(Minghui.org) Our large family comes from a long-standing bloodline. We’ve done well keeping the family growing steadily, but our relatives don’t always get along. My paternal grandfather was the accountant for our village production team in the 1960s. The villagers respected him because he was honest and kind, and contributed to the prosperity of the team.

There was another family in our village with seven sons and a daughter. Cao, the head of the family, bullied and took advantage of others. He led his pigs and cows onto other families’ farmland and destroyed their crops. Cao and his grown up sons also sneaked into other families’ yards at night and stole fruit, chickens, and ducks. If anyone dared to confront him, Cao found excuses to beat them up.

The villagers were fed up, but nobody knew what to do. They came to my grandfather and asked for help in upholding justice. But Cao had a relative that held a high position in the county government, and he knew he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. He would not listen to what my grandfather had to say, and our families became hostile toward one another. This turned into a long-standing family feud.

My grandfather retired in the early 1980s. Seeing that he no longer had any power, Cao and his family insulted and even assaulted my grandfather and other members of our family at will. They occupied our rice paddy and vegetable garden for no reason and caused us great losses. My grandmother once had to kneel and beg Cao and his sons to stop beating up my aunts and uncles.

I’ve witnessed this ongoing conflict between our two families since I was little. My aunts’ hair was pulled out during fights. My uncles were beaten and injured to the point that they couldn’t get out of bed for days. I was angry about the way my family was being treated and the fact that there was nowhere we could go to seek justice. The villagers were sympathetic but they feared Cao and dared not side with us. Dejected and isolated, our family gradually moved out of that village in the early 1990s.

Growing up, my great-grandmother and my grandmother urged me to study hard, get ahead in life, and become a high ranking official, to bring honor to the family. As the eldest male of my generation, a deep sense of responsibility was pounded into me. I promised them, “I will make the Cao family pay for what they’ve done to us.” I kept myself healthy and strong by exercising regularly. I also taught myself martial arts and sought out other martial artists for fights. I learned from these experiences and prepared myself to ultimately face Cao’s family.

Unfortunately, I didn’t go very far in school, so becoming a high ranking official was no longer an option. I increased the volume of my workouts and pushed myself even harder in order to take on the men of the Cao family. I more than once visualized beating up Cao, causing him permanent injuries and even killing him.

Finding Dafa and Letting Go of Hatred

I ran into people introducing Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) at a park in March 1996. I listened to Master’s Fa teachings for the first time that night without fully grasping what he was saying. But after the second night, I found myself incredibly drawn to this practice. I attended the seminar nine days in a row and listened to all of the lectures.

Many of the things Master talked about seemed inconceivable, but I knew deep in my heart that it was a true cultivation way that only comes around once in a lifetime. I had always been into martial arts and had read many scriptures of the Tao and Buddha School. I had an idea what cultivation was, but I had never come across a teaching that explained everything in such a clear way.

And just like that, I began Dafa cultivation. I was still in trade school at the time, but each morning I did the exercises with our local group at the park, and studied the Fa with them in the evening. My moral character improved without me even realizing it. I no longer picked fights, and my bad temper mellowed. I returned the bicycle that I had stolen, and no longer pocketed money that I found on the ground, as I didn’t want to lose virtue over such petty gains.

I also started helping my mother with household chores, and stopped talking back and arguing with her. Having witnessed the positive impact the practice had on me, my mother became very supportive of Dafa. People around me also noticed how much I had changed and complimented me for my ability to stay calm. I told my friends and family about Dafa, and one classmate took up cultivation practice as well.

About two months after I started cultivating in Dafa, it hit me one day, “I’m a Falun Gong practitioner now. How could I still want revenge on the Cao family? What am I going to tell my grandparents and my cousins?” I agonized over it for a week and couldn’t come up with a good solution.

I knew through studying the Fa that the conflicts between the two families were caused by sinful karma. Perhaps my ancestors bullied someone in the Cao family and they were getting back what’s rightfully theirs in this lifetime. If I sought out a fight, I would be tossing virtue to them and accruing a debt. Our children and grandchildren would then have to settle it. When would it ever end? Only if I could completely let it go, could the debt be paid off.

The feud between the two families ran deep, however, and was not so easily forgotten. As much as I wanted to let things go, I held on to the thought of revenge for several more years. I couldn’t completely release my hatred.

After group Fa study one night, I asked myself, “Are you a true cultivator? Master has told us to strive to live by the requirements of the Fa and become better people. If I harm or even kill Cao, I will have to go to prison. This will tarnish Dafa’s reputation. I cannot do that. My only choice is to give up the thought of revenge.

Yes, I need to give up on revenge. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner and Dafa’s principles forbid me to repay evil with evil. The family feud between our family and the Cao family will end with me!” I was relieved after making that decision, and my entire body felt light. I thanked Master for helping me resolve the hatred that had burdened me for so many years.

When I told my family what I had decided, they were surprisingly understanding, and okay with it. The long lasting feud between the two families was resolved just like that.

Cao, however, had done too many bad things, and karma eventually caught up with him. He was stabbed and became permanently disabled. This goes to show that good is rewarded, while evil eventually meets with retribution.

Clarifying the Truth to Save Sentient Beings

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide persecution against Falun Dafa in July 1999, with an all-out propaganda campaign. Many practitioners in my area stopped practicing out of fear. I believed wholeheartedly that Dafa was a divine, true cultivation way. I didn’t understand why the communist regime turned hostile against Dafa, but I was determined to cultivate to the end because there’s nothing wrong with being a good person.

I had started working by this time and was leading a small team. I held myself to Dafa’s standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and never took anything from work for personal use. I was considerate, and would rather suffer losses myself than take advantage of others. My hard work earned praise and respect from my administrators and co-workers. However, after returning from a trip to Beijing to petition the central government in November 1999, I was detained, and soon suspended from work.

After reading Master’s article “Rationality” in The Essentials of Diligent Progress II, practitioners and I found an old-fashioned press and began to manually print leaflets with Dafa information on them. We distributed the leaflets all over our area at night. On the eve of the Chinese New Year in 2001, I was arrested for giving out these leaflets.

I was held in a detention center, where I was friendly to everyone, and most people I met were receptive to Dafa. On the second day of the Chinese New Year, news of the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident was aired on all major media outlets. I knew right away that it had been staged. I told my cellmates about my trip to Tiananmen in Beijing, and that I didn’t see any patrol officers carrying around fire extinguishers. So how were the police in the footage able to extinguish the fire so quickly?

I pointed out that Wang Jindong, the self-claimed Falun Gong practitioner who allegedly set himself on fire in order to reach consummation, wasn’t even meditating with his legs folded in the correct position. His hair and clothing were covered with stains, but strangely didn’t catch fire. I also explained to my cellmates that a true practitioner would never commit suicide.

I pointed out that it was also impossible for the elderly woman surnamed Liu to have downed half a bottle of gas, because even just a small amount could cause severe internal damage or even death. She would have had to get her stomach pumped. I concluded that the government was trying to slander Falun Gong. My cellmates listened to my comments while watching the program. Most agreed with me and didn’t believe the false report.

After my release in 2002, I caught up on Master’s new articles such as “Fa Teaching Given at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.” (Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume II), Teachings From a Tour of North America, and Guiding the Voyage. I came to understand just how profound Dafa is, and was fully aware of my responsibility as a disciple in helping Master rectify the Fa.

Even more so, I understood just how extraordinary Master is. I spent all my free time studying the Fa during the next few years, sending righteous thoughts, sharing experiences with fellow practitioners, and helping others to improve. I told everyone I encountered just how wonderful Dafa was, and that it was being slandered and wrongfully persecuted by the CCP.

My workplace terminated my contract early because I refused to renounce my belief. Since then, I’ve moved to many different places in China and worked a variety of jobs. I’ve operated heavy machinery, worked as a foot massage therapist, made pastries at a restaurant, run a sprout farm, and moved sandbags as a laborer.

Regardless of where I moved to or what job I held, I tried to be a good person and live by the standards of Dafa. I was kind and considerate, and always put others first. Whenever I had the opportunity, I told people about Dafa and why the persecution was wrong.

One time on the train, an elderly woman sitting across the way had her hands on her belly and seemed to be in a lot of pain. I asked her what was wrong and if she needed help. She said she had a stomachache. I told her, “I won’t be able to get you help from a medical professional, but I have an idea that will help you with the pain.”

I taught her to recite the auspicious phrases, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” I told her that Falun Dafa was rooted in Buddhist tradition and that the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident was staged to slander Dafa. I encouraged her to repeat these auspicious phrases often, and that she would receive blessings.

The woman’s lips moved as she silently recited the phrases. She asked me to repeat them until she had them memorized. A short while later, she exclaimed, “My stomach is no longer hurting. It worked!” She asked many questions about Dafa and the persecution, and told me she would find a copy of Zhuan Falun to read when she returned home.

Studying the Fa and Looking Inward to Improve Myself

In my 20-plus years of Dafa cultivation, I came to understand just how essential Fa study is to improving ourselves. It helps us look inward, eliminate human notions and attachments, and maintain a firm faith in Master and the Fa. If one studies the Fa daily with a calm and clear mind, they’ll be able to quickly recognize thoughts that don’t align with the Fa, eliminate the underlying attachments, and replace them with righteous thoughts.

I understood that getting rid of attachments had a lot to do with how much faith we place in Master and the Fa. The two go hand in hand—the less attachments we have, the firmer our faith, and the stronger our righteous thoughts, the more likely Dafa’s extraordinary power will manifest itself.

For example, eliminating the attachment to lust has been a long and hard battle for me. Before taking up Dafa cultivation, I consumed a lot of pornography, and it became the biggest obstacle in my cultivation. It interfered with me in my dreams, and whenever I saw women dressed in revealing ways, or came across such images online. Every time I engaged the fantasies, I became so disappointed in myself that I felt defeated. It always took me at least a few days to shake it off.

I tried to deny this interference, and stopped visiting pornographic websites altogether. I also kept my distance from women who dressed in a certain way. Yet I still went through ups and downs in maintaining my xinxing. Whenever a lustful thought came across my mind, if I didn’t catch it and eliminate it with righteous thoughts right away, other incorrect thoughts would flood my mind. They interfered with me by arousing my desires. When I realized that the attachment of lust had gotten the best of me, my righteous thoughts had already been weakened and my faith in Dafa was diminished. If this happened during sleep, I oftentimes couldn’t control myself.

So I started reciting Master’s Fa:

““I’m not an ordinary person. I’m a practitioner. You shouldn’t treat me this way, for I’m a Falun Dafa cultivator.”” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)

This helped, but I still regularly encountered interference. I asked myself each time, “Do you believe in Master and the Fa? If you do, why aren’t you willing to give up the attachment to lust?” I read many sharing articles about this, and looked inward, but still couldn’t sever this attachment completely. I had no idea what caused this.

While in a state of being half awake one day, I saw a scene. A person was sitting on a chair with his throat cut open. A few people were standing around him and stuffing something into his throat. I remembered the dream when I woke up, and knew Master was helping me understand something. One of the reasons I couldn’t completely get rid of my attachment to lust was that evil beings from other dimensions were dumping such disgusting substances into my dimensional field, and I wasn’t denying them completely.

I strengthened my righteous thoughts and included the powerful thought, “I do not acknowledge the old forces’ arrangements, and I don’t want any of the rotten and disgusting substances they’re imposing on me.” This greatly reduced the interference, but it still had its grip on me. Whenever a lustful thought arose, I immediately reminded myself, “I have to place complete faith in Master and the Fa. I don’t want lust.” Most of the time, the thought diminished, but I couldn’t eliminate the thoughts completely.

I then remembered that in his teachings, Master told us to cultivate to become selfless and to always put others first. What is this “self?” Through studying the Fa, I came to understand that this “self” is this flesh body I have on this earth, including all thoughts generated by my brain. It’s a product of the old universe. To achieve “selfless” is to not acknowledge any thoughts that come from this body and this brain. These thoughts were arranged by the old forces and belong to the old universe. They are not mine and don’t represent the real me—the real me is selfless and fully assimilated to Dafa.

When I understood this principle, I suddenly became very clear-headed. All thoughts related to lust were arranged by the old forces long ago, and the demon of lust forced this substance into my dimensional field. This is not what I want, and is degenerated matter from the old universe. When I recognized lust for what it is, it no longer held any power over me, nor was it able to interfere with me. I was able to study the Fa with a clear mind, and my main consciousness was no longer confused.

Because I placed complete faith in Master and the Fa, Master helped me get through this tribulation. I was able to elevate and eliminate my attachment. I became even more convinced of Master’s boundless compassion and the extraordinary power of Dafa.

Witnessing Dafa’s Extraordinary Power

A month after I took up the practice, I went to a restaurant with a classmate. As we walked, a soccer ball came flying and slammed into my friend. Several soccer players came over and surrounded us. They started an argument that quickly became heated. My friend went into the restaurant and grabbed a cleaver—a flight was about to break out.

I watched it all happen, and thought, “I’m a Dafa practitioner. Master told us to not ‘... fight back when you’re beaten or sworn at ...’ (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun). If a fight starts, I will not fight back. I will take a few punches as long the other party is happy.” As soon as I thought of this, the riled up soccer players suddenly became quiet. They grabbed their soccer ball, turned around, and left. My friend and I looked at each other confused. I vaguely understood that this happened because I held myself to the Fa’s standard, so Master helped us resolve the conflict.

A practitioner and I rode our motorcycle to a remote town to distribute truth-clarifying leaflets one summer night in the early 2000’s. We were stopped and arrested by plainclothes police officers on our way back. The police couldn’t get any information out of us during the interrogation, and finally took us to the hospital at close to midnight, for physical exams.

As we clarified the truth about Dafa to the doctors, I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate all the persecution imposed by the old forces. I told the doctors that I practiced Falun Dafa to become a better person and was being wrongfully persecuted. During the CT scan, I asked Master for help to strengthen us. I thought, “I’m a Dafa practitioner and I need to negate the old forces’ arrangements—prison is not where Dafa practitioners belong!”

The police took us to a detention center early in the morning. The clinic doctor recognized me and asked why I returned. “I would have never come back here on my own. I was brought here by the police,” I told him.

He took a look at my results and waved his hand, saying, “I dare not admit you.” The police begged him to green light the admission, but he wouldn’t budge. Having no choice, the police took me home. On our way back, an officer suggested that I seek medical attention immediately and take care of my health.

I chuckled and replied, “I’m fine. I’m not sick.”

The other practitioner was detained for a month. When I saw him after his release, he told me that the police told him all my major organs were failing, and I was practically dying. I knew this was Master helping protect me—the physical exam results were arranged to resolve the persecution by the old forces.

In the summer of 2013, I accepted a ride home from a truck driver after work. The truck sped out of control on the highway and flipped over onto the passenger side. I was thrown against the side of the cab, and the driver, a burly man, landed on top of me. I stayed calm and reminded myself that I was a practitioner, and was protected by Master and would be fine.

I was not scared at all and didn’t end up with any injuries. I knew that Master protected me. There was a tremendous impact when the truck turned and flipped. It could have easily caused serious injuries. Even if only a window shattered, it could have been dangerous. But I was completely fine and the windows and windshield were intact. The driver was dumbfounded.

I am so immensely grateful to Master, as he’s always been by my side. I have witnessed Dafa’s extraordinary and miraculous powers on multiple occasions. Cultivating in Dafa is the best decision I’ve ever made, and I have no regrets. Moving forward, I will firmly place my faith in Master and the Fa, do the three things well, and fulfill my historical vows.