(Clearwisdom.net) In the human world I am an unfortunate man, but when seen from higher levels I am most fortunate. Before I practiced Falun Dafa, I had cerebral palsy and was bedridden. I had difficulty expressing myself and communicating with others. I didn't attend school and had no friends. I became pessimistic and felt isolated. I could not envision a worthwhile future and worried about burdening my family.
In 1997, I read the book Zhuan Falun by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Although my vocabulary was limited, my family taught me how to use a dictionary, which was very helpful when reading the book. It took only three days for me to read the entire book. I understood that this was a good book, but hesitated about cultivating, because Teacher said that people with serious illnesses or people that were unable to control their limbs should not cultivate. I also felt fearful when looking at Teacher's picture and understood clearly that somehow I wasn't quite ready to follow the principles expounded in the book.
My health kept deteriorating and my family was concerned, as the medicine no longer helped. Then, a practitioner told me that I had no choice but to cultivate. I looked at Teacher's photo again. This time I saw a smiling face! My fearful feeling was gone, and I was confident that I could cultivate in Falun Dafa. My health quickly improved.
Youthful Look
I have cultivated for fourteen years. So far, I can only do the fifth exercise and can't follow all the required moves. Each time I did the exercise, my body felt hot all over. Over the years the greatest change was in my appearance. I'm 35 years old, but look like 26 or 27.
Before July 1999, I was very diligent in reading Zhuan Falun. My oral communication skills improved and I was able to talk to strangers without becoming fearful. However, I still needed help in my daily life. What was important was that my relatives knew that I had changed and that Falun Dafa was good.
Demonstrating at Tiananmen Square
I always wanted to go to Tiananmen Square to put up a banner with the words "Falun Dafa is good" and shout loudly "My Teacher is innocent! Falun Dafa is innocent!" However, I was not able to do so, because I was unsteady on my feet. It was not until 2001 that I overcame my fear and objections by family members, and decided to go.
At Tiananmen Square there were many people, police officers and undercover agents. I was standing on the Jinshui Bridge and was a bit anxious. To calm down my heart I recited,
“Grand talk counts for naught when it comes to life and death,
Actions reveal what is true. ("The Knowing Heart," Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Then, I took the banner from a fellow practitioner and walked towards a crowd. Since I was holding a banner, the crowd opened up a pathway for me.
From the time I opened the banner, walked down the bridge, and passed through the crowd, to the time the fellow practitioner took back the banner and stored it away, I held on to only one thought: Let more people see the words, "Falun Dafa is good." When the fellow practitioner and I walked down the bridge, we saw a police officer walking straight towards us. Amazingly, it was as if he looked right through us and he just passed us by.
The fact that someone as weak as I, who was unsteady on his feet, could go to Tiananmen Square and carry a banner is something unimaginable for ordinary people. It is Falun Dafa and Teacher who gave me this power.
Righteous Thoughts Eliminate Illnesses Twice
1) Beating Caused Blood to Pool Under My Skin
My family members were shocked when they heard that I had gone to Beijing. My father took a wooden pole and beat me for three hours. At that time, I did not realize that it was the plan of the old forces and that I should use righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil spirit behind my father's actions. Instead, I thought it was my karma that was the reason behind the beating. At that time, my understanding of the Fa was inadequate. Evil spirits were controlling ordinary humans to commit crimes against practitioners. It was my job to save human beings. When I could not take it anymore, I asked Teacher for help. This thought worked, and it stopped my father from beating me further.
I was lying on my bed and had no energy to even speak. I had the feeling that my soul wanted to leave my body. At that moment there was no feeling of pain. I said to myself, "I should be fine because I am a Dafa disciple." When fellow practitioners saw me, they were shocked. My skin was dark because of blood pooling underneath it, and my face was pale. They cried and asked whether I wanted to go to the hospital. I refused to go, although I felt pain throughout my body and it was difficult to go to sleep. Master's words came to my mind:
"It’s hard to endure, but you can endure it. It’s hard to do, but you can do it." (Zhuan Falun)
The next day my ankles were swollen and I was still in pain. However, once I sat in the full lotus position, all the pain went away. So, except when fellow practitioners and I worked to help imprisoned practitioners during the day, I sat in the full lotus position. Understanding fully that the beating didn't stop me from cultivating, my father no longer cared about what I was doing. Also, as soon as I stepped out of my house, all of my pain went away. Although my ankles were swollen, I could walk up and down the stairs without feeling pain. However, as soon as I returned home, the pain returned. I understood that when I was working with fellow practitioners, Teacher helped me, because I was focusing on helping others. The painful feeling I had at home was to reduce my karma. After about half a month, my body and ankles returned to normal.
2) Righteous Thoughts Disintegrate Interference
In the winter of 2009 while taking a bath, I noticed some blisters on my body and some red dots on my legs. Fellow practitioners suggested to eliminate them with righteous thoughts, but I didn't listen because they didn't prevent me from doing the {{three things}. Furthermore, there was no pain or itching, so I did not pay much attention to it. It turned out that even more tribulations were awaiting me.
One evening in a small group study, I burst into laughter about a minor matter. This happened again during subsequent days. Fellow practitioners asked me why I could not control myself. It appeared that I had symptoms of a mental disorder. It only occurred during Fa study, and I could see that some evil spirits were controlling my body. I felt sad about not being able to control myself and about interfering with Fa study, so I cried. Fellow practitioners did not understand why I laughed and cried within such a short span. They told me that I should ask Teacher for help. I believed that regardless of what weaknesses I might have, persecution by evil spirits should not be accepted. Hence, we sent forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate the evil spirits in unison. After a few days, this abnormal problem disappeared. But, I didn't know the cause for this incident.
After more than a month, red dots also appeared on the back of my hands and feet. They looked awful but there was no pain or itching. Fellow practitioners told me to look inward for the cause and regardless of whether I found it or not, I must disintegrate the persecution by evil spirits on my body. Furthermore, I must not assume that it was caused by my karma.
After listening to fellow practitioners, I began to realize that this was a serious matter. What really shocked me was that when I sent righteous thoughts towards it, I felt very itchy. Clearly, the evil spirits were doing everything in their power to stop me. I felt fear and remembered practitioners that passed away due to illness. Although the itching prevented me from sitting down, I still sent forth righteous thoughts. I remained focused on reciting the formulas for righteous thoughts and asked for Teacher's support. I thought that it was up to Teacher when it came to what would happen to me. After one week, half of the red dots were gone. The severe itching was also reduced. Fellow practitioners and I witnessed another miracle and Teacher's compassion towards Dafa disciples.
At this point I still didn't know the cause of my problems. Fellow practitioners asked me to think deeply about what I had been doing, but I could not find anything special. Then, a practitioner saw a petition form for determining the level of disability on my table. My family members and I completed the form two months ago. The certificate of disability I was granted was based on someone who had filled the petition form out for me without actually seeing what condition I was in, and arbitrarily wrote down a level 3. In 2009, officials in our community told us to renew the certificate and determine the proper level of disability. In their opinion I should be at level one, which means that I should receive more benefits. At the time, I thought this was fair. This is an ordinary person's way of thinking and is not in line with the Fa. I had forgotten Teacher's words, "whenever someone tells you how to gain something out in the ordinary world, that's a demon." (Zhuan Falun).
I now understand that I was not within the Fa when I went with my family to the mental hospital to determine my level of disability. That was the cause for my abnormal behavior. Realizing this, I tore up the petition form.
Carrying out My Pledge
Everything I wished to do, Teacher made an arrangement for it to happen.
1) Learning to Use a Computer
After returning from Beijing, we had a difficult time finding Minghui Weekly and new articles by Teacher. We didn't have any materials to distribute to assist Master in saving sentient beings. So, we discussed purchasing a computer and getting online. After passing many obstacles we bought a computer. I remembered a dream that I previously had, where I was alone in a room with a computer on my desk. I did not know how to use it. When I got anxious about what to do, I woke up.
It was difficult to believe that the scene in my dream had materialized. Maybe Teacher was encouraging me as I was wondering whether I could learn to use it. I had no confidence because I could not control my hands very well. For several days, I did not touch the computer. Fellow practitioners encouraged me. Finally, I tried to move the mouse and use the keyboard to form a word.
At that time, no practitioner knew how to use a computer. However, within half a month I met up with two ordinary people who were familiar with computers. They agreed to teach me. I told them about Falun Dafa and they knew I was a practitioner.
While I was learning to use the computer, fellow practitioners contacted out-of-town practitioners, who told them how to get on the Minghui website. They brought back the necessary software.
The first time when we saw the Falun Dafa website and Teacher's picture sitting in lotus position on a mountain, we were moved to tears. It was like lost children that finally had returned home.
We were able to get all the necessary articles, lectures, Minghui Weekly, theNine Commentaries on the Communist Party, Shen Yun CDs, and other informational materials. During the new year we made good luck charms to give out to people.
2) Improving Character and Technical Ability
Being handicapped, it was a miracle that I was able to do so many things to help people hear the truth about Falun Dafa. Actually, I had responsibility for things far greater than what I thought I could do. My initial reaction was that I should not waste time on things I could not do, and concentrate on doing well what I could. In reality, I didn't believe that Teacher had given me more wisdom to do a major job.
One time, my computer didn't function well, so a practitioner came to help me. When he was loading the system, he asked me to watch how it was done and we shared our understanding on the Fa. He suggested that I should learn how to load the system. I disagreed, because all the directions were in English and I couldn't read them. He said that I needed to learn what was necessary to keep the computer and Falun Dafa related work going without interruption. Furthermore, I would be able to help other practitioners. While I agreed with him about the possible benefits, I knew I didn't have the background to learn, because I was unfamiliar with the English alphabet. He told me not to base my decision on human reasoning. Instead, he asked me to use the Fa to judge whether this was possible.
After the practitioner left, another practitioner encouraged me to learn everything I needed to know. He told me not to use human reasoning, because we are practitioners. As long as we have the desire to save sentient beings, Teacher will help us. His words reminded me of what Teacher said,
"Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master"—if you just have that wish you’re all set. When it comes to who’s actually doing it, it’s the master. (Zhuan Falun)
The next day, the computer savvy practitioner returned and I started to learn how to load the system. I knew that Teacher was right beside me. Hence, whenever there was a difficulty, I would hold on to righteous thoughts until the obstacle was overcome. Actually, each difficulty was arranged to improve my character. Once my character improved, the obstacle was gone. All I needed was to not give up. Of course, I still don't know any English, but I can load the system for both the laptop and the desktop computer. I can also install hard disks, USB or DVD drives and adapters to get on the Internet.
I could tell of many more miracles, but it would take too much space. I shall be more diligent in my cultivation and support other practitioners to save sentient beings. I will do my best during this last phase of Fa rectification and return home with Teacher.
Selected from "Call for Articles about Divine Occurrences in the Human World"