(Minghui.org) It has been 30 years since I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996. Thanks to Master’s compassionate protection, I am assimilating to the Fa more every day and have experienced many amazing things and am filled with happiness every day.
I’d like to share some of my memories of these years to express my gratitude to Master and to the extraordinary nature of Falun Dafa. I hope that more people will understand Falun Dafa and practice it to improve their moral character and uplift their realm.
About a dozen practitioners attended Master’s lectures in Tianjin and Kenli in Shangdong Province around 1994. More than that attended Master’s lectures in Jinan. The deputy principal of my school was one of them. Several practitioners who attended Master’s lectures set up the first practice site in my area in 1995 near Beishan. Then it moved to Fuxue Park opposite the old shoe factory in the grove in front of the Association of Science and Technology building.
I started practicing Falun Dafa on January 1, 1996, and benefited from it greatly. I attended a group Fa study near my home. I then set up a Fa study group at my home. My mother cleaned the room and laid out mats she had made herself to welcome every practitioner. I bought videotapes of Master’s lectures and a video player so that practitioners could watch them in my home.
My mother, my wife, and I went to the practice site to do the exercises every morning. During that time, we practiced the exercises in the morning and in the evening with 20 or 30 others. We had Fa study at my home every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening. A dozen practitioners did the exercises at the practice site on the eve of the 1996 Chinese New Year. We were filled with joy.
We had a large-scale gathering soon after. We watched of Master’s lectures together in the hall of the Veteran Cadres Entertainment Center. Dozens of practitioners attended this event. Even though we were just watching the video, it was the first large-scale, formal event in our area. We felt like Master was lecturing us in person. Many of the practitioners who attended this event later became the coordinators in our county. Looking back, I still feel it was a sacred and great event!
We went to the west gate of our central park to promote Falun Dafa every Sunday morning, about 20 of us each time. Four of the assistants put up a banner that read “Teaching Falun Dafa Exercises for Free” and had an introduction to Falun Gong. We also had copies of Zhuan Falun in case people wanted to buy it. We practiced the exercises together.
One freezing cold morning it was snowing heavily, and only my wife and I went to the practice site. There was no tape player, but we did the exercises together. Three people stood at the park gate. They wanted to buy copies of Zhuan Falun. They came for the Fa on such a snowy day! We were very moved and encouraged them. We made plans to meet them the following week.
The coordinator of the assistant center planned to visit the practitioners in different towns and villages. She told us where and when she would go. Any practitioner who wanted to could sign up to go with her. I signed up every time and didn’t miss any opportunities.
Several of us rode bicycles and shared our cultivation experiences on the way to the countryside. We were so happy. The first time we went to promote Falun Dafa was in a small town with a steel plant. About a dozen of us practiced the exercises with the local practitioners.
One person had spirit possession, which Master later cleared out. Many of the local practitioners were new and were afraid, so they were happy to see us. We could see their fear on their faces, but the energy field at the practice site was very good, and we all merged into the boundless compassion of Falun Dafa and felt that other dimensions were cleansed. Their fear disappeared after we finished the exercises, and they were happy and full of joy.
We visited quite a few towns and villages where there were only a few practitioners. We established connections with them and laid a good foundation for us to promote Falun Dafa from then on.
People who came to learn Falun Dafa increased significantly in the spring of 1996. We moved our exercise site to the east gate of the central park. The east gate, the main entrance, was very wide and crowded with people. It was where people practiced different forms of qigong.
The previous site in the grove was very quiet, suitable for practicing the exercises. But it was hidden and people couldn’t see us. The new practice site looked “messy” but was good to promote Falun Dafa. Many people started practicing Falun Dafa there.
Among the practitioners in the first Fa study group I attended were female clerks from the housing management office, laborers from the grain station, and peasants. They didn’t practice for long and were not strict with themselves. Every time I studied with the group, I sat up straight and held Zhuan Falun in both hands. When I read, my voice was loud and clear.
The serious way I studied the Fa influenced other practitioners. We focused on what we were studying, and our environment became purer. The assistant was very happy to see this change and acknowledged my influence. I also tried my best to share with the others so that we could improve together. The Fa study group environment improved.
Our event to promote the Fa every Sunday moved from the west gate to the east gate. Many people came through the east gate, and more and more people came to learn Falun Dafa. At that time, computers were rare. Master’s new articles, which were passed on to us from the Beijing Assistance Center, had to be photocopied. When a new article came in, the assistant always read it to us first before we got it photocopied.
Because it was a new article, the assistant was not familiar with it and we couldn’t hear her clearly. The coordinator of my group recommended that I read the new articles. I stood on the hill and read it loudly enough so that every practitioner could hear every word and every sentence clearly so that they could understand it.
I read “Sickness Karma,” “Cultivators’ Avoidances,” “Perfect Harmony,” and “Non-Omission.” When I read Master’s articles to the group, Master strengthened us with his mighty power. I benefited the most. This reinforced my confidence, and I understood the articles better. This laid a good foundation for my future cultivation in the Fa-rectification period.
I later attended a Fa study group with the coordinators. There were about a dozen of us. The main coordinator summarized the situation, and we shared issues we had come across. After I attended that Fa study twice, I made a suggestion. I felt like we should let more people know how wonderful Falun Dafa was. One practice site didn’t have much impact, and not many people knew about us.
I said, “If we just carry a tape recorder to the practice site and turn the music on and off, a dedicated practitioner could do that. But as assistants, we should think of everyone in our county and give people more opportunities to learn the practice.”
The main coordinator asked what she should do. I said, “Divide our big practice site into four practice sites—east, south, west, and north—so that practitioners can do the exercises closer to where we live and save time. We can promote Falun Dafa better and make it easier for people to obtain the Fa. The practitioners at the four practice sites can help the practitioners in the towns and villages establish more practice sites.”
The coordinator thought it was a good suggestion and decided to set up three new practice sites. She remained at the current practice site. Two assistants took charge of the east and north sites. Ms. Ling and I were in charge of setting up the west side practice site.
Several assistants and I quickly set up new practice sites. Ling and I first did the exercises with other practitioners in front of the Industrial and Commercial Bank. A week later we moved to the front of the department store building. It was spacious. It was the town center, and many people came to practice.
(I did the exercises there for the last time early on July 20, 1999, under the surveillance of the police. I managed to evade police surveillance and went to Tiananmen Square to speak out for Dafa. I embarked on a difficult yet more beautiful cultivation path in the Fa-rectification period, stepping onto a bigger stage to validate the Fa and save sentient beings.)
The amazing thing was that, even though we’d divided one practice site into four, there were just as many people at the original practice site as there ever were. In fact, more people soon came.
Several days after we set up the practice site in front of the department store, I heard that practitioners also wanted to set up a site near Xiguan, so several practitioners went there.
The first time three of us did the exercises at Triangle Park, there were a lot of mosquitoes. We all had many mosquito bites. We set up a practice site in front of a restaurant in the west of Xiguan. Ling stayed in the practice site in front of the department store, while I went to the new site and joined the Fa study group there.
The first Fa study group was at the home of a young worker, but his wife didn’t practice Falun Dafa. We then moved to the home of an older couple. We started with two or three people, then four or five, but I didn’t give up. I had a strong thought to go to a difficult group in a remote area and turn it into the most amazing group with the greatest improvements to validate Falun Dafa.
There were more people in the summer. Our Fa study group moved to the home of another couple, where the husband’s mother and sister also practiced Falun Dafa. They had a good environment. The house was spacious and had a big yard. When the weather was good, we studied the Fa outside. There were a lot of practitioners sometimes. We chatted and laughed. This was a happy and beautiful time and always stays in my memory. Amid the deafening sound of celebratory firecrackers, we practiced the exercises quietly with joy and happiness in our hearts.
I met a practitioner couple from another town to the east after I finished an activity to promote Falun Dafa one Sunday. They wanted to have a Fa study group in their town. I was touched by their enthusiasm and went to the village near their town by bicycle. We met three or four practitioners there and discussed setting up a Fa study group and exercise site in the village. They set up the first Fa study group in the town.
I had a classmate in a town to the west who lived in an abandoned primary school. The classmate and I set up an exercise site there. About eight or nine practitioners did the exercises there. During that time, I went to the towns to the east and west to study the Fa and do the exercises with local practitioners once a week.
Several practitioners from the Xiguan practice site set up another site in a corner of the town. One site split into two sites. Some practitioners from Beihuan and Gulou practice sites set up a new practice site in Xihuan. Our practitioners set up multiple practice sites at the west gate of the parks in Shuiguan, Dongguan, and Chengnan. Practitioners could practice the exercises near where they lived. It was also easier for passersby to run into Dafa. For quite some time, the key practitioners in the county studied the Fa at my home. We had a house full of practitioners. Those who came late had to stand outside.
We held a large-scale session to watch Master’s video lectures for the second time in the summer of that year. It was an open-door session outside the Preparatory Office for the Chengnan Power Station. I was involved in helping to organize a Dafa activity for the first time. I had to open and close the gate for the practitioners to enter, so I had to communicate with the person on duty at the power station.
The practitioners benefited a lot from the session. One practitioner who had her third eye opened saw that many divine beings and heavenly generals and soldiers listened to Master’s lectures with us. Practitioners organized several sessions to watch Master’s video lectures in Beihuan and Nanhuan. But this was the last time that the assistant center organized all practitioners to watch Master’s video lectures. Looking back, I felt it was a very precious time.
All the practitioners went to do the exercises in the park to promote Falun Dafa every Sunday. Assistant Zhao and I were in charge of teaching the exercises. Many newcomers came to learn the exercises every week. Eventually, we had several hundred practitioners doing the exercises on Sunday. It was spectacular.
Two practitioners visited me in December 1996. There were relatively more practitioners at the practice site in their village. We had been there to help correct the practitioners’ exercises movements in the summer. I asked them about the cultivation situation in their village. Seeing the I cared about them, they invited me to come visit.
We went by bicycle that afternoon. They had five groups, and I visited each one. I found that they were enthusiastic about doing the exercises but didn’t pay much attention to Fa study. They studied individually and didn’t have group Fa study.
I suggested that we study the Fa together that evening and asked the two practitioners to notify other practitioners. More than two dozen practitioners came on time and the room was full. They looked happy. We studied the articles regarding the importance of group Fa study from the newly published book Further Discussions on Falun Dafa. We shared our experiences after Fa study. Every practitioner understood that they should set up Fa study groups.
The environment was harmonious. Their hearts were pure. Thanks to Master’s strengthening, we felt like we were in paradise. The practitioners paid more attention to group Fa study apart from practicing the exercises together every day. They studied the Fa together after that, no matter how vicious the persecution or how intense the interference. They formed one body and improved together. They cultivated themselves steadily and solidly.
These were some of my experiences 30 years ago. Thanks to Master’s compassion, I started as a new practitioner and quickly became a genuine Falun Dafa practitioner and a volunteer assistant. This was my honor. From one practice site, many more flourished around the county. This was the mighty power of Falun Dafa and the boundless grace of the Creator. The practitioners in my area studied the Fa together and promoted the Fa together. I am so lucky to have witnessed this great process.
As the Fa-rectification progressed, we went to the TV station in Bejing to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to the staff there in 1998 and went to the national appeals office to appeal for the justice of Falun Dafa on April 25, 1999. We became Fa particles who had assimilated to the Fa and safeguarded the Fa. We were so lucky! Those experiences laid a good foundation for me to do what I should do during the brutal persecution in China.
Thirty years have passed, and Falun Dafa is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions. Shen Yun Performing Arts’ eight companies tour the world to share the splendor of 5000 years of divine culture—a China before communism.
People of all ethnic groups and all walks of life welcome Shen Yun and learn how wonderful Falun Dafa is. Meanwhile, the CCP that persecutes righteous people is collapsing and dissolving. More people see just how evil the CCP really is. The battle between good and evil to eliminate the CCP is evolving. Heaven eliminating the CCP is just around the corner.
Falun Dafa practitioners have stood strong during the 27 years the practice has been persecuted. We are determined in our righteous belief and have walked steadily on our cultivation paths. With our concerted efforts, we have restored and established many Fa study groups in the last two years. We have held two experience sharing conferences. We form one body solidly, improve ourselves together, and do the three things well.
I am so lucky to be a great being following Master to usher in a new era. It is a great honor that Master has bestowed upon me. The beautiful future Master has created for us is just around the corner. Looking back at what I did 30 years ago, I hope that I will do better going forward. Together with the kindhearted people worldwide, we are starting a new era in this human world.
Thank you, Master, for your compassion and protection over the past 30 years! Thank you, Master, for leading us to start a brand new era!