(Clearwisdom.net) On a winter evening some time in 2001, a practitioner came to my home and told me that another practitioner we both knew had been illegally arrested and detained. Police had asked him to name other practitioners and threatened him with forced labor camp if he didn't. He broke down under the pressure and gave up names of other practitioners that he knew. I was one of those who had been named.
I became very worried after I heard this. I was disappointed in him for breaking down under the pressure. In giving up his fellow practitioners, he was straying far from Dafa. But I was also very worried about being arrested myself and having my home ransacked. I didn't know what to do.
When the practitioner left my home, I looked around. I saw Teacher’s picture, a big Falun emblem, a large printout of Lunyu hanging on the wall, as well as Dafa books and other Dafa materials on bookshelves. I said to myself, “Teacher’s picture, books, and precious materials should never fall into evil hands!” I packed them up and stored them in a safe place.
In the following months, though I still did the things Teacher asked us to do, I couldn’t seem to relax. I was always on the look-out, afraid that someone might be following me. I felt that I had lost something, and my mind had become empty. Looking back, I realize that I was not very mature in my cultivation and the evil took advantage of my attachment of fear.
We had an uncommonly severe rainstorm that winter. The rain froze, forming thick ice on the ground. It was extremely slippery. One day, I was watching a truth-clarification VCD at home. I planned to distribute the VCD after I finished watching it. My wife was preparing lunch. I suddenly remembered that our sewer had been blocked. It would be hard for her to go outside to dump the waste water, so I went to the kitchen to help her. I carried the waste water bucket outside our courtyard. Suddenly, I slipped as if a strong force pushed me. I fell on my back and the bucket slammed down on my ankle.
I sat up and inspected my right foot. It had twisted to the right. I tried to untwist it but it wouldn't budge. I leaned against a wall and stood up, putting my weight on my left foot. Then I kicked my right foot out into the air. It felt like it had turned back into position. I started walking home, but after walking a few steps the pain was just too much to continue. I made my way back home on my hands and knees.
My wife was so worried that she called our children home immediately. They took me to the hospital right away. The doctor examined my foot and told me it was a “comminuted fracture,” meaning that my bone had splintered into several pieces, and would require surgery. Curious, I asked what was involved in the surgery. The doctor said, “We make an incision around the break, put the pieces back together, then attach a steel plate to keep everything stable. Then we sew you back up and put a plaster cast around your foot. You won't be able to move and you'll have to stay in the hospital for awhile. At your age, it won't completely heal, so you'll need to take it easy.”
Then suddenly I recalled what Teacher had told us: “As a practitioner, if you always think that it is an illness, ...” (“Cultivation Insanity,” Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun) and “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (“People with Great Inborn Quality,” Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun). Immediately, I felt confident and strong. I said to the doctor, “I'll be all right. I don’t need to stay in the hospital. I'd rather just go home.” The doctor said, “For someone with such a serious injury as yours, it's very dangerous to be that confident. Please, think it over.” I replied, “I'm sure I will be fine. Believe me!” He said, “If that's your decision, I can’t do anything to stop you. Let me suspend your leg, straighten the bones out, and put a plaster cast on you. Then you can go home and recover.” I replied, “I don’t need anything.” While this was going on, my children had filled out the forms necessary for my hospital stay. I told them, “Don’t worry. I know what I'm doing. Nothing bad will happen. Believe in your father!” Seeing how determined I was, my children didn’t insist. They just took me home.
My leg swelled up severely, from foot to knee. My underwear was too tight to take off, so we had to cut them off with scissors. The side of my leg that had been laying on the bed turned black. My children and wife were in tears. They said, “He needs to have his leg suspended so that the bones can realign. How can he heal with his bones sticking out?” My children and relatives kept asking me to go to the hospital. Bearing the pain, I would reply with a smile and say, “I'm sure nothing bad will happen. Don’t worry!” My wife, who was also a practitioner, supported me. My children were worried. They stayed with me and even prepared a car outside our courtyard to take me to the hospital if I changed my mind. But after a few days, seeing that I ate and slept normally and was in good spirits, they went back home.
From then on, I read Zhuan Falun, listened to Teacher's Fa lecture tapes, and recited the Fa every day. I looked within according to the Fa’s standards and tried to improve myself. Gradually, I realized that this incident was not to eliminate karma, as I had originally thought. It happened because I had gaps in my cultivation, and the evil used them as an excuse to persecute me. When I heard the story of the arrested practitioner, I started to think and act with everyday people’s notions. I was fearful when doing Dafa work, and thus I had deviated from the Fa. The evil used this as an excuse to persecute me. Perhaps this was the old forces’ arrangement, something I should not accept or even acknowledge. So I sent forth righteous thoughts every day to eliminate the persecution.
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by the master.” (“Guanding,” Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun). I truly felt that Teacher was next to me, protecting me. I managed to face such a big tribulation without staying in a hospital, having surgery, taking medicine, or getting any medical treatment whatsoever. Teacher saw my heart and helped me do it. My wife said that while I was sleeping, she heard popping sounds from my legs. It was Teacher adjusting my body!
With our great benevolent Teacher’s assistance, within a few months I could sit in meditation and slowly walk. In less than a year, I had completely recovered. Everyone tells me, “It’s truly a miracle!”
Whenever I think about it now, tears come to my eyes. I can never pay back Teacher’s benevolence. All I can do is cultivate diligently and try to be worthy of Teacher's mercy.
