(Minghui.org) I have always firmly believed that Falun Dafa is good and righteous. After I began practicing my heart was filled with joy and happiness, and I wished to tell everyone how wonderful Falun Dafa is. I helped organize group Fa study, and I taught people the exercises, and told people about Falun Dafa. I am now a retired public servant who wishes to share my many years of cultivation experiences.
Those Who Participated in the Persecution Did Not Fare Well
On July 20, 1999, while I did the exercises with a group of about 100 people, we heard that the authorities banned people from practicing Falun Dafa. The local assistant at our practice center told us to hide our Dafa books. It felt like the sky was falling.
What soon followed was a frenzy of home raids and arrests of Dafa practitioners. The town government rounded up and detained everyone they deemed to be “key targets.” A family member of a town official was assigned to cook for those that were in detention. Three meals a day consisted of watery porridge.
I hid a pocket-sized Zhuan Falun (the main text of Dafa) at my workplace. A coworker found it, and handed it directly to his superior who was a county-level official. This official and his wife both participated in spreading slanderous propaganda about Dafa.
A deputy Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary of the town who was in charge of the Political and lLegal Affairs Committee participated in arresting practitioners, confiscating Dafa books, and in imposing fines. He and his family experienced many hardships. He later died of cancer when he was 50.
People gradually realized that several of these town and county officials who participated in the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners met with various difficulties. Some died from car accidents, cancer or had serious family problems.
Creating a Cultivation Environment
I was under surveillance at work, and I was monitored by my husband at home. I could not have any contact with other practitioners, and if I happened to run into one, we could only exchange smiles. I could neither read Dafa books nor do the exercises at home. I was under immense stress. Every day felt like an eternity. What should I do? I was quite anxious and wondered if this was truly the life a Dafa practitioner should be living. I realized that unless the situation at home changed, I would not be able to peacefully study the Fa or do the exercises. I must create an environment that was conducive to cultivation practice.
One day, I said to my husband, “If you won’t let me study the Fa or do the exercises, what point is there in my living here? I’ll leave. I won’t take anything, and you aren’t to interfere with where I go or how I survive.”
My husband was dumbfounded. He knew I would follow through on what I said. He responded, “You can practice at home. I’ll stop trying to control you.”
From then on, I was able to study the Fa and do the exercises at home.
Making Informational Materials
Unfortunately, my husband still did not allow me to have contact with other practitioners. For a long time, I practiced alone. I was later transferred to a new workplace, but for a long time I wasn’t able to find any local practitioners.
I talked about Dafa with people in addition to making and distributing Falun Dafa information booklets. Someone reported me to the county 610 Office, and the director there notified my manager at work. A coworker that I had advised not to join the CCP had apparently reported me. Although this manager knew Dafa was good, he was scared and pressured me. The local authorities traced me using certain software to circumvent the Internet blockade and searched my home. My family members were terrified.
Finally, a fellow practitioner who was displaced due to the persecution managed to find me. From then on, whenever I had time, I would go to a material production site to make copies of Dafa books and Master’s recent lectures. I made posters, banners, and booklets which had information about Falun Dafa. We were able to produce more than a hundred booklets each day.
Talking With People About Dafa Face to Face
Although the city I lived in wasn’t large, it had a vast number of surveillance cameras, installed by the CCP’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee. They also used informants recruited from among neighbors, welfare recipients, sanitation workers, retirees, and others—to keep a constant watch over the streets and alleys. Practitioners who distributed information were followed, illegally arrested and detained in brainwashing centers. Some of them were also sentenced to prison terms.
Two local practitioners began to go out every day to talk to people about Dafa face to face and advise them to quit the CCP. I wanted to do it too. However, the pressure was so big that I hesitated.
One day, a practitioner said, “You place too much importance on your family, believing they cannot get by without you. You think you are the most capable one, but you are merely pretending to be.”
Another practitioner said: “Don’t place too much importance on human sentiment. The Fa Rectification has already reached its final stage. You should hurry up and catch up!”
Their words were not pleasant to hear, but I knew they were for my own good. They were anxious when they saw that I was missing something in my cultivation. Master also hinted to me in my dreams multiple times. I began to realize that my problem wasn’t sentimentality in regards to my family. It was fear.
One day, before our group Fa study, another practitioner said, “I really want to help you in cultivation so we can follow Master and go home together.”
I didn’t say anything. That night, I couldn’t sleep. I recalled the hardships and difficulties I experienced on my cultivation path. I saw that every step I took relied on Master’s protection. Without Master’s protection, I wouldn’t be able to pass those trials and tests. I was ashamed of myself for being so weak and selfish. I was letting Master down. I was determined to break through my problem of talking face to face with others.
But how should I do it? How should I start without other practitioners showing me how? After giving it some thought, I decided to start with a distant niece and her husband. The next day, I brought some fruit from the countryside with me and I visited her. I talked to them about Dafa and the reason millions of Chinese had already withdrawn from the CCP. My niece hesitated a bit at first, but her husband said, “Let’s listen to Auntie. She’s concerned about what is best for us.” So both of them did decide to quit the CCP.
That night, I decided to go to my older cousin’s house the next day to tell her husband to quit the CCP. I took some vegetables I brought from the countryside to my cousin’s house. She wasn’t home but her husband was. I got straight to the point. To my surprise, he readily agreed, “Sure, please help me to quit the CCP.” He was the sort of person who was usually difficult to deal with. I thought, Master has been encouraging me. I decided that there was nothing for me to be afraid of. From then on, I started to go out every day to talk to people face to face about Dafa and quitting the CCP.
At the beginning, only one or two people a day quit the CCP. Some days, no one quit, yet I wasn’t upset. I continued to talk to people every day. The more I talked, the easier it was. These days I can help about six people a day to quit the CCP, sometimes even over 10 people. I’ve encountered all sorts of folks: supporters, opponents, those who yell insults, some who ask for money, and so on. Whatever they say, I am not moved. I don’t focus on the number of people who quit the CCP each day. I always hold fast to this principle: Even if they don’t quit the CCP this time, at least they've heard the truth, and that will lay a foundation for a future opportunity.
My fellow practitioners, please hurry and reach out to those waiting to hear the truth about Dafa and the persecution! Even if you only talk to one person each day, that would be 30 people in a month, and more than 300 people in one year!
My heart is full of happiness and joy every day! We have Dafa and Master, and we are the most fortunate people in the world.
