(Minghui.org) I was born in the 1950s in a small mountain village in southwest China. My early life was incredibly difficult. My father died from illness when I was six. That same year, my mother abandoned me with my grandparents and remarried. Our harsh living conditions, coupled with the famine perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made it hard to survive.
One unforgettable morning during my first visit to the communal canteen, I naively wolfed down the meager quantity of sweet potatoes allocated to my whole family. My grandparents had to go hungry as they worked in the fields. This experience showed me the profound hardship humans suffer while living in this world and became the motivating force that led me to cultivate Falun Dafa later.
To survive, I worked as a farmer, a production team leader, a soldier, and a private school teacher, but failed to escape from poverty. In 1979, I was granted admission to university through a highly competitive process and assigned to work in a research institute of a state-owned enterprise after graduating. This opportunity finally gave me a place to settle down.
While working at the research institute, I made several good friends around the same age as me from different universities and majors, with whom I shared common interests. One of them, a chemistry major, had a keen interest in metaphysics and related areas such as qigong, psychic abilities, fortune telling, and Feng Shui. He visited my home often on weekday evenings and weekends, where we had heated, in-depth discussions on these topics.
Our most memorable discussion was about the relationship, function, and boundaries between metaphysics and science. I said, “Science can change human living conditions and bring convenience to life (in reality, the side effects of science are also significant, with the most obvious being the pollution and destruction of the environment). What can metaphysics offer? Can it grant immortality?” My friend bluntly replied, “No, but it can offer something more precious and desirable.” Yet what was this precious reward? We failed to come up with an answer.
After practicing Falun Dafa, I came to realize the precious reward offered by cultivation is the return to one’s original, true self and the attainment of enlightenment.
One day in 1995, I was busy working in my office when my qigong friend suddenly rushed in, proclaiming, “Buddy, I have some amazing news for you. I went to town this weekend and found a heavenly book in an inconspicuous little bookstore. It reveals many secrets of cultivation, and its level is so high that, in my opinion, it’s unprecedented and unparalleled.” I quickly interrupted him, “Please tell me the name of the book and the bookstore’s address.”
That same day, I quickly took the bus into the city during my lunch break, located the bookstore, and successfully acquired the book. This book, Zhuan Falun, is the most important book for practitioners of Falun Dafa.
After work, I hurried home with this precious book and eagerly started reading. The book unveiled many secrets, such as the structure of the universe, the origin of mankind, and the purpose and goal of living in this world. The book laid out the most fundamental blueprint for a person living in this world, complete with purpose, steps, procedures, methods, and techniques—exactly what I had been looking for.
While the contents of the book prompted me to stand before the door of cultivation practice, I hesitated to enter for more than half a year. Why? As an average person living in our materialistic world, I felt that Dafa was good but its theories difficult to put into practice. Cultivation places heavy requirements on an individual’s family, career, and future. Those who want to practice but are reluctant to give up their human desires will make little progress. I remained indecisive until the Chinese New Year of 1996.
I spent my 1996 Chinese New Year in Nanchong, Sichuan. One day, I was strolling alone along the Jialing River when I heard a beautiful melody drifting from afar. I followed the sound and found a group of people promoting Falun Dafa. Despite having read Zhuan Falun six months before, I had yet to run into any Falun Dafa practitioners. My first impression was that these practitioners were warm and generous.
One of them approached me and introduced me to Falun Dafa. After I shared my own experience with him, he told me, “There’s a large-scale experience-sharing conference in Chongqing tomorrow. I hope you can attend. You can travel with us to Chongqing this afternoon.” This was a rare opportunity and I quickly replied, “I’ll go, I’ll go!”
The next morning, I attended the experience-sharing conference with a former classmate from Nanchong. This conference was the tipping point that convinced me to take up cultivation of Falun Dafa.
I was impressed by the grand scale of the conference, which had approximately 5,000 people in attendance. The solemn and powerful atmosphere also grabbed my attention. Lastly, a speech by a Falun Dafa practitioner who worked in a shipyard in Chongqing left a lasting impression.
Before obtaining the Fa, this practitioner had been a notorious troublemaker in the local community, unmanageable by the local police or those in his workplace. He spent his days with a group of fellow gangsters, drinking alcohol, gambling, seeking out prostitutes, and initiating fights. On one occasion, he broke three of his victim’s ribs in a fight. He also collected and sold pornographic videotapes for profit.
This same person, through a fortuitous opportunity, discovered Falun Dafa and began cultivating. However, his path was filled with many trials. His former friends begged him to return and resume a life of debauchery. They took turns tempting him with fine food and wine every day, but he firmly rejected their advances.
This practitioner had previously collected 10 so-called “top-quality” pornographic videotapes. After practicing Falun Dafa, he could no longer keep such pornographic materials but found himself reluctant to part with them, as he had spent much time and money to acquire them. After a long internal struggle, he finally made the painful decision to dispose of the videotapes.
When his former friends learned of this, they approached him and offered to buy each tape for 100 yuan [$15]. While 1,000 yuan seems like a small amount today, it was a huge sum at that time, equivalent to two months of pay for the practitioner. However, he knew if this material were to circulate in society, it would poison countless people. Besides costing him a great deal of virtue, this sin would hinder his cultivation path. In the end, the practitioner destroyed these pornographic videotapes by burning them.
It has been more than 30 years, but this deeply-moving story remains firmly etched in my memory. I used to pursue fame, fortune, human affection, health, excitement, and longevity. Returning to my original, true self, meant I could escape mortal suffering and attain happiness with a better life. Fame and fortune pursued by ordinary people could only bring temporary pleasure—not eternal happiness.
I realized that cultivation is the greatest, most serious goal in a person’s life. Like Tang Sanzang’s journey to the West to obtain the scriptures, a life of cultivation will inevitably be filled with hardship and suffering. But a firm belief in Master and the Fa, unwavering diligence, and firm righteous thoughts can help practitioners overcome even the most difficult obstacles. This was how I made the most significant decision of my life, to cultivate Falun Dafa. I also decided to quit smoking that very afternoon.
I’d started smoking in 1976 and failed to quit despite many attempts over the following 19 years. Finally, in 1995 I managed to quit with Dafa’s help. With the belief that if others could do it, so could I, I managed to quit smoking easily. I have not touched a single cigarette over the past 30 years, to the benefit of my health, the health of those around me, and the environment.
I returned to my workplace after the Chinese New Year holidays and heard that several Falun Dafa practitioners from Chongqing intended to organize free Falun Dafa study classes in my city. They would cover their own food, lodging, and transportation, and prospective students would not be asked to pay any fees. The unprecedented compassion of Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners, in contrast to the greed and selfishness of our materialistic society, earned my admiration.
After the classes ended, I offered to treat these practitioners to a simple meal, costing less than four yuan per person, to thank them for their hard work. Yet these practitioners insisted on returning the money to me, saying it was a rule stipulated under Dafa’s teachings. This small experience further strengthened my faith and determination to cultivate Dafa.
I would like to end by mentioning the colleagues who worked with me at the research institute. Half of them began practicing Falun Dafa, while the rest believed in Dafa’s goodness. All went on to become senior engineers and key technical personnel in their organizations.
