(Minghui.org) I’m in my 70s now. When I was in my 30s, I struggled as a single mother with two children to make ends meet. Due to long-term pressure from work and life, my health deteriorated. By the time I reached my 40s, I had all kinds of illnesses and always felt weak. That is until 1998, when I began to practice Falun Dafa—all my illnesses were gone within a month. I now walk with ease, have a peaceful mindset, and feel extremely fortunate. My gratitude to Master Li is beyond description.
I was a government employee. At work, I was responsible for the accounting and auditing. In 1999, on the eve of the Chinese New Year, one of my subordinate units sent me a red envelope with a thousand yuan. I politely declined, because I learned Falun Dafa’s principle of “No loss, no gain.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
My understanding was: for one to gain something, one must lose something in exchange. If one obtains something that doesn’t belong to them, one will have to give away one’s precious virtue in exchange. So guarding one’s virtue is of utmost importance.
From 1995 to 1998, I was rated an outstanding employee for four consecutive years, won the Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, and was rewarded with a salary increase by the Provincial Personnel Department. In order to implement my raise, an assessment was done in 1999. The response was very good, and the leader approved it. However, because one person reported that I practice Falun Dafa, I was not given the increase. I know that one’s fame and fortune are not things that one can take with them after death. As a practitioner, one needs to let go of those attachments and give them up. So my heart wasn’t moved at all.
The person who reported me ended up receiving a five-year prison sentence for fraud. After he was released from prison, my coworker asked me to visit him. I knew that practitioners have no enemies and should be tolerant and generous to others. So I bought him a gift and comforted him by asking him to take care.
After my mother passed away, my father remarried to have someone to look after him. His wife was only 12 years older than me. When my father passed away in 1996, I deposited the one-time relief payment in her name and visited her as usual during the Chinese New Year.
In 1998, both she and I began to practice Falun Dafa. Since her family was poor when she was a child, she never attended school and was illiterate. But she was very sincere. She said when she read Zhuan Falun, every word was golden. Within one year she could read 80% of the words.
She never had any fear and often went out to distribute a large bag of truth-clarification materials. One time, she went to the countryside to hand out brochures, but ended up falling into a sinkhole. She called out to Master for help, and said she floated up.
On the other hand, she was impatient and always wanted to gain the upper hand. In order to cultivate her speech, she often reminded herself by wearing a face mask, even though the pandemic had waned.
One time, Ms. Xu (an alias) who looked after my step-mother called me, saying my step-mother complained to her that I fought with her over my father’s property, which made me feel uneasy. Even though Ms. Xu told her that I would never do that, my step-mother was very upset and accused Ms. Xu of stealing her personal items and even kicked her out.
I recalled that when I returned home, my step-mother told me her youngest son didn’t have a place to live, so I told her to leave my father’s property to her him. She then turned around and said I fought with her over that property. What was wrong with her? But I changed my mind: I’m a practitioner and should look at things from a different angle. For me to run into these things is not accidental; it all comes down to my karma and attachments. This was meant to help me improve my xinxing. I knew I needed to seriously look inward.
As I looked within, I found my attachments of not wanting to be criticized or controlled by others, I was intolerant, I had a fighting mentality, a show-off mentality, zealotry, vanity, lust, anxiety, protecting myself, and looked down on others. I dug these attachments out and tried to eliminate them all.
I visited her in June 2017 and brought her a case of canned congee, canned mandarins, and a box of instant noodles. She asked me, “Why do you still treat me so nicely?” I replied, “Master asks us to treat everyone well.” On July 27, she passed away very peacefully.
She has four sons. I gave my father’s property to her youngest son. Due to the pandemic, he didn’t work. So I sent him money twice. I also covered all her funeral and burial expenses, which added up to more than 20,000 yuan. If I did not practice Dafa, I couldn’t have done this.
In April 2021, a practitioner and I went out of town to distribute truth-clarification materials, and we were tracked down by surveillance devices. I was illegally sentenced to one year and nine months imprisonment. Due to the pandemic, I spent the prison term in detention centers. In that unusual environment, I thought: I’m a practitioner, and I have my mission. What I need to do is what Master requires us to do, which is the three things.
In the first detention center, one night at 10 o’clock at the end of June, the right side of my body, including my right eye, my temple, jaw, and hip bone began to ache. I also started drooling from the right corner of my mouth. I cultivated for more than 20 years and never encountered this kind of thing. I immediately recited Master’s Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts. I also looked inward to see what I did wrong that day.
I reviewed everything I did. I refused to write their guarantee statements; I wrote truth-clarification letters to my company and the local management committee; and I clarified the truth to the discipline inspection commission. These were all good things.
However, I signed their notice of expulsion from the communist Party. Because I wasn’t allowed to do the exercises, I became muddle-headed. I knew I did wrong. I said to the guards on duty: The right side of my body hurts, I need to do the sitting meditation. Whoever does not allow me to do it will be responsible for the consequences.
After they agreed, I sat for an hour and half. The pain in my eye and temple and the drooling disappeared. The pain in the right jaw and hip also completely disappeared in three days. The following morning, when I told the doctor on duty about my symptoms, he told me it was a cerebral vascular obstruction.
I told him that he wouldn’t have been able to cure me, as this was a disease which ran in our family. So I meditated every day. Whenever the guards watched TV, or played cards, I meditated. I could also recite the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, clarify the truth to people, and help people quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliates.
At the end of July, I was transferred from the municipal detention center to the county detention center. The next morning, when the management of the detention center came to check on us, I told them, “I practice Falun Dafa. I need to do the exercises every day.” The detention center head smiled. The accompanying guards also replied, “Yes, you can.” So I began doing the exercises at 3:40 a.m., followed by sending forth righteous thoughts. By the time I finished, it was 6:40 a.m.
We had six shifts every day. When we had more inmates on a shift, two were assigned to each shift, otherwise each shift had only one person. I was assigned to two shifts by myself and used the time to do the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts. I did this every day until I was released from the detention center. Because I agreed to take on more shifts, the inspector said I was a great help to them.
Master taught us to be good people by following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Even for a small matter, I have to be considerate of others. I hold myself to Dafa’s requirements in everything I do. This laid a foundation for the inmates to learn the truth about Dafa.
The bed beside me was for newcomers, who were not provided with any basic supplies. So I helped them. After they settled in, I clarified the truth and helped them quit the CCP and its affiliates.
Due to the moral corruption in society and the influence of atheism from the CCP, most Chinese lost their direction in life. But they are also able to be saved. I told them about the beauty of Dafa, how the former CCP leader Jiang Zemin instigated the crime of persecuting Dafa, as well as how they could be saved. They were all willing to listen and decided to quit the CCP, one after another.
The detention center gave everyone COVID vaccine injections on August 8, 2021. This was the first time I was vaccinated. The next day, my jaw locked and my blood pressure shot up to over 200. However, I didn’t feel dizzy and still did the exercises and ate breakfast as usual.
They asked me to take some pills to bring down my blood pressure. I replied, “I’ve been practicing Falun Dafa for over 20 years, and my blood pressure has been normal since then. When I first came here, my blood pressure was between 80 and 120. For it to become this high is due to the vaccine.” I told them I have not taken any medication since I began practicing. I didn’t have any illness, nor high blood pressure. I’ll be fine, as Master is protecting me.” When they later checked my blood pressure, it was normal.
One doctor murmured, “How did her blood pressure go back to normal?” After I heard this, I said, “Master is in charge of me.” When I went outside of my cell to get some sunshine, a doctor came over to me and whispered, “How about if I learn Falun Dafa from you?”
On November 30, 2021, the people in our cell had cold symptoms. Some had a fever, some coughed, and some sneezed. This lasted until December 13. But I was fine. From April 2022 until the lock-down was lifted, the detention center often gave us Rapid Nucleic acid tests.
The test results once showed that six people tested positive for COVID, and they were quarantined in another cell. But within one week, they all returned. It was said that a lot of people tested positive, so there was no point in putting them in quarantine. Most of the guards also tested positive. I was the only exception. One guard on duty gave me a thumbs-up and remarked, “You’re doing better than a young person!” One prisoner led everyone in the cell to shout out together, “Falun Dafa is wonderful!”
Master taught us to be considerate of others in everything we do. In the cell, I often pinned buttons, altered clothes, and sewed flat sheets for the inmates. I only gave to others, without asking for anything in return. I was at the end of the line for getting meals, water, and taking baths. As I was in good health, I wore less clothing and used less covers when sleeping. My eyesight was also superb.
I was in my 70s, but carried embroidery needles to sew what needed to be repaired. Through my actions, the inmates felt the beauty of Dafa. A few of them wanted to join me to learn the practice.
On the evening of May 12, I told the inmates that May 13 is my Master’s birthday, as well as World Falun Dafa Day. At 5:50 a.m. the following morning, I sat in the lotus position to wish Master a happy birthday. Eight of the inmates who sat on the bed also wished Master a happy birthday. I wrote down Master’s articles that I could recite from memory as well as Hong Yin to give out for them to read.
I’ve been on a journey of 20-plus years of cultivation, which has included joy and hardship along the way. No matter what I experienced, I walked steadfastly on the main path of returning to my original true self, purified myself by following the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and spread the beauty of Dafa in the world in order to realize my prehistoric vow. I’m grateful for Master’s benevolent saving grace. Thank you, Master, for your protection along the way!