(Minghui.org) I am 79 years old and before I began practicing Falun Dafa more than 30 years ago, I had a persistent low-grade fever that would not go away no matter how many treatments or medications I tried. Someone suggested I practice Falun Dafa, and after I watched the videos of Master’s lecture four times, all my illnesses disappeared.
I live with my son and daughter-in-law, and I wanted them to practice. However, when I tried to persuade them my human attachment to sentimentality was exposed, and negative factors interfered. My son said some disrespectful things about Master. But I realized he was being interfered with. So, I immediately sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate whatever was manipulating him. He came to his senses and exclaimed, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” He withdrew from the Young Pioneers years ago and has a Dafa keepsake hanging in his car.
I realized that sentimentality is selfish. I must take it lightly—it’s an obstacle that prevents us from truly cultivating.
I took my granddaughter to a public bathhouse. On the way home, we met an 80-year-old woman. We chatted and she started telling me her troubles. She said she didn’t have a daughter and it was very difficult to take a bath. Elderly people cannot go to the bathhouse alone without a family member accompanying them—the staff is afraid the person might faint or fall. The woman lived with her adopted son and grandson.
Although I was already in my sixties at the time and had to take care of my granddaughter who was about ten years old—which was tiring—I’m a Dafa practitioner. Master teaches us to be good people and to consider others in everything we do. Seeing how difficult her situation was, I said, “From now on, whenever I go to the bathhouse, I’ll take you with me.” She was very happy.
Every time I went to the bathhouse I brought her with me. I bathed and scrubbed the backs of both my granddaughter and this elderly woman, and I helped them get dressed. This went on for several years. Although it was hard, seeing how happy she was made me happy.
I went to her home to bring her some wontons. She told me, “My niece who practices Christianity came and tried to get me to practice her religion. I said I don’t believe in that—I only believe in Falun Dafa. Dafa is the best.”
Another practitioner and I distributed Dafa informational materials. We handed out one flyer when we were spotted and followed by a plainclothes police officer, who looked like he was about 25 years old. He took us to the police station and kept saying, “After I finish doing this, I’m going to kill myself.” He repeated this several times. There were five or six other officers in the room, but it seemed like he had gone mad. I tried to clarify the truth about the persecution to him, but he refused to listen. He removed my hat and mask and tried to photograph me, but I firmly refused to cooperate.
He brought out an iron hammer—even the handle was made of iron—and slammed it on the table with a loud bang. I thought he was going to hit me with it. I closed my eyes and did not think about anything. After a while, he sat down without saying a word. I began explaining what Falun Dafa is.
I asked, “Why are you doing this? You’re so young. The best days of your life are still ahead. Do good deeds and you’ll receive blessings.”
He said “I just want to die. I don’t want to live anymore.” I encouraged him to think about his wife and children, but he said he wasn’t married.
I suggested that he think about his parents. He said he didn’t have parents. I said, “I see. You don’t look like a bad person. From now on, do good deeds and stop arresting Falun Dafa practitioners. You’ll receive blessings. Why do I practice Dafa? My Master teaches us to be good people, to think of others, to do everything for others, and to be good people according to Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—to ‘not hit back or swear back’ at others (Lecture in Sydney).
When you picked up that hammer to hit me I didn’t move. Why was I able to do that? Because I listen to Master. What Master Li teaches is the Fa, and we Dafa disciples all conduct ourselves this way. Look at Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai—weren’t they high-ranking officials? Haven’t they all been arrested?! It’s because they persecuted Falun Dafa and did too many bad things. Are you still going to follow them?! The big tree has already fallen—how much longer can you hold on? Raise the barrel of your gun a little higher and leave yourself a way out.” He stopped talking and his attitude softened. He seemed like a different person.
Sitting next to me was another officer who seemed to be the chief. He had been listening the whole time without saying anything. Beside me was an amulet—a pretty lotus flower pendant. The chief picked it up and said, “This amulet is very nice. I’ll take it home for my mother to wear.”
I said, “Sure. Did your mother ever wear the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) red scarf?” He said that his mother did not even go to school. I told the chief he appeared to be very filial and that he would receive blessings. I inquired whether he was a Party member, and he indicated that he was. I said, “Then why don’t you quit the Party?”
He said, “Quit! I’ve wanted to quit for a long time. I know this Party is no good. I’ve wanted out for a long time.” I asked him his name. He said his surname was Zhao.
That day, I helped four people withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. They released us and let us go home. I am grateful to Master for protecting us the whole way. By the time we got home, it was already evening. The children were calling each other trying to find me. I told them everything was fine and did not tell them what had happened.
On one occasion, a fellow practitioner and I were telling people the truth about Dafa when someone reported us. The police said they would detain us for fifteen days. Most of the people detained there were young. I was the only elderly person. The next morning, when I went to empty the trash, I saw that the trash bin was half-full of white steamed buns. I felt it was such a waste. I thought I should tell them—as a Dafa practitioner, I could not let them create karma for themselves.
I explained, “If you are not going to eat them, don’t take them. If you take them, you should eat them. If you cannot finish them, save them for the next meal. You should not throw away steamed buns—it is sinful! Think about it: farmers work from dawn to dusk, how hard it is for them to harvest the grain. The kitchen prepares the food and delivers it to us. If we don’t eat it but throw it away what a waste!” After that, whenever I went to empty the trash I saw no one threw out steamed buns.
Because there were so many people in the detention center, water was not always available. Sometimes there was no water to flush the toilet, and the rooms smelled bad. After I arrived, every day I filled the water buckets and basins in the room, cleaned the toilet, and wiped down the room so that it was neat and clean. Everyone was very happy. At night, I also had to take turns on watch duty. The young people liked to sleep, so I would take their shifts for them—this way, I could also do the exercises. These young people all liked being around me.
One day, an elderly woman from another room came and said she was in detention because of a lawsuit. She commented, “This room is so clean! No one cleans the other room, and it’s so dirty.”
The young people said, “This auntie cleaned it. She cleans every day. She practices Falun Dafa.”
The elderly woman said, “So Falun Dafa is this good!”
I said, “Master Li Hongzhi teaches us to do this. He asks to be good people wherever we are—to be even better people and to always think of others. If I did not practice Falun Dafa, I wouldn’t have been able to do this.”
On the twelfth night in the detention center, I had a dream. A helicopter landed at the entrance. On the morning of the thirteenth day, three officers from the Public Security Bureau came and called me. They asked if I would continue practicing. I said, “Such a wonderful practice—who wouldn’t practice it?!”
The officers said, “If you insist on practicing, just sign this paper and go home to practice.” I thought: if I just sign this paper, I can go home. So I agreed to sign. I took the paper back to the room.
The young people took one look and said, “Auntie, this paper says they are sentencing you to one year of forced labor.”
I took that paper and walked into the hallway shouting, “The police are lying! The police are lying! They said they would let me go home to practice, but this paper says they are sentencing me to one year of forced labor.” The three officers looked frightened and left the room.
An officer from the detention center called me to have my blood pressure taken, and it was found to be very high. The detention center chief said, “What the other officers said doesn’t count. We will let you go home right now.”
Thank you, Master, for saving me!