(Clearwisdom net) Many people in my family are cultivating; my mother, father, three sisters, my nephew and myself. We all began practicing Falun Dafa before July 20, 1999. We are diligent and make progress together on the path of assisting Master the Fa-rectification. Here, I have written down our experiences and like to share them with everyone.
At the beginning, we only knew that Falun Dafa is good and wanted to learn it. However, our thought karma was strong. To eliminate this thought karma, I started to memorize the Fa and read it out loud. No matter what I did, I recited the Fa, even while walking. That is, I never let my mind be idle. Shortly afterwards, I did not experience any interference while I studied the Fa and practiced the exercises. It is true that "If one is determined, the karma can be eliminated." (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun, the 2000 translation version) So I have memorized the Fa more since that time. No matter what is bothering me, as soon as I start to read, everything disappears. I am so fortunate to have found the Fa. When I went out with fellow practitioners to spread the Fa or practice, I was happy no matter how tired I ws or how painstaking it was. I started to look younger and it seemed as though I had boundless energy. My family members were also very diligent. We learned, discussed, and practiced together and always looked inside ourselves. Everyone had become very happy since taking up cultivation.
Nevertheless, the evil started its persecution in 1999 and we lost our environment to study and practice together. My mom, sisters and I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and Master. When we returned, my dad and elder sister were worried that we would be persecuted and thus forbade us to have contact with fellow practitioners. No matter what they said, we did what we had to do. At that time, we realized how serious cultivation is. We became more diligent and studied whenever we had time. We got up at 2:00 a.m. to practice.
When I went to appeal the third time, I was arrested and illegally sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp. I lost my job and my fiancée left me. None of this lessened my determination to cultivate. However, because I did not know how to handle things at that time, I cultivated in the trap that the old forces had arranged. At that time, I treated those who persecuted us and the police as enemies. Through studying the Fa, I started to understand that those people, who participated in the persecution are most pitiful. They were used by the evil to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners and to commit crimes. If we don't have mercy on them and clarify the facts to them, they could be eliminated.
When the police tried to prevent us from practicing or beat practitioners, I was the first one to stand up to protest. I refused to put on prisoner's clothes, work, stand in line, or do anything they demanded. The police regarded me as a thorn in their sides. Regardless of what happened, they said that I was the leader and maltreated me more brutally than the others. In order to "transform" me, they transferred me to six different places and five labor camps. My body suffered severe injuries. I had two bone fractures in my right foot.
This was not the hardest part. The most painful thing was that we were not able to get Master's lectures. When I was at the Shijiazhuang Forced Labor Camp, Master appeared in a dream and I cried to him: "I also want to read your lectures." Master told me: "You will have a chance." I woke up crying and realized that if it was not for Master's merciful protection, it would really be hard for me to get through this. Later, I realized that suffering from this persecution itself is shameful. I should no longer be a hero in ordinary people's eyes, but become a sincere disciple of Master.
After I came out of the evil den, I thoroughly studied Master's lectures of the last three years. I sent forth righteous thoughts at 12 o'clock before I went to sleep. I wrote letters to clarify the facts to labor camps, jails, detention centers, police stations, brainwashing centers and more, which are persecuting and maltreating Falun Dafa practitioners. Wherever I go, whether looking for a job, on the streets, in shopping centers, I always clarify the facts to people. I am not afraid of difficulties and as long as I am in those places, I will clarify the facts.
My mom also did very well. During the time I was imprisoned, the family members who do not practice blamed her for letting me practice Falun Gong. My relatives were biased against her and outsiders also criticized her. But my mom did not waver under this pressure. She acted as usual and did what she was supposed to do. She did even better than most younger people. She even distributed more truth-clarification materials than others and she clarified the facts to whomever she encountered. Dad was not diligent in his practice and seldom studied the Fa. Because I had been persecuted and maltreated, he was unable to get rid of his attachment to sentimentality toward me and cried all the time. Because he was afraid of further persecution of the other family members, he didn't allow mom to go out to distribute materials. He changed the door lock. However, mom secretly made a duplicate of the key and went out when he slept. No matter how many times my dad changed the lock, my mom always made a duplicate key. She posted truth-clarification signs, hand-wrote posters and hung up banners. At that time, she was in her 70s, however, many younger people could not catch up with her in doing the three things. One night when it was extremely cold, my mom went out to post up materials. The glue was frozen and therefore made it difficult to post the signs. Her hands were also very cold, thus mom asked Master for help. When she tried again, the glue was no longer frozen and her hands were no longer cold either.
My second elder sister is a teacher. She often clarified the facts to her students, their parents and co-workers. She also went out to talk to people and her performance was always outstanding. Her students all disciplined themselves according to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance." Once, my sister gave the students an exam on writing. Eighty percent of her students wrote that Falun Gong is good. Once, my sister was arrested by the police when she protected a fellow practitioner. When she was released, the students had just finished their exam. The results happened to be the highest scores of the township. Her co-workers, the students' parents and the dean were all surprised that the students' score had been this good when their teacher was away for half a month. Dafa is so amazing. When these students graduated, they told my sister: "Teacher, don't worry. We will always try to be good people." This year on teachers' day, they wrote on the classroom's blackboard: "Happy holiday to our teacher! To our teacher who practices Falun Gong."
My nephew also studies and practices Falun Gong diligently. Whenever his teacher said anything bad about Falun Gong, he would immediately stand up, stop him and clarify the facts to the teacher and the students. He also took the opportunity and wrote an assignment to validate Dafa, telling the story that Dafa instructs people to be kind and how Falun Dafa practitioners are suffering evil persecution.
Two other sisters of mine are also teachers. They taught their students the truth about the Chinese Communist Party's evil history. They introduced divinely-inspired culture to them in order to protect people from the poison of Chinese Communist Party.
My two elder sisters were arrested twice by the police when they were trying to find an apartment for a fellow practitioner. Officers from two places tried to find that fellow practitioner and harassed my family. They monitored the practitioners in my family and prevented us from clarifying the truth. My attachment to fear surfaced and I was afraid of being monitored. So I got up at 3:00 a.m. to distribute truth-clarification materials and post up signs. Without eliminating my fear, it was very difficult to practice. The more I was afraid of being monitored, the more I was monitored. Master said: "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist." ("Eliminate Your last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II) In order to eliminate my fear, I recited the Fa and strengthened my righteous thoughts. Gradually, my righteous thoughts grew stronger and I did better and better when clarifying the facts and promoting the "three withdrawals" from the CCP. Whenever I bought things, I used the currency that had truth-clarification information stamped on it. Sometimes I went out of town to distribute truth-clarification materials.
The above stories tell how my family helped each other with studying and practicing the Fa. We will be more diligent and walk on our path. Though we still have various attachments, we have confidence that we can get rid of them, truly melt into the Fa and do the three things well and to thoroughly eliminate this inhuman persecution.