(Minghui.org) I am 65 years old and I have been practicing Falun Dafa since 1998. Thanks to this wonderful practice, I went from an illness-ridden and hotheaded person to a healthy and happy cultivator. Below I report to Master some of my cultivation experiences.
Fortunate to Obtain the Fa, but My Busy Family Life Keeps Me from Being Diligent
When I came across Falun Dafa in August 1998, I wanted to try it right away. I have been cultivating in this wonderful practice ever since.
My parents were very poor when I was a child, so I gave up school after the second grade. With a limited education, I found I didn't know many of the characters in Zhuan Falun. Fortunately I later found a group Fa-study site and learned from others how to read this precious book. Three months later, just after I had learned all the characters in the book, Jiang Zemin began his campaign of persecution.
My family of four generations all lived together around a single courtyard. As a daughter-in-law, I had to take care of my mother-in-law. As a grandmother, I needed to care for my grandsons. I also had to deal with my daughter-in-law.
The persecution put an end to our group Fa-study, and I found myself with no fellow practitioners to talk to. Add to that the fact that every day there were endless chores for me to tend to, and I gradually slacked off and had no time at all to study the Fa or practice the exercises.
Squeezing in Time to Study the Fa and Practice the Exercises
Around 2002 I ran into a former colleague and learned she was also a practitioner. It was through her that I learned that we must do the three things well.
Every morning I had to rise at 5 to cook breakfast for the students in my family. During the day I was mired in endless chores. At night we had to turn off the lights and go to sleep early since my mother-in-law didn’t want us to waste money on electricity bills.
But I was determined to find a way to study the Fa and do the exercises. I bought a flashlight and read Dafa books after the kids were sound asleep. I had to remain vigilant so that my mother-in-law would not catch me. I got up around 2:30 in the wee hours to do the five exercises. If I missed doing the exercises then, there was no way for me to make it up in the daytime, so I told myself to get up at 2:30 a.m. every day.
As a matter of fact, I’ve been following this schedule for nearly 10 years.
Distributing Truth-clarification Materials
After our first chance encounter, my former colleague began to send me truth-clarification materials, including Minghui Weekly on a regular basis.
At first I had trouble reading Minghui Weekly myself, so I asked her to read it to me. As I kept studying the Fa, I was able to read Zhuan Falun fluently and found myself having no trouble reading the Falun Gong informational materials.
I knew I had to go out to distribute the materials, but how to get out of the house without my mother-in-law criticizing me?
I soon had an idea. I didn't buy our daily necessities and household items all at once in one shopping trip. Instead, I'd get just one item a day. That way, I had an excuse to go out every day to buy things. Of course, I always had informational materials ready. Wherever I went shopping, I brought the facts of the persecution to people I met.
A younger sister lived in a town not too far from mine. After learning they didn’t have many informational materials there, I had one more excuse to go out every day. I’d pretend to visit my sister and hop on a train to her town to pass out truth-clarification materials door to door. Since she lived really close by, I usually returned home just in time to cook dinner for my big family. I kept track of how many homes I had covered in my sister’s town and would pick up where I left off when I went to her town again.
In just a few years I covered her town and neighboring villages quite a few times.
I moved out of the courtyard three years ago when my mother-in-law passed away. My grandsons had grown older and no longer needed me to care for them. I live in my own place and can go wherever I want. So, in addition to distributing truth-clarification materials, I began working on the mailing project. Practitioners wrote truth-clarification letters and put them into envelopes. My job was to mail out around ten letters each week.
I’ve been involved in this mailing project for close to eight years.
Escaping Danger with Righteous Thoughts
One night I was pasting truth-clarification sticky notes to a light pole when someone yelled behind me, “What are you doing?!” I replied loudly, “I am doing Fa-rectification things. Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa and Falun Dafa is good!”
He was stunned and restrained and said, “OK, OK.” He turned around and left.
When I told a fellow practitioner about this, she said my righteous thoughts had subdued that person.
I had a deeper appreciation of the effect of righteous thoughts later when I read the following passage of Master’s teachings,
“So as a cultivator, what is truly remarkable is when you can be steadfast and have righteous thoughts so firm that nothing can sway you. Be solid and firm like diamond, or granite, and then nothing can affect you--evil will be afraid at the mere sight of you. If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil's persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil's persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil's interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa. (Long applause)” ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")
There was another time when my righteous thoughts again helped me escape danger.
One Saturday afternoon I took my two grandsons to a local market to pass around truth-clarification materials. We started from the east side and worked our way towards the west side.
When I happened by chance to notice someone following us at a distance, I didn’t pay much attention and just knew to finish what we set out to do. The man trailed behind us for a long time.
When we reached the other side of the market, we still had two DVDs left. One of my grandsons hid them in his vest and we returned home safely.
Helping Both Family and Strangers Quit the Party and Its Organizations
I had a nephew whose wife was sick all year long. When I first told her to recite “Falun Dafa is good,” she just turned a deaf ear.
She was shocked when she found out she had a cervical tumor last year. I said to her when she complained about her condition, “Look at me. I used to have all kinds of ailments, but I still had to take care of this big family. Had it not for Dafa, I’d have died of exhaustion long ago. What I said to you before is the truth. Quit the Party and recite 'Falun Dafa is good.' It will definitely do you good.”
I gave her some materials to read and she soon agreed to quit the Party.
She came to stay with me for a week after she had surgery in Shenyang last March. Before she left, I again reminded her to recite “Falun Dafa is good” and I also gave her a copy of the 2012 Shen Yun DVD to share with her family and neighbors upon her return.
I went to visit her this February, and she told me she was tumor free. She had enjoyed reading the truth-clarification materials I had given her and managed to get her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew to quit the Party and its affiliated organizations. She even asked for one more copy of the 2013 Shen Yun DVD to save for her husband’s sister.
While taking a bus to visit a friend, I struck up a conversation with a woman sitting next to me. She wondered why I was still practicing Falun Gong since it’s banned by the government. I advised her not to believe what’s said on TV and told her that Falun Gong has spread to more than 100 countries all over the world.
I urged her to quit the Party to secure a bright future for herself, and she agreed. She said, “I am a Party member and also the director of our Village Women’s Affairs Committee. I never had any interest in the things you talked about, but strange, you made me feel I had to quit the Party. It’s not worth dying for.”
When one of my grandsons joined the army in 2012, six of his classmates came to bid him farewell. I cooked some delicious dishes for them and also read truth-clarification materials to them. I even played some clips of the Shen Yun show. With my grandson’s help, we got two of them quit the Communist Youth League and four of them to quit the Young Pioneers.
This is all for my report. I would like to thank a fellow practitioner for proofreading and finalizing my article.
I will continue to do the three things well. My deepest gratitude to Master for His tender care.
