(Minghui.org) During my twenties, in the mid-1990s, I became completely unable to work due to chronic illnesses. My father used to say that I wouldn’t outlive him. However, 30 years have since passed. Not only am I healthy and living a comfortable life, but my career has also successfully developed, all because I practice Falun Dafa (Falun Gong).
After graduating from college, I was assigned to a public institution in the provincial capital. During a routine physical exam, I was diagnosed with atrophic gastritis and hepatitis B, as well as enteritis and chronic rectal bleeding.
I was only 22 at the time. I believed I needed to cure these illnesses and regain my health before I could work hard and build my career.
I took medicine prescribed by a nationally renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor, including both herbal capsules and loose herbs I had to boil myself. However, after a year, my health showed no signs of improvement. Instead, I had to be hospitalized due to my liver condition.
In 1996, I took extended unpaid leave from work and returned to my hometown to recuperate. I had to wear a sweater even in summer to keep sweating; otherwise, I would become extremely dizzy. I couldn’t eat, sleep, or even have a bowel movement. I was constantly taking medication.
Despite spending over 10,000 yuan, I had completely lost the ability to work. I was so weak I could barely walk, and practically dragged my feet along the ground.
A former neighbor learned about my situation from my mother and invited me to practice qigong with her. I agreed.
We went to a courtyard at an organization’s compound. After teaching me the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, the instructor led me into a room to explain the characteristics of the practice. Here I saw a picture of Master practicing in a yellow robe.
“I have seen this Master before!” I exclaimed. I remembered seeing Master’s picture in a magazine in my college library. That was how I began practicing Falun Dafa in early September 1996.
Following graduation, those years spent trying to recover meant I had fallen behind in my field. I decided not to return to my former job in the provincial capital. Instead, I applied for a position in mechanical design, a field related to my college major, at a small private company in my hometown.
However, I didn’t realize until after I started working that the company was struggling financially, and their payroll was in arrears.
An IT engineer who joined the company around the same time left for another firm. He recommended me to his new boss, saying I was very skilled with computers, though in reality, we had barely met because we worked in different departments.
This was how I ended up at the new company. I was hired to work in computer network engineering, which was actually a completely new field for me.
Another line of business involved sending workers to a renowned foreign-owned telecommunications company for interviews and training. Those who qualified would work for the foreign-owned company as consultants. The compensation for these positions was very high.
One day, three engineers, who had completed their technical training, were supposed to go to the company’s headquarters in Beijing for interviews, but one of them couldn’t be reached. The boss was very worried and decided to send me simply to make up the numbers.
I had only been at the company for a few days and was struggling with computer networking. Now I was suddenly being sent to handle a wireless communication project. My head was spinning.
I had no money at that time. Before heading to Beijing, I borrowed a coat from the boss and a suit from a colleague.
When I arrived at the company in Beijing and saw so many foreign faces, I became even more nervous. I noticed the person ahead of me was in their interview for a long time, and didn’t seem to have fared well when he came out.
I steeled myself and walked in. The department manager was Chinese. To my surprise, he didn’t ask any technical questions. Instead, we had a brief conversation in English, and he asked me to perform a few computer tasks. Then he extended his hand and said, “Welcome to our company.”
A few minutes later, when I walked out of the office, my mind was still in a daze. It felt like I was dreaming.
I asked the two other colleagues about their interviews. They told me theirs had been very detailed, covering their college majors, the projects they had worked on, evaluations from their previous employers, and tests on technical terminology. Even the department manager, who interviewed me later, said, “Yours was the shortest interview I’ve ever conducted.”
I realized that it had all been arranged by Master.
When the department manager later learned I practice Falun Gong, he asked me about it. One of his cousins was also a practitioner. Moreover, when I was diligent in my cultivation, he would encourage me, and when I slacked off, he would reprimand me without hesitation.
For example, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, I was at home. During those days, the barrage of slanderous propaganda on television left me at a loss. My manager called and said in a slightly reproachful tone: “I can tell you are under a lot of pressure, and probably don’t even know what to do. Why don’t you come out and work on my project for now?”
Another time, while working on a project in Yunnan Province, I rented a house there, started experimenting with cooking recipes, and began living a quiet, simple life. He called me right away, saying, “You are living a good life, aren’t you? You remind me of Jiao Yulu.” Jiao Yulu was a county Party secretary who died of liver cancer in his forties. I understood what he meant immediately. I felt that Master was using his words to remind me that a practitioner’s healed body is meant for cultivation, not for living an ordinary life.
The foreign-owned company I worked for has an excellent corporate culture. I gained valuable experience there.
At first, I felt unwelcome, but no matter what, I held myself to the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance taught by Falun Gong. I never complained and always looked inward.
Although the work pressure was intense, I found that as long as I held myself to the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, many problems that initially seemed unsolvable could be resolved satisfactorily. I often reminded myself that this favorable environment had been arranged by Master to help me cultivate and improve. For this reason, I always held myself to high standards at work.
As a result, my colleagues liked me. Some said, “Being around you is like a breath of fresh air.” Others said, “I have never seen him lose his temper. He really is broad-minded.” One colleague made up a little rhyme about me: “No smoking, no drinking, and no hanging out with bad people.”
My job involves frequent business trips. Most of my colleagues are young and well-paid; some often went to nightclubs and bars. One colleague told me that whenever he went on a business trip, his girlfriend would worry about him being unfaithful, sometimes even following him to the city he was visiting. But as long as he was traveling with me, he said that she felt completely at ease.
Although my work is not related to my college major, I quickly picked up the skills needed in the telecommunications field. Since I spent most of my free time studying the Fa and doing the exercises, I found it easy to calm my mind, and ideas related to my work often came to me clearly.
Once, a piece of telecommunications equipment malfunctioned at a famous scenic spot. The local manager was very concerned. Several engineers had been sent to fix it but none could resolve the issue.
After I arrived, I conducted a thorough inspection and discovered the configuration parameters were abnormal. The previous engineers had only checked the equipment. As soon as I reset the parameters, the problem was resolved.
When I sent my report to my project manager, he wondered how I had discovered the problem. After all, it was difficult to spot a few changed characters among several pages of text.
I have handled several similar and complicated technical challenges; some involved multiple systems and departments and were even beyond my area of expertise. I know that this wisdom and inspiration came from Dafa.
Salaries in the telecommunications industry are generally high, but there can be significant disparities among employees. I knew that people doing the same job could have a monthly pay difference of up to 10,000 yuan.
When my two-year contract was about to expire, another company offered me a base monthly salary increase of 4,500 yuan, along with better additional benefits. It was a pretty tempting offer.
My boss was reluctant to let me go because I was one of the original employees; if I left, other employees would too once their contracts expired. The manager at the foreign-owned company where I was consulting also wanted me to stay.
I communicated with both sides and decided not to leave. Although this meant I gave up some financial benefits, it avoided putting either party in a difficult position.
Being able to consider things from others’ perspectives and putting my personal interests aside is something I learned from Falun Dafa.
Years later, when I left this foreign-owned company, the department manager and human resources manager both tried to persuade me to stay. They said, “We really don’t want you to go. You are welcome to come back anytime; our doors will always be open to you.”
I am deeply grateful for Master’s arrangements. Within just three years, I transformed from a naive and inexperienced person into someone whom others regarded as talented. Practicing Dafa has reshaped my character.
Also, there was no internet censorship at the foreign-owned company, so I could access Minghui.org at any time. While practicing on my own, the experience-sharing articles on Minghui.org enlightened me, guiding me like a lighthouse, and accompanying me through those years when the persecution was most severe.
By the time I was 28, I owned an apartment that was over 100 square meters. Who would have believed that just a couple of years earlier, I was curled up in bed, looking haggard and feeling utterly hopeless?
It has been 30 years since I began practicing Falun Gong. When my father was alive, he used to say that I wouldn’t outlive him. A monk in Yunnan once read my palm and said my life line was very short. More than 20 years ago, a medical examination revealed a primary tumor site on my liver.
Yet none of those predictions or frightening developments came true. Dafa gave me a new lease on life.