(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am a 68-year-old female Falun Dafa practitioner who has been practicing for 16 years. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences.
In 1995, my husband began practicing Falun Dafa. His health improved, and his temper became much better. A few years later, however, he became attached to making money and went into business twice, losing hundreds of thousands of yuan. Soon afterward, his health took a serious downturn. He became increasingly thin, his eyesight deteriorated, and eventually he lost his vision completely.
I found it very difficult to accept and wanted to take him to a doctor. When I suggested it, he replied, “A practitioner doesn’t have illness. I’m not going.”
Since he refused medical treatment, I didn’t know how to help him. I thought that the only thing I could do was to support him in his cultivation practice, which I knew very little about. I picked up a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of the practice, in June 2011. My original intention was to understand what had gone wrong with my husband’s cultivation, and hopefully find answers in the teachings.
After reading the book, I felt the teachings were profound, and that my husband simply had not lived up to them. I decided to begin cultivation myself.
Once I started practicing, I was eager to do my best. I felt that many people had yet to learn the truth and would miss their chance to be saved. I talked to people on the street about Falun Dafa and encouraged them to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated youth organizations, whenever I had the opportunity. Before long, more than eighty people had chosen to do so, which even surprised my husband.
I also wrote truth-clarification words on currency notes and spent them while shopping to help people learn the facts. When shopping at supermarkets, street markets, or neighborhood stores, I used these notes whenever possible. With Master’s protection, everything went smoothly. When people noticed the messages written on the bills, I would encourage them to read them, telling them that understanding the truth could bring them blessings in difficult times. People were usually happy to accept them.
I worked full-time, so I made the most of every spare moment to study the Fa more and do the exercises. With the help of a local coordinator, my husband and I joined a Fa study group. Each evening, regardless of the weather, I helped him get dressed and drove him on my electric scooter over a mile to the study site.
At home, because he could no longer read, I studied the Fa with him line by line. I would read a sentence aloud, and he would repeat it. We kept up this routine for five years.
Between my job, household responsibilities, caring for my husband, and maintaining my own cultivation practice, life was extremely busy. Yet I felt happy and fulfilled, because I had become a Falun Dafa practitioner and considered myself very fortunate.
I never complained about the money my husband lost in business. In our daily life, I learned to let go of my own preferences and tried to be considerate of his needs. My husband often told others, “Since my wife began practicing Falun Dafa, the arguments in our home have disappeared and been replaced by peace and harmony. Dafa resolved conflicts that had troubled our family for years. A marriage on the verge of falling apart became a family where we encouraged each other to cultivate and improve.”
We are blessed by the positive changes in our lives, and consider ourselves among the most fortunate people in the world.
After I began practicing Falun Dafa, my health improved dramatically. Before practicing, I suffered from multiple uterine fibroids and frequent irregular bleeding, sometimes lasting more than 40 days at a time. After practicing Dafa for over a month, this problem, which had troubled me for years, disappeared completely. I was amazed.
In 2015, an upper left canine tooth often caused me severe pain. The discomfort would radiate from the tooth root to the corner of my eye. One day the pain was almost unbearable. In that moment, I called out to Master and wished for a healthy tooth. The pain stopped, and since then it has never returned. Although the tooth has become slightly discolored over the years, it remains strong and stable.
Master said,
“Let me tell you, every person in the entire world was at one point part of my family (applause), including the worst people, or else they would have no chance to be a human being during this time.” (Teachings Given at Lantern Festival Day, 2003)
The local coordinator assigned my husband and me a project to distribute truth-clarification materials to local businesses and residential neighborhoods in the county seat.
Because of my husband’s poor eyesight, we worked as a team. No matter the season or the weather, we kept going. We started with local businesses and later expanded into apartment buildings and residential subdivisions. Along the way, we experienced many memorable events where Master protected us and strengthened our faith.
Distributing materials to businesses was often challenging. Most stores had surveillance cameras, there was constant foot traffic, and police patrols were common. Despite the risks, I believed that helping people learn the truth was a righteous effort, and I believed that Master always protected us.
One rainy evening in the summer of 2014, when the governor of our province was visiting our county and police presence was unusually heavy, we went out as planned. At one storefront, my husband repeatedly tried to step onto a small platform but kept slipping down. Moments later, a police vehicle stopped directly in front of us. Only then did we realize that Master had protected us.
On another evening in 2012, while distributing hundreds of informational flyers, my husband accidentally fell into a vehicle repair pit that was about five feet deep and two feet wide. His first reaction was: “Master, please protect me.” Covered in motor oil and missing a shoe, he climbed out unharmed. We continued distributing all the materials before returning home.
One day in the early autumn of 2013, after sending forth righteous thoughts at midnight, we set off to distribute materials. Each of us carried over three hundred copies of truth-clarification materials, a bag, a full large backpack, and another bag slung around the neck. We walked along the main street from west to east, leaving a flier at each storefront. By around three in the morning, just as the distribution was nearing its end, a man confronted my husband and demanded to know what he was doing.
My husband said, “I am distributing some materials.” The man asked, “What kind of materials?” My husband replied, “Materials about Falun Gong.” The man asked, “Where are you from?” My husband said, “Where I’m from doesn’t matter; we who practice Falun Gong are all good people. Distributing these materials is meant to help people learn the truth, so they can be saved when a catastrophe arrives.” The man said, “I’ve been looking for people like you. This is exactly what I’m in charge of! The Communist Party forbids people from practicing it, yet you are doing this.”
The man grabbed the bag hanging around my husband’s neck and said, “Come on, we’re going to the police station.” My husband replied, “The Constitution guarantees citizens freedom of belief; practicing Falun Gong is not against the law.” The man threatened, “I don't care, I’m calling the police.” He let go of the bag and pulled out his mobile phone to dial 110. My husband sent a righteous thought: “Master, please protect us, don’t let his call go through.” The man tried several times, but the call would not go through.
I was distributing materials across the road when I saw the standoff, so I hurried over. We clarified the truth to this person, telling him about the CCP-staged Tiananmen self-immolation incident, and the physical and mental benefits of practicing Falun Gong. He remained unconvinced and made some critical remarks about Falun Gong practitioners. My husband replied, “Practicing Falun Gong is like taking an entrance exam for university; some people get in, while others don’t. Cultivation is a very serious matter; it is a process of letting go of one’s negative elements.”
My husband urged the man again, saying, “You’re getting on in years; you really shouldn’t be doing this. If you could just turn a blind eye when it comes to Falun Gong, it would be better for both you and your family.” The man replied, “I know all that because some of my own family members practice Falun Gong.” I said, “It’s getting late; you’d better head home and get some sleep.” And he actually left. This was Master helping his disciples.
Gates that were normally locked late at night were often still open when we arrived after midnight. Between 2013 and 2016, we distributed more than 20,000 copies of truth-clarification materials throughout the city, revisiting each business three times.
As time went on, the demand for truth-clarification materials continued to grow. To help lighten the workload for other printing sites, we felt we were in a position to produce the materials ourselves. In 2014, we set up a small-scale printing site in our home.
We paid for everything ourselves, printed the materials, assembled them, and distributed them on our own. Producing the materials ourselves reduced the burden on others, and eliminated the need to transport the materials back and forth.
In 2021, a fellow practitioner who normally handled part of this work left town to help care for her grandchild. I took over her responsibilities, printing flyers, delivering them, and making yearly calendars. I became busy all year round.
By then, I was already in my sixties. It is very difficult to carry a large box of paper upstairs. I thought to myself: “I am a Dafa practitioner. Enduring hardship is part of cultivation practice and a means to elevate my xinxing. As a Dafa practitioner, I am capable of anything.” With this mindset, I continued to produce and transport truth-clarification materials. I did what a Dafa practitioner ought to do, and I felt truly joyful.
In May 2016, my husband passed away suddenly. I struggled to adjust. I couldn’t let go of my sentimental attachment to him, and I felt lonely and somewhat despondent. Especially at night, unable to control my emotions, I would wander the streets. Wherever I went, I was reminded of the times we had spent together saving people. I realized that this state of mind was wrong and that the evil forces were happy to see me in a despondent state.
Some fellow practitioners thought that since I only began practicing Dafa to help my husband, I may stop practicing now that he has passed away.
Master said,
“Those ordeals and the suffering, no matter how great or harsh you find them to be, are good things, because they take place solely on account of your cultivation. A person can eliminate karma and shed human attachments when he goes through ordeals, and through ordeals he can improve.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume VIII)
Master also taught us,
“Cultivation is hard. It’s hard in that even when terrible calamity strikes, even when evil madly persecutes, and even when your life is at stake, you still have to steadfastly continue on your path of cultivation and not let anything in human society interfere with the steps you take on your path of cultivation.” (“Path,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress II)
Master’s Fa has granted me immense strength and the courage to overcome any difficulty. Master pulled me from the depths of hell, cleansed me, bestowed upon me the Law of the universe, and enables me to return to my true, original self. I have been granted the opportunity to cultivate and become a disciple of Master. What an incredible honor and privilege this is!
My husband has departed, signifying that our karmic connection as husband and wife has come to an end. This has been the greatest test for me on my path of cultivation. Master, please rest assured, I will let go of my sentimental attachment to my husband and continue to cultivate firmly and steadfastly.
Throughout these 16 years of cultivation, every step I have taken has been under Master’s watchful care, a kindness that can never be fully repaid. Moving forward, I will diligently study and memorize the Fa, dedicating myself to the three things. I will cherish every day and value every opportunity to improve until I return home with Master.
(Selected submission for the 23rd China Fa Conference on Minghui.org)