt no fear and even felt a sense of kinship with the dragon. I called the dragon “Father.” I told him why I no longer wanted to stay at my uncle’s home, and asked him to take me away. The dragon shook his head after hearing my request, conveying his inability to take me with him. His body changed from black to yellow, before disappearing.
Soon after, several people from my uncle’s household found and brought me home. From then on, I began to identify myself as a dragon girl.
I mastered how to perform many chores neatly and well, out of fear of being beaten and scolded. When I was of marriageable age, my impressive skills attracted many suitors. The abuse I suffered throughout my childhood led me to select an honest man as my husband. Unexpectedly, my husband, though honest to a fault, could not make any money. Everyone looked down on his extremely poor family. As a person who cared about social standing, I found it unbearable and wondered why my life was so miserable.
I found myself severely ill shortly after. I sought medical treatment everywhere and used every alternative method available, including folk remedies, prayers to the divine, worshiping Buddha, and burning incense. These cures failed to work and even caused my condition to worsen. When my young daughter contracted a strange disease, throwing my family into greater chaos, I gave up and decided to commit suicide. I made many attempts, including jumping into a well, jumping into a river, and hanging myself many times, but I met with constant failure. I began thinking, “If only a true deity could come and save me, our family would be fine.” Yet I knew how unrealistic this ridiculous thought was.
One day, while half asleep, I saw a deity in the image of a Taoist priest, holding a fly whisk while sitting on the kang bed in my house. I invited him to eat and drink, but he refused to respond. After a while, I saw a mosquito biting him on the face. The belly of the mosquito became swollen and red, yet he still refused to move. When I stepped forward to hit it, he shook his head and stopped me. I asked, “Are you mentally ill? Why continue letting the mosquitoes bite you?” He replied, “It will leave when it is full. It is a sin to kill living things!”
After these words, the Taoist priest disappeared, and I learned a lesson about not killing lives.
I dreamed one day that I was working in my yard when a colorful cloud suddenly came from the west and touched down on the roof of my house. For some inexplicable reason, I immediately knelt and shouted “Master!” At this point I realized I had taken on the appearance of a teenage boy, holding a sword with one hand while using the other to support my body in a half kneeling position on the ground. I was embarrassed to look at Master, as though I had done something wrong. When Master gestured for me to raise my head, I looked up and saw Master on a big pink lotus flower, wearing an off-shoulder dark yellow cassock and bearing a colorful halo above his head. While marveling at this beautiful sight, I thought to myself, “This big lotus is so beautiful. If I could have a petal from it, I will not have lived in vain!” Immediately I heard Master ask, “Do you like it?” When I nodded sheepishly, a big petal floated down. I quickly received it with both hands.
After the pink petal fell onto my hands, it became a Malan flower. Confused, I raised my head to ask Master about this, only to find that Master had vanished. Just then, a man approached me from behind asking for the flower, so I ran away to a beautiful and spacious place.
A few days later while half asleep, I saw Master visit my home in a dream. He kindly told me, “Let me teach you the exercises!” Master taught me the exercises in the yard outside my home. When I was holding the wheel in front of my head, I saw black water flowing down my arms. After a while, my arms appeared white as jade. When it was time to hold the wheel above my head, I failed to lift my two arms up. When Master said, “Lift your arms higher,” and I replied that I really could not, Master manifested a scene for me. I saw Master standing atop a high mountain, supporting a large straight ladder. Master indicated I should climb up, but I did not dare to. Master then lowered two chains and told me to use these to climb up. But I still failed, so eventually Master pulled me up. After reaching the top, I realized the mountain had turned into a large platform surrounded by beautiful scenery.
While learning to follow the energy mechanisms downwards in the fourth set of exercises, I felt an uncontrollable burst of happiness. In response, Master signaled for me to be serious.
A few days later, I returned home after working in the fields and lay down to rest for a while. While in this half-asleep state, Master came and taught me the fifth exercise set. As he was teaching me the mudras, I saw a small lotus flower on the palms of Master’s hands. The beautiful lotus flower did not fall off, even as Master went through the hand movements.
After Master finished teaching me the fifth exercise set, I found myself constantly accompanying Master whenever I dreamed. Master would travel around teaching the Fa, but it was not an easy task. Evil people were constantly scheming and plotting to kill Master, but Master always managed to hide away in time.
One day, I was standing at Master’s side midair on an auspicious cloud, when Master said, “It is time for us to part ways. From now on, it’s up to you. Just follow this Fa and keep cultivating!” I burst into tears. When Master asked, “Why are you crying?” I replied, “I’m illiterate.” Master regretfully sighed before leaving.
Afterward, I experienced another vivid dream. A group of people came to my house, and one person suggested, “Let’s go get some gold!” I went with them and ran up a big mountain covered with beautiful scenery. When I spotted a red cloth bag halfway up the mountain, emitting colorful light, I ran toward the red bag as hard as I could. I started climbing when I could run no further, and I finally managed to reach my prize. When I opened the bag, I found three books within, namely Zhuan Falun, Zhuan Falun Volume II, and The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection.
I flipped open the books and upon seeing Master’s image, started crying, “Master, I am able to see you again! Aren’t you the great Fa rectifying immortal and real Master I’ve been looking for? These books are truly precious! Master, I have found you again!” I cried and shouted, while holding the books tightly in my arms. My loud cries eventually woke me from my dream.
The noise also roused members of my family, who asked why I was crying. When I described my fantastic dream, they all agreed that it was an unbelievable experience.
Obtaining the Fa and Realizing My Dream
I encountered Falun Dafa in 1998. By then, I was so weak I could barely work. The overwhelming pain weighed me down so badly I had no strength left.
One day, my son told me, “Mom, those in our village who practice Falun Gong say it is very miraculous. It can cure diseases and keep a person fit, while encouraging its practitioners not to fight or scold others. Practitioners can even cultivate to become immortals. You should try and learn Falun Gong.” The notion of becoming an immortal and attaining enlightenment was very attractive, but it would be hard to avoid fighting and arguing with others. Still, my family encouraged me to try.
An instructor at the practice site taught me the exercise movements, and then encouraged me to read a Dafa book. To my surprise, I discovered what Master had taught me in my dreams was Falun Gong! I had finally found the practice! My excitement was indescribable, because I had finally embarked on my cultivation path!
The instructor who taught me the exercises remarked, “It’s easy to teach you since you pick up the movements so fast!” I thought, “It’s because Master taught me the same exercises a long time ago in my dreams!”
At my first group Fa study, I listened as the coordinator read the book Teachings at the Conference in Singapore. Throughout the session, I thought, “Master’s teachings are so good, every word resonates in my heart. Master knows everything I’ve done and has addressed it all here. I must cultivate to the end!”
After just four days, my body and mind had changed for the better. My heart felt lighter, I stopped feeling breathless, and my entire body felt relaxed. Within a month, my illnesses had vanished, and I walked effortlessly as though floating through the air. I was so ecstatic about regaining my health that I felt like singing every day.
I was cleaning the cattle pen one day, carrying basket after basket of dung without feeling tired. Several people were at my neighbor’s house, painting the courtyard wall. One asked, “What mantra do you recite? You don’t look tired despite the work.” I replied, “I don’t recite mantras. I practice Falun Gong!” The man praised, “This practice is more effective than any mantra!”
During that period, I often cried and thanked Master whenever I was alone. “Master, my illness is gone. I’ve regained my health, can work with endless stamina, and my life is no longer miserable!”
Master’s Compassionate Protection in Times of Tribulation
A year after I obtained the Fa, Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), launched an unprecedented crackdown on Falun Gong. Overnight, tens of millions of good people who practiced Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance became targets of the persecution!
I was cooking at home one day, when five or six officials came and fiercely told me not to practice Falun Gong any longer. I quickly explained to them, “The practice cured my diseases and teaches me how to be a good person. Falun Dafa is not an ordinary practice.” After listening to my words, the officials were about to leave when my father-in-law arrived. Having been deceived by the CCP’s lies, he told the officials about the Dafa books in my possession. After hearing that I had Dafa books, the officials ransacked my home and confiscated them all, refusing to return them to me. I knelt on the ground and appealed to the person holding the bag containing my books, “You can’t take my books, they are more precious than my life!” The officials looked at me sympathetically, and one of them said, “We don’t want to do this either. We have no choice. If we don’t do this, we will be fired.” One official grabbed the bag of books and ran out of my home. I hurriedly chased them all the way to the township government office.
I spent three hours at the township government office, demanding the return of my books, but they only rebuffed me. “Go home! Your books have been shipped off to the county office.”
I wanted to visit the county office to retrieve my books but could not locate the place. After that, I cried for three days without eating or drinking. My worried husband visited his father, intending to ask him for help to retrieve my books.
When my husband returned, he told me that my mother-in-law had promised to help find two Falun Gong books for me. At this point, I heard a voice from nowhere telling me, “These two books can support your studies for a lifetime!” Two Dafa books, Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement appeared before my third eye.
My mother-in-law arrived a while later and told me, “Get up! Let’s eat something first before we look for the books.” As it turned out, my mother-in-law knew of a relative who had Dafa books in their possession. The two books we found were Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement.
Yet within less than a year, another group of officials ransacked my home without permission and stole my two books. When I visited the county office demanding their return, the authorities imprisoned me in a detention center. Throughout those three days of detention, I refused to eat or drink. My family sold half the pork we had at home to raise funds. My elderly uncle then used his connections to bribe a government officer and secure my release.
Unable to study the Fa without the books, I hatched the idea of manually copying books borrowed from fellow practitioners. However I had never attended school, and mostly listened to fellow practitioners as they read the Fa at practice sites, following the text to the best of my efforts and asking others when I encountered difficult words. Learning to read had taken much time and effort. Undoubtedly writing was an even greater hurdle!
Yet I remained determined to copy Master’s teachings and asked my daughter to take me to the bookstore to buy some notebooks. At the store, I instantly saw a notebook printed with Malan flowers. As I turned the notebook over in my hand, I thought to myself, “Isn’t it the same Malan flower given to me by Master in my dream? How did it end up on this book?” I immediately bought the notebook and brought it home.
The first book I attempted to copy was Teachings at the Conference in Singapore, and I encountered many difficulties while copying the words. Once, uncertain how to write a Chinese character, I went to consult a fellow practitioner. My request aroused this practitioner’s ire, and I cried after returning home. Later, Master patiently taught me how to write the character in my dreams. From then on, Master personally taught me all the words I could not write.
Afraid that spies would see me, I asked my husband to lock the doors from the outside, so I could copy with peace of mind from the safety of my room. In winter, when the ink in my ballpen froze so badly I could not write, I thawed the ink cartridge on the stove in an metal box filled with water.
I managed to copy a total of five Dafa books before obtaining printed copies for the remaining ones. I now have the entire set of Dafa books and can recognize every simplified Chinese character written within.
Looking back at my experiences, despite the many tribulations, what could be more joyous than obtaining the Fa and practicing cultivation? Every moment of my life has been under Master’s compassionate protection. To remain worthy of Master’s grace, I must continue to cultivate solidly.
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